Late origin?
The wording of the passages in Matthew and Luke is clear: Mary was a virgin when Jesus was conceived in her womb by the Holy Spirit. It was a miracle of God.
But with the rise of liberal theology—with its suspicion of everything miraculous—these biblical statements have come to be challenged on a variety of grounds. Among them is an alleged late origin of the birth accounts. This theory argues that as early Christian beliefs about Jesus developed, Christians began to add fictional elements to the basic story of Jesus’ life. The Virgin Birth, we are told, was simply their imaginative way of saying that Jesus Christ was God’s gift to humanity.
The Jesus Seminar, a group of liberal biblical scholars who voted on the words of Jesus and the Gospel writers, took this view. These scholars reject the biblical account of Jesus’ miraculous conception and birth, calling them “later creations.” Mary, they conclude, must have had sexual intercourse with Joseph or some other man.
Did New Testament writers engage in mythmaking, deliberately making Jesus Christ larger than life? Was he simply a “human prophet,” an “ordinary man of his time” who was later invested with a supernatural aura by well-meaning followers to “buttress their Christological dogma”?
Such theories are impossible to sustain. The two infancy accounts in Matthew and Luke—with their differing content and perspectives—are independent of each other. The miracle of Jesus’ conception is almost the only point in common between them. This indicates that the Virgin Birth is based on an earlier, common tradition, not a later theological interpolation or doctrinal development.
Miracles outmoded?
Despite its widespread acceptance by the early church, the Virgin Birth is a difficult concept for many in our modern culture—even some Christians—to embrace. The idea of a miraculous conception, many feel, smacks of superstition. They suggest that the Virgin Birth is an unimportant doctrine on the margin of the New Testament, of little importance to the message of the gospel.
This rejection of the miraculous is consistent with a rationalist and humanistic worldview. But for a Christian to eliminate the supernatural from the birth of Jesus Christ is to compromise its divine origin as well as its fundamental importance. If we believe in the divinity of Jesus Christ and in his resurrection from the dead, why reject the Virgin Birth? If we can admit a supernatural exit, why not a supernatural entrance? Compromising or denying the Virgin Birth robs other doctrines of their value and significance. We are left with no foundation or authority for what we believe as Christians.
Born of God
God involves himself in the world, actively intervenes in human affairs, overrides natural laws when necessary to accomplish his purposes—and he became flesh by means of a Virgin Birth. When God came in human flesh in the person of Jesus, he did not abandon his deity, but rather added humanity to his divinity. He was both fully God and fully human (Philippians 2:6-8; Colossians 1:15-20; Hebrews 1:8-9).
Jesus’ miraculous origin sets him apart from the rest of humanity. His conception was a divinely ordained exception to the ordinary rules of nature. The Virgin Birth illustrates the extent to which the Son of God was willing to go to become our Redeemer. It was a demonstration of God’s grace and love (John 3:16) in fulfilling his promise of salvation.
The Son of God became one of us for our salvation, sharing in the nature of humanity so he could die on our behalf. He came in the flesh so those who believe in him might be redeemed, reconciled and saved (1 Timothy 1:15). Only the Creator of humanity could pay the price for all of humanity’s sins.
As Paul explains, “God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons” (Galatians 4:4-5). To those who receive Jesus Christ and believe in his name, God offers the precious gift of salvation. He offers us a personal relationship with him. We can become sons and daughters of God— “children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God” (John 1:13).
Keith Stump
Parthenogenesis
Some believe that the Virgin Birth could have happened naturally, without a miracle, by a process called parthenogenesis. Parthenogenesis is biological reproduction that involves development of an ovum without fertilization. Parthenogenesis occurs commonly among lower plants and invertebrate animals such as rotifers, aphids, ants and bees.
Parthenogenesis in mammals is not impossible, but does not occur naturally. It has been induced, for example, in rabbits, though all the offspring were female. It is not known in primates or humans. If a rationalization of the Gospel accounts is wanted, any number of such theories could be argued, but they can never be more than speculative.