Well merry Christmas to you too.

THANK YOU, FATHER. ❤❤❤


you're the only one; no one else.

No be today the prophesy of Mary start. Even before she was born, God already chose her.

sonmvayina:
The authors choose the name Mary...if they had used Bridget..you would have said Bridget. She is just a character in a story...

thanks for your understanding

Heart, okan. It matters a lot.

Moreover, God knows best. Who He calls, He justifies, who He justifies, He also glorify...

Orter:
Mary, just like Moshe aka Moses, just like Saul, et cetera were appointed, called and/or visited because of the interest they privately nursed in their hearts. The angel would have never on the whim just approach Mary like that if she had never displayed interest in the scripture, in God et cetera.

God does not need to jump from person to person to get who will do his bidding.
He is GOD and can have his way through any situation, including the birth of his Son.
His choice of Mary was never a betting but a deliberate action.
His Son could have just falling from heaven and done the saving thing

Because she's the choosing one

Because she was a virgin

Why you dy ask?

She was only favored. There were many virgins that were godly from the descendants of David at that time

Acehart:
Do you think he would follow your advice?

Right now, I may not be the candle to illuminate the room, but my spark can be the beginning of a source of illumination, lmso.

Bro, I only can open the door, he/she must enter by himself/herself. By the way, sometimes it’s enough, to just plant the seed and walk away. Leave the seed to the elements and for it, to grow on its own and/or in time, lmso.

She didn't ho's her life and it was grace and favor

Cutehector:
No be today the prophesy of Mary start. Even before she was born, God already chose her.

The prophesy was for a virgin not mary but Mary happened to fulfil the prophesy.

Same way Judas positioned himself to betray Jesus

Acehart:
Mary, the blessed.

---

In the reading of many journal papers, one thing common to all of them is the use of the term “keywords”. The term is used to draw the reader’s attention to the focus or essence of the paper. They are important words or concepts found in one’s research question. Keywords make one’s paper searchable. Therefore, it is important to include the most relevant keywords that will help other authors or researchers find your paper.

Keywords are always listed after the abstract of a journal paper or thesis, the first section the paper as they are drawn from the abstract.

Matthew chapter 1 has all the resemblance of an abstract: it begins with a context or background information. At the heart of an abstract is the main reason(s), the exigency, the rationale behind the research; here, the goal of this book is to tell many that Jesus Christ is the Messiah King. The main argument is the birthing of the Messiah by a virgin, a reference to a previous work done by Isaiah (Isa.7:14).

The keywords one can extract from the abstract includes (not limited to): Messiah, Conceive, Holy Spirit, Sins, Son, Virgin, and favor (from Luke 1:28).

We were told that Mary, the virgin mother, was favored. The word “favor“, charitoō (in Greek), means: specially honor due to one’s character, manner or act as a result of divine influence upon the heart, and its reflection in one’s life. It is a mouthful; in simple terms, Mary was not a sinner; her manner of life was pleasing to God. The angel said to her: “Blessed are you among women”; Mary was the most righteous among all women that walked on the face of the earth.

The word “favor” was first used in the Book of Genesis to describe God’s mercy towards Noah. Like Mary, Noah was the only righteous person of all men and women that walked on the face of the earth. He was described as a preacher of righteousness (2 Peter 2:5). Before one preaches about God’s act, we know that someone preached to them to believe in God (Romans 10:14); In the times of Noah, Methuselah was the preacher.

Methuselah, a name meaning “when he dies, it shall be sent”. We do know now that in the year he died, the great flood was sent. Methuselah's name may be a prophecy that on the day of his death "his death will send" the flood. For a better part of one thousand years, one man preached that it would rain on an earth covered by mist; no one believed except Noah. Thereafter, his life was pleasing to God and he was favored with the ark - a type of Christ.

It is the believing of a preposterous message that endeared Noah and Mary to God. The scripture says: without faith (in the word of God) it is impossible to please God and be satisfactory to Him (Heb. 11:6). Mary believed God’s word, perhaps in the reading of the prophetic texts at the Jerusalem temple, that a virgin would conceive a child - her being the virgin. She believed and it was accounted to her as righteousness (in conformity to God’s will in her thoughts and acts).

Today, the preposterous message to us is this: God came down to earth (through the womb of a virgin), died on a tree for men‘s sin, was buried in a tomb and resurrected three days later. We must believe this message to be favored by God. God will not favor a sinner because He would not give that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast His pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet.


Merry Christmas everybody,

Acehart


Cc: MuttleyLaff, Goshen360, bodydiialect57

I hate when people like you write long stupid essays when the answers are prophecy, favour and grace. Easy!

