The Virgin Birth and the Christian Faith--Part 2

We've already observed that a miracle of the magnitude of a virgin birth "fits" within the Christian theistic framework and sets it stunningly apart from the naturalistic worldview embraced by Western secularism. And for this reason alone we should confidently welcome it. Belief in such a miracle does not render us anti-intellectuals (as the unimaginatively narrow-minded scoffer claims); rather, it renders us consistent supernaturalists. Of all the people in the world, Christians should be most comfortable with a miracle-working God. A virgin birth should not embarrass us, but embolden us. This is the kind of exploit that our God alone can do. "What?" we should rather say to the scoffer in a spirit reminiscent of Jeremiah 10: "Your god can't do this? How humiliating."

We must further accept the virgin birth because it is described as historical fact in clear, unambiguous terms in our New Testament. Mary became pregnant "before Mary and Joseph came together" (Matt 1:18), by a miracle of the Holy Spirit (v. 20), while she was yet a virgin (v. 23). There can be no doubt here--unlike the ever-so-slightly-less-than-lexically-certain term used in Isaiah 7:14, the Greek term leaves no doubt about Mary's status--she had never had sexual relations. And so it can be said without confusion that this miraculously conceived child was not the biological son of Joseph, but the Son of God (Luke 1:35).

As others have very carefully argued this season, to deny this one piece of the Christ-narrative is to compromise all the other pieces and throw the whole of the Christian faith into doubt. Truly, one cannot deny the inerrancy of any part of the Gospel account without jeopardizing the whole. The virgin birth, as such, stands as a prominent test-case for the doctrines of divine supernaturalism and biblical inerrancy. No one can deny the virgin birth and remain truly Christian.

Some stop at this point with an "Amen" and an exclamation point. And indeed, this truth is an important one. But the importance of the virgin birth, it would seem, has greater significance even than the foregoing. Why? Because the miracle of the virgin birth preserves (1) the preincarnate, divine personhood of Christ, and (2) frees him from the ravages of a sin nature.

When Jesus Christ was conceived in Mary, his personhood did not spring into existence at this point in history. Rather the pre-existent second person of the Trinity was "sent" by the Father to "take on flesh." Had Mary and Joseph "come together" to produce a new child, that new zygote would have been, by natural procreation, a new person. Were this the case, then the pre-existent person of Christ would have been imposed upon and forced to co-exist with this new human personality as some sort of schizophrenic monstrosity, thus violating the cardinal Christological rule of "neither dividing the person nor confounding the natures" of Christ. Worse yet, any person that Mary and Joseph could have produced (and we know that later they did), would naturally have been sinful (a hereditary trait predicated of all persons conceived by natural procreation). And so Christ would have been not only a schizophrenic monstrosity, but also an evil schizophrenic monstrosity.

Without the virgin birth, then, the person of Christ would have been so confounded and corrupted that his death would have had no value in the least for the world. To appropriately turn a phrase used by the Apostle Paul of the resurrection, if Christ is not virgin-born, "our preaching is worthless,... your faith is futile; you are still in your sins" (1 Cor 15:12-19).

And so again, let us embrace the virgin birth. Not only because it reveals the supernatural power of our God, but because it magnifies the intricate wisdom by which he rendered redemption possible. It is a good thing not only to celebrate in this festive season, but also to ponder all that the virgin birth means to the Christian faith.