The Birth Announcement (Matthew 1:18-25)

Key verse. 1:21, ‘She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.’

Prophetic Scriptures. 1:23 (Isaiah 7:14).
This section of narrative teaches about Mary and Joseph, Jesus’ earthly parents, and how God informs them of his plan for his only Son to enter time as Jesus the God-Man. Matthew also introduces various significant theological ideas: the virgin birth, the incarnation, the humanity and divinity of Jesus Christ, and the ‘who’ and ‘why’ of Jesus.

The virgin birth. As Matthew alluded to in the genealogy, Jesus was born without a human father. ‘Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit' (1:18). Scripture clearly teaches that Jesus was conceived in Mary’s womb by supernatural and miraculous means, through the power of the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. In his gospel, Luke also affirms this supernatural event when Gabriel tells Mary that “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God.” (Luke 1:35) The doctrine of the virgin birth teaches us three fundamental truths,

• Salvation ultimately comes from the Lord
• It makes possible the uniting of humanity and deity into one person
• It makes possible Christ’s true humanity without inherited sin (unlike you and me)

Though Jesus was born of a human mother he was born without inherited original sin. Hebrews 4:15 states that Jesus was without sin. He who is conceived in Mary is from the Holy Spirit and to be called holy. Jesus’ perfect holiness and claim to be God’s son precluded Mary’s sinfulness: her fallen nature is divinely precluded. To deny the virgin birth and Christ’s sinlessness is unorthodox and against the testimony of Scripture. These doctrines are important if we are to understand the person of Jesus Christ correctly.

The incarnation. It was essential that a person of the Godhead should enter into humanity in the same manner as all other men,

• To acquire his humanity
• To have his own identified spirit, soul, and body
• He wouldn’t have appeared to be one of men (among us!) without a natural, human origin
• If he did not become fully human, than his true humanity could have never been established (sinless human), and our salvation accomplished (perfect human substitute)

Philippians tells us that Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men (2:5-7). John’s gospel teaches that in the beginning was the word (Jesus) and the word was with God, and the word was God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father full of grace and truth (John 1:1, 14). Jesus left the riches of heaven to unite and identify with us as humans, so that he could be the perfect sacrifice for the forgiveness of our sins.

Jesus’ humanity and divinity. This narrative story about the announcement of the coming King who is to be born of the virgin Mary and by the power of the Holy Spirit informs us about the dual nature of Jesus who is both fully man and fully God. As we saw in the genealogy, Jesus has no reference of an earthly father. We now see that he is to be conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit. The life that is in Mary is not of natural means but supernatural. The God-Man to be called Jesus is both God and Man. What we must not confuse is that Jesus-- the second person of the Trinity-- was created by God. Just like the Father and the Holy Spirit, the Person of the Son has always been for he is eternal. To believe that Jesus was created is incorrect and goes against the teaching of Scripture. The person of Jesus Christ then, came into historical existence when he was born in Bethlehem some 2,000 years ago. Jesus will forever be fully united to humanity as the Son of God and the Son of Man. This means that we have a savior and high priest who continually understands our human condition, trials, and needs.

The very fullness of God dwelt in him (Colossians 1:19). Just as we have a body, soul, and spirit, so too does Jesus. But unlike you and me, he also has the fullness of deity within him, for he is God. We rightly believe that He is very God and very man; very God by his power to conquer death and very man that he might die for us.

Who Jesus is and what he is to do. In announcing the event of Jesus’ birth to Mary and Joseph, he also tells them what the child will be named. His name will be Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins (1:21). And, they shall call him Immanuel, or God with us (1:23). The two names gives us a nice concise statement about what Jesus is to do and who Jesus is,

• What? Jesus has come to save
• Who? Jesus is God with us

Catechism: the Doctrine of Christ
Q: How did Christ, being the Son of God, become man?
A: Christ, the Son of God, became man, by taking to Himself a true body, and a reasonable soul, being conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit, in the womb of the Virgin Mary, and born of her, yet without sin.

The Creed
Article II. “And in Jesus Christ, his only son, our Lord: who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary...’

We believe that Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father (not made!) from eternity, and also true man, was born of the virgin Mary free from original sin. This is most certainly true.