Na una dey waste people time for church so.

Brother thanks for the text, but you won't tell us that Mary wasn't a dinner, the Bible says that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. So she was favour and her faith plays important role there.

B. The Birth of Jesus Christ.
1. (18) Mary, while engaged to Joseph, is found to be with child as a result of a miraculous conception by the Holy Spirit.
Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit.

a. Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: Matthew doesn’t really tell us about the birth of Jesus; Luke does that. Matthew instead tells us where Jesus came from, and it tells the story through the eyes of Joseph.

b. After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph: There were essentially three steps to marriage in the Jewish world of Jesus’ time.

· Engagement: This could happen when the bride and groom to be were quite young, and was often arranged by the parents.

· Betrothal: This made the previous engagement official and binding. During the time of betrothal the couple were known as husband and wife, and a betrothal could only be broken by divorce. Betrothal typically lasted a year.

· Marriage: This took place after the wedding, after the year of betrothal.

c. She was found with child of the Holy Spirit: Matthew plainly (without the greater detail found in the Gospel of Luke) presents the virginal conception and subsequent birth of Jesus. However, the virgin birth was difficult for people to believe back then, even as it is also doubted now by some.

i. We should consider what a great trial this was for a godly young woman like Mary, and for Joseph her betrothed. “Her situation was the most distressing and humiliating that can be conceived. Nothing but the fullest consciousness of her own integrity, and the strongest confidence in God, could have supported her in such trying circumstances, where her reputation, her honour, and her life were at stake.” (Clarke)

ii. The truth of the supernatural conception of Jesus was disbelieved by many then and was later twisted into lies about the parentage of Jesus. References are made to these suspicions in passages like John 8:19 and 8:41. Lies spread that Mary had become pregnant from a Roman soldier. Here, Matthew set the story straight – both then and now.

iii. “There was no other way of his being born; for had he been of a sinful father, how should he have possessed a sinless nature? He is born of a woman, that he might be human; but not by man, that he might not be sinful.” (Spurgeon)

2. (19) Joseph seeks a quiet divorce.
Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly.

a. Joseph her husband: The previous verse told us that Mary was betrothed to Joseph. This comment shows that even though they were not formally married, Joseph was still considered Mary’s husband by betrothal.

b. Being a just man, and not wanting to make her a public example: Being a just man, Joseph knew that if Mary had been unfaithful to him it would be impossible to go through with the marriage. Yet his nature as a just man also did not want to make this an unnecessary hardship or stigma upon Mary. Joseph made the understandable decision to seek a quiet divorce.

c. To put her away secretly: This refers to breaking an engagement by divorce. In Jewish culture of that time, a betrothal was binding and one needed a divorce to break the arrangement.

i. “Their being betrothed was a thing publicly taken notice of, and he could not put her away so privately but there must be witnesses of it; the meaning therefore must be, as privately as the nature of thing would bear.” (Poole)

ii. “When we have to do a severe thing, let us choose the tenderest manner. Maybe we shall not have to do it at all.” (Spurgeon)

3. (20-21) An angel speaks to Joseph in a dream, convincing him not to divorce Mary.
But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins.”

a. Behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream: This was not the Angel of the LORD, but simply an angel of the Lord. Perhaps it was Gabriel, who is prominent in the announcements made to Mary and Zacharias (Luke 1:19 and 1:26). Yet those were actual angelic visitations; this was presented to Joseph in a dream.

i. The dream came while he thought about these things. Joseph was understandably troubled by Mary’s mysterious pregnancy, her future, and what he should do towards her. Though he had decided to put her away secretly, he was not comfortable with that decision.

b. Joseph, son of David: The address son of David should have alerted Joseph that something was particularly significant about this message. Son of David is a reference to Joseph’s legal lineage to the throne of David.

c. That which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit: It seems that Mary had not told Joseph that she was pregnant by the Holy Spirit. This shouldn’t surprise us; how could she (or how could anyone except God) explain such a thing? This angelic word to Joseph was persuasive.

i. There is no explanation as to how this happened, other than what we have in Luke 1:35. “This wonderful conception of our Saviour is a mystery not much to be pried into, and is therefore called an overshadowing, Luke 1:35.” (Trapp)

ii. “There is no hint of pagan deity-human coupling in crassly physical terms. Instead, the power of the Lord, manifest in the Holy Spirit who was expected to be active in the Messianic Age, miraculously brought about the conception.” (Carson)

d. You shall call his name JESUS: The name JESUS (“The Salvation of Yahweh”) was fairly common in that day (Josephus mentions 12 different men named “Jesus” in his writings), but it is supremely blessed in our day. As was later said by the Apostle Peter, there is no other name under heaven by which men must be saved (Acts 4:12).

