👉🏾👉🏾👉🏾What Does #Emmanuel Mean?
Dear beloved followers of the Orthodox faith, peace and grace be with you. Today, through the blessings of God, we share with you this important teaching so that you may read, understand, and grow in the knowledge of truth.
✍🏾 Meaning of Emmanuel (ʿAmmanuʾel)
Emmanuel means “God is with us.”
As the Prophet Isaiah prophesied,
“Behold, a virgin shall conceive in her womb and bear a son, and shall call his name Emmanuel.”Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:23
This prophecy was fulfilled in the mystery of the Incarnation, when the angel announced to the pure and holy Virgin Mary that she would conceive in her womb the Son of God not by the will of man, but by the power of the Holy Spirit. The angel said to her:
“Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call His name Emmanuel, which means God with us.” Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:23
Emmanuel is a name formed from two words:
‘Amane’ — meaning “with us,”
‘El’ (ʾĒl) — meaning “God.”
Together, they declare the eternal truth that God is with His people the source of divine peace, reconciliation, and perfect unity between the Creator and His creation.
To say “God with us” means that He took our flesh, our soul, and our spirit, and became one with us yet without sin.
Therefore, Emmanuel expresses the holy mystery of union between God and man. In other words:
“God became man, and man was united with God.”
This is the mystery of Tewahedo the perfect and inseparable union of divinity and humanity in the one person of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
✍🏾The Mystery of the Union (Tewahedo)
When praising Him, the holy scholars revealed the mystery of divine unity, saying:
“This name is great; it must not be divided into two.”
(Hay. Abe. Zesawiros)
This teaches us that the name Emmanuel proclaims the perfect and indivisible union of God and man.
✍🏾 Therefore, to save us, the Son, one of the Holy Trinity, took flesh from the holy Virgin Mary. He united this flesh with His own divine Word not as two separate beings, but as one perfect and inseparable Person and through this divine union, He accomplished our salvation.
✍🏾 From the very moment He was conceived in the womb of the Virgin, He fulfilled the mystery of perfect unity (Tewahedo). He did not make Himself two God alone and man alone but remained one Lord, one Christ, both perfect God and perfect man, without confusion, separation, or division.
✍🏾 Therefore, today and forever, the Word of God remains united with the human body He assumed. This body, sanctified and glorified, is continually honored by the holy Cherubim. Truly, our Lord has loved us to this immeasurable extent by becoming one with us so that we may be one with Him.
God With Us — Emmanuel
✍🏾 The Creator exists in three divine persons:
The Holy Trinity — the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
✍🏾In His oneness, He is called:
God, El Shaddai, Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last — One eternal Lord.
✍🏾Through His Incarnation, He is known as:
Emmanuel — God with us, the Savior of the world, Jesus Christ.
✍🏾The Fulfillment of the Promise
When Adam ate from the forbidden tree and was condemned to death, he lived in sorrow upon the earth. In his grief, he pleaded with God for mercy to restore him to his former place of glory.
Out of His infinite compassion, God fulfilled His promise by being born from the offspring of Adam to redeem humanity and grant salvation.
On that holy and appointed day, the prophecy was fulfilled:
Our God became one with us.
Through this divine union, the sin of mankind was forgiven, and humanity was sanctified.
Continues 👇🏾