Conceived by the Spirit, Born of the Virgin

Conceived by the Spirit, Born of the Virgin

Nineteenth after Trinity

Collect: O God, forasmuch as without thee we are not able to please thee; Mercifully grant that thy Holy Spirit may in all things direct and rule our hearts; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Text: I believe in Jesus Christ...who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, and born of the virgin Mary.

Do you believe in Santa Claus? Not a myth or fable or but a real jolly guy with a white beard and red suit you could find if you traveled to the North Pole.

For some if you believe in the Virgin Birth you might as well believe in Santa Claus. It’s a Christian fable borrowed from the Greek religions or a myth that’s not literal but points to a spiritual reality.

But for the writers of the Creed and Christians who confess it sincerely the virgin birth is  historical event. A virgin conceived and gave birth to  a Son by the power of the Holy Spirit.

1. The Scriptures

There are two places in Scripture that record the fact of the Virgin Birth.

1.1. Luke 1: 26-38

St. Luke wrote his Gospel initially for prominent Roman named Theophilus who had received some instruction in the Christian faith. St. Luke makes it clear that he is serious about writing history:

Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered them to us,  it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught (Luke 1:1-4).

When Luke wrote about the Virgin Birth, he believed he was writing about a fact of history.  

Luke records the account of a young woman named Mary, who was probably about 15 years old and lived in the town of Nazareth. She was betrothed to a man named Joseph. The angel Gabriel appeared to her with a startling announcement: “Behold you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.  He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High.” Mary knew the facts of life, so she asked, “How can this be since I am a virgin?” Mary surely took what the angel announced as literal. Though she was a virgin, she was going to have a baby. She knew that she was having no sexual relations with her fiance or any other man. How could she get pregnant?

Gabriel answered her question: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.”  This is the explanation of how she will get pregnant. It is by the Holy Spirit and the power of the Most High God that Mary, a virgin, will conceive a child without intercourse.  What we traditionally call the Virgin Birth is more accurately the Virgin Conception. The birth of Jesus was entirely natural. It was his conception that was miraculous. Because of his supernatural conception, the child will be the holy Son of God.

Mary’s response expressed her faith: “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” Whatever the Lord’s will she is at the Lord’s disposal.

1.2. Matthew 1:18-25.

St. Matthew records the reality of of the virgin birth from her fiance Joseph’s perspective. Joseph discovered that Mary was pregnant. He also knew the facts of life. He knew he was not the father, but he knew somebody else had to be. In those days betrothals were serious matters, established publicly and legally. Joseph was not prepared to  go through with the marriage, but he was a good man, who did not want to humiliate Mary publicly, so he decided to end the betrothal privately.

But, while he was thinking about all these things, an angel came to him in a dream and said: “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.”  

Matthew explains: “All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:

‘Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,

and they shall call his name Immanuel.’ “

Joseph’s response expressed his faith: “When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife,  but knew her not until she had given birth to a son.” Joseph accepted the angel’s word and obeyed the Lord’s command. That there might be no doubt that the conception of Jesus was a miraculous event, Mary and Joseph had no relations till after the birth of Jesus.

2. Significance

Two Gospel writers, Luke and Matthew, record the fact of the supernatural virgin birth or virgin conception. But, why the virgin birth? What is it about? What is it’s significance?

2.1. Incarnation. The virgin birth is about how God chose to enter human life, how God became man, so that the Son born to Mary was fully God and fully man. Because of the role of the Holy Spirit he was the Son of God, who did not cease to be God when he became man. Because  an ovum of Mary developed in Mary’s womb, he was man. Jesus was one Person who was fully God and fully man.

As a man, he was a baby who nursed at his mother’s breast, who needed his diapers changed, who cried when he was unhappy and needed his mother’s attention. He was truly and fully human.

At the same time, by becoming man, he did not cease to be God. He was still the One through whom God created the world and who holds the universe together so that it does not disintegrate. He did not put aside or diminish his Godhood by becoming man.

Conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, Jesus is fully God and fully man.

Lo, within a manger lies

He who built the starry skies.

2.2 Implications

There are two important implications of the Virgin Birth.

2.2.1. Divine Intervention

The Virgin Birth is perhaps the most striking instance of divine intervention to accomplish what was man could not.

• The children of Israel were caught between the Red Sea in front and the pursuing Egyptians in the rear. Then God parted the Red Sea, and Israel crossed over to safety while the Egyptians were drowned in the Sea.

• There are several examples in the Scriptures of divine intervention in cases of birth.
• Abraham and Sarah were childless. Abraham was on old man, and Sarah was post-menopausal. But God promised them a son, and at the time God had chosen God intervened so that Abraham and Sarah conceived a son named Isaac.
• Hannah was loved by her husband, but she felt a great emptiness because she had no child. She pleaded with the Lord for a son. The Lord granted her request, and she conceived and bore a son named Samuel.

In the cases of Sarah and Hannah, God intervened so that they both conceived children with their husbands. In Mary’s case God intervened and worked apart from the normal process. There is no biological or natural explanation. The Holy Spirit caused Mary’s ovum to develop in her womb so she conceived a son without the aid of a man.

The necessity of God’s intervention for the Virgin Conception to occur is true of the whole of the salvation of human beings. By human initiative, wisdom, and  power there is no way that salvation could have been accomplished. One of the most persistent human illusions is self-salvation - that we can work out way up to God, that there is something we can do by human ability to save ourselves. The Virgin Birth says, No. You cannot save yourself. Salvation is wholly the Lord’s work for us.

2.2.2. Divine Protection

In order to be our Savior Jesus had to have no need of salvation himself. He had to be one of us, fully human, but without sin. But how could that be?

Nothing could be clearer by observation than that every human being without exception is a sinner. Why are all sinners? Original sin. Adam was created sinless. But when he rebelled against God he not only sinned; he became a sinner. His nature changed so that he was now inclined to sin. Adam’s sin has consequences for all human beings. We all have inherited from Adam a nature inclined to sin. We are not sinners because we sin; we sin because we are sinners by nature.

How was Jesus kept from being a sinner? It was by the intervention of the Holy Spirit who disrupted the normal transmission of sin. There are two things we need to emphasize. The Virgin Birth was not necessary because there is something that is evil about the normal sexual relations between man and woman. Nor was the Virgin Birth necessary because the sinful nature is transmitted by the male alone. No, women are sinners by nature as much as man. Mary was a sinner as much as Joseph. The reason Jesus was sinless is because the Holy Spirit protected Jesus from the transmission of sin. God could have done that in some other way, but he chose to do it by the Virgin Birth. God gave us his sinless Son that he might offer himself as the sacrifice for sins so that we who are by nature children of wrath might become the children of God.

When you come to this Table, come in the only way you may or can - by faith in virgin born Son of Mary, Jesus Christ. Believe that the sinless Jesus bore your sins on the cross to pay for your sins and reconcile you to God. By faith eat his body given for you and drink his blood shed for you and live.