What does Scripture mean by “fulfillment”? (Use the citation from Hosea as an example in your answer.) Second, identify anything you can see in these opening chapters of the Gospels of Matthew and Luke that addresses the elements of the Old Testament narrative that we discussed last class.
As we discussed last time in class, the prophecies of the Old Testament very rarely make a specific prediction for the future. This might be roughly 5% of the time. In these instances, “fulfillment” would entail that these specific predictions come true and are realized in the future (namely, in the New Testament scriptures). More commonly however (the other 95% of the time), the Old Testament scriptures tell of past events, but they do so in a sort of repetitive manner. That is, the same motifs and ideas are repeated over and over, leaving an open ending, waiting for fulfillment of that same motif later on. The example I easily think of is the ongoing motif of death and resurrection which we saw so many times throughout Genesis and the Old Testament, which would remain unfulfilled until Jesus’ literal death and resurrection which was the penultimate realization of that motif, and it is what everything else before that was really leading up to. It is important to note that in both the 5% and the 95%, Jesus is the one who fulfills these prophecies.
In the opening chapters of Matthew and Luke, we see Jesus presented as the new king, which addresses the idea of kingship of Israel, and it works doubly in that Jesus is a Jew, whose lineage traces back to King David himself, and Jesus is God Himself. Another parallel is that Jesus can be seen as a fulfillment of the new temple which the Israelites were awaiting as we saw in Tobit. Since the idea of the temple represents God’s presence, communion with God, salvation, etc., it is easy to see how Jesus checks all these boxes, as his very life, death, and resurrection is what allows for us to be in God’s presence once again and have a personal relationship (i.e. communion) with Him.
Kyle Dellenbaugh | Foundations of Theology 
I like your distinction of fulfillment as repetition of motif rather than specific predictions. In what way in the first chapters is Jesus connected to the Temple?
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I like this comparison between Jesus and the temple, I did not think of that while I did my reading. I think this adds on to the comparisons/relations between the new and old testament in a way that regards the birth of Jesus specifically.
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“The example I easily think of is the ongoing motif of death and resurrection which we saw so many times throughout Genesis and the Old Testament, which would remain unfulfilled until Jesus’ literal death and resurrection which was the penultimate realization of that motif, and it is what everything else before that was really leading up to.” This quote is very interesting. I would not have thought of fulfillment in the circling back of the theme of death and resurrection to completion.
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