Matthew 1:21

And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(21) Thou shalt call his name Jesus.—There is nothing strange in this being to Joseph the first knowledge of the name, which St. Luke tells us (Luke 1:31) had been previously imparted to Mary. The customs of the Jews were, as we have seen, against any communications between the bride and bridegroom during the period of betrothal, and the facts of the case (including Mary’s visit to Elizabeth) would make it more improbable than ever.

The name Jesus was one full of meaning, but it was not as yet a specially sacred name. In its Old Testament form of Jehoshua (Numbers 13:16), Joshua, or Jeshua (Numbers 14:6; Nehemiah 8:17), it meant “Jehovah is salvation;” and the change of the name of the captain of Israel from Hoshea, which did not include the divine name, to the form which gave this full significance (Numbers 13:16) had made it the expression of the deepest faith of the people. After the return from Babylon it received a new prominence in connection with the high priest Joshua, the son of Josedech (Haggai 1:1; Zechariah 3:1), and appears in its Greek form in Jesus the father, and again in the son, of Sirach. In the New Testament itself we find it borne by others (see Note on Matthew 1:1). It had not been directly associated, however, with Messianic hopes, and the intimation that it was to be the name of the Christ gave a new character to men’s thoughts of the kingdom. Not conquest, but “salvation”—deliverance, not from human enemies only or chiefly, nor from the penalties of sin, but from the sins themselves. As spoken by the angel to the dreamer it was the answer to prayers and hopes, going beyond the hope, and purifying it from earthly thoughts. As recorded by the Evangelist it was a witness that he had been taught the true nature of the kingdom of the Christ.

Benson Commentary

Matthew 1:21. She shall bring forth a son — Hers, not thine, for he does not say to thee, Christ being απατωρ, without father, as man. And thou shalt call his name Jesus — It belonged to Joseph, as being reputed his father, and the person under whose protection Christ was placed during his infancy, to give him his name. “Six men,” says Rabbi Eliezer, “have been named before they were born; viz., Isaac, Ishmael, Moses our lawgiver, Solomon, Josiah, and King Messiah.” To these we may add, Cyrus and John the Baptist: and observe, that those persons to whom a name has been given by God before their birth, have always been remarkable persons. The name Jesus, in Greek, answers to Joshua, or rather, Jehoshuah, in Hebrew, which signifies Jehovah shall save; for Jah, or Jehovah, enters into the composition of the name, as Bishop Pearson has largely and clearly shown in his most learned and instructive Exposition of the Creed, pp. 69-71. So that Christ’s being called Jesus, was in effect an accomplishment of the prophecy that he should be called Emmanuel. It was not without reason that the successor of Moses was called by this name; for, by subduing the Canaanites, and putting the tribes of Israel in possession of the promised land, he showed himself to be, under God, the Saviour of his people. But this name agrees much better to our Jesus, who both delivers his followers from much more dangerous enemies, and divides unto them a much more glorious inheritance. Thus, in the next clause, he shall save his people from their sins — Joseph, by his people, could not understand any other than the Jewish nation, which is generally signified by that name in the Scriptures; and to them he was peculiarly sent, and them he will at length fully gather, save, and restore. We know, however, that all the true Israel of God, including even the Gentiles that should believe in him, are included. All these, it is here said, he should save from their sins, i.e, from the guilt, power, and pollution of them, by procuring, through his death, and receiving, in consequence of his ascension into heaven, an ample pardon for them, and the Holy Spirit to write that pardon on their hearts, and renew them after the divine image, that, in consequence of a life of holiness on earth, they might be raised to a state of complete perfection and felicity in heaven. How plain it is from hence that, although the gospel offers us salvation by faith, and not by works, yet it effectually secures the practice of holiness, since holiness is a part of that salvation wherewith Christ came to save sinners; for he came to save them from their sins. It is worth observing, on this occasion, what an excellent example of gentleness and prudence is here set us by Joseph! In an affair which appeared dubious, he chose, as we should always do, rather to err on the favourable than on the severe extreme. He is careful to avoid any precipitate steps; and, in the moment of deliberation, God interposes to guide and determine his resolves. Let us reflect, with what wonder and pleasure he would receive the important message from the angel, which not only assured him of the unstained virtue and eminent piety of her he loved, and confirmed his choice of her, as the partner of his future life, but brought him tidings of a divine Saviour, a Jesus, an Emmanuel, who should be God with men, and should save his people from their sins; and assured him, moreover, that the object of his affections, his beloved, espoused Mary, should, by a miraculous conception, be the happy mother of this heavenly offspring, and should therefore through all generations be entitled blessed. Let us also receive these glad tidings of great joy, designed for the consolation of all people, with suitable humility and gratitude, and seek unto this Jesus that he may answer his divine name in us, and save us, his people, from our sins. Let our souls bow to this Emmanuel, our incarnate God, and, while with holy wonder we survey the various scenes of his humiliation, let us remember, too, his native dignity and divine glory, and pay him the worship and service which are his undoubted due.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

