The Virgin Birth
“And Mary said to the angel, ‘How will this be, since I am a virgin?’” Luke 1:34
With Christmas fast approaching, the secular media and liberal scholars of the day are sure to turn their dissenting gaze once again to the virgin birth of Jesus Christ. It seems during every Christmas season that the weekly news magazines, editorialists, and post-modern college professors engage in a collective mockery that so many Americans could be so naïve as to believe in such an unscientific, illogical doctrine. For many, to believe that Jesus Christ was born of a virgin is nothing less than irrefutable evidence for the intellectual simplicity that plagues the religious today. One columnist for the New York Times states the indictment plainly: “The faith in the Virgin Birth reflects the way American Christianity is becoming less intellectual and more mystical over time.” As theological institutions and the many pulpits that they influence drifted left in the twentieth century, mocking a literal virgin birth came into vogue. Now that we are in the twenty-first century, these enlightened minds have sprinted to the left in their liberal theology, and the truth of the virgin birth is a long-since declared casualty.
Today, Biblically minded Christians must understand the fact that a denial of the virgin birth is a denial of Jesus as the Christ and a denial of the inerrant, authoritative Word of God. In short, it is a denial of Christianity itself. The Savior who died for our sins was none other than the baby who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, and born of a virgin. The virgin birth does not stand alone as a Biblical doctrine. It is an irreducible and irreplaceable part of the Biblical revelation about the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. With this Biblical narrative, the Gospel itself stands or falls. It cannot be removed without all of Christianity crumbling down around it. The dots between the virgin birth and the salvation offered by God are indelibly linked for time and eternity. We cannot have the one without the other.
One of the reasons why (I believe) the virgin birth is so contested is because it is an indictment against all of mankind. It first and foremost communicates that there is a significant, divisive problem between man and God. This problem is defined clearly in Scripture as sin. It also shows that humanity needs a redemption that it can’t bring about for itself. The fact that the human race couldn’t produce its own redeemer implies that its sin and guilt are profound and that its savior must come from outside of us.
Finally, the virgin birth puts God’s initiative on display. The angel didn’t ask Mary about her willingness to participate in the plan; he announced it: “Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus” (Luke 1:31). God didn’t ask Mary for her permission, and His plan was not contingent on her agreeable disposition. He acted—gently but decisively—to save His people from their sins (Matthew 1:21). The grace given to Mary was irresistible.
As we celebrate another Christmas, I encourage you to spend some time thinking on the truth of the virgin birth, the many ramifications that come along with it, praising God for His indescribable gift.
-Pastor Craig