DOCTRINAL STUDIES Lesson 4 The Virgin Birth
This series of Biblical studies is based on notes written by the late Rev. A. Donald Magaw over 50 years of his ministry and were compiled and edited by the late Rev. Donald A. Magaw.
The virgin birth is essential to and inseparable from the incarnation. For a man to say that he believes in one and not in the other is to state an impossible thing. One presupposes the other. Had Jesus Christ been born of human parentage as other men are born, He would have fallen heir to sin as all generations since Adam and Eve sinned and all who have been born since are children of sin—have had in their bodies the seed of sin. But though Jesus Christ was born of woman as other men are, His birth was a supernatural miracle also; for there was no earthly father. Matthew 1:18-26 is quite clear concerning the virgin birth of Jesus.
Romanism teaches that Mary was conceived without sin and was sinless all of her life. This is not correct. Mary was one of the choice women of all time. She was highly “favored” of the Lord and blessed among women. What an honor it was for her to be chosen to be the mother of the Son of God. Notice I did not say the mother of God. Mary is the mother of the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. Hers was the womb that cradled the Holy One begotten of the Holy Spirit. She was a virtuous, fine, godly woman. Nevertheless, Mary was born in sin just as all since the fall have been born in sin; and she stood in need of a Savior, as does all of mankind. God’s Word says, “All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). There is none righteous, no, not one (Romans 3:10). It does not say all but Mary have sinned; none, but Mary is righteous.
As with all others, so with Mary, Ye must be born again (John 3:7). The fact Mary knew this is evidenced in the phrase of her song, “My spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior (Luke 1:47). God chose Mary because she was a woman of faith. She believed “even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness (Galatians 3:6). When Jesus Christ died on the Cross, He died for His mother after the flesh as He died for all men and women. Tradition says that Mary was reading Isaiah 7 when the angel appeared to her. Whether or not this is true, it is very possible because Mary was well versed in the Messianic prophecies.
Someone once asked William Jennings Bryan, “Why do you emphasize the virgin birth? It is mentioned only twice in the Bible.” The great statesman replied, “How many times does God have to tell us something before we believe it? If He mentions something only once in His Word, that is all a person needs to know it is a fact.”
Twice in God’s Word—once in the Old Testament (Isaiah 7:14) and once in the New Testament (Matthew 1:23)—the virgin birth is clearly stated. But the doctrine is implied many times. Genesis 3:15, for example refers to the seed of the woman bruising the serpent’s head. Where in scientific literature is the seed spoken of as being in the woman? In the natural order of things, the seed is in the man, yet Moses, under divine inspiration, wrote of the promise of a virgin born Redeemer.
Why does it take so much faith to believe in the virgin birth? The birth of Christ is no more remarkable than the birth of any one of us. It is simply different. Why cannot God, who gives live, give it in any form that pleases Him? One of the greatest wonders and miracles of the universe is birth; and God, who can bring to pass that miracle, can bring His Son into the world by a special miracle of the virgin birth.
Jesus Christ, after the flesh was a member of the Jewish race—the seed of David (Romans 1:3) a child of Abraham (Hebrews 2:16). He fulfilled the divine promise to Abraham: “In thee shall all families of the earth be blessed." Too many Christians tend to look down upon the Jews…this is wrong…they were the chosen nation by God. Yes, Israel is now cursed because they rejected the Messiah and cried “His blood be on us, and on our children (Matthew 27:25). The nations that have persecuted the Jews have not prospered. Study history, no nation who has ever persecuted the Jews has prospered afterwards. Genesis 12:3: “I will bless them that bless thee and curse them that curse thee.” This promise still holds. But this is a whole other topic.
“When the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman…” (Galatians 4:4-5). Christ’s being born of a virgin is essential, or else “God is a liar; and God is not a man, that he should lie…” (Numbers 23:19). “He is a God of truth and without iniquity” (Deuteronomy 32:4). It is “impossible for him to lie” (Hebrews 6:18). If Jesus Christ is not virgin born, He fails to meet the conditions that God said His Son would meet as to the manner in which He should come into the world. The virgin birth is essential to the deity of Christ. Moreover, it is as much an essential part of salvation as is the death of Jesus Christ on the cross. Some men teach that it is possible to be a Christian without believing in the virgin birth. It is not!!!! A man, when he comes to trust Christ as his personal Savior, may not know what the Bible says about the virgin birth; but when he trusts Christ, he will not doubt any miracle of the Word of God. Whoever questions the miracles of God’s Word has not experienced the miracle of regeneration. Only the virgin-born Son of God has power by His death and resurrection to save sinners. He “was delivered for our offences and was raised again for our justification” (Romans 4:25). To disbelieve the virgin birth is to disbelieve the Christ Who has power to forgive sins; for if He were not born of a virgin, His death has no value for the forgiveness of sin.
The Word teaches that Christ was born of a virgin. It teaches clearly that He is identified as the Son of God. You cannot pick and choose what you want to believe in the Bible. Either you believe it, or you do not. If one part of it is wrong, then the whole Bible has no value for us.