Joseph's Dilemma

December 5th, 2025
by Lance Waldie

Matthew 1:18-20 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: when His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit. 19 And Joseph her husband, being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly. 20 But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.”

Jesus’ birth is a reference to God’s humanity (cf. John 1:1, 14). Whereas Luke gives the account of Mary’s conversation with the angel Gabriel and how he explained to her that she would conceive a child as a virgin, Matthew tells how Joseph, the man to whom Mary was betrothed, reacted when he found out about her pregnancy from “an angel of the Lord.”
Joseph was not yet legally married to Mary, although they were “betrothed” (v. 18; Luke 1:27)—a legal contract between two families. Though unmarried and sexually chaste, however, it was a legal state that demanded divorce if either party was sexually impure. So when Mary “was found to be with child”—having been impregnated by the Holy Spirit (v. 18), by God who “overshadowed” her (Luke 1:35)—Joseph was in need of an explanation. He did not know that the child in Mary’s womb was created not by sperm and egg but by a miraculous work of God.

Joseph now had a decision to make not only concerning his relationship with Mary but also about what to do with Mary. Believing that she had been unfaithful, he could not marry her since the child was not his. Yet to attempt to cover her crime by marrying her after she became pregnant would have made him appear adulterous too. The Mosaic Law allowed Joseph to either divorce her quietly (Deut. 24:1) or bring charges against her for adultery and have her stoned to death (Deut. 22:23-24; cf. John 8:5). Being a “righteous” man, he was merciful. Joseph therefore “not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly.”

That night an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. God intervened to enlighten him. After all, the Child in her womb was not the child of adultery but the Child of God, conceived not by man but by the Holy Spirit. Addressing Joseph as “son of David”—a title used only for Jesus elsewhere in the Bible—the angel specifies how vital Joseph would be in adopting this Child conceived by the Spirit. This Child would be from the Davidic line (cf. 2 Sam. 7:12-16), of the tribe of Judah (Gen. 49:8-12), and vitally woven into the Abrahamic Covenant (Gen. 12:1-3; 15:1-6; 17:1-8; 22:17; Gal 3:16). Joseph would be merged into God’s plan with Mary through taking her as his wife, naming the Child “Jesus” (v. 21), and by faith trusting in the word of the Lord. Through this, Mary’s own identity would be embedded into Joseph’s identity, and the two of them would be the earthly parents of the one called “Immanuel” (v. 23), Hebrew for God with us. In sum, they would “birth” God in flesh (cf. John 1:14).

Matthew 1:21 reveals that God told Joseph to name the Child “Jesus” (Heb. Yeshua), a name that means Yahweh saves, for “He will save His people from their sins.” In the NT, “save” can refer to release from physical danger (8:25), disease (9:21-22), or death (24:22). Matthew quotes the angel in the context of Jesus’ name reflecting His mission to save sinners from the penalty of their sins which was (and is) the cause of all man’s bondage—both spiritual and physical.

Food For Thought
Why else would God send His Son to save unless we were in need of it? Perfect people don’t need a Savior. How did Christ save? First, He paid our penalty, death, for the wages of sin is death (Rom. 6:23). For those who receive Him, there is no condemnation (Rom. 8:1); we are reconciled to God! Through the regenerating work of the Spirit, God frees those who receive Christ from slavery to sin that we might live to righteousness (1 Pet. 2:24). Christ does it all, for there is nothing we can do by our own merit to attain God’s free gift. All are invited to receive it.