No, and here's why...
The Messiah was to be of the lineage of David; Joseph was a descendant of David, but since Mary was "miraculously" impregnated by God, Joseph had nothing to do with it.
Hmmm...
2007-05-16 19:47:07
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answer #1
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answered by Mitchell L 1
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There are many views of exactly what Christianity IS. The Orientals view it as "the American way of life," while the Jews hold it to be a corruption of Judaism, a fantastic hoax. The Arabs (of Islam) believe Christianity is a sect of Judaism and that Jesus was a prophet of Mohammed. The Hindus believe it is just one of the many world religions of one of many gods. Many today see Jesus as merely a great philosopher and therefore view Christianity as "a philosophy of life." But to the Christian, Christianity means "Christ-like." That is, though Christ was a MAN, he was even more THE SON OF GOD, and if we are like him, then we, too, become a son of God! (THIS WAS THE BLASPHEMY FOR WHICH THE JEWS CRUCIFIED CHRIST: HE CLAIMED TO BE GOD! THEY THOUGHT HE WAS JUST A MAN--A FALSE PROPHET! The Jews are still looking for a political messiah or christ who will restore the glory of the nation of Israel.)
The whole of Christianity rests on one's initial assumption: Is Jesus the Christ, the Son of the living God? (Acts 8: 36-37) If he is, then there must be some revelation of the same. The Bible is that revelation from God, about Jesus, through men, for men. From its pages we learn that Jesus claims ALL authority (Matt. 28: 18-20), that at the Second Coming, EVERY knee shall bow (Philip. 2: 10), and that Jesus is in the process of destroying all rule, authority, and power (1 Cor.15: 22-29). Man either accepts or rejects this claim.
Christ, the man who depicts the nature of God, is called by several names in Scripture: Christ or Messiah (meaning "anointed"), Jesus (meaning "Jehovah Savior"), Lord (meaning "ruler"), and Logos (meaning "Word"). At least four natures of Christ are revealed to us in the Bible: His preincarnate nature, his carnate nature (flesh), his sinless nature, and his resurrected nature.
First, Jesus was PRE-INCARNATE (Jno. 1: 1). He was in the beginning (preceding Gen. 1: 26) and therefore unlimited by time. He was with God in perfect fellowship. Indeed, he was God in essence. He is the image of the invisible God, before all things, and he is the staying power of all creation (Col. 1: 15 ff). Since he came FROM God and returned TO God (Jno. 16: 28), he is equal in nature and timeless in essence. While he was on earth we know he desired his pre-incarnate glory.
At a point selected by God, Jesus divested himself of that glory (Phil. 2: 5) and took the form of a man to depict God in human form. So Jesus was born of a union of Mary and the Holy Spirit and became at once humanly perfect and perfectly human. Made like a man in EVERY respect (Heb. 2: 17), the Word became FLESH (Jno. 1: 14). He became a normal Jewish child (Luke 2) with brothers and sisters (Matt. 13: 55), and he ate, slept, wept, thirsted, got angry, was joyful, etc.
But Jesus remained SINLESS, perfectly obedient to the will of God (Jno. 4: 34). Jesus had a choice (Heb. 4: 15), but he always chose the escape from temptation that God had promised (1 Cor. 10: 13). He never rejected the will of God, even though he knew it meant death on a cross (Jno. 12: 27). For our sake, he became SIN and we became the righteousness of God (2 Cor. 5: 21)! The Logos of the cross is the power of God to US! What a shame that only a Roman soldier confessed Jesus as the Son of God in his hour of trial (Matt. 27: 54). Christ on the cross was all that God could want in a man AND all that man could want in a God. So the Second Adam united God and man.
The real proof, however, was in the RESURRECTED Christ. He had predicted his own resurrection (Matt. 12: 40) and by it proved himself to be the life-hope of man (Jno. 11: 25). He proved himself to be sinless since death had no hold on him. During the 40 days' appearances, Jesus lived by the Spirit--no longer by blood (Jno. 20: 19, 26)--and he proved life after death a reality; he promised the same life to his disciples, and then he ascended to his pre-incarnate glory (Phil. 2: 5, Jno 17: 5). Now, he is seated at the right hand of God (Col. 3: 1) as our high priest forever (Heb. 5: 9) STILL vitally concerned with our salvation! Through Christ, who will reign until the Second Coming, man can approach and experience fellowship with God (1 Jno. 2: 1)!
2007-05-17 02:48:13
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answer #5
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answered by Interested Reader 6
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