Eduqas Alevel RS Christianity Theme 1: A Jesus’ Birth

What is a birth narrative

The account of Jesus' birth in the gospels of Matthew and Luke

What is Benedictus

The first word of Zechariah's prophecy; Latin: blessed; the prophecy begins blessed be the Lord God of Isreal

Which gospels talk about the birth narratives

Matthew and Luke

What does Matthew say about the birth narratives

-Focuses on Joseph rather than Mary

- an unnamed angle visited Joseph and explains the birth

- Jospeh then marries Mary

- The baby boy is then born in a house in Bethlehem

- The wise men (MAGI) then visit Jesus who followed a star from the east

- Matthew doesn't say how many wise men were present we assume that there were three gifts presented to Jesus at birth

- Matthew then states how the wise men tricked Herod and how then Herod reacted by killing all of the children in Bethlehem under the age of 2.

What does Luke say about the Birth narratives

- Luke focuses on Mary rather than Joseph

- An angle named Gabriel visited and informed Mary of her pregnancy, there is no moment of marriage

- Mary vistsis her sister Elizabeth who is also pregnant, she expresses her joy in a famous hymn called Magnificat

- Elizabeth gives birth to John the Baptist

- Luke then talks about Caesar Augustus who made it necessary for all those to be registered in Bethlehem

- They found no room in the Inn and has to give birth in a stable and Jesus was placed in a manger

- Shepards are informed of Jesus' birth birth by angels and immediately travel to Bethlehem to visit him

- Eight days after the birth Jesus is presented at the Temple of Jerusalem

- he is mysteriously recognised by Simeon and Anna

How were angels presented

M: unnamed to Joseph

L: angle Gabriel to Mary (the ANNUNCIATION)

How was Mary and Joseph presented

M: Jospeh marries Mary

J: Joseph is engaged to Mary the census happens and Mary visits Elizabeth

How were the visitors presented

M: The wise men visited Jesus after his birth

L: the Shepards visited

How was the temple presented

L: the presentation of Jesus in the Temples of Simeon's song

How was Herod presented

Only in Matthew where he slaughtered all of the boy infants

How was the return journey presented

M:The flight to Egypt, the return to Nazareth from Egypt

L: the return to Nazareth from Jerusalem

How was the chronological element presented

M: states Jesus was born in the days of Herod the King

L: Luke is more specific, he says that we are told when 'Quirinius was governor of Syria'

What is the historicity of the accounts of Jesus' birth

Matthew: gives very little historical detain, only pinpoint would be Herod's massacre or all the infants in Bethlehem following hearing about Jesus being the new king. The massacre is not recorded In any other historical record, ideas are then presented to suggest that Matthew pulled parallels between Moses and Jesus to appeal more to new followers. (Old Testament shows the hero was also threatened by the Pharaoh when he rescued the slaves) (Herod did however kill his children to keep his power playing into hs violent nature)

Luke: inisits that his account of Jesus' birth is accurate but we know that it is not fully correct. He says it happens when Quirinius was governor of Syria but he rules between 6-12 CE not during the days of Herod who died in 4CE

"I DECIED AFTER INVESTIGATING EVERYTHING CAREFULLY FROM THE VERY FIRST, TO WRITE AN ORDERLY ACCOUNT" Luke 1:3

What super natural events were seen in Matthew and Lukes account of the birth

Matthew: an angel visited Joseph three times to announce of Mary's baby which would be conceived by the Holy Spirit. An angel also appears to the wise men and a star to guide them the correct way

Luke: the angle Gabriel appears to Mary, when Mary visits Elizabeth her unborn baby leaps into Mary's womb and recognises Jesus. The Shepards are visited by a choir of angles, Jesus is recognised as the messiah by Simeon and Anna at the temple

—> Both accounts describe how Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of a virgin. This shows he was human by virtue and divine by being God, His brith was a miracle that cannot be explained by science, pure evidence that Jesus was both divine and human

Can the accounts be harmonised

The differences in the accounts have lead to people thinking they are both incorrect, if the stories were true then they would be more consistent. Others argue that the two are allowed to be different, they do not directly contradict each other which means that they could both be true, they may not have had the same access to the information.

People believe that Luke might have received the information about the birth straight from Mary herself, explaining how he knew about the Annunication and MArys visit to Elizabeth. There is also the possibility that Jesus was visited by both the Shepherds and the Wise Men.

On the other hand there are some similarities: Jesus born in Bethlehem when Herod was ruling, the name of his mother was Mary and she was betrothed to Joseph. Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit and that people came to visit Him.

What is redaction criticism?

The theory that the NT writers altered existing material about Jesus to suit their own agenda. It is argued that each author had traditions and beliefs about Jesus however the writer then chose the material they wanted to include in their accounts to convey a certain message. They can choose to commit certain passages and emphasise others

What is an example of the redaction criticisms

Matthew is known for wanting his gospel to appeal to the Jewish people so he focuses on Joseph to show how Jesus was connected to King David. He also references the OT prophets through by focusing on the magi bist it shows how Jesus is a king for everyone not just the Jewish people because the magi were gentiles

When did redaction criticism begin?

