Category Archives: Virgin Birth

Divine birth stories

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Those who are sceptical of the historicity of the biblical accounts of the virgin birth of Jesus largely base their objections on supposed parallels with other supernatural birth stories in the ancient world.

As long ago as 1796 Charles Dupuis suggested that the biblical account borrowed from the stories surrounding the birth of Krishna.  Early Christians ‘drew on’ such stories, it is claimed, in order to find ways of demonstrating the uniqueness of Jesus.  This idea was popularised by James Fraser, in The Golden Bough (1890, 1912).…

Virgin Birth – meaning and significance

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‘The first and most indisputable fact about the birth of Jesus is that it occurred out of wedlock. The one option for which there is no evidence is that Jesus was the lawful son of Joseph and Mary. The only choice open to us is between a virgin birth and an illegitimate birth.’ (J. A. T. Robinson, Twelve More New Testament Studies (SCM, 1984), 3–4.)

Luke announces the heavenly origin of Mary’s firstborn in unmistakable terms. …

Doubting the virginal conception

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In her book The Historical Jesus: a Guide for the Perplexed Helen Bond sets out what might be regarded as a ‘main-stream’ critical view of the virginal conception of Jesus.

Bond notes, first, that ‘large parts of the New Testament appear to know nothing about the virginal conception.’  That, of course, is an argument from silence, and therefore rather flimsy.

She then turns to what she regards as ‘three competing alternatives’ emerging from what the NT texts do say on this matter.…

Mt 1:24f;12:46-50/13:55/Mk 6:3/Jn 2:12 – Did Mary bear other children?

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Mt 1:24f  ‘He took his wife, but did not have marital relations with her until she gave birth to a son, whom he named Jesus.’

Mt 12:46–50 — While Jesus was still speaking to the crowds, his mother and brothers came and stood outside, asking to speak to him. 47 Someone told him, “Look, your mother and your brothers are standing outside wanting to speak to you.” 48 To the one who had said this, Jesus replied, “Who is my mother and who are my brothers?”…

Isaiah 7:14/Matthew 1:23 – “The virgin will conceive”

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Isaiah 7:14 ‘Look, this young woman is about to conceive and will give birth to a son. You, young woman, will name him Immanuel.’

Matthew 1:22 This all happened so that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet would be fulfilled: 1:23 “Look! The virgin will conceive and bear a son, and they will call him Emmanuel,” which means “God with us.”

The passage in Isaiah, and its quotation by Matthew, invite a raft of questions:

  • What is the meaning of ‘almah’ (‘virgin’?
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Virgin Birth – scriptural attestation

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The Virgin Birth (more precisely, the virginal conception) is attested in a number of ways in Matthew and Luke:-

  1. The sharp contrast between the long series of verses that use “begot” and the statement that Joseph was “the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born” (Mt. 1:16) clearly implies that a man was not involved in the procreation of Jesus.
  2. Mt. 1:18 states, “Before they came together she was found to be with child of the Holy Spirit.”
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The logic of the Virgin Birth

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‘The Virgin Birth meshes harmoniously with the rest of the New Testament message about Jesus. He himself worked miracles and rose miraculously from the dead, so no new problem is involved in affirming that he entered the world miraculously. He left the world supernaturally, by resurrection and ascension, so a supernatural way of arriving was entirely fitting. The stress laid on Jesus’ preincarnate dignity and glory (Jn 1:1-9; 17:5; 2 Cor 8:9; Php 2:5-11; Col 1:15-17; Heb 1:1-3; 1 Jn 1:1) made a mode of entry into incarnate life that involved proclamation of the glorious role he was coming to fulfill (Mt 1:21-23; Lk 1:31-35) more natural than any alternative.…

‘The Nativity’ – too much doubt, not enough joy

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It all came together in last night’s final episode of the BBC’s ‘The Nativity’.

Jupiter, Saturn, and Regulus came together in an improbably brilliant and sudden conjunction.

Mary and Joseph came together in a somewhat contrived joining of hands as she gave birth to her first-born.

The shepherds came together to greet the new baby, as did the three Magi a few moments later.

As with the previous three episodes, there was something rather thoughtful and human about the reactions of the various participants. …

Much ado about ‘The Nativity’

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The Daily Express has melodramatically announced that there is ‘fury over BBC’s nativity insult’:-

The BBC has angered Christians with a TV drama in which the Virgin Mary is branded a prostitute and sex cheat.

Already, there is a danger of too little light being obscured by too much smoke.  The Express only cites one angry Christian – Stephen Green, of Christian Voice.  And I think his criticism is misplaced.

I’ve seen the first three episodes of this drama (the fourth and last is to be broadcast tomorrow). …

Poor Joseph?

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St Matthew-in-the-City Church in Auckland, New Zealand, has put up a billboard depicting a dejected-looking Joseph beside Mary in bed, beneath the caption, ‘Poor Joseph.  God was a hard act to follow.’

The aim, according to the church’s vicar, Archdeacon Glynn Cardy, is to provoke debate, to ‘challenge stereotypes’ about the birth of Jesus, to lampoon the literal interpretation of the biblical stories of Jesus’ birth.

What we’re trying to do is to get people to think more about what Christmas is all about. 
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