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| Chapter XXXIII.—Manner of Christ’s birth predicted.
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Chapter XXXIII.—Manner of Christ’s
birth predicted.
And hear again how
Isaiah in express words foretold that He should be born of a virgin; for
he spoke thus: “Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bring forth a
son, and they shall say for His name, ‘God with us.’
”1830
For things which were incredible and
seemed impossible with men, these God predicted by the Spirit of prophecy
as about to come to pass, in order that, when they came to pass, there
might be no unbelief, but faith, because of their prediction. But lest
some, not understanding the prophecy now cited, should charge us with the
very things we have been laying to the charge of the poets who say that
Jupiter went in to women through lust, let us try to explain the words.
This, then, “Behold, a virgin shall conceive,” signifies that
a virgin should conceive without intercourse. For if she had had
intercourse with any one whatever, she was no longer a virgin; but the
power of God having come upon the virgin, overshadowed her, and caused
her while yet a virgin to conceive. And the angel of God who was sent to
the same virgin at that time brought her good news, saying,
“Behold, thou shalt conceive of the Holy Ghost, and shalt bear a
Son, and He shall be called the Son of the Highest, and thou shalt call
His name Jesus; for He shall save His people from their sins,”1831
—as
they who have recorded all that concerns our Saviour Jesus Christ have
taught, whom we believed, since by Isaiah also, whom we have now adduced,
the Spirit of prophecy declared that He should be born as we intimated
before. It is
wrong, therefore, to understand the Spirit and the power of God as
anything else than the Word, who is also the first-born of God, as the
foresaid prophet Moses declared; and it was this which, when it came upon
the virgin and overshadowed her, caused her to conceive, not by
intercourse, but by power. And the name Jesus in the Hebrew language
means Σωτήρ (Saviour) in the
Greek tongue. Wherefore, too, the angel said to the virgin, “Thou
shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their
sins.” And that the prophets are inspired1832
| 1832 θεοφοροῦνται, lit. are
borne by a god—a word used of those who were supposed to be
wholly under the influence of a deity. | by no other than the
Divine Word, even you, as I fancy, will grant.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
|