i. “The name which the angel commanded Joseph to give to Mary’s Child was one that was common at the time…its full significance was ‘The Salvation of Jehovah.’” (Morgan)

e. For He will save His people from their sins: The angelic messenger briefly and eloquently stated the work of the coming Messiah, Jesus. He will come as a savior, and come to save His people from their sins.

i. This description of the work of Jesus reminds us that Jesus meets us in our sin, but His purpose is to save us from our sins. He saves us first from the penalty of sin, then from the power of sin, and finally from the presence of sin.

ii. “Salvation from sins is an element in the Old Testament hope (e.g. Isaiah 53; Jeremiah 31:31-34; Ezekiel 36:24-31) and in later Messianic expectation…but not the dominant one. Its isolation here warns the reader not to expect this Messiah to conform to the more popular hope of a national liberator.” (France)

iii. Wonderfully, it says “His people.” If it had said, “God’s people,” we might have thought it was reserved for the Jewish people alone. But it isn’t belonging to Abraham that brings salvation from sin; it is belonging to Jesus, being one of His people.

4. (22-23) The virgin birth as the fulfillment of prophecy.
So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.”

a. That it might be fulfilled: This is the first use of this important phrase which will become a familiar theme throughout Matthew.

b. “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel”: Matthew rightly understood that the supernatural conception of Jesus was prophesied in Isaiah 7:14.

i. There has been some measure of controversy regarding this quote from Isaiah 7:14, primarily because the Hebrew word almah can be translated as either virgin or “young woman.”

ii. We know the Isaiah passage speaks of Jesus because it says the virgin shall be with child, and that conception would be a sign to David’s entire house. Those who deny the virgin birth of Jesus like to point out that the Hebrew word in Isaiah 7:14 translated virgin (almah) can also be translated as “young woman.” The idea is that Isaiah was simply saying that a “young woman” would give birth, not a virgin. While the near fulfillment of the Isaiah prophecy may have reference to a young woman giving birth, the far or ultimate fulfillment clearly points to a woman miraculously conceiving and giving birth. This is especially clear because the Old Testament never uses the word in a context other than virgin and because the Septuagint translates almah in Isaiah 7:14 categorically virgin (parthenos).

c. Immanuel: This title of Jesus refers to both His deity (God with us) and His identification and nearness to man (God with us).

i. Jesus is truly Immanuel, God with us. “Christ, indeed, was not called by this name Immanuel that we anywhere read of…but the import of this name is most truly affirmed and acknowledged to be fully made good in him.” (Trapp, on Isaiah 7:14)

ii. “In what sense then, is Christ GOD WITH US? Jesus is called Immanuel, or God with us, in his incarnation; God with us, by the influences of his Holy Spirit, in the holy sacrament, in the preaching of his word, in private prayer. And God with us, through every action of our life, that we begin, continue, and end in his name. He is God with us, to comfort, enlighten, protect, and defend us, in every time of temptation and trial, in the hour of death, in the day of judgment; and God with us and in us, and we with and in him, to all eternity.” (Clarke)

iii. We can deeply meditate on the meaning of this name – Immanuel.

· It shows how low God bent down to save man; He added the nature of one of His own creatures to His own divine nature, accepting the weaknesses, frailties and dependency that the creature experiences.

· It shows what a great miracle it was that God could add a human nature to His own and still remain God.

· It shows the compatibility between the unfallen human nature and the divine nature; that the two could be joined shows that we are truly made in the image of God.

· It shows that we can come to Him; if He has come to us, then we can come to Him. “Then, if Jesus Christ be ‘God with us,’ let us come to God without any question or hesitancy. Whoever you may be you need no priest or intercessor to introduce you to God, for God has introduced himself to you.” (Spurgeon)

https://enduringword.com/bible-commentary/matthew-1/

Acehart, If God forces people to do his will in the way you are putting it, why would some people go to hell?

Acehart:
Thank you for your kind words.

You are welcome boss.

Thanks for your exposition. One thing is clear: All charitoō is given by God. The use of it to mean “grace” or “unmerited favor” is the perspective you have taken. My use of the word is taken from its etymology “charis“, a word that shows that the favored one is more like a child, friend or faithful steward. With charitoō, the favored one is more or less one who didn’t do anything special to be favored e.g a pardoned sinner.

