Great Doctrines of the Bible
Lesson 11
The Virgin Birth of Christ

Introduction
It is common practice for the Christian community to take the story of the Virgin Birth for granted. Yet, from the beginning of the church era it was assailed. A Jewish Christian sect, the Ebionites, denied it, claiming it was not essential to Christ’s deity. The Gnostics, particularly the followers of Cerinthus, claimed that Christ came into Jesus at His baptism and left Him at His crucifixion. Others denied His natural existence. Many believed the story was an adaptation from Roman, Greek or Babylonian Mythology. The Virgin Birth has many deniers today, and any Christian desiring to be set for the defense of the Gospel should also be prepared to defend this primary and essential aspect of the Christian faith.

Importance of this Lesson

• The Virgin Birth encompasses with it the whole “Mystery of Godliness.”
• It involves the deity of Christ, the inspiration and integrity of Scripture, and the entire plan of salvation. If Christ were not miraculously conceived of the Holy Spirit in the womb of a pure virgin, then He was born of natural seed and possessed a sinful, adamic nature. As such, He had no prior-existence, was not fully God incarnate, and was neither the “spotless lamb” nor the sinner’s savior.
• The Virgin Birth is a vital and integral part of the Gospel of Christ, and our salvation and hope rest upon it.
• It is paramount, therefore, that serious minded saints acquaint and assure themselves of the evidences and proofs of this event.

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The Lesson

I. PRIMARY OBJECTIONS

1. The argument stemming from the apparent silence of Mark, John, and Paul, none of whom mention the Virgin Birth in their writings.
   1. Answer: The matter was NOT kept as a secret.
      1. Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist, knew of it and addressed Mary as “The mother of my Lord” (Luke 1:43).
      2. The Shepherds knew that the baby was “Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11, 20).
      3. People in the temple heard Simeon and Anna speak of Jesus as “The Lord’s Christ” (Luke 2:25-28).
      4. Christ himself knew of His origin and birth (John 8:14, 23, 58).
      5. Mary and Joseph had moral and spiritual obligations to pass on the truth, and assuredly did so, through their close circle of friends like: Simeon, Anna, Zechariah, Elizabeth and others.
   2. The silence of Mark: we must learn a writer’s objective. Mark’s objective was to reveal the ministry of Christ, so he began with the Baptism of John. Mark began His Gospel by calling Jesus “The Son of God” (Mark 1:1). He was not concerned with early details. His Gospel was written later than either Matthew or Luke, and he knew what they had written. He saw no reason to repeat the story and did not deny it.
   3. The silence of John: The writings of John were the very last to be included in the Bible. When he wrote, he, too, had access to Matthew and Luke, and the Virgin Birth was already an article of faith in the Christian Church. He did not repudiate it. Remember that Mary lived in John’s house until her death (John 19:26-27). We must assume she shared the glorious news with him. John defended the Virgin Birth against his antagonist, the gnostic Cerinthus, who argued for the natural birth of Jesus.
      Many believe John 1:13 refers to Christ’s birth. At any rate, if believers are miraculously “born of God”, surely Christ was also. In John 3:5-6, John quotes Christ as saying “that which is born of the flesh is flesh – and must be born again.” Therefore, if Christ were born of the flesh, He too, was sinful and needed to be born again.
   4. The silence of Paul: Paul also failed to mention Mary! Again we must know the writer’s objective. Paul desired to preach and make known a crucified, risen and glorified Lord who was coming again. The early church universally accepted the doctrine of the Virgin Birth and Paul never denied it. To him the incarnation rested on its own evidence in the person, work, death and resurrection of Christ. Also, it should be kept in mind that Luke was Paul’s traveling companion for several years. It is inconceivable that this doctrine was not shared. While Paul did not mention the Virgin Birth, per se, he wrote of Christ:
      1. As being the second man from heaven (1 Corinthians 15:47).
      2. As taking upon himself voluntarily man’s likeness (Philippians 2:5-8).
      3. As one whom “…God sending…in the likeness of sinful flesh…” (Romans 8:3).
      4. As one who was made (or born) of a woman (Galatians 4:4-5).
         • While Matthew 11:11 and Luke 7:28 speak of those who are “born of women,” Paul (in Romans and Galatians) uses a different word. Rather than “born,” he uses “become” or “becoming.”
2. The story of the Virgin Birth was an adaptation from either Old Testament prophecies or heathen myths.
   1. Answer to those who believe it was but an adaptation of Old Testament prophecies:
      The main criticism revolves around Isaiah 7:14. Here the word for virgin is “almah” which means an unmarried young woman. While the word does not necessarily mean “virgin,” it usually does. The six times it is used in the Old Testament its meaning is “virgin.” “Almah” never was used to mean a married woman. Nevertheless, no Jew or scholar at the time of Christ accepted this verse as Messianic. Therefore, if Matthew had forced the situation and had adapted or adopted the passage to PROVE the Virgin Birth, it would have been rejected.
      Actually, it was the other way around. The prophecy did not beget or prove the Virgin Birth. The Virgin Birth was a fact that confirmed the prophecy (Matthew 1:22-23).
   2. Concerning the possible adaptation from heathen myths:
      1. There were many legends and myths from Roman, Greek and Babylonian mythology about supernatural births.
      2. Early church fathers argued that the heathen should be the last to question the Virgin Birth since their own mythologies were full of stories of births from gods and goddesses. The fathers viewed such myths as pure fable.
         1. Caesar Augustus promoted the idea that the god, Apollo, was his father who impregnated his mother while in the form of a serpent!!!
         2. Alexander the Great spread the word that he, also, was the son of a god who, while in the form of a serpent, cohabited with his mother!!!
            • Needless to say, neither mother was a virgin!!!
         3. Heathen myths were void of any historical element. The Gospel story is set in history as to persons, time, setting, place, date, and other details. Heathen myths are vague, formless, timeless, etc.
         4. NOWHERE in heathen mythology can anyone find anything analogous or comparable to the story of the Virgin Birth, the story of God Himself who chose to come to earth by way of a virgin to redeem the entire human race from sin.
         5. Some critics call attention to the Greek and Roman fables of Hermes, Dionysius, etc., but such stories were incredibly vile and wicked. Many in Greece and Rome, including Plato, were ashamed of them and sought to have them banned. In NO WAY could they be compared with the beauty, purity and blessedness of the Gospel story.
         6. Eastern mythologies do not provide one case of a virgin birth.
         7. All heathen idolatry was utterly repugnant to early Christians; therefore, it is foolish to claim that biblical writers adopted heathen concepts.

