[W]e sometimes hear it asserted—loosely enough, indeed—that “from Genesis to Revelation, the Bible teaches the Trinity and the Godhead of Christ.” Aside of this language, quite too loose for serious consideration, there are some texts in the Old Testament which in the first place, it is proper to notice.
The first is Isaiah 7:14, cited and applied to Christ in St. Matthew’s Gospel, 1:23: “Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a Son, and shall call his name Immanuel, which” (Immanuel) “being interpreted is, God with us.” The whole force of the argument for our Lord’s Supreme Deity, drawn or attempted to be drawn from this passage, consists in the significance of a Hebrew name, and its being applied in Matthew to Christ. But it was a common Hebrew custom to give names to children, significant or commemorative of Providential or Divine favors expected, or conferred at the time. For one example of this, you have the case of Hagar’s child, whom Abram was directed by the angel to call Ishmael, which signifies, God shall hear, or God hath heard. Genesis 16:11. Admitting that the passage in Isaiah was strictly prophetic of our Lord, even Bishop Lowth says that in its “historical” or primary sense it referred to a child then, that is, in the prophet’s time, to be born; and that before he should reach the age of knowing to refuse the evil and choose the good, that is, within a few years, (compare 8:4,) the enemies of Judah should be destroyed.5
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Author: Frederick A. Farley
Keywords: Immanuel, Emmanuel, Immanuel God with us, Trinity, Trinitarian, trinitarianism, Deity of Jesus, Deity of Christ, Jesus is God, Jesus is divine, Divinity of Jesus, divinity of Christ
Bible reference(s): Isaiah 7:14, Mat 1:23
Source: Unitarianism Defined (Boston: Walker, Wise & Co., 1935).
Page indexed by: inWORD Bible Software.