Is the Virgin Birth Relevant?

In light of the approach of Christmas, I’d like to highlight the reality and importance of the virgin birth, or more properly, the virgin conception of Jesus Christ. Until recently, the virgin birth has been acknowledged as an important doctrine of the Christian faith. The early church fathers, the Apostles’ Creed, the Nicene and Chalcedon Creeds, the Lutheran Augsburg Confession, the Reformed Belgic Confession, the Thirty-Nine Articles of the Church of England, and the Westminster Confession of Faith all bear witness to the church's faith in the virgin birth. However, in recent years some Bible scholars have questioned the veracity of this claim and have challenged the importance of this doctrine. Some within the church no longer believe it to be true.

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How Important Is The Virgin Birth?

In a recent sermon, Andy Stanley began a new Christmas series where he said, "“If somebody can predict their own death and then their own resurrection, I’m not all that concerned about how they got into the world.” What he is saying is why should we be concerned with how Jesus came when, in fact, he did come and did what he said he would do.

The problem with that is Christians should be concerned with how Jesus came because the virgin birth of Christ is the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. It is the fulfillment of God's promise of a Messiah ever since God told Eve that a seed would come from her to crush the serpent (Genesis 3:15). How important is the virgin birth? Kevin DeYoung recently wrote four reasons why the virgin is essential to Christianity:

First, the virgin birth is essential to Christianity because it has been essential to Christianity.

That may sound like weak reasoning, but only if we care nothing about the history and catholicity of the church. Granted, the church can get things wrong, sometimes even for a long time. But if Christians, of all stripes in all places, have professed belief in the virgin birth for two millennia, maybe we should be slow to discount it as inconsequential. In his definitive study of the virgin birth, J. Gresham Machen concluded that “there can be no doubt that at the close of the second century the virgin birth of Christ was regarded as an absolutely essential part of the Christian belief by the Christian church in all parts of the known world.” Perhaps, then, we should not be so hasty in dismissing the doctrine as a take-it-or-leave-it element of the Christian faith.

Second, the Gospel writers clearly believed that Mary was a virgin when Jesus was conceived.

We don’t know precisely how the Christ-child came to be in Mary’s womb, except that the conception was “from the Holy Spirit” (Matt. 1:20). But we do know that Mary understood the miraculous nature of this conception, having asked the angel “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” (Luke 1:34). The Gospels do not present the virgin birth as some prehistoric myth or pagan copycat, but as “an orderly account” of actual history from eyewitnesses (Luke 1:1-4). If the virgin birth is false, the historical reliability of the Gospels is seriously undermined.

Third, the virgin birth demonstrates that Jesus was truly human and truly divine.

How can the virgin birth be an inconsequential spring for our jumping when it establishes the identity of our Lord and Savior? If Jesus had not been born of a human, we could not believe in his full humanity. But if his birth were like any other human birth—through the union of a human father and mother—we would question his full divinity. The virgin birth is necessary to secure both a real human nature and also a completely divine nature.

Fourth, the virgin birth is essential because it means Jesus did not inherit the curse of depravity that clings to Adam’s race.

Jesus was made like us in every way except for sin (Heb. 4:15; 7:26-27). Every human father begets a son or daughter with his sin nature. We may not understand completely how this works, but this is the way of the world after the fall. Sinners beget sinners (Psalm 51:5). Always. So if Joseph was the real father of Jesus, or Mary had been sleeping around with Larry, Jesus is not spotless, not innocent, and not perfectly holy. And as result, we have no mediator, no imputation of Christ’s righteousness (because he has no righteousness to impute to us), and no salvation.

DeYoung concludes the post by asking the question, is the virgin birth essential to Christianity? The answer is yes. Now, do you need to believe in the virgin birth to be saved? No. The Bible says that "if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved" (Romans 10:9). Nowhere in scripture does it say you must believe in the virgin birth to be saved, however, this is an essential doctrine that Christians need to embrace once they are equipped with Biblical truth from a Bible-believing, Bible-preaching church.

In his classic book on Systematic Theology, Wayne Grudem gives us three reasons why the virgin birth is an important doctrine:

1. It shows that salvation ultimately must come from the Lord. Just as God had promised that the "seed" of a woman (Gen. 3:15) would ultimately destroy the serpent, so God brought it about by his own power, not through human effort.

2. The virgin birth made possible the uniting of full deity and full humanity in one person.

3. The virgin birth also makes possible Christ's true humanity without inherited sin.

For a pastor to say that I am not concerned with how Jesus got here is to say that things God has written and promise in Scripture is no big deal. Stanley has already made the claim that history stands a better testament than the Bible when it comes to Jesus. History is not sufficient in regards to the claims of Christianity. The Bible says God promised that a virgin will give birth to a son and we see that promise fulfilled in the virgin birth of Christ.

Giving Mary Assurance

Have you ever wondered why the angel told Mary why her relative, Elizabeth, was excepting a child in her old age? That is a question I have been thinking about lately. Recently my family was watching The Nativity Story, and as I was watching Mary getting the news from Gabriel about her giving birth to Jesus, that question came to mind.

Why was Mary given assurance by hearing about Elizabeth? The most obvious one is that she is a virgin. She is betrothed, arranged to be married, to Joseph. She is also a teenager probably 14-years-old. So when the angel came told Mary she was with child, I am sure she must have thought if she hit her head or daydreaming. The angel told her that hey, even Elizabeth, your relative (cousin) is expecting their first son and she is old, well beyond child-bearing years.

Mary was given assurance that is not impossible with God. As Christians, we know this is nothing new that God allowed an old woman give birth to a son. Sarah gave birth to Issac when she was 90. I don't think Elizabeth was that old, but we know see was beyond child-bearing years (see Luke 1:7). The angel gave that assurance to Mary about what God was going to do, then submitted to God's plan. "And Mary said, 'Behold, I am the servant[f] of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word'" (Luke 1:38).

Why is the Virgin Birth an Important Doctrine?

As we begin to celebrate the Christmas season, we reflect on the birth of Christ. As Christians, we believe it was prophesied that Jesus would be born of a virgin and was the rescuer for the people of God. The virgin birth of Christ is not the most dominating doctrine of the Bible, but it is an important doctrine. Wayne Grudem gives three important reasons why in his classic, Systematic Theology:

1. It shows that salvation ultimately must come from the Lord. Just as God had promised that the "seed" of a woman (Gen. 3:15) would ultimately destroy the serpent, so God brought it about by his own power, not through human effort.

2. The virgin birth made possible the uniting of full deity and full humanity in one person.

3. The virgin birth also makes possible Christ's true humanity without inherited sin.