Philip Schaff's Popular Commentary (4 vols)

Matthew 1:20

Matthew 1:20. But while he thought on these things. As ‘a just man,' he was pained and grieved, yet not having entirely lost confidence in her, he thought the matter over; then came the deliverance from doubt. An honest doubter will obtain light, but not he who gives way to passion. Man's extremity, God's opportunity.

An angel of the Lord. Gabriel had appeared to Mary; here the angel is not named. Angels, who are ‘ministering spirits,' appeared to reveal God's will before the coming of Christ. Since the full revelation of the One Great Mediator, the necessity for their appearance has ceased. The phrase, ‘The angel of the Lord,' in the Old Testament, often refers to the Second Person of the Trinity, but this is certainly not the case here, where the definite article is not used. The revelations to Joseph in the Old Testament, and Joseph in the New, were always made in dreams. ‘The announcement was made to Mary openly, for in Mary's case faith and concurrence of will were necessary; the communication was of a higher kind, and referred to a thing future' (Alford).

Thou Son of David. A fitting title in view of the communication to be made.

Fear not, either for yourself or for her.

Mary thy wife. He is reminded that she is legally his wife.

Begotten, rather than ‘conceived,' since Joseph is referred not so much to Mary's state as to its cause.

Matthew 1:21. Jesus. Comp. Matthew 1:1.

For it is he, alone, that shall save his people. Joseph, probably, understood this as referring to the Jews; but the phrase, from their sins, spiritualizes the people as well as the salvation. Not temporal deliverance, nor mere legal justification, but actual salvation from sin as a polluting power in our nature. In the revelation to Mary the glory of Messiah is spoken of; here his saving power; not because she needed salvation less than Joseph, but because he was troubled by doubts regarding her, and now he is told that what he in his doubt deemed sin was the means of salvation from sin. The words ‘He ‘and ‘from their sins,' are emphatic, pointing to the office and work of the Messiah. ‘His people' has no special emphasis; they are those whom He saves from their sins. If men are not being saved from sin they have no evidence that they are of his people; if, however, in seeming tenderness of conscience, they are ever forgetting the Saviour in the thought of their sins, then they lose the force of this ante-natal gospel, this Divine statement, that He who was born of Mary, the Person who lived in Judea, and He alone, can and does save us from our sins.

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Philip Schaff's Popular Commentary (4 vols)

Matthew 1:20

Old Testament

New Testament