(remember, these are unedited/draft show notes, not a transcript — listening is always better…and if you listen AND follow along below, you’ll see how)
Focus Question:
Why does Matthew explicitly state that Joseph and Mary didn’t have sexual intercourse?
Intro:
So…there’s Matthew, a Jew writing to an audience that’s most likely Jewish and Jewish Christians, and the first starts right off with stuff that’ll rock their worlds. First off, he starts by delivering a genealogy, and we know, generally speaking, genealogies in the Hebrew Scriptures, our OT, were looking for the baby (THE baby). So this genealogy is making the point that Jesus is that long-awaited Messiah, but Matthew also includes five women in there…something that would have really rocked their world.
As we do here at FTH, I point out interesting little nuggets along the way that probably don’t make it into a Sunday sermon, and today’s no exception.
These women all have something in common that you might find surprising, and I’ll share that with you after we kick off Matthew. But as you listen, I want you to pay particular attention to all the mentions of “by the Holy Spirit” or “from the Holy Spirit.” And afterward we’ll then reflect on today’s Focus Question, “Why does Matthew explicitly state that Joseph and Mary didn’t have sexual intercourse?”
New covenant:
Passage: Matthew 1
Translation: CSB (Christian Standard Bible)
Verses: 25
Words: ~528
Interestingly, the connection between the five women mentioned in the genealogy — Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, “the wife of Uriah” who we know was Bathsheba, and Mary — is some form of narrative involving sexuality. Tamar played the prostitute, Rahab was a prostitute, Ruth was implied to have slept with Boaz when she slept at his feet (and academics argue about whether she did or didn’t), and then Mary who, voila!, is pregnant. And Joseph’s not stupid, he knows where babies come from.
So I’ve wondered if the angel’s warning was so that there was no way Joseph could be accused of being the dad. But here’s a bit from Gundry and Gundry’s book A Survey of the New Testament that I thought was interesting:
“By the Holy Spirit” (1:18) echoes phrases used of women in 1: 3, 5 (twice), 6, 16 and therefore shows that in contrast to pagan myths, according to which male gods have sexual intercourse with human mothers-to-be, the Holy Spirit does not play the sexual role of a male: there is no carnal intercourse.(1)
Old covenant:
Passage: 2 Kings 15:8-16:20
Translation: CSB (Christian Standard Bible)
Verses: 51
Words: ~1614
Wisdom:
Passage: Proverbs 11:15-22
Translation: CSB (Christian Standard Bible)
Verses:
Words:
The bottom line:
The whole Bible is one story that points to Jesus who, as God-man, wasn’t just a great moral philosopher. And as we see throughout the NT and in today’s passages, this isn’t a “Christian philosophy is better than some other philosophy” or “my God’s stronger than your god” argument. There is only one God, and he’s not just different by degree…he is wholly different in kind.
And of the many ways that point gets made, Matthew also does it by directly contrasting the virgin birth with the beliefs of all the surrounding historic pagan beliefs of the Ancient Near East.
Aren’t you glad this God loves you right where you’re at? All are broken, all are welcome, and all are called to repentance as trusting that Truth, capital T, isn’t just a what, but a who.
Love you!
Roger
ForTheHope is a daily audio Bible + apologetics podcast and blog. We’ve got a passion for just keepin’ it real, having conversations like normal people, and living out the love of Jesus better every single day.
Roger Courville, CSP is a globally-recognized expert in digitally-extended communication and connection, an award-winning speaker, award-winning author, and a passionately bad guitarist. Follow him on Twitter -- @RogerCourville and @JoinForTheHope – or his blog: www.forthehope.org.
Sources and resources:
(1) Gundry, Robert H.; Gundry, Robert H. (2012-06-19). A Survey of the New Testament: 5th Edition (Kindle Locations 3918-3920). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.