II. PROPHECIES

Early church fathers and apologists relied on prophecy to establish the deity, messiahship, and virgin birth of Christ. Though critics assailed this approach, claiming the idea of a virgin birth was added and imposed much later, we, too, should rely on and rejoice in the prophetic word.

1. Genesis 3:15, The SEED OF A WOMAN was to crush Satan’s power and secure our redemption.
2. Isaiah 7:14, “…a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son….” This promise and prophecy was made to the whole “house of David” (verse 13). The Messiah had to come from the seed and lineage of David (2 Samuel 7:12-13; Romans 1:3).
3. Isaiah 9:6-7, note how carefully the Holy Spirit guards the Virgin Birth and the Deity of Christ. “For unto us a CHILD is born, unto us a SON is GIVEN.” The baby Jesus was born, but the SON came from heaven. Similarly, in Luke 2:11, “For unto you is born…a Savior, WHICH IS CHRIST THE LORD.” Jesus the Savior was born, but Christ the Lord CAME.
4. Isaiah 49:1,5, Christ was called from and formed from his MOTHER’S womb.
5. Matthew 1:16, “And Jacob begat Joseph, the husband of Mary, OF WHOM was born Jesus.…” The phrase “Joseph begat Jesus” is not found in any Greek manuscript.
6. Matthew 1:22-23, “Now ALL THIS was done THAT IT MIGHT BE FULFILLED….”
7. Luke 1:35, “…that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called “The Son of God.”
8. The answer to those critics who claimed that these prophecies were seized upon and added much later so as to give credibility to the myth of the Virgin Birth:
   1. The old Roman Creed, established as early as 100 AD, the predecessor of the well known Apostle’s Creed, states “Who was born of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary.”
   2. Baptismal confessions, known as “Rules of Faith,” took various forms in the early church, but all agreed to the Virgin Birth.
   3. By 100 AD, the church was only 70 years removed from Christ’s death. The Gospel records had been in their hands for thirty years. There had been a succession of offices. The churches had maintained contact. All of them desired doctrinal purity and apostolic authority. The Apostle John was alive through all these years. So, it was impossible to foist a late, baseless legend on these churches so as to secure acceptance of the virgin birth. In fact, great proof of the virgin birth rests in the fact that apart from a Jewish Christian sect called Ebionites and the Gnostics, the recorded stories of the virgin birth were universally, and without question, accepted by the church.

