A. Doctrinal Relation of the Virgin Birth of Christ to Systematic Theology

1.Doctrinal relation to Bibliology

2.Doctrinal relation to Christology

3.Doctrinal relation to Soteriology

4.Doctrinal relation to Eschatology

B. Doctrinal Significance of the Virgin Birth of Christ

C. Derivation of Practical Values from the Virgin Birth of Christ

Conclusion

END NOTES  

• Chapter I

• Chapter II

• Chapter III

• Chapter IV

CHAPTER V

 DOCTRINAL VALUES OF THE VIRGIN

BIRTH OF CHRIST

A. Doctrinal Relation of the Virgin Birth of Christ to Systematic Theology

1. Doctrinal relation to Bibliology

The doctrine of the virgin birth of Christ has its relation to Bibliology because of its bearing upon the question of the authority and trustworthiness of the Bible. No one denies that the attestation of the virgin birth forms an integral part of the Bible; it is not a question whether the Bible teaches the virgin birth but whether, teaching the virgin birth as it admittedly does, the Bible is true or false.

In the introduction of his Gospel, Luke claims that he "accurately acquainted from the origin with all things", writes that Theophilus might know the "certainty" of the things in which he had been instructed (cf. Luke 1:1-4). He then proceeds to relate the accounts of the unusual birth of John the Baptist and the virgin birth of Christ. What confidence can one place in the remainder of his story, if he is wrong on the very first important matter investigated? One can see that the account of the virgin birth is directly related to the trustworthiness of God's Word.¹¹⁷  The relation of the virgin birth of Christ to Bibliology is thus summarised by Machen:

Deny the virgin birth of Christ, and you must relinquish the authority of the Bible; accept the virgin birth and you may continue to regard the Bible as the very word of God.¹¹⁸

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2. Doctrinal relation to Christology

Virgin birth of Christ and His deity are inseparably connected. If Christ was born in the natural way, He could not be God. To maintain that Jesus was not virgin born is to contend emphatically that He was born of human generation just like any other men. The close connection between the deity of Christ and the virgin birth is clearly expressed by Craig. He says:

Practically all of those who reject the divinity of Jesus reject at the same time the virgin birth, while practically all of those who accept the divinity of Jesus accept at the same time the virgin birth.¹¹⁹

If Jesus was not virgin born, the assertions that He made for Himself were false, and He becomes the greatest impostor that the earth ever saw. If His claims were altogether reasonable and legitimate, then He was exactly what He represented Himself to be, God incarnate.¹²⁰

The virgin birth of Jesus attests the humanity of Christ. In no way does the virgin birth obscure or obstruct the doctrine of the humanity of Christ. Regarding this Boslooper comments:

As the resurrection stands for the "Godness" of Jesus so the virgin birth attests the "humanness" of Christ.¹²¹

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3. Doctrinal relation to Soteriology

If Jesus was not virgin born, He was born in sin, and He was a sinner (cf. Ps. 51:5).  If Jesus has come into the world like all other men, then He would have been not different from them in other respects. This would have disqualified Christ from being the Saviour of men. He would have needed a Saviour for Himself.

In order for His death to be efficacious for sin, His life had to be pure, righteous and holy with no sin in Him or on Him.  If Jesus had born of two human parents, He could never have been free from original sin. Therefore the Virgin birth was necessary to free Him from the original sin, and thus He was qualified to become the Saviour of the whole mankind.

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4. Doctrinal relation to Eschatology

Matthew and Luke laid great stress upon Jesus' right to sit upon the throne of David in the Kingdom of God (cf. Matt. 1:1,17; 2:2; Luke 1:31-35).  It is something not realised that this right is directly related to the doctrine of the virgin birth. Jesus received legal title to the throne through Joseph and Solomon. But there had been pronounced a curse of great magnitude upon His ancestor Jeconiah, or Coniah. Jeremiah wrote: "Thus saith Jehovah: write this man childless, a man that shall not prosper in his days; for no man of his seed shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David, and ruling any more in Judah" (Jere: 22:36). While not deprived of legal title, the direct line of descent wad smitten with a curse. The line could hand on to another that from which it could not profit, and this vacant title had passed on down form Jeconiah to Joseph. It might have seemed impossible to solve the problem that faced the fulfilment of the Davidic promises. Jesus, genuinely a son of David through Mary according to the flesh (cf. Rom. 1:3), by reason of the virgin birth and non-participation in the seed of Joseph, qualifies to receive the title without coming under the curse.¹²²   Robert Gromacki also argued that the virgin birth was necessary to free Him from the line of the curse placed on Coniah.¹²³   Thus Jesus is qualified to sit upon the throne of David as the Messiah, and it will happen after His second coming.

