Christology

===Nativity and the Holy Name===
{{See also|Nativity of Jesus|Holy Name of Jesus}}

The [[Nativity of Jesus]] impacted the Christological issues about his person from the earliest days of Christianity. Luke's Christology centers on the dialectics of the dual natures of the earthly and heavenly manifestations of existence of the Christ, while Matthew's Christology focuses on the mission of Jesus and his role as the savior.<ref>''Theology of the New Testament'' by Georg Strecker 2000 {{ISBN|0-664-22336-2}} pp. 401–403</ref><ref>''Matthew'' by [[Grant R. Osborne]] 2010 {{ISBN|0-310-32370-3}} p. lxxix</ref> The [[Christian soteriology|salvific]] emphasis of [[wikisource:Bible (American Standard)/Matthew#1:21|Matthew 1:21]] later impacted the theological issues and the devotions to [[Holy Name of Jesus]].<ref>''Matthew 1–13'' by Manlio Simonetti 2001 {{ISBN|0-8308-1486-8}} p. 17</ref><ref>''Matthew 1-2/ Luke 1–2'' by Louise Perrotta 2004 {{ISBN|0-8294-1541-6}} p. 19</ref><ref>''All the Doctrines of the Bible'' by Herbert Lockyer 1988 {{ISBN|0-310-28051-6}} p. 159</ref>

[[wikisource:Bible (American Standard)/Matthew#1:23|Matthew 1:23]] provides a key to the "Emmanuel Christology" of Matthew. Beginning with 1:23, the Gospel of Matthew shows a clear interest in identifying Jesus as "God with us" and in later developing the Emmanuel characterization of Jesus at key points throughout the rest of the Gospel.<ref name=Kupp >''Matthew's Emmanuel'' by David D. Kupp 1997 {{ISBN|0-521-57007-7}} pp. 220–224</ref> The name 'Emmanuel' does not appear elsewhere in the New Testament, but Matthew builds on it in [[wikisource:Bible (American Standard)/Matthew#28:20|Matthew 28:20]] ("I am with you always, even unto the end of the world") to indicate Jesus will be with the faithful to the end of the age.<ref name=Kupp /><ref name=Kingsbury17 >''Who do you say that I am?: essays on Christology'' by Jack Dean Kingsbury, Mark Allan Powell, David R. Bauer 1999 {{ISBN|0-664-25752-6}} p. 17</ref> According to [[Ulrich Luz]], the Emmanuel motif brackets the entire Gospel of Matthew between 1:23 and 28:20, appearing explicitly and implicitly in several other passages.<ref>''The theology of the Gospel of Matthew'' by Ulrich Luz 1995 {{ISBN|0-521-43576-5}} p. 31</ref>