ivlrylt

).z,Aa-

t^tt.a+ sLrqil

(wi do $t^

,,e;f'u. .Tesas

*Lrnl"

'is

,rll"d th*,lt?

TUE Brnru oF JESUS Cunrsr

MichaelK. Parson
kru^ "

Iti"
PreparedforiluCEs con{erenceonrheNewTutamentat}rtglwnYomgUniwrsitl
oa
a_]""*S![il{g
e,.r*q
'ru" e41t
da.,nalf $:t r,uth- 1*6 Loi fo t4* *,t*,*, (n*t u^)
Eio, lnl Io!,^
dic
^al

!t-lt

CHRONOLOGICAL OROBR OF EVENTS

ceremonial separation akin to divorce; yet an espousal was but an

engagement to marry, not a marriage. \X/hen Joseph greeted his
promised biide after her tfuee monrhs' absence, he lry-algreatly

Luke 1:26-56

Matthew 1:18-25

distressed over the indications of her

Luke 2:1-5
3 Nephi

1.rarrruil

l:4-14

Luke 2:6-20

prorp..riufiliiffi-

j, i;i:i,

+X, ".)'y_.IL

*.,'

wtaYlttr .ltqzo'afu t" la.tt&.lv^-berr6t_o* t, P.$erJ ).fak/Ontur

J. "The uxing . . . may properly be understood as an

/4Ar3

enrollmenr, or a registration, whereby a ceruus of Roman subjecrs

wouid be secured, upon which as a basis rhe taxarion of the
different peoples would be determined. . . . Had the census been
taken by the usual Roman method, each person would have been
enrolied at rhe town of his residence; but the Jewish custo& for
which the Roman law had respect, necessitated registrarion at the
cities or towns claimed by the respective families as their ancestral
homes" (Ihlmage, Jesru tle C ,ist,91-92).

3 Nepht 1:21

2i3-73-

Luke2:40-52
Matthew Z:23 (see footnote c)
Doctrine and Covenanrs 93:11-14
3 J..le lC - +t J dnl,s "lar**ts r["u7

THE ROYAL DAV1DIC LINE

\-.

84)

CENSUS AND TAxING

l:15-20
Luke 2:Zl-39
Idatthew 2:1-12 3 Nephi

Matthew

l*

us the christ,

,u55

1. " [Mary] was of the lineage of David. . . . 1ir- /&2".d\

"In common with other daughters of Israel, specifically those

THE BIRTH OF CHRIST

of the tribe of Judah and of known descenr from David, Mary

4. "Can we speak too highly of her whom the lord has blessed
had doubdess conremplated, with holy joy and ecstasy, the
above all women? There was only one Christ, and there is only orre
coming of rhe Messiah rhrough the royal line; she knew that
Mary. Each was noble and great in preexistence, and each wa^s
some Jewish maiden was yet ro become the mother of rhe Christ.
fo.reordained to the ministry he or she perforrned.'!7e cannot but
. . . [The angel told her:] 'Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found
thlrk that the Father would choose the greatest female spirit to be
favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb,
the mother of his Son, even as he chose the male spirit like unto
and bring forth a son, and shait call his name JESUS. He shall be
him to be the Savior" (Bruce R. McConkie,TfuMortnllr,{essiah:
great, and shall be called the Son of the Highesu and the Lord
Fr om B etlilchem to Calu ar1, 4 vols. [ 1 9 7 9-8 Ll, 1 :3 ZGZT ) .
God shall give unro him the throne of his father David: and he
5. "The virgin birth has reference to the birth of Christ and is
shall reign over the house ofJacob for ever; and ofhis kingdom
a true doctrine; the immaculate cone.eprion has reference to the
there shall be no end" [Luke 1:30-33]. . . .
birth of Mary and b :-felsq dggllhe" (Bruce R. McConkie,
"ln all the persecutioru waged by His implacable haters, in all
Mormon Doctire, Znd ed. 11966), 37 6).
the false accusarions brought against Him, in the specific charges
6. "Late iv{arch through early April was lambing season, and
of sacrilege and blasphemy based on His acknowledgment of the
shepherds may have been laboring in Bethlehem's hillside fields
Messiatship as His own, no menrion is found of even an
the night of ihrist's birth, qqisdn-g the ewes in the biIltts-olrheirllifr!'i
insinuarion that He could not be the Christ through any
+arsb It is likely that these were no ordinary animals, for lew$[f;f;ff
ineligibiliry based on lineage. . . .
law proclaimed that oniy flocks designated for temple sacrifice'1l".',il,a. t*
'At the time of the Savior's birth, Israel was ruied bv alien
could be raised near cities" (PaulThomas Smith, "Birth of tf,#ij".trf,1.'li'"
monarchs. The rights of the royal Davidic fa*iir/6}r+ 1\1)
Messiah," Eruign, Dec. 199'1, 40,43).
unrecognized; and the ruler of the Jews was ur
7. 'Justin Marryr, the Apologist, who, from his birth at
Rome. Had Judah been a free and independent "ppoi.rt."Tf"J
Shechern, was familiar with Palestine, and who lived less than a
narion, ruled by
her rightful sovereign, Joseph rhe carpenter would have been her
-gentury after the rime of our lord, places the scene of the nativiry
crowned king; and his lawful successor to the rhrone would have
Eq-.*;] , , It is one of rhe few [tiaditions] to which, though
:en
qf rhe Jevqsll (James E. Thlmage,
r.rnrecorded in the Gospel history we may attach a reasonable
#,csus rhe Christ,3rd ed. [1916], ?9-q0, B7).
uer,[d',.. bu" +lr4 pr-obabiliry" (Thlmage,Jesus rhe Chnsr, 106).

