Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:1, NIV)
Was Mary a virgin when she gave birth to Jesus? Those who study human anatomy will say this is physically impossible. A virgin could not become pregnant, and a non-pregnant woman could not give birth to a child. This is a vexing question for some Christians and a cause of rejection for some unbelievers. It is not new. In the third century, a great Christian scholar named Origen wrote a treatise called Contra Celsus. This was to counter the insulting claims of a Greek philosopher named Celsus who had written a scathing piece that attempted to debunk the claims of the church. In this, Celsus claimed that Mary had been impregnated by a Roman soldier named Panther (Panteras) and she had been convicted of adultery. (If this was true, the charge would now be statutory rape again Panther, I think.) Anti-Christian Jewish sources from this century and later picked up on Celsus’ tale, even referring slanderously to our Christ as “Yeshua ben Pantera” (Jesus the son of Panther).
For different reasons, the theologians of the church have gotten into this question, too. From at least the fourth century, they began to teach that it was necessary for Jesus to be born of a virgin so that he could escape the curse of original sin, inherited human depravity. Only then could he be the “new Adam,” the originator of a new humanity. This eventually led to doctrines that proclaimed Mary’s perpetual virginity. Part of this was based on the teachings of Augustine and others that depravity was transmitted to babies through intercourse, an act of sinful lust. Thus, we are “born in sin” (compare John 9:34).
In a way, Celsus was correct. There is no physical explanation other than Mary had been impregnated by a man. The physical signs of virginity would have been violated. Unless … something other than a physical cause was at play. This is what Matthew teaches when he says Mary was “pregnant through the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 1:18, see 1:20). This is not physical impregnation, but a miracle. It is also what Luke relates when he says the angel Gabriel told Mary, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you” (Luke 1:35).
But the theologians, in their zeal to connect this to the doctrine of original sin, miss the point. Nowhere in the New Testament does it teach that the virgin birth was necessary to produce a man not born as a sinner. To the contrary, Hebrews teaches that Jesus was made like us, “fully human in every way” (Hebrews 2:17).
Matthew and Isaiah both give us the reason for the virgin birth. For Isaiah, this was a sign, a miracle to show “Immanuel,” that God is truly with us. To Matthew, it is the fulfillment of prophecy, a miracle that indicates the presence of the Lord. As John puts it, “the Son of God took on humanity and pitched his tent among us” (John 1:14, Krause paraphrase). The Christmas story tells us that God came down from his heaven to be with us in Jesus. And God has never left. He has never abandoned us. He is still with us. And when Christ comes again in glory, all will truly experience the presence of the Lord.
Prayer:
Be near me, Lord Jesus
I ask Thee to stay
Close by me forever
And love me I pray.
Amen
Mark Krause, Wildewood Christian Church
krausekorner 