Contemplations Along The Way

Let's get straight to the point. If the virgin birth did not happen, then, as Mark Driscoll rightly observes:

If the virgin birth of Jesus is untrue, then the story of Jesus changes greatly; we would have a sexually promiscuous young woman lying about God’s miraculous hand in the birth of her son, raising that son to declare he was God, and then joining his religion. But if Mary is nothing more than a sinful con artist then neither she nor her son Jesus should be trusted. Because both the clear teachings of Scripture about the beginning of Jesus’ earthly life and the character of his mother are at stake, we must contend for the virgin birth of Jesus Christ¹.

As I said in my previous post, I've been hearing quite a lot of people downplay or even reject the virgin birth as a fanciful bit mythologizing ².

Larry King was asked who he would interview if he could interview anyone through history. He answered Jesus. He was then asked what question he would ask Jesus, to which he replied that he would like to ask Him if He was virgin-born. The answer to this question, for Larry King, defines history.

In denying the virgin birth of Jesus we deny not only an interpretation of Scripture, but the Scripture itself. What are some examples of Scripture that would be lost?

Luke 1:26-38

26Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth,
27to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, (of the descendants of David; and the virgin's name was Mary.
28And coming in, he said to her, "Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you."
29But she was very perplexed at this statement, and kept pondering what kind of salutation this was.
30The angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God.
31"And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus.
32"He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David;
33and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end."
34Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I am a virgin?"
35The angel answered and said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God.
36"And behold, even your relative Elizabeth has also conceived a son in her old age; and she who was called barren is now in her sixth month.
37"For nothing will be impossible with God."
38And Mary said, "Behold, the bondslave of the Lord; may it be done to me according to your word." And the angel departed from her.

Matthew 1:18-25

18Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: when His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit.
19And Joseph her husband, being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly.
20But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.
21"She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins."
22Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet:
23"BEHOLD, THE VIRGIN SHALL BE WITH CHILD AND SHALL BEAR A SON, AND THEY SHALL CALL HIS NAME IMMANUEL," which translated means, "GOD WITH US."
24And Joseph awoke from his sleep and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took Mary as his wife,
25but kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a Son; and he called His name Jesus.

Isaiah 7:14

14"Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, (A)a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel.

Isaiah 9:6

6For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us;
And the government will rest on His shoulders;
And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.

Genesis 3:15

15And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her seed;
He shall bruise you on the head,
And you shall bruise him on the heel."

Isaiah 7:14 is an interesting case in that a very common objection has been leveled against it. If Isaiah had wanted to describe or prophesy a virgin birth, he would have used the word betulah. As it stands, however, he used the word almah, which means 'young woman'. Thus, there is nothing in Isaiah 7:14 that would signal a virgin birth 700 years later: the authors of the Gospels as well as modern translators were mistaken in their view of these Scriptures. Sam Harris writes, "The writers of Luke and Matthew, for instance, declare that Mary conceived as a virgin, relying upon the Greek rendering of Isaiah 7:14. The Hebrew text of Isaiah uses the word almah, however, which simply means "young woman," without any implication of virginity"³  Christopher Hitchens writes much of the same, "we know that the word translated as 'virgin,' namely almah, means only 'a young woman'"[4. Christopher Hitchens, god is not Great: How Religions Poisons Everything (Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 2007), 115].

In reply we must keep in mind that the genre of Hebrew prophecy is complex, however, the above is not beyond answer. Ravi Zacharias notes that there are numerous examples of prophecy that have a compenetration of two fulfillment, Isaiah 7:14 in one such prophecy. Zacharias writes:

If Isaiah had used the typical Hebrew word for virgin, betulah, it would have been the wrong word for the situation. The immediate fulfillment of the prophecy comes in Isaiah 8:3, when Isaiah's wife gives birth to a son. The people had asked for a sign that God would indeed send the Messiah, and the birth of Isaiah's son was the immediate sign that the greater prophecy and promise of the virgin birth would be fulfilled... Isaiah used the world almah, which is literally translated as "young maiden" and can include virginity. Therefore, it is the very word he needed in order to cover both situations--that of Isaiah's wife and of Joseph's fiancée, Mary⁴.

Furthermore, it should be noted that even if almah did not mean 'virgin,' but only 'young woman,' there is still very little reason to believe that Mary would not have been a virgin. If we read Matthew - and Isaiah - with the mindset one of their audience would have had, then we would have instinctively connected 'young woman' with 'virgin,' the two were virtually synonymous. In fact, if a young woman were not a virgin, her punishment under the law would have been death. Any questions of her virginity would have resulted in a physical inspection (Deuteronomy 22:14-22)⁵.

Lastly, it is often objected that the virgin birth of Jesus is merely a copying of pre-existing myths. This is a question for another time, however to say quickly that this is not the case, especially as one studies and compares the virgin birth 'myths' of pre-existing religions with the virgin birth account of Jesus. For more information on this, see  N.T. Wright's The Resurrection of the Son of God.

If Christianity is to be factually true and meaningful, the Virgin Birth must be an event in space time. Without the virgin birth, we lose Jesus. It goes without saying that if we lose Jesus, well, then we've lost everything. As Al Mohler writes:

Can a true Christian deny the virgin birth? The answer to that question must be a decisive No. Those who deny the virgin birth reject the authority of Scripture, deny the supernatural birth of the Savior, undermine the very foundations of the Gospel, and have no way of explaining the deity of Christ.

Anyone who claims that the virgin birth can be discarded even as the deity of Christ is affirmed is either intellectually dishonest or theological incompetent⁶.

Related posts:

1. It’s Genetic!
2. Grace in the life of a believer