III. PREVIOUS EXISTENCE - One of the greatest proofs of the virgin birth is Christ’s previous existence and absolute deity.

1. Micah 5:2, “…whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.”
2. Hebrews 10:5-9, “…a body hast thou prepared me…lo, I come…to do thy will, O God.”
3. John 17:5, “…with the glory which I had with thee BEFORE the world was.”
4. John 1:1, 14, “In the beginning was the WORD…And the WORD was made flesh…”
5. John 8:57-59, “…BEFORE Abraham was, I AM…”
6. Colossians 1:17, “And he is BEFORE all things….”
7. Philippians 2:5-8, “…Who being in the form of God…was made in the likeness of men.”
8. HE CAME: Of all the religious leaders of the world, only of Christ is it claimed that He was GOD who CAME to earth to save us from our sins.
   1. Hebrews 10:7, 9, “…Lo, I come….”
   2. John 1:11, “He came unto His own….”
   3. Mark 10:45, “…the Son of Man came….”
   4. 1 Timothy 1:15, “…Christ Jesus came…to save sinners….”
   5. John 18:37, “…for this cause came I into the world….”
   6. John 6:38,51, “For I came down from heaven….” “Christ came of His own free will with a redemptive purpose. His conception was of His own deed and choice,” H.C.G. MOULE.
9. HE WAS SENT: Christ both came and was sent by God the Father out of heaven.
   1. Galatians 4:4-5, “But when the fullness…was come, God SENT forth his Son….”
   2. John 3:17, “For God SENT not His Son…to condemn…but that the world…might be saved.”
   3. 1 John 4:14, “…the Father SENT the Son to be the Savior of the world.”
   4. John 20:21, “…as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.”
      • “Deity cannot be made or unmade! If Christ is Divine now, He always was. Christ’s birth is NOT the origin of His Personality, but only its entrance into the conditions of human life.” – Dr. James Orr.
      • Christ’s Deity and prior existence require a supernatural birth. Otherwise He was conceived in sin, was a mere mortal as all other men, and would cease to be God.

IV. PROOFS - Additional and final proofs of Christ’s Virgin Birth might be listed as follows:

1. Had Mary been guilty of immorality, she would have been put away privately (Matthew 1:19).
2. Both Mary and Joseph were descendants of David; however, if Christ had been born of Joseph, He would have been under the curse of Coniah and never could have been the Messiah (cf. Matthew 1:11 and Jeremiah 22:24-30).
3. Christ’s sinless life, unusual death, resurrection, the descent of the Holy Spirit and the promise of His return caused the New Testament writers to view Christ as divine in the fullest sense.
4. All early Church writers and apologists (1st and 2nd centuries), men like Ignatius, 110 AD, fully affirmed the Virgin Birth to be an essential part of the Christian faith.
5. The Gospels of Matthew and Luke are genuine documents of the apostolic age and have descended to us in their integrity.

Conclusion:
If the Church has been mistaken for centuries, it is the greatest and most widespread persistent delusion that has ever been known. Two almost insuperable difficulties for critics appear:

1. How did the idea of the Virgin Birth arise so soon if it was not based on fact?
2. How were the narratives accepted so early and universally if they were not historical?

“If there is such a thing as sin in the world, we must produce a divine, sinless Redeemer to deal with it. The only adequate explanation is the ancient belief of the church universal, that HE WAS CONCEIVED OF THE HOLY GHOST AND BORN OF THE VIRGIN MARY.” – W.H. Griffith Thomas.

HALLELUJAH! WHAT A SAVIOR!!

Examination

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