1:18-25 Let us look to the circumstances under which the Son of God entered into this lower world, till we learn to despise the vain honours of this world, when compared with piety and holiness. The mystery of Christ's becoming man is to be adored, not curiously inquired into. It was so ordered that Christ should partake of our nature, yet that he should be pure from the defilement of original sin, which has been communicated to all the race of Adam. Observe, it is the thoughtful, not the unthinking, whom God will guide. God's time to come with instruction to his people, is when they are at a loss. Divine comforts most delight the soul when under the pressure of perplexed thoughts. Joseph is told that Mary should bring forth the Saviour of the world. He was to call his name Jesus, a Saviour. Jesus is the same name with Joshua. And the reason of that name is clear, for those whom Christ saves, he saves from their sins; from the guilt of sin by the merit of his death, and from the power of sin by the Spirit of his grace. In saving them from sin, he saves them from wrath and the curse, and all misery, here and hereafter. Christ came to save his people, not in their sins, but from their sins; and so to redeem them from among men, to himself, who is separate from sinners. Joseph did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, speedily, without delay, and cheerfully, without dispute. By applying the general rules of the written word, we should in all the steps of our lives, particularly the great turns of them, take direction from God, and we shall find this safe and comfortable.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

His name Jesus - The name Jesus is the same as Saviour. It is derived from the verb signifying to save, In Hebrew it is the same as Joshua. In two places in the New Testament it is used where it means Joshua, the leader of the Jews into Canaan, and in our translation the name Joshua should have been retained, Acts 7:45; Hebrews 4:8. It was a very common name among the Jews.

He shall save - This expresses the same as the name, and on this account the name was given to him. He saves people by dying to redeem them; by giving the Holy Spirit to renew them John 16:7-8; by His power in enabling them to overcome their spiritual enemies, in defending them from danger, in guiding them in the path of duty, in sustaining them in trials and in death; and He will raise them up at the last day, and exalt them to a world of purity and love.

His people - Those whom the Father has given to him. The Jews were called the people of God because he had chosen them to himself, and regarded them as His special and beloved people, separate from all the nations of the earth. Christians are called the people of Christ because it was the purpose of the Father to give them to him Isaiah 53:11; John 6:37; and because in due time he came to redeem them to himself, Titus 2:14; 1 Peter 1:2.

From their sins - This was the great business of Jesus in coming and dying. It was not to save people in their sins, but from their sins. Sinners could not be happy in heaven. It would be a place of wretchedness to the guilty. The design of Jesus was, therefore, to save them from sin; and from this we may learn:

1. That Jesus had a design in coming into the world. He came to save his people; and that design will surely be accomplished. It is impossible that in any part of it he should fail.

