VIRGIN BIRTH OF CHRIST

The doctrine of the virgin birth of Jesus is one of the lines of evidence establishing the Lord's identity as the Son of God. The angel Gabriel said to Mary, a "virgin" (Lk. 1:27): "The holy thing which is begotten shall be called the Son of God" (1:35). Proofs for the historicity of the virgin birth are as follows: (a) It was prophesied by Isaiah seven centuries before the birth of Jesus (Isa. 7:14; Mt. 1:22-23). (b) The virgin-birth event was affirmed by the apostle Matthew. In his legal genealogy of Christ, the apostle employs "begat" thirty-nine times; the term is omitted as a connective to Jesus (1:16). The pronoun "whom" (v. 16) is feminine, singular, thus excluding Joseph. Mary was with child before she and Joseph "came together" (v. 18). The conception was by the Spirit's power, i.e., miraculous (vv. 18, 20). Initially, Joseph was inclined to divorce Mary, which indicates he was not the father of the child (v. 19). Joseph was never intimate with Mary until after the Savior's birth (v. 25). (c) Luke, a physician (Col. 4:14), affirmed the doctrine of the virgin birth (Lk. 1:26ff). A doctor is the last person who would be convinced of such a phenomenon -- unless there was compelling evidence. And Luke had carefully investigated matters concerning Jesus (Lk. 1:1-4). (d) If Mary knew that Jesus had an earthly father, would she have stood at the foot of the cross (Jn. 19:26) and watched her son being murdered for the claim of being the "Son of the blessed One" (Mk. 14:62)? Such a conclusion would make Mary one of the vilest characters of feminine history. The biblical teaching of the virgin birth is not the only proof that Jesus is the Son of God, but it is an important plank in the platform.