><>...THE VIRGIN BIRTH...><>
The theological doctrine that Jesus was miraculously begotten by God and born of Mary, who was a virgin. The term virgin birth explains the way in which the Son of God entered human existence; it means that Mary had not had sexual relations with any man when she conceived Jesus.
This unparalleled act of God is described beautifully in <Luke 1:26-38>. The angel of God appeared to a virgin who was engaged to Joseph. In those days engagement was a legal arrangement in which a woman was betrothed, or pledged, to a man. But engagement did not permit sexual relations.
Since Mary had not "known" Joseph sexually, she wondered how she could bear a child. The angel explained that this would be encouraged by "the power of the Highest" as the Holy Spirit would "overshadow her." There was nothing physical about this divine act; this is emphasized by the statement that the chiid would be the "Holy One" <Luke 1:35>.
The angel also declared that the child would be called "the Son of God." This clearly teaches that it was only through the virgin birth that Jesus, a human being, could also be properly identified as the Son of God. The one person, Jesus, has two natures-- divine and human. The eternal, divine nature of the Son of God was joined, in Mary's womb, with a human nature by the direct act of God.
The parallel account in <Matthew 1:18-25> views the virgin birth from Joseph's perspective. Because of the legal nature of engagement, a man who found his fiancee pregnant would normally divorce her. Because Joseph was a fair and just man, he did not want to shame Mary by divorcing her publicly; so he decided to do so privately. But the angel prevented this by assuring him that Mary was still a virgin. Her child was conceived by the Holy Spirit, as predicted in <Isaiah 7:14>.
After this revelation, Joseph took Mary as his wife but did not unite with her sexually until Jesus was born. This implies (but does not prove) that Joseph and Mary later united sexually and had other children.
Some scholars claim that the reference in <Luke 2:27,33>, and <41> to Jesus' parents (Joseph and Mary) implies that the virgin birth was not a part of early Christian tradition. But these words were written by the same writer who described the annunciation of the virgin birth in <Luke 1:26-38>. Some Bible students also express concern over the lack of reference to the virgin birth elsewhere in the New Testament. However, the other gospels say nothing about Jesus' birth, so it is not strange that they do not speak of the virgin birth. Since the gospel message concerns the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ <1 Cor. 15:1-3>, the virgin birth is not a natural part of its proclamation. But the virgin birth is a wonderful and personal truth that clearly belongs to Christian doctrine.
(from Nelson's Illustrated Bible Dictionary)
(Copyright (C) 1986, Thomas Nelson Publishers) |