2. We have no evidence that we are his people unless we are saved from the power and dominion of sin. A mere profession of being His people will not answer. Unless we give up our sins; unless we renounce the pride, pomp, and pleasure of the world, we have no evidence that we are the children of God. It is impossible that we should be Christians if we indulge in sin and live in the practice of any known iniquity. See 1 John 3:7-8.

3. That all professing Christians should feel that there is no salvation unless it is from sin, and that they can never be admitted to a holy heaven hereafter unless they are made pure, by the blood of Jesus, here.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

21. And she shall bring forth a son—Observe, it is not said, "she shall bear thee a son," as was said to Zacharias of his wife Elizabeth (Lu 1:13).

and thou—as his legal father.

shalt call his name JESUS—from the Hebrew meaning "Jehovah the Saviour"; in Greek Jesus—to the awakened and anxious sinner sweetest and most fragrant of all names, expressing so melodiously and briefly His whole saving office and work!

for he shall save—The "He" is here emphatic—He it is that shall save; He personally, and by personal acts (as Webster and Wilkinson express it).

his people—the lost sheep of the house of Israel, in the first instance; for they were the only people He then had. But, on the breaking down of the middle wall of partition, the saved people embraced the "redeemed unto God by His blood out of every kindred and people and tongue and nation."

from their sins—in the most comprehensive sense of salvation from sin (Re 1:5; Eph 5:25-27).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

When the usual time of women is accomplished,

she shall bring forth a Son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus. He shall not be thy natural son, but he shall be her son, not begot by thee, but brought forth by her, so flesh of her flesh. His name shall be called Jesus by thee, or by his mother. It is the will of God thou shouldest give him that name.

For he shall save his people from their sins. It was the custom of the Jews (God’s ancient people) to give names to their children, either expressive of the mercy which God had showed them in giving them their children, or of the duty which their children did owe unto God. This name was given by God, expressing the mercy of God to his people in giving them this child;

for he shall save his people from their sins, saith the angel. Jesus comes from a Hebrew word, which signifies salvation. Joshua had his name from the same word, because he was to be a temporal saviour to save the Jews, the whole body of the Jews, from the Canaanites their enemies. This Jesus was to save his people, all that should believe in his name, whether Jews or Gentiles, from their sins. Hereby the angel hints the mistake of the Jews, in thinking the Messias should be a temporal saviour, who should save the Jews from their enemies, minding them that he was to save them, not from their bodily, but spiritual enemies, from their sins; the guilt of them, and the power of them, and from the eternal danger of them: and he alone should do it; There is none other name under heaven given among men, neither is there salvation in any other, Acts 4:12.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And she shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Jesus. For though she was with child, it could not be known any otherwise than by prediction or divine revelation, that she should have a son, whose name should be called Jesus; a name of the same signification with Joshua and Hosea, and may be interpreted a "Saviour", Acts 13:23 for the word Jesus, comes from which signifies "to save." And to this agrees the reason of the name given by the Angel,

for he shall save his people from their sins. The salvation here ascribed to him, and for which he is every way fit, being God as well as man, and which he is the sole author of, is to be understood, not of a temporal, but of a spiritual and everlasting salvation; such as was prophesied of, Isaiah 45:17 and which old Jacob had in his view, when he said, "I have waited for thy salvation, O Lord", Genesis 49:18 which by the Jewish (f) Targumist is paraphrased thus:

"Jacob said when he saw Gideon the son of Joash, and Samson the son of Manoah, that they would rise up to be saviours, not for the salvation of Gideon do I wait, nor for the salvation of Samson do I look, for their salvation is "a temporary salvation"; but for thy salvation, O Lord, do I wait and look, for thy salvation is "an everlasting salvation", or (according to another copy) but for the salvation of Messiah the son of David, who shall save the children of Israel, and bring them out of captivity, for thy salvation my soul waiteth.''

