'The Emmanuel' and 'The Messiah'
'Emmanuel' means 'God with us', given in the Old Testament as a prophecy of Isaiah for a confirmation of God's intentions to assist Ahaz, king of Judah, against the surrounding kingdoms that wanted to jointly attack him (Isaiah, 7:14). On the refusal of Ahaz to ask for a sign that he will not be given up into the hands of his enemies, the Lord Himself gives him a sign. It is that a young woman is with child who will bear a son and call him Emmanuel. A time of hardship will be followed by a period of prosperity , signified by eating curds and honey, as the child grows up. Since the name of the child means that God is with us, God will never abandon His people in spite of many trying circumstances even when it is only a remnant of the whole people of God (Isaiah, 8:8 &10).
The 'young woman' of the Hebrew Old Testament has turned out to be the 'virgin' of the Greek Septuagint that is carried over by Matthew in his reference to the birth of Jesus from Mary (Matthew, 1:23). According to tradition, the name 'Septuagint' originated from the mode of its writing in Greek by 70 Jewish elders reproducing the entire Old Testament from memory. In such a mammoth undertaking the inspiration of the Holy Spirit could not be absent and thus the change from 'young woman' to 'virgin' in Septuagint should be considered to have occurred through the same inspiration. Again, we must note the changed circumstances of the times when the Hebrew and Greek Old Testaments were written. In the former the immediate context was the danger faced by King Ahaz for whom the sign required was connected with the birth and growth of the child in times of adversity and prosperity where the mother of the child was not needed as a sign. In the latter case, however, far removed from the original context, the sign-value of the mother of the child had to be prominent in order to make sense of the passage for the contemporaries of the Greek Old Testament. For, a young woman giving birth has no special significance by itself unlike in the case of a virgin, given the fact that the threat to the kingdom of Israel was far removed from the consciousness of the people at the time of the translation of the Hebrew Bible into Greek. Thus it was only fitting if the Greek translation changed the 'young woman' of the Hebrew text to the 'virgin' of the Greek one. The fuller meaning of the text, implying the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, was to be fulfilled by the birth of Jesus from Virgin Mary. Matthew in his Gospel quoted from the Greek version whereby both the Virgin Mary and Jesus have the sign-value intended by God for His being with us forever. Matthew is careful to clarify the full import of God's being with us by stating that it is by the Holy Spirit that Mary had conceived the child. This was primarily to address the concern of Joseph who was perplexed by the events he could not understand (Matthew, 1: 18-21). It is Luke who clearly mentions that Jesus is the Son of God in the context of the message to Mary through the angel (Luke, 1: 28-35). In this passage, Luke clearly distinguishes between the titles pf "Messiah" and "Son of God" to be later reinforced at his trial before the Sanhedrin (Luke, 22: 66-71) confirming that he is more than the expected Messiah, being the very Son of God.
Being the chosen one of God, the Messiah is the Son of God par excellence who is declared as His Son and God as his Father (Psalm, 2:7). King David who is commonly believed to be the author of Psalms is considered God's son in virtue of his being the type of the Messiah (Psalm, 2: 6). This is true of anyone holding authority from God like the leaders of the people, judges, kings, princes. etc., who too was called a son of God. A king appointed by God as prefiguring the role of the expected Messiah was honored with the title 'son of God'. The Messiah, besides being the Son of God, was also called Emmanuel, the wonderful counselor, God the Mighty, the Father of all time and Prince pf peace (Isaiah 8:8; 9:6).
That the Messiah turned out to be much more in the person of Jesus than expected from the Old Testament was one of the reasons that the Jews could not accept Jesus as the Messiah. Their thinking was very materialistic in the line of an earthly kingdom taking shape from the kingdom of David. Jesus being the son of David was the one destined to occupy the throne of David, though in a spiritual sense and with a universal note of his kingship. Being a priest according to the order of Melchizedek, Jesus is the universal priest and being the very Word of God he is the prophet of all prophets. All the attributes of the Messiah as king, priest and prophet are eminently fulfilled in Jesus Christ and thus he is the Son of God, unparalleled by any other person to whom the title 'son of God' was attributed in the course of history. When Luke calls Adam son of God (Luke, 3: 38), it is meant to indicate his status as the first parent of humanity and that his origin is solely from God. We should clearly understand at this point that Jesus is the perfect Messiah because he is the Son of God and not that he is the Son of God because he is the Messiah. The reason for this affirmation is based on the insight that from eternity as Word of God and as His Son Jesus was with the Father laying the foundations of the Universe. Next few Posts will consider the New Testament use of the title 'The Son of God'.
