Virgin Birth of Christ

The Virgin Birth of Christ is a fundamental doctrine of Christianity affirming that the Second Person of the Holy Trinity Incarnate, had no human biological father. We understand that people outside the church would reject this doctrine, but it is sad to know that people inside the “church” reject it as well. This kind of unbelief comes from liberal circles that embrace a worldview that has no place for miracles. People in these circles refuse to accept anything supernatural and only trust in the laws of nature. They may claim to believe in God but they deny Him by denying His intervention into humanity. In America, the public denial of the Virgin Birth was popularized in a famous sermon titled, “Shall the Fundamentalists Win?” by Harry Emerson Fosdick. Fosdick was a famous pastor of First Presbyterian Church in New York in the 1920’s. He said the Virgin Birth was unnecessary, the inerrancy of Scripture was untenable and the doctrine of the Second Coming was absurd. He elevated human reason above the plain words of Scripture and made reason the final arbiter of truth. 

Regardless of what man says, the Bible is clear that God selected a righteous young virgin by the name of Mary to be the first surrogate mother. It is expressly predicted in Isaiah 7:14 some 700 years before Christ was born, Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel. According to Matthew 1:22-23, this prophecy was fulfilled in Mary. She is also called a “virgin” in Luke 1:27 when the angel Gabriel came to her to tell her that she would conceive a child. Matthew 1:18 gives corroborating evidence that there was no relations between Joseph and Mary before Jesus was born, Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. Matthew 1:25 also affirms this, He knew her not till she had brought forth her first-born son. In other words, it was in the betrothal period that Mary was made to be with child by the Holy Spirit before the consummation of the marriage which would take place in the future.

The terminology of “Virgin Conception” further elucidates what happened. Jesus was immaculately conceived by the Holy Spirit as is stated in Luke 1:35, And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. The Holy Spirit planted the seed in Mary’s womb Who was the God-man. Jesus was His human nature joined with the Son of God, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity. So the phrase, “Immaculate Conception” is very fitting to express this miracle. It is unfortunate that the Roman Catholic Church has misapplied that phrase to refer to Mary, which is completely false. Mary was a virgin when she birthed Jesus, but she was not herself immaculately conceived only Jesus was.

This doctrine of the Virgin Birth or Virgin Conception, stands at the very heart of the person and work of Jesus Christ. Without this doctrine there would be no salvation for sinners, since Christ would have been no different than any other human being. He would have inherited a sin nature from a human father and thus He could not have been the perfect sacrifice necessary for Him to paid the penalty for sin and impute His righteousness to those who believe. Further, if the Virgin Birth did not occur, then the Bible is not true and cannot be trusted. The whole house of cards falls down. But glory be to God that it is true and Christians must cherish this marvelous miracle all year long.