Victor Porton’s personal theological reading of Matthew 1:18–25; the views below are the author’s interpretation.
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This is a sermon about Gospel of Matthew 1:18-25.
Verse 18 “Now the birth of Jesus Christ was this way. For his mother
Mary, who was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was
found having in her womb from the Holy Spirit.” The words “come
together” seems to mean that they actually cohabited after birth of
Jesus, and Roman Catholics are wrong about Joseph being just a too old
for cohabitation man who just guarded virginity of Mary, rather than
being her real husband.
Holy Spirit is powerful, it can violate laws of biology. Holy Spirit
is God acting at a distance. God uses two ways to act at a big distance:
revelation of Christ and Holy Spirit. Revelation of Christ does not do,
if there is no hearer. But Holy spirit is like as if God bound tiny
particles in the acted upon object by so to say tiny ropes and pull
them. This is similar on how nano-bots would act.
Verse 19 “But Joseph her husband, being a righteous man, and not
wanting to expose her to public disgrace, intended to dismiss her
privately.” Have you wondered: If Joseph was a righteous man, he would
follow the Mosaic law and would therefore decide to bring death penalty
on Mary, because of Deuteronomy 22:23-24: “If a damsel that is a virgin
be betrothed unto a husband, and a man find her in the city, and lie
with her; then ye shall bring them both out unto the gate of that city,
and ye shall stone them with stones that they die…”? But Joseph didn’t
decide to bring death penalty on Mary. In Jewish tradition, a truly just
man is not merely legalistic, but also merciful. Joseph’s righteousness
was not only about strict adherence to the law, but about reflecting
God’s own mercy. The Hebrew Bible often shows God balancing justice with
mercy (e.g., Micah 6:8: “Do justly, love mercy, walk humbly with your
God”). Even Christians don’t always have mercy, but follow literal
meaning of the commandments.
Verse 20 “But while he considered these things, behold, an angel of
the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David,
fear not to take Mary to be thy wife, for that which was begotten in her
is from the Holy Spirit.” The Bible teaches by this verse and others to
take seriously dreams where God or angels appear. I saw in a night dream
that I am a pastor in ten worship buildings each for 20,000 seats. I
take this seriously, I believe that God chose me for that ministry,
despite it is an unreachable success for me: I am a great mathematician
(however, not so great if to compare myself with coming AI) but not so
great candidate to become a pastor.
Verse 21 “And she will bring forth a son, and you shall call his name
JESUS, for he will save his people from their sins.” Jesus is an
abbreviature from “saving Lord”, what means that he saves people from
sins. Note that sin is a danger that a human needs to be saved from. It
is not just a bad behavior, it is a threat to the infected.
Verse 22 “Now all this has come to pass, so that what was spoken by
the Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled, which says,” Verse 23
“Behold, the virgin will have in her womb, and will bring forth a son.
And they will call his name Immanuel, which is, being interpreted, God
with us.” Somebody could conclude that there is a contradiction here:
Jesus and Emmanuel are two different names. But first they have the same
prophetic significance: saving presence of God with us. Second, probably
in ancient Israel there was a tradition like as in modern USA: to give
children multiple names. So, there is no reason to assume that it is a
contradiction in the Bible.
Verse 24 “And Joseph, being roused from his sleep, did as the angel
of the Lord ordered him. And he took his wife,” Here we see that the
dream of Joseph was really at sleep, not a day vision. My vision of
being a megachurch pastor has the same validity as Joseph’s one: a
message from God.
Verse 25 “and knew her not until she brought forth her son, the
firstborn. And he called his name JESUS.” The word “until” seems to mean
that after she gave birth to Jesus, Joseph and Mary indeed
cohabited.
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