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The literal sense is the meaning the human author
intended to convey.
It is not the same as ‘literalistic’. (e.g. what is the
literal meaning of ‘my heart is broken’).
The spiritual sense: 3 aspects of allegorical, moral
and anagogical
If people deny the spiritual senses of Scripture
they can’t really understand it.
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“St Matthew misunderstood Isaiah’s prophecy: ‘a virgin
will give birth’.”
The word ‘virgin’ is the Greek translation (about 300 b.c)
of the older Hebrew bible. The Hebrew word is ‘young
woman’.
So they would say the Church is mistaken about the
Virgin Birth of Christ because Isaiah's original meaning
says ‘young woman’.
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How the New Testament writer refers Old
Testament…
Jesus Christ is recognised as the fulfilment of
the Old Testament. The apostles came to
believe this, not because of the Virgin Birth, but
because they saw the risen Christ.
The risen Christ tells his disciples that Moses
and all the prophets had written about himself.
Prophecy:
Source
Fulfillment
The Messiah
must...
In the Old
Testament
in the New
Testament
Be the born in
Bethlehem
Micah 5:1
Matthew 2:1;
Luke 2:4-7
Be adored by
great persons
Psalm 72:10-11 Matthew 2:1-11
Be sold for 30
pieces of silver
Zechariah 11:12 Matthew 26:15
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The New Testament writers uncovered what is hidden in
the Old Testament.
The deepest meanings only got to be recognised after
the life, death and resurrection of Christ.
Before these events it was not clear. People did not
know what to expect. Even though things were written
they could not come up with a list .
E.g. "The Messiah will be born of a virgin, rejected by
the chief priests, handed over to Gentiles, crucified with
thieves, risen, ascended etc.”
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The disciples did not see the crucifixion or the
resurrection coming.
Afterwards they realised that all these things were a
fulfilment of the prophecies: when they thought
about it and started piecing things together.
The prophecies were not predictions. They were
hidden signs.
They pointed towards Jesus Christ. Old Testament
writers themselves did not know what they were
pointing toward.
The early Church saw the Old Testament in
relationship to Christ. Old Testament themes and
events were like spokes on a wheel all connected to
the Hub who is Christ.
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Literal sense: There is a national crisis during the reign
of Ahaz. The northern kingdom of Israel has formed an
alliance with Syria against Ahaz’ southern kingdom of
Judah.
Isaiah tells Ahaz that God will take care of Judah. He
says: "Behold the almah shall conceive and bear a son,
and shall call his name Immanuel [which means 'God
with us']."
Isaiah says that God will provide an immediate
successor to Ahaz, who will carry on the line of David.
This prophecy is fulfilled in an immediate sense, not by
a virgin birth, but by the pregnancy of the wife of Ahaz
and the birth of a son.
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The Jews believed there were larger and second
meanings in the Bible.
Moses tells the Jewish nation to await a Prophet. Many
prophets appear. The Jews do not see any of them as
THE prophet: They see the Old Testament Prophets as
dim foreshadows.
That is why the Jews asked John the Baptist if he was
"The Prophet".
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Some passages are clear. They did not see in many
other passages a reference to a Messiah
until after Jesus of Nazareth's death and resurrection.
Examples:
Psalms 69 and 109: a prophecy of the Election of
Matthias to the office vacated by Judas
Unbroken bones of the Passover lamb as a prophetic
image of Christ's unbroken bones
Isaiah 53: describing the crucifixion and resurrection.
They were only recognised after the fact of Christ and
his Church. They fill out the picture in hindsight.
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They did not read "Zeal for thy house will consume me" in
Psalm 69 and decide "Let's believe Jesus cleansed the
Temple because of this verse."
Jesus cleanses the Temple first (John 2:13-16) and then
they remembered the verse and realised it fitted the event.
Jesus did things and events happened. Looking back they
see an uncanny connection between what he did and the
way in which it fits the Old Testament
When Jesus is sold for 30 pieces of silver, his hands and
feet are pierced on the Cross: They did not discover this by
reading Zechariah or Psalm 22. It was after Jesus is raised,
they remember that these things were written.
The Old Testament is not the basis of their belief in these
things, but the witness to these things before they
happened in time.
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The translators of the Septuagint did not make a "wrong"
translation of "almah" (young woman) into "parthenos"
(virgin). An unmarried young woman would be a virgin.
They opted for the word ‘virgin’.
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Matthew did not derive his belief in Mary's virginity from
Isaiah 7:14. He saw that Jesus did extraordinary things
like rising from the dead and on inquiring found he was
born of a virgin.
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So came the realisation that the text of Isaiah reflected this
new event. Jesus had told them that the law and the
prophets are, in their deepest sense, about him.
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The Church's faith in the virgin birth originates not in a
textual misunderstanding, but on the basis the true story of
Jesus Christ himself.