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Embarrassment←⤒🔗

Why is it that Christians often feel embarrassed when speaking about the virgin birth of Jesus Christ? It is not that we are afraid of speaking to other people about Jesus Christ. We tell them how important Jesus Christ is as our Saviour. We will speak about His work on earth, His healings, His words, His suffering and death. Around Christmas the thoughts are concentrated on the babe in the manger. But how often do we speak about His virgin birth? Are many Christians not reluctant to speak of the way in which He came into this world?

The reason for this reluctance cannot be that the virgin birth is miraculous. One simply cannot speak about Jesus Christ without mentioning His miracles. And we do. As a matter of fact, stories about the miracles Christ performed are often used in evangelism, and rightly so. Why then is the virgin birth so often neglected?

Neither can the reason be that the church is uncertain about the virgin birth. It has been confessed in the Apostles' Creed: "He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary." An older form of this confession can be found in the Nicene Creed: "Who was incarnate by the Holy Spirit from the virgin Mary." The expression is less clear, but the virgin birth is confessed in no uncertain terms. Actually, however far we go back in history, the virgin birth is confessed.¹ It belongs to the core of our faith.

The reason for our embarrassment will be that we are afraid of ridicule, and we know of no good way to protect ourselves from it. We would rather speak of other things in connection with Jesus Christ, things which are easier to explain and easier to accept. It is therefore good once more to ponder the question why the virgin birth is so central in our Christian faith that it is even one of the fundamental articles of the Apostles' Creed. We will concentrate on the words of the angel in Luke 1:35.

Ridicule←⤒🔗

This ridicule can come in different forms. There is bitter ridicule. An early example of this is the philosopher Celsus in the second century, who quotes what a Jew had to say about the virgin birth. Jesus' mother was turned out of the house by her husband because of adultery. The father of her child was a soldier, by name of Panthera. So Jesus was born as an illegitimate child. He went to Egypt to work and there he acquired some miraculous powers. He then went back to his own country and proclaimed himself to be a God.²

There is also civilized ridicule. This is how a minister explained the virgin birth to his catechism students. He first asked them to mention a famous sportsman. And then he asked them: "How would you convince other people that your hero is really a great man?" One answered: "I would tell them a story in which he did something impossible."

Another said: "I would say: At his birth it was in the stars that he was to become famous." And yet another began to invent miraculous events in connection with his birth. "Exactly," said the minister, "exactly what happened with Jesus. The people were very much impressed with His teaching. And to honour Him, they invented a miraculous birth."

The two stories are different. The first one is of heathen origin (or of Jewish origin, for it is unclear whether Celsus made up the Jew or really heard this story). It is clearly hostile in tone. The second story has its origin in some church. It is not hostile to Jesus, but wants to honour Him as a great man in the church. But if someone would continue to believe in the virgin birth, he would make himself ridiculous. Who would believe a story which so clearly is the result of hero worship?

And do we know what to answer to this ridicule? Or do we feel right out of this world with a story about a miraculous birth? Who can believe such a story in a world which seems to know everything about the whole process of birth? Why is the virgin birth important for us? To answer this question, let us first go back to the two rejections of this doctrine, in both cases people go at great length to disprove the gospel of the virgin birth. Why?

The Reason for the Rejection←⤒🔗

In the case of Celsus it is very clear. Celsus, or the Jew he quotes, does not want to believe in Jesus Christ. The virgin birth is a lie, actually Jesus was born out of wedlock. And He also did not perform miracles; these were no more than tricks He had learned from the Egyptians. Why did Celsus reject the virgin birth? Because he felt otherwise he had to believe in Jesus.

Now the second story seems different. Here Jesus is not rejected as an illegitimate child, but honored as a hero. To honour Jesus people invented a supernatural descent. Even though we know today that this story is not true, we still honour Jesus Christ, they say. This too, however, is a rejection. How do they honour Him? As a human, maybe a great man, on the same level as our heroes today. But He is no more than a human.

The virgin birth is not just rejected because it sounds like an improbable story. Many today acknowledge that something miraculous or out of the ordinary can happen. The rejection of the virgin birth becomes necessary because the virgin birth show that Christ is more than a great man.

The Words of the Angel←⤒🔗

Luke 1:35 says first that the Holy Spirit will cause that Maria becomes pregnant, without sexual intercourse.³ And he continues: "Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God." The angel reveals here that there is a direct relation between the virgin birth and the divinity of Christ. Because He was born from the virgin Mary, He can rightly be called the Son of God.

At first hearing the words of the angel sound contradictory: The Holy Spirit will come to Mary, and work so that she will conceive, therefore the child to be born will be called the Son of God. You would expect that as the result of the overshadowing of the Spirit this child would rightly be called a man. Even though no man had taken part in it, the child would be a true man. But the emphasis is not on the humanity, Jesus' divinity is emphasized. The words of the angel mean that as the result of the work of the Spirit the child that will be born will be rightly called Son of God.

This goes completely beyond the thoughts of men. The Greeks had their mythological fantasies about relations between a god and a human. The result was always a half-god, a person who had some divine characteristics, and at the same time some human characteristics. A half-god was neither fully God nor fully man. That is the best the Greek could come up with.

But God's works are radically different. God's thoughts are beyond our thoughts, and God's work is beyond our works. The Holy Spirit worked in Mary, and prepared a complete human nature for the Son of God. He is not half God, half man, but fully God and fully man. And that came about because the Holy Spirit wrought the humanity for the Son of God.

We have to connect this word of the angel with that of v. 32. The angel had already announced that the son of Mary will be called "the Son of the Most High." The "Most High" is a title for God. The words of the angel in v, 32 mean that the earthly Jesus would be the Son of God. Then in verse 35 he gives the explanation. The Son of the Most High would not be born from human parents, for then He would be a mere man. He would also not be born from the union of a god and a man (suppose that such a union is possible), for then He would only be a half-god. No, the Holy Spirit will prepare His human nature; therefore the human child can at the same time rightly be called Son of God. His divinity was not compromised in His human birth, as the result of this work of the Holy Spirit.

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The Importance of this Confession←⤒🔗

Now we can understand the opposition against the virgin birth. This opposition is the old rejection of the divinity of Jesus Christ. If someone acknowledges the virgin birth, he has to acknowledge the full divinity of Jesus Christ. And as a result he has to serve Him, to obey Him, to worship Him. This rejection will never end. And we will always have to face opposition concerning the virgin birth. Gresham Machen wrote a whole book on the virgin birth, in which he showed in great detail that the virgin birth is an integral part of the gospel, and that the reasons to call it a later addition, all fail.⁴ This is good and necessary work, but it will convince no one from the other side. For it will mean that they have to recognize that in Jesus Christ God has come to save us. If Jesus Christ is born from the virgin by the work of the Holy Spirit, then He is God and we have to obey and serve Him as God.

No "outsider" will believe us when we speak of the virgin birth. They will ridicule it, or ignore it. Unless God changes the heart, no one is ready to admit that through the virgin birth God made it possible that His Son was born as a man. But we should continue to speak of it. The Son was not embarrassed to come into our world in this way, even though derision was only to be expected. Then we should not be embarrassed in confessing the virgin birth, even though derision can be expected. Eternal life depends on recognizing Jesus Christ, the Son of God (1 John 5:5ff., 12ff.). Everyone, therefore, should believe the virgin birth. For the virgin birth was the way in which God brought His Son into this world.