'Emmanuel' means 'God with us', given in the Old Testament as a prophecy of Isaiah for a confirmation of God's intentions to assist Ahaz, king of Judah, against the surrounding kingdoms that wanted to jointly attack him (Isaiah, 7:14). On the refusal of Ahaz to ask for a sign that he will not be given up into the hands of his enemies, the Lord Himself gives him a sign. It is that a young woman is with child who will bear a son and call him Emmanuel. A time of hardship will be followed by a period of prosperity , signified by eating curds and honey, as the child grows up. Since the name of the child means that God is with us, God will never abandon His people in spite of many trying circumstances even when it is only a remnant of the whole people of God (Isaiah, 8:8 &10).
The 'young woman' of the Hebrew Old Testament has turned out to be the 'virgin' of the Greek Septuagint that is carried over by Matthew in his reference to the birth of Jesus from Mary (Matthew, 1:23). According to tradition, the name 'Septuagint' originated from the mode of its writing in Greek by 70 Jewish elders reproducing the entire Old Testament from memory. In such a mammoth undertaking the inspiration of the Holy Spirit could not be absent and thus the change from 'young woman' to 'virgin' in Septuagint should be considered to have occurred through the same inspiration. Again, we must note the changed circumstances of the times when the Hebrew and Greek Old Testaments were written. In the former the immediate context was the danger faced by King Ahaz for whom the sign required was connected with the birth and growth of the child in times of adversity and prosperity where the mother of the child was not needed as a sign. In the latter case, however, far removed from the original context, the sign-value of the mother of the child had to be prominent in order to make sense of the passage for the contemporaries of the Greek Old Testament. For, a young woman giving birth has no special significance by itself unlike in the case of a virgin, given the fact that the threat to the kingdom of Israel was far removed from the consciousness of the people at the time of the translation of the Hebrew Bible into Greek. Thus it was only fitting if the Greek translation changed the 'young woman' of the Hebrew text to the 'virgin' of the Greek one. The fuller meaning of the text, implying the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, was to be fulfilled by the birth of Jesus from Virgin Mary. Matthew in his Gospel quoted from the Greek version whereby both the Virgin Mary and Jesus have the sign-value intended by God for His being with us forever. Matthew is careful to clarify the full import of God's being with us by stating that it is by the Holy Spirit that Mary had conceived the child. This was primarily to address the concern of Joseph who was perplexed by the events he could not understand (Matthew, 1: 18-21). It is Luke who clearly mentions that Jesus is the Son of God in the context of the message to Mary through the angel (Luke, 1: 28-35). In this passage, Luke clearly distinguishes between the titles pf "Messiah" and "Son of God" to be later reinforced at his trial before the Sanhedrin (Luke, 22: 66-71) confirming that he is more than the expected Messiah, being the very Son of God.
Being the chosen one of God, the Messiah is the Son of God par excellence who is declared as His Son and God as his Father (Psalm, 2:7). King David who is commonly believed to be the author of Psalms is considered God's son in virtue of his being the type of the Messiah (Psalm, 2: 6). This is true of anyone holding authority from God like the leaders of the people, judges, kings, princes. etc., who too was called a son of God. A king appointed by God as prefiguring the role of the expected Messiah was honored with the title 'son of God'. The Messiah, besides being the Son of God, was also called Emmanuel, the wonderful counselor, God the Mighty, the Father of all time and Prince pf peace (Isaiah 8:8; 9:6).
That the Messiah turned out to be much more in the person of Jesus than expected from the Old Testament was one of the reasons that the Jews could not accept Jesus as the Messiah. Their thinking was very materialistic in the line of an earthly kingdom taking shape from the kingdom of David. Jesus being the son of David was the one destined to occupy the throne of David, though in a spiritual sense and with a universal note of his kingship. Being a priest according to the order of Melchizedek, Jesus is the universal priest and being the very Word of God he is the prophet of all prophets. All the attributes of the Messiah as king, priest and prophet are eminently fulfilled in Jesus Christ and thus he is the Son of God, unparalleled by any other person to whom the title 'son of God' was attributed in the course of history. When Luke calls Adam son of God (Luke, 3: 38), it is meant to indicate his status as the first parent of humanity and that his origin is solely from God. We should clearly understand at this point that Jesus is the perfect Messiah because he is the Son of God and not that he is the Son of God because he is the Messiah. The reason for this affirmation is based on the insight that from eternity as Word of God and as His Son Jesus was with the Father laying the foundations of the Universe. Next few Posts will consider the New Testament use of the title 'The Son of God'.
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