ESPOUSED

wTT

5'He:t

il,^

CLrrisl
Je'*s'.t{F vvot

H9h 0r,.e:+

wr,atdle bar" lL4

w,rJr <rte"k11rE oNLy BpcormN

2. "Betrorhal, or espousal, in that time was in sonre respecrs

binding as.the narriage vow, and could only be set aside by a
'JosePf,-

s$tr

f'W}'er

Whe^

tle Ualult

oF TrrE FATHER

as

B. "The most fundamental docrrine of uue Christianiry is the

divine birth of the chiid Jesus. 'I his doctrine is not generaiiy
t*rt i,)h+ F--qdarov|r,- f,il+ dp(k^-.rd b,.rr5i,,t,rub *o,{, 4rq,tt slark,w{s,

i'ti*J*

ttscprn

r-c^{ +"e7yf-b<-aa6 nyr:* b*e

A^e&" $-e*r *aYIM-

r*-}d

con:prehended by the v,,orId. The parem"ir)r of Jesus Clrrist is one of

the 'm1,s1s1iss of godli:ress' coilprehendcci only by rhe spirituaily.
nrinded" (EzraTak Benson, Con-'e t41n Chrisr [1983],2).

9...T]redoctrineof'h.@1iesatt1refoundatiorr

of true reiigion; u,ithout it, elffiEcomes just anotlier man, a

great nroral teacheL or q,har have ),ou, u,itirout power to rar1so1r1,
to redeern, and to save" (McCortkie,MorwlMessiah, t:314).
10. "That Chiid to be bor"n of Mar1, u,as begotten of Elohim, dre
Erer:rai Fatirer, nor in violation of natural law but in accordance
u,ith a higirer manifesmtion thereof; and, dre of{spring from tlr.at
association of supreme sanctity, celestial Sireship, and pure though
urorcal ir:.aterniry, was of right to be cailed rhe 'Son of the Highest.'
. . . The Chiid Jesus was ro inherit the physical, menra| and
spirituai traim, tendencies, and powem that characterized His
pal-en$*-one inrmortal and gloriffed--Cod, the other hunran-

{tttUt t*r"'Kii

HEROD
'

16. 'Augustus Caesar hulself said of Herod: 'lt is better to be'

"\--,,
Herod's pig than iris son,' whic]r in the language spokei'i vTas
pun, and meant that since Herod u,as a Jeul he could not kili
and eat liis pig and it u,ould therefore be safer than his sort. . . .
". . . \(/e assunle that dre children [ire ordered kiiled] tvele
ferreted out by assassins and infonlers, urho rvent as Judases rr
disguise. JSome] conciude that the number slain did not exceed

twenty" (McConkie, Moral Messiah, 1 :3624i).

Note: For further reading about l{erod, see James E. Tahnage,
(:. 119) and the Bible Dictionary (p 700).

Jesusthc Chnsr

CHRIST,S KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING

\tr,ol'rlan" (Thirnage,Jesus dle Chnsr, B1).

