Matthew 1:23
Bible verses · Also called: Matt. 1:23, Mt 1:23, Emmanuel, Immanuel, God with us, A virgin shall be with child
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Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.
The text is the New Korean Revised Version (1998), shown under a licence from the Korean Bible Society. Wording may differ slightly from the Korean Revised Version and the Revised New Korean Standard Version. Read in the Korean Revised Version
Matthew 1:23 records Matthew's testimony that the prophecy that a virgin would bear a son, whose name would be called Emmanuel, meaning "God with us," was fulfilled in the birth of Jesus. It is one of the best-known Christmas verses and the central text in the debate over the virgin birth.
Context
The Gospel of Matthew opens with the genealogy of Jesus and then recounts his birth from Joseph's perspective. When Joseph learns that his betrothed, Mary, is with child and resolves to break off the engagement quietly, the angel of the Lord appears to him in a dream and tells him that the child was conceived of the Holy Spirit. Matthew states that this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, and he quotes Isaiah 7:14. Isaiah 7 depicts God giving a sign to Ahaz, king of Judah, who is afraid in the face of an invasion by Aram and the northern kingdom of Israel.
Interpretation
- As fulfilled prophecy: This view holds that Isaiah's prophecy referred from the outset to the virgin birth of the Messiah and was literally fulfilled in Jesus.
- As double fulfillment or typology: This view holds that a child born in Isaiah's own day was the initial sign, and that the sign was fulfilled in a fuller sense in Jesus.
- The meaning of Emmanuel: The Gospel of Matthew closes with the words "lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world" (Matthew 28:20). Because the Gospel is framed at its beginning and end by the theme of God's presence, many interpreters regard God's being with his people in Jesus as the theme of the entire Gospel.
Controversy and Debate
The Hebrew word almah in Isaiah 7:14 denotes a young woman of marriageable age and differs from betulah, which more clearly designates a virgin. The Septuagint, the ancient Greek translation, however, rendered the word as parthenos (virgin), and Matthew followed this translation. Because of this difference, Bible translations that rendered the word as "young woman" have at times provoked opposition from conservative churches.
In the early twentieth-century controversy between fundamentalism and liberal theology, the virgin birth was counted among the essential, non-negotiable doctrines. Most denominations confess the words of the Apostles' Creed, "born of the Virgin Mary," and regard this verse as a foundation for belief in the Incarnation.
In the Korean Church
It is the verse most frequently used in Advent and Christmas sermons and on Christmas cards and decorations, and "Immanuel" is also a common church name.
Related Passages
- Isaiah 7:14
- Isaiah 9:6
- Luke 1:34-35
- Matthew 28:20
See also 6
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