1.

Read v. 18a. What does ‘Christ’ mean? (Gen 3:15; Isa 61:1; Dan 9:25, 26; Rom 1:3, 4; Acts 2:31; 4:26; 10:38)  What does the birth of the ‘Christ’ mean to men? (Mk 8:27-38)

** Christ, or Messiah, refers to the One the Lord God promised to send to save fallen men and restore them to the Garden of Eden (which man had lost due to his sin against God). It’s literal meaning is “anointed,” indicating the means by which the Christ was/is to fulfill his mission of saving all peoples on earth from their fallen condition, that is, by the (unlimited) power of the Holy Spirit. 

** The birth of the Christ, or Messiah, also means that each person must make effort to learn from him, and struggle to know him, until he can not only make a confession of faith in him as Lord and Savior, but also commit himself fully to following and serving him, so that he will fulfill his purpose for each person (which, again, is to restore each person to his kingdom). 

2.

Read v. 18b.  What does this passage tell us about the uniqueness of Jesus as a human being? (Jn 3:31-35; 1Cor 15:45)  Why is the knowledge of His uniqueness important?  (Jn 3:31; 20:31; 2Cor 1:20-22; Phi 3:10,11) 

** Jesus is from above (meaning directly from God the Father, through the working of the Holy Spirit, without any human father). 

He is different from every human being in that he alone was conceived by the Holy Spirit. 

** He alone is qualified to save men from the mess created by the first man Adam. Einstein once said that the solution to a problem cannot be found on the level at which the problem exists; it must be found on a “higher” level (so to speak). Likewise, Jesus is from above. He is the new (or second) Adam, who was not contaminated by the first Adam’s sin. So he alone can save men from the power of sin and all of its ill effects. 

3.

Read v. 19. What does this passage suggest about the meaning of the word ‘righteous’?  In what respect is Joseph qualified to be the husband of Mary, the mother of Jesus? (Phi 2:3-5)

** It means to look to the interests of others as more important than one’s own interests. In the case of Joseph, he may have thought that Mary had found another lover and thus decided to let her be happy with that “lover”; thus, perhaps he wanted to let her leave him without endangering her standing in Jewish society, since Jewish society looked down upon sex outside of marriage. 

** Christ came to look to all of our interests, so it was apt for Joseph to be “Christ-like.” After all, isn’t it from the hand of the generous wherein we receive generously what is graceful and life-giving? 

4.

Read vs. 20-21. Why do you think the angel might have called Joseph “the son of David”?  Joseph was instructed to name the baby “Jesus.”  Why was this not an easy command to obey?  And why was Joseph to name the son “Jesus”?  What does “save his people from their sins” mean?  Why is this mission important? (Rom 3:23; 2Cor 3:18)

** The angel called Joseph “the son of David” in order to remind him of his status as a custodian of God’s promise to send the Savior from the line of Abraham and David.

** He might have desired to name his first son Joseph Jr. or at least to have some other name of his choice. Plus, in Jewish society the first son in the family was to carry the family name, so that the identity of the family line would be kept. Therefore, having a different name for the first son would mean that Joseph was going against this general consensus built into Jewish society. 

** Because the son to be born was not a normal ”son,” but was in fact the Son of God who came to save his people from their sins.

** The word “save” has different meanings: first of all it means to deliver men from all the ill effects of sin; second, it secures man from being subjected to the power of sin. The Apostle Paul describes it in three steps: justification, sanctification, and glorification. Justification is to forgive man of sins, qualifying man to become righteous as if he has never sinned before God. Sanctification helps man to be cleansed of sins, equipping man with the power to overcome evil. Glorification refers to the work of God who transforms man into Jesus’ likeness in increasing measure. 

** This mission (saving men from their sins) was important because it was sin which caused man to be separated from God and fall from his glorious status as the crown of God’s creation: thus, when Jesus resolved the problem of sin, man could once again come to have the hope of regaining his glorious status as a child of God (in the true sense of the title “child of God”). 

5.

Read vs. 22-23.  Who is “the prophet”?  What scripture does the birth narrative of Jesus fulfill?  Why is this fulfillment important?  What does the word “Immanuel” mean to you?

** Isaiah, which means “Yahweh is God.” 

** Isaiah 7-8, especially 7:14. 

** It means “God with us (me),” so that it is inexcusable if I say, “Oh I don’t know God” or “I am lost.” Plus, the Christ has four titles, that is, Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace, indicating that because he is with us, we have every reason to overcome our lowly state and bounce back to our exalted state as a child of God; we have the hope to grow from a self-seeking man to a man seeking God the Father and his kingdom (just as Matthew the ex-tax collector did). 

6. 

Read vs. 24-25.  What can we learn from Joseph? 

** He put himself in the Lord’s service by subjecting his body, emotions, human desires, etc. to the will of God. 

**

Write a testimony and share it with one another based on one thing you learned from studying the passage.