11. "The tesrimor-ries of appointed witnesses leave no question^

as to the paterniry of Jesus Christ. God was the Father of lesusl
mortal tabernacie, and Marv. a nrortai wonran, was His mothel i
Ily deserves the !

i
title 'the Only Begoren Son of God.' . . .
"The Chuich Jf 1"su, Christ of Latter-day Saints prociaims .f
that Jesus Christ is rhe Son of God in the most literal sense. The !
body in which He performed His mission in the flesh was sired ;
by that same Holy Being we worship as God, our Etemal Father. f
Jesus u,as not the son of Joseph, qqr utu He begotten by the J
Holy Ghost. He is the Son of the Etemal Father!" @enson, i
ComeffiClvist,34). HG{rgsi\ \arr& .f\r; r-i1
="
12. "How and by what means and through whoie
:
instrumentaliry does such a conception come? . . .
",
". . . 'S7hen God is involved, he uses his minister, the Holy f
-Girost, to overshadow the future mother and to carry her away
in the Spirit. She shall conceive by the power of tire Hoiy Ghost,
and God himself shall be the sire. . . . A son is begotten by a
father: whether on earth or in heaven it is the sanre"
(McConkie, Morwl Messia/r, 1:319; see also Ahna ?:9-10).
13. "To be 'car:ied away in dre Spir-iC means to be transported
bodiiy fiom one location to another, . . .
"'!ilithour overstepping the bounds of propriety by saying more
than is appropriate, let us say this: . . . God the Almrghty, who is
infinite aud erernal, elects, in his fathonrless urisdom, to beget a
Son, an Only Son, tl're Only Begotten in the flesh" (McConkie,
Morrul Messiah, 1 :3 14-l 5).
THE WISE MTN
14. "The probabiliry is [rhe rvise nren] were themselves Jeu's
who lived, as rnillions of Jeu,s ti-ren did, in one of the narions to the
East. It lvas dre Jews, not the Gentiles, who were acquainted with
the scriptures and who were waiting with arxious expectation for

tlre con:.ing of a King" (McCor-rkie, MonalMessiaJr, 1:358; see also

Bible Dictionary, "u,ise uren of dre East," 789; "rnagi," ?27).
15. "\7e can assume lthe wise nrenl wenr back to their oum
people to testifii-as Sirneon and Arlir?had gone our among
their ou,n people-th.at the King of israel, rhe Ligirt to lighten
ti-re Centiles, now

Messialr, 1:361).

dwelt upon earth" (McConkie, Morwl

He}o{,

dris Son of tire

was not endowed

with

fulness of

mT[esslA[, of u,hose corning He read h ti"ie law, dre prophem,

and the psalnu, deveioped within Hjs soul; and in devoted
preparation for dre ministry that should find culmination on dre
cross He passed the years of youdr and early manhood" (Thlmage,
Jesu thc Chrisr, 1 16) .
1,8. "In the course of his motal probation, lg-hlew :|11!i9g{n
dre sense that, having the rn srant comoanionship of that SPurt
(the Holy Ghost) who does know all things, Jgluffould attd-dd
receive revelation of all that was needed for his ninistry fro:n time
to timeJte knew ali things in the sense,h"t bEdEdS.-@l
frcuinal N ew

Testan e,u6^enrzry,

(Bruce" R' McConkie,

3 vols. [ 1 966-73], 1 : 140).

19. "Mozart had musicai abiliry at dre age of six that only a
handful of men have ever gained in a whole lifetime' Jesus,
when yet a child, had spiritual taients that no other man in a
hundred lifetimes could obtain.
?. . . h, his study, and in the learning pro."rr, he was guided
from on i'righ in a way that none other has ever been. Being
was entitied
without
re and

"!ile cannot believe that he was silent

years. He

spoke at tweh,e; was his tongue then ded und he was thiffy? If
he felt the need to be about his Father's business as soon as he
became a son of the iaw, wouid he feel uirar urgency any less as
he continued to mature and grow in wisdom and stature and
iearn even more of his Father's willl . . .
". . . His growth, even at tr,',elve, irad attained sudr proportions
that it is lirtle wonder ]oseph and Mar! were arnazed and could

1:369,379-80).

THT FAMILY OF JOSEPH AND

IVIARY

20. "\Ve dorit knorv hot, many other children there rvere in
tire farnily, but the Neu, Gstament nallles four boys and ruentions
some sisters. . . . Thus the household of Joseph and Mary
apparently numbered at least five boys (including Jesus) and at
ieast tlrree girls---cight children-in addition to the parents"
(RobertJ. Matdreu,s, Belwldthelr,lessrah U9941, 84-85; see also
Bible Dictlonarl, "brethren of the Lord," 627; 'Jarres (3)," 709).