The Virgin Birth—Part 1

In these last two posts before Christmas, I wanted to explore what I feel is one of the most vital and least understood doctrines of Scripture…the virgin birth.

Some have speculated that Jesus’ birth from the womb of a virgin was not as miraculous as in appears. They say that the term “virgin” in Scripture can just mean a young girl, and that her baby (Jesus) was conceived in the normal manner that any of us were. But I want to say categorically that this is a lie. When the Bible tells us that Mary was a virgin, it is telling us that Mary had never had sexual relations with a man. This is VERY important, and in this post and tomorrow’s, I’m going to try and explain why that is.

First of all, it is important because of the difference in the nature of one having been born naturally to supernaturally. The one born of man and woman has a sin nature. It is passed on to each one of us by our fathers (this we will explain more in a moment), much in the same way our foreheads or eye color or skin tone might be passed down. The sin nature, therefore, is what disqualifies us from having a proper relationship with the Heavenly Father.

Now when I say that the sin nature is passed on to the offspring by the fathers, I say so based on Romans chapter 5. Here is what it says:

“When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned.”
—Romans 5:12 (NLT)

So we see here, that God is telling us through Paul that it is through Adam that sin entered the world and through him spread to everyone. Notice that it does not say it is through Eve (who sinned first), but through Adam.

So, if Mary’s son, Jesus, had come into this world just like every other person, then Jesus would have had a sin nature. He would have been a sinner, and therefore, not perfect, and not able to be our sacrifice for sins. In the Old Covenant (Testament) we are told that in order for the atonement of sins to be made the sacrifice had to be a year old, and had to be perfect…no spot or blemish, no disease or dismemberment, but whole and right. Jesus had to be those things if He were to be our Atonement Sacrifice.

So the virgin birth is vitally important because there was no human father…only God. Therefore, in Jesus’ body, there was no sin nature. He was born with the nature that Adam had before his fall. This is also important to realize because it means that Jesus could have sinned if He had chosen to. He was tempted in every way like we are, yet without sin (Hebrews 4:15). Jesus’ life was lived perfectly, and He never once chose to dishonor God. His life was perfect and He was able to be our atonement sacrifice.

Another reason the virgin birth is important is that if Jesus had been just like us (that is, had a sin nature), then He could not have been the innocent sacrifice for the guilty human condition. His sacrifice would have been null and void. He took the punishment we all deserved (death) on the cross, and as such, our sin debt can now be “paid in full” if we will accept it and believe it.

So I will ask you today…do you believe in the virgin birth? Or do you think it isn’t all that important? I hope that you will believe, because it is so important that you do!

Think about it, and we’ll see you on Sunday!

Merry Christmas!