The Significance of the Virgin Birth

At this point in Matthew’s narrative, we know two indisputable facts. One, Mary is pregnant, and two, Joseph is not the father of the child. A third crucial fact comes by way of angelic revelation. The child in Mary’s womb was conceived by the Holy Spirit. That means Mary is still a virgin.

But what was the significance of Mary’s pregnancy even though she had not had relations with Joseph or any other man? Joseph likely would have spent some time puzzling over that question if the divine messenger had not immediately clarified his pronouncement with these words, “‘And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins’” (Matt. 1:21).

The angel tells Joseph that Mary will actually bear a son. And not just any son, but Jesus, who “will save His people from their sins.” God chose the name Jesus for His Son because its basic meaning defined the fundamental, overarching purpose for the Son’s coming to earth. Jesus is the Greek form of the Hebrew Joshua, Jeshua, or Jehoshua, each of which means “Jehovah (Yahweh) will save.” The baby Mary had conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and would give birth to in the plan of God would grow up to testify to the Father’s salvation and would Himself be that salvation. By His own sacrificial death on the Cross and triumphant Resurrection from the grave He would save His own—all those who are drawn from sin to repentance and who receive faith to embrace His atoning work.

Here’s the significance of the virgin birth: Since Jesus was conceived by the agency of the Holy Spirit, God was His Father; His lineage was a holy one. Therefore, Jesus was able to save His people from their sins. That’s the good news of Christmas. Rejoice in it!

The Simple Announcement

If you didn’t pay careful attention, you might pass right over one of the most important announcements in the New Testament: the miraculous birth of Jesus Christ. Matthew took only one verse to announce it. Such a concise statement, though it doesn’t all by itself prove the point, strongly suggests that our Lord and Savior’s virgin birth was not simply a man-made story.

A human author, writing strictly on his own initiative, would tend to describe such an amazing event in an expansive, detailed, and elaborate manner. But not the apostle Matthew. He does relate additional circumstances surrounding the virgin birth, but the basic fact is stated in one simple sentence: “After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit.”

Matthew devotes the previous seventeen verses to Jesus’ human genealogy but just this part of one verse to His divine genealogy. As the Son of God, Jesus “descended” from His heavenly Father by a miraculous and never-repeated act of the Holy Spirit; even so, the Holy Spirit chose to announce that astounding truth by just one brief, declarative sentence. As all God’s Word does, Matthew’s simple statement contains the solemn tone of authenticity. By contrast, a human fabrication would tend to have that false ring of exaggeration to it, being filled out with much more “convincing” material than what this inspired version needed.

Scripture gives us little information about Mary and even less about Joseph. Mary was undoubtedly a godly young woman, probably a native of Nazareth who came from a relatively poor family. Joseph was the son of Jacob (Matt. 1:16) and was a craftsman, probably a carpenter (13:55). Most significant, he was a “just man” (1:19), one who placed saving trust in the coming Messiah.

Most likely Mary and Joseph were both quite young when they were engaged (“betrothed”). She may have been as young as twelve or thirteen, and he not any older than fifteen or sixteen. Such youthfulness at the time of a couple’s engagement was standard for that culture. Another standard aspect of the Jewish betrothal was its binding nature—society considered the man and the woman legally married even though the formal ceremony and consummation might occur a year later. The purpose of the engagement period was to confirm each partner’s fidelity when the two had little or no social contact with each another.

Mary and Joseph faithfully abstained from sexual relations with one another during the engagement period, as the contract required. That was also in accord with the Bible’s high regard for sexual purity and God’s commands for sexual abstinence prior to the marriage ceremony and for sexual fidelity afterward. Thus, Mary’s virginity was an important indicator of her godliness.

However, Mary’s virginity protected something much more important than her own morality and godly reputation. It ensured the deity of Christ and supported the veracity of His teaching and works as the Son of God. Had Jesus been conceived by natural means, with Joseph or anyone else as His father, He would not have been God and would not have been a true Savior of sinners. But we know that is absolutely contrary to what God’s Word teaches.

The apostle Paul, for example, was also very clear and concise when he reiterated the true nature of the Incarnation: “But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman” (Gal. 4:4). Paul includes no mention of a human father for Jesus because, according to the divine plan, God was His Father. Jesus had one human parent (Mary) so that He could be a man and identify closely with what it means to be human (Phil. 2:5–7; Heb. 4:15). And He had divine parentage so He could live a sinless life, perfectly fulfill the Law of God for us, and make the perfect sacrifice for our sins.