If He had not come that way the first time, He cannot come the second time with great power and in majesty and splendour. The fulfilment of all the Messianic prophecies in the Old Testament was possible, primarily, because of this distinctive characteristic of the Messiah. In addition, those concerning the future state of Israel, as well as all the New Testament promises relative to the church, will materialise strictly on the basis of the authenticity of the virgin birth of Christ as an established historical fact.¹²⁴

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B. Doctrinal Significance of the Virgin Birth of Christ

Virgin birth of Christ points that God began "New thing" for the Salvation of the mankind. It proclaims that mankind is able to make no contribution to its own redemption. Even Mary is entirely passive. The initiative is all of God. It is God who has visited and redeemed His people. The virgin birth clearly declares that God acts on His own.¹²⁵

The essential principle of the incarnation is the personal union of God with His own handiwork. This is the occasion of the entry of God into His world for the purpose of breaking the fateful train of cause and effect which comes from the sinful past of the race, so as to give humanity a new redeemed beginning in a power not its own. Christ wrought out the saving act of God by making Himself one with man in every sphere of human life, at the price of self humiliation, patient, endurance, and suffering. So that as man He might in every sphere of life give perfect and victorious obedience to God. His miraculous virgin birth was a decisive act in that career of sacrificial self identification with mankind.¹²⁶

The doctrine of the virgin birth is reminding the believers that their salvation is supernatural. Salvation does not come through man's worth, nor is it his accomplishment. The virgin birth points to the helplessness of man to initiate even the first step in the process. Man is not only unable to secure his own salvation, but he could not ever introduce the Saviour into human society. The virgin birth is a reminder that this salvation, though it came through humanity is totally of God.¹²⁷

The virgin birth is the evidence of the uniqueness of Jesus the Saviour. Although there could have been an incarnation without a virgin birth, the miraculous nature of the conception serves to show that Jesus was, at the very least, a highly unusual man singled out by God in particular ways.¹²⁸

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C. Derivation of Practical Values from the Virgin Birth of Christ

The virgin birth is a positive affirmation of the sanctity of marriage. In the narrative of Jesus' birth a preview glimpse is given of the Saviour's own teaching on sex and marriage (Matt. 19:6 cf. Mark 10:6 ff.). Over against such religious and moral orders as the Essenes and those of the Qumran community,¹²⁹ who did not believe in marriage, the Lord advocated it. Over against the promiscuous and polygamous practices of the Gentile world, Christ proposed the necessity of one marriage for life.

What is set forth in the record of Jesus' ministry as a bold and provocative moral injunction (Mark 10:6 ff) is portrayed in the narrative of His origin with poetic beauty. The couple is betrothed. The marriage bond has been established. During this period God acted. The atmosphere is charged ethical purity and moral vigour. Those who receive this account with faith accept premarital chastity, heterosexuality, and monogamous marriage as a divinely ordained way of life. The fact that Jesus Himself never married casts  no disparagement on the institution of marriage. The demands of His mission superseded all of His family relationships. Actually the fact that the unmarried teacher advocated marriage makes an even stronger case for the institution.  Jesus life and teaching present history's strongest statement of the imperative of moral integrity and the sanctity of marriage. The descriptions of His origin present the most sensitive suggestion of the necessary and beauty of the sanctity of sex and morality in marriage.¹³⁰

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Conclusion

The Christian virgin birth is unique. Rather than being an idea borrowed from other traditions, it is original with Christianity.

Bible clearly teaches the virgin birth of Jesus Christ. It was prophesied in the Old Testament and New Testament bears the witness of its fulfilment. The records of the early chapters of Matthew and Luke find their simplest and most satisfactory explanation in the actual fact that Jesus was born of a virgin.

In these last days, liberals denied the fact of the virgin birth of Christ. One who comes with a bias against the miraculous, and an acceptance of extreme critical theories, will have no difficulty in finding grounds for objection to the biblical doctrine. On the other hand, one who starts with a reverence for the authority of the Scriptures will find good ground for upholding the virgin birth as an historical event as well as a divine sign.

Virgin birth is not the point at which one should begin in trying to convince a man who has not yet come to Christian faith. Sharing should begin rather with the resurrection of Christ. But when a man has once been convinced that Jesus is truly the risen, ascended and glorified Lord and when he has once accepted Him as Saviour, then his faith will be unstable and incomplete unless he goes forward to accept the precious testimony of Matthew and Luke as to his Lord's entrance into the world. When one accepts his dear Lord and Saviour presented to him in the Word of God, he will believe and confess with a heart full of gratitude, love and joy that He was "conceived by the Holy spirit, born of the virgin Mary."

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END NOTES

¹⁷S.Lewis Johnson, Jr., "The Genesis of Jesus," Bibliotheca Sacra, October-December 1965, p.339.

¹¹⁸Machen, What is Christianity? p.85.

¹¹⁹Loraine Boettner, Studies in Theology, (Philadelphia: The Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company, 1970), p.215.

¹²⁰Tschudy, p.15

¹²¹Boslooper, p.234.

¹²²Johnson, pp. 340-41.

¹²³Robert Gromacki, The Virgin Birth of Christ, (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1981), pp. 150-59 passim.

¹²⁴Tschudy, p.7.

¹²⁵T.C. Hammond, p.99

¹²⁶John Lawson, Introduction to Christian Doctrine, (Grand Rapids: Francis Asbury Press, 1986), p.55.

¹²⁷Erickson, p.757.

¹²⁸Ibid.

¹²⁹Francis Bayard Rhein, An Analytical Approach to the New Testament, (New York: Barron's Educational Series, INC., 1966), pp. 27-28.

¹³⁰Boslooper, p.235

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