The Virgin Birth

Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form,he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.       Philippians 2:5-8 NLT

How important to our faith is our belief in an actual virgin birth? Well, it depends. It depends on the nature of your faith. If you believe that Jesus was a good man who taught us a lot of good things and that we need to emulate him, it doesn’t matter much at all. It is just a device that the disciples made up when they were converting that good man into a god.

On the other hand, if your faith is in the Second Person of the Trinity who gave his life for you so that the eternal separation that your sin has erected between you and God might be wiped out, then the Virgin Birth is vitally important.

Why? 1. In order for God to die, he had to become a human. 2. Since the problem is pride, he had to become a humble human. 3. Since we are helpless to solve our problem for ourselves, he had to become helpless. So, helpless, humble human? Baby!

But how is that going to work? In pagan myths, there are some instances where a god forces himself on a human woman. But the result is a superman. That’s not what we are talking about here, is it? It’s not what we are talking about because our God is not a humanized force of nature. It’s not what we are talking about because in the nature of the case this woman must not be forced. It’s not what we are talking about because this is not an act of male/female intercourse, but the perfect mixing of the divine and human natures. It’s not what we are talking about because Jesus is no superman. This baby is not half-human and half-god. He is a fully human and fully divine baby: a humble, helpless, dying human who is all God! How is such a baby to come into the world? From a human womb into which deity has been imparted. The Virgin Birth! Glory to God!