Seminar 2 - The Birth of Jesus Christ

Introduction

This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. (Matthew 1:18)

In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you." Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end." "How shall this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?" The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. For nothing is impossible with God." "I am the Lord’s servant," Mary answered, "May it be to me as you have said." Then the angel left her. (Luke 1:26-38)

It is not surprising to us who believe that when God became a man it was in such unusual circumstances. So it ought to be. But for the unbeliever the story of Mary, a virgin, being found with child before marriage can mean only one thing. The virgin birth of Jesus Christ, however difficult for some to believe, is a fact of biblical record in both the Old and New Testaments. The doctrine of the virgin birth is not an optional belief. If you reject the virgin birth of Christ you reject the testimony of God, the sinlessness of Christ and therefore the atoning work of Christ on the cross. Am I saying then that you cannot be saved without believing in the virgin birth? Yes, I am. For if you reject the virgin birth of Christ you reject Christ. Your Jesus would then not be the Christ of the Bible and he could not be called the Son of God. "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life." (John 3:16) You see the problem of those who question and/or oppose the virgin birth is not lack of biblical evidence but a lack of faith in the supernatural. (Berkoff p333) Liberal theologians who reject this doctrine reject the Christ of the Bible in favor of their own human prophet/savior. If one cannot believe in the miraculous then one cannot believe "to the saving of the soul," (Hebrews 10:39) for that in itself is miraculous.

In this part of our lesson on the miraculous birth we will provide ample evidence and argument for the virgin birth so that the true student of the Word can "earnestly contend for the faith once delivered to the saints." (Jude 3)

Both Matthew and Luke record the testimony that Mary was a virgin and became pregnant by an act of God alone without the instrumentation of man. Those who oppose it search in vain for some thread of support for their perilous position. One of the arguments assumes that since the other gospel writers, Mark and John do not directly mention the virgin birth then they must have known nothing of it. This is preposterous!

Mark does not record the story of Jesus’ childhood and neither does John. Does that mean they did not believe he was ever a child? Certainly not! Mark does in fact allude to the virgin birth in Mark 6:3 when referring to the Jews questioning Jesus’ wisdom.

Isn’t this the carpenter? Isn’t this Mary’s son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren’t his sisters here with us? And they took offense at him.

In the Jewish world of Jesus’ time there were rules governing the giving of names to sons. A man was named after his father even if his father died before his birth. A child was named after his mother only when the father was unknown. Jesus would have been referred to in this passage as the "Son of Joseph, the carpenter," but he is not. The evidence points to community knowledge that Jesus was the son of Mary, not Joseph. (McDowell, Evidence p117)

John similarly does not tell the story of Jesus’ birth but he certainly alludes to it as well in his often repeated appellation of Jesus as the Son of God. In the same way he refers to Jesus as the "only begotten of God." No one else can be given such a title who is not born of God. The word "begat," from which we get "begotten," is a term which is always employed to designate the male part of procreation. The Greek word for begotten, "monogenes," is used six times in the New Testament as applied to Jesus as the only begotten of God. Jesus twice used it of himself. No one else was ever begotten or conceived by the Holy Ghost. No one else was ever born of a virgin. (McDowell, Evidence, p114)

These liberal naysayers also say that the other New Testament writers completely ignore any virgin birth therefore they must not have believed it. This is a very poor argument from silence as we have seen before. In fact, the apostle Paul, who was a close friend of Luke, writes his whole premise of justification by faith in Romans based on the sinlessness of Christ as the new Adam. Jesus was untainted by the sin of Adam that he might redeem us from the curse of the law. His whole argument is premised on the virgin birth, therefore the sinless birth of Christ. (Romans 5:12)

The Prophetic Witness

The virgin birth is attested to in the Old Testament as well. In Genesis 3:15 God promises to Adam that the "seed of the woman" will crush the head of Satan. Notice it is not the seed of the man that will crush Satan’s rule of sin, but the seed of the woman – that is, the offspring of a woman will be used of God to reverse the curse.

Isaiah 7:14 which Matthew quotes stands as a monument to the virgin birth.

Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

We need to point out several things about this passage.

1. The word virgin in Hebrew is represented by two words. The first and most commonly used is "bethulah" which means a virgin maiden. The second "almah (veiled) means a young woman of marriageable age. (McDowell, Evidence, p145) This is the word used by Isaiah to distinguish clearly that the woman in the prophecy is not married and is a virgin. It would be as if Isaiah had said "A young virgin, who continued a virgin, will have a child." There is no miracle when a virgin ceases to be a virgin and has a child but when that virgin has the child and still is a virgin that is a miracle.
2. Next it is important to note that this birth of a child to a virgin would be a "sign." It would be no sign if what was meant was that a young married woman, a virgin ‘til marriage, would conceive and bring forth a son. There is no miracle to that, therefore no sign.
3. Finally the name given to the child of this virgin birth is the clincher. She will call him Immanuel, meaning God with us. No one in Israel would dare take on the name of Jehovah or claim to be God with us.

The Theological Necessity

We have already mentioned the argument of the apostle Paul for the theological necessity of Jesus Christ being the spotless lamb of God. Jesus did not become the Son of God gradually as he matured to adulthood. He was the Son of God from the moment of his conception. If Jesus was the fruit of human sexual relationship (the sperm of man) he would carry the inheritance of Adam’s race which is the sin nature which came on every man since Adam’s fall. Thus he would have had to atone for his own sin nature before he could atone for mankind. If he had a sin nature he would not be the spotless lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. The importance of Jesus’ sinless nature cannot be overemphasized. Jesus alone was without sin. No other man could come close since Adam’s sin taints every man. We call this "original sin." The only way Jesus could avoid the contamination of Adam’s sin was to avoid Adam’s seed altogether and be conceived by the Holy Spirit, thus without sin.

If Jesus had been from Joseph’s flesh he would have carried the sin of Adam in him. Also had Joseph been his physical father Jesus would not be qualified to sit on the throne of David. A little known prophecy of Jeremiah (Jeremiah 22:28-30) declares that there was a curse on the descendants of King Jeconiah and Matthew 1:12 exposes that Joseph was a direct descendant of Jeconiah. Jesus therefore would have been under that curse and could not be the heir to David’s throne. Mary on the other hand did not come from Jeconiah’s line. (McDowell, Evidence, p113)

Sources and Recommended Reading:
(It is not necessary to buy these books.)

Hurbert Lockyer, All the Doctrines of the Bible, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, 1964
L. Berkhof, Systematic Theology, Eerdmans Publishing Co. Grand Rapids, 1939
Josh McDowell, Evidence that Demands a Verdict, Campus Crusade for Christ, 1979
Josh McDowell, A Ready Defense, Compiled by Bill Wilson, Thomas Nelson Pub, 1993
Keathley, J. Hampton III, Angels, God’s Ministering Spirits Internet Article on Angels, < >