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Christianity Today, December (Web-only), 2007 |

CT Classic

Our Lord's Virgin Birth

Why it matters that "a real son of a real mother" did not have a human father.

A Christianity Today editorial from 1959. | posted 12/13/2007 09:02AM

This editorial originally appeared in the December 7, 1959 issue of Christianity Today.

Among the issues raised by the unfortunate and continuing controversy over the Virgin Birth, the implied dismissal ...

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Zack	Posted: December 26, 2007 1:40 PM

To me insisting that Jesus was a divine being lets regular humans off the hook for not striving to be as good and compassionate as he was. It is only because he was a mortal man, with whom we can all identify as mortals ourselves, that his resolution and actions, particular his decision to do right even though it cost him his life, has significance. Just for the record, if you do believe in the divinity of Jesus, Mary wasn't a "virgin," she only supposedly had a "virgin birth," meaning a birth without sexual conception (it's an unfortunate that in English people have made the mistake). If she was married to Joseph, obviously she would have had to consummate the marriage and could have had children with him before or after Jesus.

*****

Posted: December 21, 2007 9:50 AM


this is orthodox Christianity; we are fortunate to have this clear exposition of Biblical truth

Doug	Posted: December 21, 2007 6:15 AM


This is an excellent piece. Can someone tell us who the original author was in 1959?

John Henry

Posted: December 18, 2007 11:09 AM


And for what it's worth, John (the poster) is wrong. "The RCC" does not "get[] around this by making Mary's birth virginal too." Mary was born of the marital embrace of her parents, according to the "RCC".

Gerald

Posted: December 17, 2007 12:44 PM


What an excellent article! I can see why CT considers it a classic. A very timely article for me, too, as we have a young girl in our church asking questions about the virgin birth. Thank you for reprinting this article which has given me a few more ideas to share with her.

Ephrem Hagos

Posted: December 17, 2007 5:43 AM

The greater issue in the Annunciation is not the "virgin birth" but the identity of the offspring to be born, viz.: "Son of the Most High" the truth of whom neither the angel, nor Scripture nor Apostolic teaching --except the Holy Spirit is the exclusive witness (John 3:3; 1 Cor, 12:3). That is what the angel referred to, Mary accepted; and how the story moved on to be repeated again and again. This is the meaning of "conceived by the Holy Spirit", otherwise, an expression heard in Joseph's dream (Matt. 120). For us, to be convinced of the virgin birth, we have first to know firsthand and personally who Jesus Christ is, as is possible, before we are convinced beyond any shadow of doubt that "there is nothing that God cannot do" (Luke 1:37). Amen!

JOhn	Posted: December 16, 2007 10:43 AM

It is strange that if the Virgin Birth was so important it is never mentioned by Paul and does not appear in 2 out of the 4 Gospels. Whether the Virgin Birth is real or theological is really not to me central to the story of Jesus. Mary, as a human, would have been born with the taint of original sin. The RCC gets around this by making Mary's birth virginal too, which is extra-Biblical but logically sound. Otherwise the idea of a Virgin Birth, while nice, is clearly not central to the story of the Gospels!

Clement

Posted: December 15, 2007 10:33 AM

Mary was the first person in all of history who could say "yes" to God in such a way that she could become his temple. God himself and all of creation waited for a young girl to respond freely to this invitation of God. It is Mary's trusting assent, "Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word," that allows her to proclaim: "Henceforth all generations will call me blessed." Mary is the penultimate Christian! Like Mary, we are called to bear Christ, but we can never bear him in the same way she did. Let us not diminish the Birthgiver of God with ideas that she was "no less a sinner than Joseph" or that her motherhood was passive. To do so is to dilute the fullness of the Incarnation. "I am amazed that there are some who are entirely in doubt as to whether the holy Virgin should be called Theotokos (Birthgiver of God) or not. For if our Lord Jesus Christ is God, how is the holy Virgin who gave Him birth, not Theotokos?" -St Cyril of Alexandria

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