The only historical evidence of Joseph is in the New Testament. In Matthew 1, Joseph's initial reaction to Mary's pregnancy was to divorce her quietly. Why? Because he was not the father. Otherwise, he had to marry her. See Exodus 22:16-17; Deuteronomy 22:13-29.
Thus, it does not make any sense unless Joseph could prove that Mary was not a virgin when he was engaged or that she committed adultery. She would be stoned for either offense. There is no evidence of either.
2007-12-29 15:31:58
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answer #1
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answered by Wayne C 2
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The doctrine of the virgin birth is crucially important (Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:23; Luke 1:27,34). First, let’s look at how scripture describes the blessed event. In response to Mary’s query, “how?,” Gabriel says, “The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee” (Luke 1:35). The angel encourages Joseph to marry Mary with these words: “that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost” (Matthew 1:20). Matthew states that the virgin “was found with child of the Holy Ghost” (Matthew 1:18). Galatians 4:4 also teaches the Virgin Birth: “God sent forth His Son, made of a woman.”
From these passages, it is certainly clear that Jesus’ birth was the result of the Holy Spirit working within Mary’s body. The immaterial (the Spirit) and the material (Mary’s womb) were both involved. Mary, of course, could not impregnate herself, and in that sense she was simply a “vessel.” Only God could perform the miracle of the Incarnation.
Denying a physical connection between Mary and Jesus would imply that Jesus was not truly human. Scripture teaches that Jesus was fully human, with a physical body like ours. This He received from Mary. At the same time, Jesus was fully God, with an eternal, sinless nature. See John 1:14; 1 Timothy 3:16; and Hebrews 2:14-17.
Jesus was not born in sin; that is, He had no sin nature (Hebrews 7:26). It would seem that the sin nature is passed down from generation to generation through the father (Romans 5:12, 17, 19). The Virgin Birth circumvented the transmission of the sin nature and allowed the eternal God to become a perfect man.
Recommended Resource: Why Believe in Jesus?: Who He Is, What He Did, and His Message for You Today by Tim LaHaye.
2007-12-29 15:20:12
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answer #2
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answered by Freedom 7
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Mary was the Immaculate Conception. Mary became pregnant by the Holy Spirit passing over her. Joseph would have been Jesus's step father or adoptive father
2007-12-29 15:23:54
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answer #3
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answered by tebone0315 7
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No. Jesus was born of Mary by the Holy Spirit. Joseph was essentially his step father.
What do you mean by "how does it make sense?" Do you understand that God is spirit and that there is a spirit world? That you have spirit, soul and body and that spirit can influence the body? These are the things that make sense if you understand the truth. If you think that the world is only what you see then you do not know the truth and of course none of this makes any sense to you because you are blind to the truth. Instead, learn the truth and you will understand and will see how this all works.
2007-12-29 15:14:47
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answer #4
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answered by William D 5
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While I honestly believe in the whole immaculate conception idea and that Joseph was just an understanding man who went along with the whole thing, the very idea has brought up other issues for me that I won't go into here or I'll go off-topic.
2007-12-29 15:13:15
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answer #5
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answered by Tammy_Suto 5
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You are not the only one that has a problem with Jesus' birth, even many well known theologians who lead many people have this same problem. They have to find another job as soon as possible, because they are leading them straight to Hell.
God who created man decided to come to us this way, without the assistance of a man's sperm. You see if He did come the normal way then he would be sinful and we could never have been saved from all of our sins.
You must know, the Bible is the word of Salvation, not a book of science.
After Jesus emaculate birth, Joseph and Mary had other children as well, something the Catholics deny...weird, but it is all in the Bible.
I would like to discuss this with you further, this forum does not lend itself to this. It is an important question, so don't get confused by all of the answers.
2007-12-29 15:21:13
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answer #6
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answered by Anonymous
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How does it make sense? With God there is nothing that is impossible. Joseph was not the actual father of Jesus- and yes the immaculate conception did happen, and yes, Jesus did come to earth and become a man, yet without sin, died on the cross, rose from the dead- to save us from sin- Faith is believing in things that are unseen. I choose to do that- because they whole story is truth.
2007-12-29 15:14:12
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answer #7
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answered by AdoreHim 7
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That's a good question.
It's always been told to me that Joseph was quite upset about the whole immaculate conception thing and was prepared to not marry her. He was prepared to let her be stoned and he made plans to leave the city the next day.
But the Lord gave him a dream... the same dream that Mary had about the birth of her child.
He decided to stay and marry her.
What I find unusual is that after the birth of Jesus, Joseph is never again mentioned again in the Bible.
2007-12-29 15:16:42
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answer #8
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answered by Kaybee 4
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The immaculent conception has nothing to do with the conception of Jesus, the immaculent concepton is that all sin was removed from Mary
2007-12-29 15:15:39
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answer #9
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answered by stashnut7 3
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Here's something you might like to try: go to the website of Anchorstone International and read up on the discovery of the ark of the covenant. There's a very interesting article about the blood of Jesus dripping down from the cross, into a crevice, onto the mercy seat underground. It has been tested in the labs and the results are shocking.
2007-12-29 15:24:57
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answer #10
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answered by superpest_99 4
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