Why is the Virgin Birth of Christ so Important?

Introduction

Basic Training Series: 30k foot view; answering the basic questions

Last week: Jesus ALONE is UNIQUELY qualified to be our Savior Redeemer. His status as the only God-Man was the key peg on which that entire argument hangs. Which is why today we’re going to discuss Jesus’ Virgin Birth.

Main Texts that Teach the Virgin Birth

OT: Isaiah 7:14

NT

Luke 1:26-38

Matthew 1:18-25

Two Errors to avoid.

ExtraOrdinary Mary (Romanist)

Immaculate Conception

Sinlessness

Assumption

Ordinary birth (Modernist)

Without a Virgin Birth, Jesus Could Not be our Savior

Doctrine of Scriptural Inerrancy. “If Scripture errs here, then why should we trust its claims” elsewhere (EDT 1145)?

“I did not have sexual relations with that woman.” Can you believe anything else Bill Clinton says?

Brian Williams claimed to have been in a helicopter in Iraq when it was hit by a rocket propelled grenade. He lost his job (though he got another one later).

Same argument we make about Genesis 1-11.

Deity and Humanity of Christ.

Born of a woman.

Overshadowed (Lk 1:35).

Cf Acts 1:8, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.”

“The power of the Most High will overshadow you.”

ἐπισκιάζω (overshadow; cover; literally Shade Over) / V-FAI3S

Used of the shekinah cloud (Matt 17:5; Mark 9:7; Luke 9:34).

The Holy Spirit did not enter Mary, but brought His power to create new life upon her. The difference is significant, making possible the miracle of incarnation, God become flesh. One Person with Two Natures.

Sinlessness of Christ.

Adam passed on his sin nature to his posterity.

We inherit a sin nature from our parents at birth.

Illustration: I inherited a “Roman nose” from Uncle Dave. Salem inherited my eyes and Natalie’s ???.

Could Jesus have been God and sinless if he had been born of a natural human union? It’s difficult to square that with what Scripture says about Original Sin.

“If he were born of two human parents, it is very difficult to conceive how he could have been exempted from the guilt of Adam’s sin and become a new head to the human race. And it would seem only an arbitrary act of God that Jesus could be born without a sinful nature. Yet Jesus’ sinlessness as the new head of the human race and as the atoning lamb of God is absolutely vital to our salvation (2 Cor 5:21; 1 Pet 2:22-24; Heb 4:15; 7:26; Rom 5:18-19)” (EDT 1145).

Picture of Grace. “The birth of Christ, in which the initiative and power are all of God, is an apt picture of God’s saving grace in general of which it is a part. It teaches us that salvation is by God’s act, not our human effort. The birth of Jesus is like our new birth, which is also by the Holy Spirit [John 3:5-8]; it is a new creation (2 Cor 5:17)” (ibid).

Conclusion / So What?

Unbelievers

“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ” includes believing in His supernatural, miraculous birth.

Salvation is not of your own effort. But like Mary’s conception, it is a work of God.

Believers

Don’t be scared to believe the miraculous. Our entire faith is built on the foundation of the miraculous.

Understand how Christ’s virgin birth ties into his deity and sinlessness because they directly impact His ability to be our Redeemer. (Ie, if Jesus isn’t man and sinless God, He cannot save.)

Teach this to your family.