By "his people" whom he is said to save are meant, not all mankind, though they are his by creation and preservation, yet they are not, nor will they be all saved by him spiritually and eternally; nor also the people of the Jews, for though they were his nation, his kinsmen, and so his own people according to the flesh, yet they were not all saved by him; many of them died in their sins, and in the disbelief of him as the Messiah: but by them are meant all the elect of God, whether Jews or Gentiles, who were given to him by his Father, as a peculiar people, and who are made willing in the day of his power upon them, to be saved by him in his own way. And these he saves from "their sins", from all their sins, original and actual; from secret and open sins; from sins of heart, lip and life; from sins of omission and commission; from all that is in sin, and omission upon it; from the guilt, punishment, and damning power of it, by his sufferings and death; and from the tyrannical government of it by his Spirit and grace; and will at last save them from the being of it, though not in this life, yet hereafter, in the other world, when they shall be without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing.

(f) Targum Jon. Ben Uzziel in loc.

Geneva Study Bible

And she shall bring forth (3) a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save {i} his people from their sins.

(3) Christ is born of the same virgin who never knew a man: and is named Jesus by God himself through the angel.

(i) Save, and this shows us the meaning of the name Jesus.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

Matthew 1:21. Τέξεται δέ] and she will bear. “Non additur tibi, ut additur de Zacharia, Luke 1:13,” Bengel.

Καλέσεις … Ἰησοῦν] literally: thou wilt call His name “Jesus.” Comp. LXX. Genesis 17:19; 1 Samuel 1:20; Matthew 1:23; Matthew 1:25; Luke 1:13; Luke 1:31; Luke 2:21. Exactly so in Hebrew: קרא אֶת־שְׁמוֹ. The Greeks, however, would say: καλέσεις τὸ ὄνομα αὐτὸν (or also αὐτῷ) Ἰησοῦν; Matthiae, p. 935 [E. T., Kenrick, p. 675 ff.]; Heindorf, ad Plat. Phaedr. p. 238 A.

καλέσεις] the future serves in classical writers to denote the softened idea of the imperative. Bernhardy, p. 378; Kühner, II. 1, p. 149. In the LXX. and in the N. T. it is especially used of divine injunctions, and denotes thereby the imperative sense apodeictically, because it supposes the undoubted certainty of the result; comp. Winer, p. 296 [E. T. 396 f.]. So also here, where a divine command is issued. When Fritzsche would here retain the proper conception of the future, it becomes a mere prediction, less appropriate in the connection; for it is less in keeping with the design of the angelic annunciation, according to which the bestowal and interpretation of the name Jesus is referred to a divine causality, and consequently the genus of the name itself must, most naturally, appear as commanded.

αὐτός] He and no other.

τὸν λαὸν αὐτοῦ] The people of Israel: because for these first, and then also for the heathen, was the Messiah and His work intended, John 4:22; Romans 1:16; Galatians 3:14. As certainly, moreover, as the manner and fashion in which the promised one was to accomplish the salvation, and by means of His redemptive work has accomplished it, is to be conceived as being present to the eye of God at the sending of this news, as certainly must Joseph be conceived as regarding it only in its national definiteness, consequently as referring to the theocratic liberation and prosperity of the people (comp. Luke 1:68 ff.), along with which, however, the religious and moral renewal also was regarded as necessary; which renewal must have presupposed the antecedent forgiveness of sin (Luke 1:77). ἁμαρτιῶν, therefore, is to be taken, not as punishment of sin, but, as always, simply as sins.

αὐτοῦ, not to be written αὑτοῦ (for the angel speaks of Him as a third person, and without any antithesis): His people, for they belong to the Messiah, comp. John 1:11; on the plural αὐτῶν, see Buttmann, neut. Gr. p. 114 [E. T. 130].

