Category Archives: Virgin Birth

The births of John and Jesus – similarities and differences

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Craig Evans, Joel Green and others have noticed a series of remarkable parallels between the births of John (the Baptist) and Jesus, as recorded in Luke 1.

  • In both cases, the conception was unexpected, Lk 1:7; 1:26f, and is announced by the angel Gabriel, Lk 1:11-19, 26-38.
  • Both future parents are ‘troubled’, Lk 1:12, 29, but are told not to be afraid, Lk 1:13, 30.
  • Both are promised a son, Lk 1:13, 31, and are given names for their unborn offspring, Lk 1:13, 31.
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Mark 6:3 – a scandalous birth?

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Mark 6:3 Isn’t this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And aren’t his sisters here with us?” And so they took offense at him.

The reference to Jesus as ‘Mary’s son’ is unusual, and invites attention.

A son would usually be identified in connection with his father, not his mother (although see Judg 11:1–2; 1 Kgs 17:17; Lk 7:12; Acts 16:1; 23:16; Gal 4:21–31).  This would be the case even if the father were dead, as may be the case with Jesus, given the silence of the Gospels after the birth narratives in that regard.…

The virgin birth in Luke

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Andrew Lincoln (Born of a Virgin?) maintains that the birth narratives in Luke’s Gospel witness to the virginal conceptions of Jesus.  Specifically, Lincoln cites:

1. The step-parallelism between the birth accounts of John the Baptist and Jesus.  As Lincoln remarks:

‘If an infertile woman can bear a child, then the greater miracle is for a virgin to conceive without any male seed being involved.’

2. Mary’s response to the annunciation: ‘How can this be, since I do not know a man?’…

Born of a Virgin?

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This is an updated version of a piece I first published on 6th December 2019.

In 2013, Andrew Lincoln published Born of a Virgin? Reconceiving Jesus in the Bible, Tradition, and Theology, presents a case for denying the virgin birth (more properly, the virginal conception) of Jesus.

As Jason Engwar says,

‘Lincoln is a supernaturalist who accepts traditional Christian concepts like the deity of Jesus and his resurrection, but rejects other traditional positions, such as Biblical inerrancy and the historicity of the virgin birth.

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Luke: no further interest in the virgin birth?

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In Born of a Virgin?, Andrew Lincoln expresses the view that Luke, in the early part of his account of the circumstances of Jesus’ birth, acknowledges the tradition that Jesus was conceived without the biological participation of a man.

But thereafter, according to Lincoln, all the signs are that Luke and his sources regarded Jesus’ conception and birth as being through entirely normal means.

  • The text underlines that Joseph is of the house and lineage of David (Lk 1:27-32).
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Machen: how important is the Virgin Birth?

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In 1930, the redoubtable scholar and apologist J. Gresham Machen published his 400-page defence of The Virgin Birth of Christ.

Towards the end of his book, Machen deals with the question of the importance of this doctrine.  Helpfully, he steers a path between saying, on the one hand, that belief in the Virgin Birth is essential to salvation, and, on the other hand, saying that it is of relatively little significance.

Machen maintained that belief in the Virgin Birth is not simply a matter of private judgement, but is, rather ‘essential to the corporate witness of the Church.’…

N.T. Wright on the Virgin Birth

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The New Testament accounts of the Virgin Birth (more properly, the virginal conception) of Christ make good historical sense, says N.T. Wright.  In an article entitled ‘God’s Way of Acting’ (The Christian Century, December 16th 1989) Wright sets out his argument.  What follows is a summary.

Of course, we make much of the birth narratives of Matthew and Luke, even though the New Testament itself places much more stress on events of Calvary, Easter and Pentecost.…

Virgin Birth – in search of a genetic mechanism

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Do we need to postulate a physiological mechanism for the Virgin Birth?  Is it not best to regard it as a miracle, pure and simple?  Possibly.  But the question then arises as to how this safeguards the doctrine of our Lord’s humanity.  Moreover, if it is the case that God loves natural processes (he created them!) and uses ‘pure’ miracles sparingly (often preferring ‘miracles of timing’) then we have further reasons to enquire if any account can be given of the genetics of the virgin birth.…

Virgin Birth – historicity

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Of course, the notion of Christ’s virgin birth (more correctly, ‘virginal conception’) is as commonly ridiculed outside the Christian church as it is disputed within it.  Many theologians insist that we cannot take it literally: that it is a mythical way of expressing who Jesus was.

It is pointed out by critics that the virgin birth is recognised only by Matthew and Luke, and is conspicuously absent from the other New Testament writings, including those of Paul. …

Virgin Birth – a sceptic’s view

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Daniel Florien lists five reasons why he no longer believes in the virgin birth of Jesus:-

1. “There is no reliable evidence”.  No DNA samples, for example, and no medical confirmation.  Well it is plain silly to suppose that there might be that kind of evidence.  Florien adds that there are ‘no eyewitness accounts’.  That’s a pretty silly complaint, too: I don’t think that, under the circumstances, it is reasonable to expect there to have been a human witness to Mary not having sexual relations with Joseph (or anyone else for that matter).…