Not all charitoō is given by God( humans give favor to other humans) and not all charitoō is unmerited ( eg Joseph found favour in the eyes of Potiphar). The choice of “grace” is not just a perspective i have taken, it's part of the consistent theme of the Bible, atleast when it comes to God and His dealings with humanity.( Personally, I don't really use the word "unmerited favour" as It's one of those words that have been over Christianised over the years and can give modern readers a different mental picture. A better way of understanding the motif is to think of it as "God is always way more generous than people deserve". Simply "favor" or "grace" is more of a better translation).
As I mentioned in my earlier post the word charitoō though used only twice in the NT, it's Hebrew equivalent ḥên is used quite alot in the old testament and also the exact statement "to find favour in the eyes of someone" is a standard Hebrew saying, so it's a word and concept that is well accounted for and we'll understood.
The root word "charis" itself is also usually translated as grace, kindness, loving-kindness etc. It also says nothing about the character of the person it's being bestowed upon if no other information is given but only the attitude of the person doing the bestowing.

Just a quick aside: Even though in this case the root word and it's derivative are pretty similar in meaning, we have to be careful in using the etymology of a word to determine its current definition. A definition tells us what a word means and how it's used in our own time or the time period we are looking at. An etymology tells us where a word came from (often, but not always, from another language) and what it used to mean.
It's not always a one to one correspondence. Eg the word slogan comes from scotish slogorne meaning "battle cry" or gorilla which comes from the Greek Górillai which apparently used to describe "females of a hairy tribe in Africa".
Just wanted to point that out as it's something we all have to be careful about when doing word studies.

With Abraham, we see God say: for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son: That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice. The favor (Charis) towards Abraham was because he acted to God’s delight -he obeyed God’s voice.

The promise of God to Abraham was given and repeated a few times long before there was even a child Issac to sacrifice,sir. And as I mentioned in my previous post
"Mary is part of a long line of humans who God partners with and who, when they got things right(that is, placing their trust in the one who is trustworthy) ,were instrumental in bringing about God's plan."
Abraham also got some things right but also got some things very wrong along the way and even almost jeopardized the promise (the story of Hagar).

The point I was trying to make is this:
Were the people God specifically partnered with sinless or better than the rest of humanity and that's why he chose them? No. As the scriptures say
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus;
-Romans 3:23‭-‬24 NASB
Did these people also get some things right and record great acts of faith in the one who is faithful? Yes they did and the book Hebrews even has a hall of fame for them.
Today, we are all equally called to be part of this long list of God's partners as we put our trust in God just as those who have gone ahead of us did. It's not because we are inherently better than anyone else, but out of God's immense love for humanity, He has chosen to be faithful to humans that are usually not faithful to him in return "in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us". And by His grace we have made a response of faith in return by putting our trust in the promise of the cross.

“There are many virtuous and capable women in the world, but you surpass them all!” (Prov.31:29)

This verse is talking about a husband's praise to his wife sir(Prov 31:28).

My good sir, I'm not trying to tear down your write-up as I largely agree with a number of things you said. Just wanted to point out a thing or two in your methodology and conclusions.

For some weird reason I keep getting banned on nairaland, so I might not be able to reply back

grace and uncommon favor from God for Mary sure there were other virgins at her time but God chose only her.. God grant my unmerited favor as you did to Mary IJN �����

She was chosen because the other people lost their virginity

The authors of the book just chose any name to deceive us, nothing of such ever occurred anywhere.
The whole essence of the bible is just for control

Kobojunkie:

The same God you supposedly speak of chose Cyrus, thr Great, a man who did not know Him, and with no history of ever serving the God Israel, to deliver His people from slavery and restore to them their land and belongings.

Lol..where did you get this info?..shows you dont even understand what you are reading..

Cyrus worshipped Marduk, and Marduk is the God of the jews, but with a different name..."Hashem" Neduchadnezer also worshipped Marduk , he was also Gods annointed , God asked him to go gather every one to babylon so they will learn about him, when they had, God also used cyrus to send or free them and sent everyone to their land. It was not cyrus that did not know God. It was the isrealites his chosen people....

[quote author=Acehart post=97414212][/quote]

God's favour and goodness is regardless of holiness or righteousness. It is to all men.

He blesses sinners and the righteous alike.
Abraham came from an idolatry home, yet he experienced God's favor and became God's friend.
Moses was as unholy as can be in Egypt yet he experienced God's favor.
There are even several psalms about God prospering the wicked and unjust.

Of course there are certain favors that God will choose those who are holy but not all his favours are towards only holy people.

sonmvayina:
The authors choose the name Mary...if they had used Bridget..you would have said Bridget. She is just a character in a story...