Germany in 1940

what was Lukes agenda

Luke is the only non jewish writer. He therefore does not focus on only appealing to the Jewish readers and references the OT less throughout his book.

--> less keen to show the connection between Jesus nd King David

--> Focused on Mary and how Jesus was the king to all not just the Jewish and rich ~ shown through the Shepards and Jesus going to the temple as a child "A PAIR OF TURTLE DOVES OR TWO YOUNG PIGEONS ON SUCH OCCASIONS WEALTHY PEOPLE WERE EXPECTED TO SACRIFICE A LAMB" LEVITICUS 12.8

what was Matthews agenda

Matthew was Jewish and a tax collector, he had a keen link with the OT prophecies being fulfilled and often drew connections with his book and them.

--> Central themes of promise and fulfilment to provide Hope

--> Highlights the genealogy of Jesus - descendent of King David and therefore the Messiah, his lineage being from two of the most important people in the Bible

what is the sitze im leben

phrase often used in relation to redaction criticisms and translates to 'setting in life'. It is the belief that any piece of writing has taken the shape of three main settings:

1. teaching from historical Jesus

2. life of early church

3. thoughts of the evangelists

what was the incarnation

Jesus taking on flesh. Belief in the incarnation is a central Christian belief

quote for the incarnation

"the word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as the Son from the Father" John 1:14

"For us and our salvation, he came down from heaven, he became incarnate by the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary" The Nicene Creed

what is the hypostatic union

the union of Christ's divine nature and his human nature in one divine-human person

how do we know that Jesus is fully divine

- he existed from the beginning with God and was God

- his appearance was brief and he then ascended into Heaven as it is eternal there

- performed miracles

- Born to a virgin

- Starts, wise men and angels

how do we know that Jesus is fully human

- he was born of flesh and blood through a standard birth

- he was shown to experience human emotion e.g pain, weakness and anger

- He died on the cross

what is the Kenotic theory

That Jesus emptied himself of his divine attributes while on earth, proof of the incarnation and the Hispanic union

quote for the kenotic theory

"Though He was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness" St Paul

how does the kenotic theory indicate that Jesus 'emptied' Himself

St Pauls letters:

1. A pre incarnate self limitation by Jesus. he agrees to take the form of a slave, being born in human liken less whilst maintaining a substantial presence of being of divine nature

2. Emptying how own will as human and submitting to the will of God

3. is an indication of God's will and of Jesus' ethic of sacrifice

there is further evidence in Luke's gospel:

-> The rich who are full of themselves need to be emptied and those who are empty (in their beliefs and attitudes) need to be filled. So the roles are reversers in much the same was as Jesus, the glorious divine one, choose to revise his own and become an obedient servant. Also shown when Marys says 'rich are emptied and poor filled with good things."

--> 'HERE AM I THE SERVANT OF THE LORD, LET IT BE WITH ME ACCORDING TO YOUR WORD' LUKE 1:38

what was Jesus' self limitations

Jesus at times emptied himself of the divine qualities such as omniscience and omnipotence but retaining moral quantities. Thomas Aquinas was keen to show Jesus was not deducting his power through saw this pre incarnate limitation but it was more of an ethical move by Jesus. Christ was poured out like water 'emptying himself whereby the invisible made himself visible, was a bending down of mercy not a fall from power.'

what are the kenotic approaches

The notion of kenoticism was popular amongst German theologians as they believed that Christ emptied or simply set aside these characteristics. Scholar Thomas's stated that there was a deliberate setting aside of divine attributes to achieve a human state, christ voluntarily abandoned all privileges of divinity

what is the substantial presence

the divinity of christ, although unseen God is fully present. Not symbolically but for example through the eucharist. Jesus is referred to as Immanuel in Matthews book

what does Immanuel mean

God with us

both kenosis and substantial presence?

so even though Jesus has emptied himself (kenosis theory) of the divine attributes, he is also fully present through substantial presence, this is possible through the belief in the incarnation

do the brith narratives provide insight into the incarnation?

YES:

- the stories are supported by other supernatural elements of the Bible, for example the shepherd being a guided by a star

• Matthew 1:23 calls Jesus 'Immanuel', meaning 'God with us'. Even at this early stage it is arguably clear that readers are to understand Jesus and God in human form.

• In Matthew's account, the wise men express a desire to worship Jesus and do so (Matthew 2:2, 2:11) This implies that Jesus' divinity was understood from the outset even by non Jews

• Matthew and Luke do agree on standard points such as Jesus being the Messiah, that he was conceived through the Holy Spirit and Mary was a virgin- these points all lead to the belief in the incarnation. It is irrelevant to this belief whether that agree if he was visited by shepherds or magi.

NO:

- there are some discrpancies between Matthew and Luke's accounts which raises questions on validity

• theologians have explored the use of wording - Matthew uses the Septuagint and the word Parenthenos to mean virgin to translate the original use of Hebrew Almah. However almah does nit mean virgin it means young woman of marrgiageable age

• Although Luke uses the term 'son of god' (Luke 1:35) this title was used broadly at the time for great (political) leaders without implying divinity.

• Redaction criticism appears that the Gospel writers are writing for their own purpose- could this be the case with the birth narratives? If so, does this take away from their central message of the incarnation?