Page 83 - Advanced Apologetics and World Views Revised

Is the virgin birth of Christ all that important?

The doctrine of the virgin birth is crucially important (Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:23; Luke 1:27, 34). First,
let’s look at how Scripture describes the event.
In response to Mary’s question, “How will this be?” (Luke 1:34), Gabriel
says, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High
will overshadow you” (Luke 1:35). The angel encourages Joseph to not fear
marrying Mary with these words: “What is conceived in her is from the
Holy Spirit” (Matthew 1:20). Matthew states that the virgin “was found to
be with child through the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 1:18). Galatians 4:4 also
teaches the Virgin Birth: “God sent His Son, born of a woman.”

From these passages, it is certainly clear that Jesus’ birth was the result of the Holy Spirit working within
Mary’s body. The immaterial (the Spirit) and the material (Mary’s womb) were both involved. Mary, of
course, could not impregnate herself, and in that sense, she was simply a “vessel.” Only God could
perform the miracle of the Incarnation.

However, denying a physical connection between Mary and Jesus would imply that Jesus was not truly
human. Scripture teaches that Jesus was fully human, with a physical body like ours. This He received
from Mary. At the same time, Jesus was fully God, with an eternal, sinless nature (John 1:14; 1 Timothy
3:16; Hebrews 2:14-17.). This He received from the Holy Spirit.

Jesus was not born in sin; that is, He had no sin nature (Hebrews 7:26). It would seem that the sin nature
is passed down from generation to generation through the father (Romans 5:12, 17, 19). The Virgin Birth
circumvented the transmission of the sin nature and allowed the eternal God to become a perfect man.

The Messiah came to die for the sins of mankind. He was called Emmanuel, “God with us.” He was both
God and man. His conception by the Holy Spirit was the “God part” of his nature and his conception by
Mary was the “human part” of which He came to be. We know that God is eternal and can never die.
But God had to die to pay the penalty for sin. The only way that could happen is if God became a man
which now created the possibility that the Godman could die as he was also human, subject to death.

His virgin birth prevented his body from inheriting a sin nature, which would disqualify Him from being a
sacrificial lamb. The virgin birth also qualified Him to be God who would pay the ultimate penalty for
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sin. Without the virgin birth, the life and death of Christ would have been nullified.

Did Jesus have to die? Couldn’t he just forgive us and not die.
When we ask a question such as this, we must be careful that we are not calling God into question. To
wonder why God couldn’t find “another way” to do something is to imply that the way He has chosen is
not the best course of action and that some other method would be better. Usually what we perceive as
a “better” method is one that seems right to us. Before we can come to grips with anything God does,
we have to first acknowledge that His ways are not our ways, His thoughts are not our thoughts—they
are higher than ours (Isaiah 55:8). In addition, Deuteronomy 32:4 reminds us that “He is the Rock, his
works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he.”
Therefore, the plan of salvation He has designed is perfect, just, and upright and no one could have
come up with anything better.

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