Christians are a bunch of foolish folks!!

Chosen or raped?

I can't believe I didn't see the answer in this thread but here is the answer.


Mary’s father was Heli (Eli) who was a direct descendant of King David which gave Jesus the right to ascend the Jewish throne, both through Mary and through adoption by his foster father, Joseph. Mary’s genealogy is supplied in Luke 3:23-38.

Jesus could become the Messiah from both ways through Joseph's lineage and through Mary's lineage.

What's up with you guys?

You need to go to Matthew to read the genealogy of Joseph too

Jesus was a bastard lol.

No it's not an insult. it's the truth. Even Jesus is laughing now. he knows the truth.

Not everyone in his community back then believe the cock and bull stories of the holy spirit impregnating his mother.

He would have grown being insulted many times. The man Christ ( son of man)

He learnt obedience by the things he suffered.

Kneebow spoilt this thread with his long post, nobody reads a stupid long post.

Mary must have been very sexy, hot legs, great fig 8, bad ass and boobs...holy spirit couldn't resist

God choose , he can as well choose a prostitute if he wishes . The way of men isn't the way of God

jamesid29:
Good write up boss and Merry Christmas to you and yours also.

I'll just like to make a quick note on a thing or two



The word recorded in Luke 1:28 charitoō meaning Favour as you stated(also be translated as grace depending on context like in Ephesians 1:6), is a description of a person's attitude and actions toward the one so labeled(in this case, God's attitude towards the recipient of the message). On its own, it says nothing about the character or attitude of the person being favoured.
Favour can be earned but more often than not, the concept of favour is that the person being favoured has a soft spot with the person bestowing it and usually has done nothing inherently to gain it(eg a man showing favour to a fellow kinsman).
The act of showing favour speaks purely of the character and attitude of the one who is bestowing it. This is often the case atleast in the Bible when it pertains to God and humans (God constantly showing favour/grace to undeserving humans). You can do a word study of ḥên(old testament) and God.
This is more evident in the only other place the word charitoō is used in the entire NT.
"to the praise of the glory of His grace(charitos), which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved." - Ephesians 1:6 NASB...
Most English translations also have freely bestowed or given except for KJV and ESV that render it a bit differently. But regardless of which translation chosen, the idea is the same. The charitoō is bestowed purely based on God's will.

This tracks with God's character and his attitude towards humans throughout the entire Bible. All humans are on a path that ultimately leads to death and the weird part is, that's the path we want to be on. But God out of his gracious love partners with certain people throughout history to bring about His ultimate will; which is "saving humanity from the path it's one". It's not that these partners are inherently good or more deserving than the rest of humanity; matter of fact, the biblical stories consistently make it clear that all the people God partners with all have deep moral failings like all humans do. It's purely based on God's own graciousness to continue working with flawed humans to bring about His ultimate will.."the Cross".
Mary is part of a long line of humans who God partners with and who when they got things right, were instrumental in bringing about God's plan.

Mary (and actually Joseph too) no doubt were pious Jews like many Jews in the 1st century(the 1st and the a couple of centuries before it was a hot bedrock of piousness and heightened awareness for the coming the Messiah and God coming back to the temple to become king). Why God chose Mary is not given but we can always trust that God knows what He is doing .What we do know is that, regardless of any human failings Mary had(all Humans have moral failings), when giving the opportunity to trust God, she got it right and did trust Him. Even Moses and Gideon who took a bit of convincing eventually stepped up.

There's nothing in the NT that says or alludes to the statement that "Mary was the most righteous among all women that walked on the face of the earth".
The idea that there was something inherently different about Mary started out around the early middle ages and became part church tradition(or today, Catholic tradition). We do not even find this in the earliest Christian writings outside of the NT. The shift to Mary being pure, immaculate conception etc began from writings sometime around the 4th AD.


Merry Christmas once again

insightful write up. Compliments!

Kobojunkie:

The same God you supposedly speak of chose Cyrus, thr Great, a man who did not know Him, and with no history of ever serving the God Israel, to deliver His people from slavery and restore to them their land and belongings.

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CYRUS AND ALEXANDER D’ GREAT

MuttleyLaff:
Young women start out as virgins. Nobi so, hmm?
In the Old Testament Israelites days, maidens and unmarried young women are called virgins. Capisce?

What is your problem contesting the virgin birth? Do you think it is an impossicant ni? Do you think it never happened ni?
If you think think it never, then what is your reason for arriving at such conclusion?

WHICH GOVERNMENT RESTED ON CHRIST SHOULDERS