Expositor's Greek Testament

Matthew 1:21. τέξεται—Ἰησοῦν: Mary is about to bear a son, and He is to bear the significant name of Jesus. The style is an echo of O. T. story, Genesis 17:19, Sept[3], the birth of Isaac and that of Jesus being thereby placed side by side as similar in their preternatural character.—καλέσεις: a command in form of a prediction. But there is encouragement as well as command in this future. It is meant to help Joseph out of his doubts into a mood of heroic, resolute action. Cease from brooding anxious thought, think of the child about to be born as destined to a great career. to be signalised by His name Jesus—Jehovah the helper.—αὐτὸς γὰρ … ἁμαρτιῶν αὐτῶν: interpretation of the name, still part of the angelic speech. αὐτὸς emphatic, he and no other. ἁμαρτ., sins, implying a spiritual conception of Israel’s need.

[3] Septuagint.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

21. Jesus=Saviour] Jesus represents the Greek form, while Joshua represents the Hebrew form of the same name. The same Hebrew root occurs in the salutation Hosanna: see note, ch. Matthew 21:9. Joshua who led the Israelites into the Promised Land, and Joshua or Jeshua, who was high priest at the time of the return from the Babylonish Captivity, are types of Jesus Christ in respect both of work and name.

save his people from their sins] An announcement of a Spiritual Kingdom. Contrary to the thought of many Jews the salvation which Jesus brought was not to be a saving from the Roman or Herodian rule, but a life protected from sin.

Bengel's Gnomen

Matthew 1:21. Τέξεται, shall bring forth) The word σοι (to thee), which is added (Luke 1:31) concerning Zachariah, is not introduced here;[58]—καλέσεις, thou shalt call) By the use of the second person singular, the duties and obligations of a father are committed to Joseph. St Matthew records more particulars than the other evangelists regarding him; afterwards, when men had become acquainted with the truth, the first place is given (in Luke 1:31) to Mary.—Ἰησοῦν, Jesus) Many names of the Messiah were announced in the Old Testament; but the proper name “JESUS” was not expressly announced. The meaning and force of it are, however, proclaimed everywhere, namely, SALVATION; and the name itself was divinely foretold in this passage before our Lord’s birth, and in Luke 1:31, even before His conception. The name יֵשוּעַ (Jeshua), which occurs in Nehemiah 8:17, is the same as יְהוּשׁוּעַ or יֵהוֿשֻעַ (Jehoshua, commonly called Joshua): both of which are rendered Ἰησοῦς (Jesus) by the LXX. And in so far, learned men have been right in declaring that the name Jesus contains the Tetragrammaton, [יהוה] or ineffable name of God.—See Hiller’s Syntagmata Hermeneutica, p. 337, where the name of Jesus is thus interpreted, HE WHO IS is SALVATION: yea, the angel interprets it ΑΥΤΟΣ ΣΩΣΕΙ (He shall save), where ΑὐΤῸς (He) corresponds with the Divine Name.—Cf. Gnomon on Hebrews 1:12. Nor does the name Jehoshua differ from the original. Hoshea (See Numbers 13:16) in any thing else, except the addition of the Divine Name, which transforms the name from a prayer, Save (Salva), into an affirmation, Jehovah Salvation. And, since the name Emmanuel mentions GOD most expressly together with SALVATION, the name Jesus itself, the force of which, the Evangelist of the Old Testament, Isaiah (whose own name signifies the same thing) clearly indicates by the synonym Emmanuel, requires much more the mention of the Divine Name: for Emmanuel and Jesus are equivalent terms.—See notes on Matthew 1:22-23. Nay, even if the י in ישוע be considered as merely the sign of the third person, still, as is frequently the case with Hebrew names, “GOD” must be understood, and here with especial force.—Αὐτὸς, He) The pronoun ΑὐΤῸς, in the nominative, is always emphatic; here it is peculiarly so. In the oblique case, it is frequently a mere relative.—ΣΏΣΕΙ, shall save) As often, therefore, as the words, “to save,” “Saviour,” “salvation,” “salutary,[59]” occur with reference to Christ, we ought to consider, that the name of JESUS is virtually mentioned.—τὸν λαὸν, Αὐτοῦ, His people) sc. Israel, and those who shall be added to the fold of Israel.[60]—Αὐτοῦ, His) and at the same time God’s.—Cf. ch. Matthew 2:6.