Admittedly, all these centuries after Matthew’s divinely inspired Gospel declared that Jesus was born of a virgin, His miraculous conception remains impossible to understand by human reason alone. God chose not to explain the details of it to us, even as He chose to leave unexplained the intricacies of His creating the universe from nothing, or the precise way He could be one God in three Persons. Many of the essentials of Christianity God wants believers to accept by faith. Full understanding will have to wait until heaven: “For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now [we] know in part, but then [we] shall know [fully]” (1 Cor. 13:12).

Must I Believe in the Virgin Birth?

The Henry Doorly Zoo in Nebraska had on display three live female bonnethead sharks. The bonnethead is quite attractive in a lethal hammerhead kind of way. But no matter how attractive these three ladies were, none of them had ever been on a date. You see they lived in a tank, in a zoo. The closest male sharks were, well, unavailable. Sharks, like chickens can produce unfertilized eggs and sometimes do so perhaps in silent protest at not being allowed to date.

But one day the protest became a bit more pronounced when, on 14 Dec 2001, one of these broody sharks went into labor and out popped a baby girl bonnethead shark (yup hammerheads have live birth).

Everyone with a 5^th grade biology class under their belt, including all the world-renowned marine biologists, stood with their collective mouths agape. This, to put it mildly, was new. A virgin shark, who had never as much as held hands with a male, producing offspring. Though some insects and Komodo dragons have been known to confound zoologists, this was the first shark to snub a nose at science.

The story gets even more shocking.

An allegedly envious stingray in the same tank jolted the little celebrity heiress down to Davey Jones’ locker (for those who don’t speak Pirate, the baby shark died).

Marine biologists, after the obligatory 5 minutes of mourning, gleefully examined the dearly departed’s DNA from every angle, confirming that indeed it contained DNA from only one shark in the tank. This had been a genuine virgin birth. Sound a bit fishy?

In October 2008, the Journal of Fish Biology confirmed a 2^nd case in which DNA testing proved that a pup carried by a female Atlantic blacktip shark in the Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center contained no genetic material from a male.

This is a process called parthenogenesis and is rare but known in some insects, reptiles like the Komodo dragon, and now sharks too. NB: Parthenogenesis can only ever produce female offspring.

Fathers take heart, the phenomenon of parthenogenesis is not an excuse a pregnant teen could use to get out of trouble since parthenogenesis in humans is simply impossible. And that is the point of Luke 1:37 “For nothing will be impossible with God.”

In The Illegitimacy of Jesus: A Feminist Theological Interpretation of the Infancy Narratives, Jane Schaberg accuses the church of inventing the doctrine of the virgin birth in order to subordinate women (what a novel allegation from a feminist). As she summarizes:

“The charge of contemporary feminists, then, is not that the image of the Virgin Mary is unimportant or irrelevant, but that it contributes to and is integral to the oppression of women.”

Schaberg believes the conception of Jesus was most likely the result of extra-marital sex, or rape by a Roman soldier.

The reason people don’t believe in the virgin birth is because it’s unbelievable. A virgin conceiving without a man is absolutely impossible. So if it did happen, then this baby may well be God. And then one would have to obey what he says.

International TV Interview guru, Larry King, who is Jewish, said that he would like to have interviewed Jesus Christ and would open with this question:

“I would like to ask him if he was indeed virgin-born. The answer to that question would define history for me.”

Larry King gets it. He understands that if this one fact is true, life changes. The moment of Gabriel’s appearance defined history for Mary, for Israel, for all humanity, and yes, for you.

Yes it’s impossible, but that is exactly the point: we serve a God who can do the impossible. Gabriel said as much to Mary: Luke 1:37 “Nothing will be impossible with God.”

The fact that it is a miracle is part of the proof that we are saved. This miracle proves that Jesus is God. This is not a minor point of doctrine, the virgin birth is at the heart of the Christian gospel. Jesus was born of a virgin, so he didn’t carry Adam’s original sin, so he was sinless, so he was God, so he could save us.

If he wasn’t virgin-born, Mary was a lying pregnant teen who concocted the whole story to evade trouble (or corroborate her insanity plea). Her testimony is worthless, so is Luke’s, and the whole gospel narrative begins to unravel like a moth-eaten blanket.

I don’t know about you, but it doesn’t bug me in the least that this is impossible, because I know God. Impossible is his middle name!

As you sing “Round yon virgin, mother and child,” this Christmas, your kids will ask, “Mommy, what’s a virgin?” Tell them the truth. And tell them we can be saved because Jesus was born sinless, stayed sinless, and yet died in the place of sinners like you and me.

So yes, this is a “must-believe” doctrine.