Sunday School Les$on
(Continued from Pag* J)
21 she will bear a son, and you
shall call his name Jesus, for
he will save his people from
their sins." 22 All this took place
to fulfil what the Lord had
spoken by the prophet:
23 "Behold, a virgin shall co"iw
ceive and bear a son, and his
name shall be called Emman
u-el"
(which means, God with us).
24 When Joseph woke from
sleep, he did as the angel of
the Lord commanded him; he
took his wife, 25 but knew her
not until she had borne a son;
and he called his name Jesus.
Memory Selection:
She will bear a son, and you
shall call his name Jesus, for
he will save his neople from
their sins. ? Matthew 1:21
Exploring The Questions
Before we discuss further the
questions raised at the begin
ning of this session, we should
be clear in our understanding
of the ideas Matthew wanted
to get over to the Jews.
The idea behind the word
"betrothed" (verse 18) is a
strange one to an American
audience. When Americans think
of marriage, they think of the
the "ideal" of television and the
movies; that is, that a boy and
girl fall in love and, following
a brief or long courtship, they
get married and live happily for
the rest of their lives.
This "ideal" had no place in
the marriage customs in the
days of Joseph and Mary. Mar
riage took place in three steps.
While the future bride and groom
were still children, the parents
might "engage" them, even
though they had never seen each
other. When they were old
enough to think of marriage,
they entered a period of time,
lasting for one year, called the
"betrothal."
Before the betrothal, the bride
could break the engagement if
she did not wish to go through
with the marriage. But after
the betrothal was made, it would
only be ended by divorce. In
spite of the fact that the couple
did not live together, they were
known as husband and wife.
The only way to end a betrothal
was by divorce. Only the man
could get the divorce.
At the end of the year of be
trothal, the marriage itself took
place. The marriage ceremony
was quite simple. The only re
ligious part of the rite was pro
nouncement of a blessing over
the bride by her parents. Since
Jewish marriages were often
completed when the couple was
still young, Joseph and Mary
may have been only in their
teens.
One of the questions that di
vides students of the Bible is
how to understand miracles and
the fulfillment of prophecies.
In writing this lesson I do
not intend to advocate one view
point over another; my effort
t
will be made to outline both
"conservative" and "liberal"
viewpoints. Those who favor one
viewpoint will have an oppor
tunity to learn something about
the other. Persons of all views
should learn to accept other
persons, even though they dis
agree with their viewpoint.
How free do members of your
group feel to discuss differences
of opinion among yourselves?
Is there one person in the group
who always has the "last word"
when you are dealing with dif
ferences? Someone has said that
we do not truly understand the
viewpoint of another person un
til we can argue his case as ef
fectively as he can. Do you feel
you know the viewpoints you
disagree with that well?
Do you think the church
school is a good place to talk
about differences in views? Do
you think all controversy should
be omitted from the church?
If the church school is to truly
be a school, what should the
sessions be like?
Finding Help
With Your Questions
Our procedure now shall be
as follows. We shall first sum
marize what may be called the
"conservative" view of the ful
fillment of prophecy. Then we
shall summarize the "liberal"
view. In each case, we shall
try to state these summaries as
clearly and sympathetically as
their own advocates would. We
shall then discuss some perti
nent issues on which both groups
i may agree.
As I have already stated, the
writer of the Gospel of Mat
thew believed that fulfillment
of the Old Testament prophecies
would influence Jews to accept
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Jesus as the Messiah.
The Jews were hoping for a
Messiah who would come to
restore the nation to its golden
age. Many of them searched the
Scriptures to discover what to
expect in the Messiah. (Remem
ber: only the Law ? the first
five books of the Old Testament
? and the Prophets had been
accepted as Scriptures at the
time of Jesus; see, for instance,
Matthew 7:12 and 22:40.)
Why did not the Jews accept
Jesus as the Messiah? One rea
son was that they hoped for a
political Messiah who would
free them from Rome. Because
Jesus did not become such a
savior, they rejected him. An
other reason was closely related
| to it: that is, they did not be
lieve the Messiah would suffer
and die, as Jesus did. We may
recall from the Gospels that
j Jesus' own disciples rejected this
idea.
Matthew, then, was determin
ed to show the Jews how Jesus
had fulfilled the Old Testament
prophecies. If Jesus had done
what the Old Testament books
had prophesied that the Messiah
would do, then the Jews ought
to accept Matthew's claim that
he was the Messiah.
In the early church, evange
lists, missionaries, and teachers
used this same method to win
converts. They pointed out that
I Jesus' birth, life, death, and
j resurrection were foretold by
the prophets and psalmists.
, Many persons became Christians
because they were convinced of
the validity of the church's claim
for Jesus.
In our own time, many per- .
sons feel that the fulfillment of j
prophecy is one of the strongest
and most secure evidences of
Christian truth.
Two Viewpoints
Let us look a little closer at
this teaching. According to this
"conservative" view, the fulfill
ed prophecy is an evidence or
witness of a super-natural per
son who is making himself
known by these means. The in- ;
dividual who believes God uses
this method to win over his
people does not ask "why" God
has acted in this way. He sim
ply sees that, from Genesis 3:15
on through the rest of the Bible,
prophecies have been uttered
and many have been fulfilled.
To return to the New Testa
! ment Scripture for this lesson,
this person feels that the birth
of Jesus can be accepted as re
liable because he accepts the
prophetic Scripture of the Book
of Isaiah as God's message.
At the same time, this con
servative viewpoint does not
wish to downgrade the work of
the Holy Spirit. Even in the
Virgin Birth, he wishes the em
phasis to be placed on the Spirit,
not on the Virgin. He believes
that the validity of the prophet
ic message is found in the ful
fillment of prophecy. If an event
comes to pass as the prophet
foretold, then that prophet must
be speaking from God.
The liberal point of view
moves from several different
assumptions. One is that the
Bible is self-authenticating in a
spiritual sense but not in a lit
eral sense. That is, even if it
later could be proved that cer
tain prophecies were not fulfill
ed, the Bible would have lost
none of its value.
Another liberal attitude ia
that Christian evidences such
a prophecy and miracles are in
effective before faith and of no
use after one has faith. Still
another view is that such an at
titude toward prophecy as that
held by the conservative makes
the prophet a servant of later
ages but not of his own. These
persons would contend that a
great deal of prophecy is poetry,
that its major purpose was to
change the attitudes and actions
of its first listeners and hearers
(rather than some later genera
tion).
The liberal person would say
that the life, death, and resur
rection of Jesus are the evidence
of his place as the Son of God.
(Continued on Page 7)
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