[58] i.e. Because our Lord was not the child of Joseph.—(I. B.)

[59] Salutare—conducive to health, whether of body or soul: it is frequently difficult, sometimes impossible, to give at once the full and exact force of these words in an English translation.—(I. B.)

[60] The gathering in of the Gentiles to the Church was at that time a mystery even to the angels.—Vers. Germ.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 21. - The first half is almost verbally identical with the promise to Mary in Luke 1:31. It is, perhaps, hypercritical to see anything more than a coincidence when such common terms are used, but it was not unnatural that the communications of the angels to both Mary and Joseph should be purposely clothed in language similar to that used of Sarah (Genesis 17:19), and in measure to that used of Hannah (1 Samuel 1:20; cf. Gretillat, 'Theologie Systematique,' p. 225; 1890). And she shall bring forth. Is the slight adversative force (δέ) to be seen in the contrast of the physical birth to the spiritual origin? A Son. In this, at least, thou shalt be able to test the accuracy of my statement. And thou shalt call. Taking the position of his father; the child being thus recognized by all as of David's line (cf. Kubel). In Luke Mary is told to give the name, but presumably the formal naming would be by Joseph. His name JESUS (cf. Ecclus. 46:1, "Jesus the son of Nave... who, according to his name, was made great for the saving of the elect of God"). For he shall save; for it is he that shall save (Revised Version), equivalent to "He, and no other, is the expected Saviour." (For αὐτός in this sense of excluding others, cf. especially Colossians 1:16-20.) It may, however, here not be exclusive, but only intensive - he being what he is. The connexion will then be - the name Jesus will answer to the fact, for he himself, in his own Person (1 John 2:2), by virtue of what he is (John 2:24, 25), shall save, etc. Jesus, equivalent to Jeshua (ver. 16, note); he shall save, equivalent to Joshi a. His people. Israel after the flesh (cf. John 1:11; Luke 2:10; contrast John 1:29; John 4:42), for whom deliverance from sins must be the first step to restoration to rightful position, and yet the last stage of result from acceptance of Christ. Comparative salvation from sin, due to acceptance of Christ, must precede that restoration which Joseph then desired, and all true Jews still ardently pray for; full salvation from sin will be the final issue of that restoration. From their sins. With a greater salvation, therefore, than that which Manoah's wife was told that her son should begin to accomplish (Judges 13:5). Observe that this promise of Christ as Saviour is given to Joseph, who had deeper experience of sin (ver. 20, note), while to Mary, who is marked by promptness of personal devotion, is given the promise of Christ as King (Luke 1:32, 33). Sate... from( σώσει... ἀπό) , not merely "out of" (ἐκ, John 12:27), but from all attacks of sin considered as coming born without (but see Matthew 6:13, note). Matthew 1:21

Vincent's Word Studies

Shalt call

Thus committing the office of a father to Joseph. The naming of the unborn Messiah would accord with popular notions. The Rabbis had a saying concerning the six whose names were given before their birth: "Isaac, Ishmael, Moses, Solomon, Josiah, and the name of the Messiah, whom may the Holy One, blessed be His name, bring quickly in our days."

Jesus (Ιησοῦν)

The Greek form of a Hebrew name, which had been borne by two illustrious individuals in former periods of the Jewish history - Joshua, the successor of Moses, and Jeshua, the high-priest, who with Zerubbabel took so active a part in the re-establishment of the civil and religious polity of the Jews on their return from Babylon. Its original and full form is Jehoshua, becoming by contraction Joshua or Jeshua. Joshua, the son of Nun, the successor of Moses, was originally named Hoshea (saving), which was altered by Moses into Jehoshua (Jehovah (our) Salvation) (Numbers 13:16). The meaning of the name, therefore, finds expression in the title Saviour, applied to our Lord (Luke 1:47; Luke 2:11; John 4:42).

Joshua, the son of Nun, is a type of Christ in his office of captain and deliverer of his people, in the military aspect of his saving work (Revelation 19:11-16). As God's revelation to Moses was in the character of a law-giver, his revelation to Joshua was in that of the Lord of Hosts (Joshua 5:13, Joshua 5:14). Under Joshua the enemies of Israel were conquered, and the people established in the Promised Land. So Jesus leads his people in the fight with sin and temptation. He is the leader of the faith which overcomes the world (Hebrews 12:2). Following him, we enter into rest.

The priestly office of Jesus is foreshadowed in the high-priest Jeshua, who appears in the vision of Zechariah (Zechariah 3:1-10; compare Ezra 2:2) in court before God, under accusation of Satan, and clad in filthy garments. Jeshua stands not only for himself, but as the representative of sinning and suffering Israel. Satan is defeated. The Lord rebukes him, and declares that he will redeem and restore this erring people; and in token thereof he commands that the accused priest be clad in clean robes and crowned with the priestly mitre.

Thus in this priestly Jeshua we have a type of our "Great High-Priest, touched with the feeling of our infirmities, and in all points tempted and tried like as we are;" confronting Satan in the wilderness; trying conclusions with him upon the victims of his malice - the sick, the sinful, and the demon-ridden. His royal robes are left behind. He counts not "equality with God a thing to be grasped at," but "empties himself," taking the "form of a servant," humbling himself and becoming "obedient even unto death" (Philippians 2:6, Philippians 2:7, Rev.). He assumes the stained garments of our humanity. He who "knew no sin" is "made to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in him" (2 Corinthians 5:21). He is at once priest and victim. He pleads for sinful man before God's throne. He will redeem him. He will rebuke the malice and cast down the power of Satan. He will behold him" as lightning fall from heaven" (Luke 10:18). He will raise and save and purify men of weak natures, rebellious wills, and furious passions - cowardly braggarts and deniers like Peter, persecutors like Saul of Tarsus, charred brands - and make them witnesses of his grace and preachers of his love and power. His kingdom shall be a kingdom of priests, and the song of his redeemed church shall be, "unto him that loveth us, and loosed us from our sins by his own blood, and made us to be a kingdom, to be priests unto his God and Father; to him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen" (Revelation 1:5, Revelation 1:6, in Rev.).

It is no mere fancy which sees a suggestion and a foreshadowing of the prophetic work of Jesus in the economy of salvation, in a third name closely akin to the former. Hoshea, which we know in our English Bible as Hosea, was the original name of Joshua (compare Romans 9:25, Rev.) and means saving. He is, in a peculiar sense, the prophet of grace and salvation, placing his hope in God's personal coming as the refuge and strength of humanity; in the purification of human life by its contact with the divine. The great truth which he has to teach is the love of Jehovah to Israel as expressed in the relation of husband, an idea which pervades his prophecy, and which is generated by his own sad domestic experience. He foreshadows Jesus in his pointed warnings against sin, his repeated offers of divine mercy, and his patient, forbearing love, as manifested in his dealing with an unfaithful and dissolute wife, whose soul he succeeded in rescuing from sin and death (Hosea 1-3). So long as he lived, he was one continual, living prophecy of the tenderness of God toward sinners; a picture of God's love for us when alien from him, and with nothing in us to love. The faithfulness of the prophetic teacher thus blends in Hosea, as in our Lord, with the compassion and sympathy and sacrifice of the priest.

He (αὐτὸς)

Emphatic; and so rightly in Rev., "For it is He that shall save his people."

Their sins (ἁμαρτιῶν)

Akin to ἁμαρτάνω, to miss a mark; as a warrior who throws his spear and fails to strike his adversary, or as a traveller who misses his way. In this word, therefore, one of a large group which represent sin under different phases, sin is conceived as a failing and missing the true end and scope of our lives, which is God.