Son of God:
Psa. 2:7; Psa. 89:26, 27; Matt. 3:17 Mark 1:11; Luke
3:22. Matt. 4:3, 6; Matt. 10:40; Matt. 11:27 Luke 10:22.
Matt. 14:33; Matt. 15:13; Matt. 16:15–17; Matt. 17:5 Mark
9:7; Luke 9:35; 2 Pet. 1:17. Matt. 18:10, 19; Matt.
20:23; Matt. 21:37 Luke 20:13. Matt. 26:53, 63, 64;
Matt. 27:43, 54; Mark 1:1; Mark 3:11; Mark 5:7 Luke
8:28. Mark 14:61, 62; Mark 15:39; Luke 1:32, 35; Luke
4:3, 9, 41; Luke 9:35; Luke 10:22; Luke 22:29, 70 Mark
14:61. John 1:1, 2, 14, 18, 34, 49, 50; John
3:16–18, 34–36; John 5:19–21, 23, 26, 27, 30, 32,
36, 37; John 6:27, 38, 40, 46, 57, 69; John 7:16,
28, 29; John 8:16, 19, 26–29, 38, 40, 42, 49,
54; John 9:35–37; John 10:15, 17, 18, 29, 30, 36–38;
John 11:4, 27, 41; John 12:49, 50; John 13:3; John
14:7, 9–11, 13, 16, 20, 24, 28, 31; John 15:1,
8–10, 23, 24; John 16:5, 15, 27, 28, 32; John 17:1
vs.
1–26.; John 19:7; John 20:17, 21, 31; Acts 3:13; Acts
13:33; Rom. 1:3, 4, 9; Rom. 8:3, 29, 32; 1 Cor. 1:9;
1 Cor. 15:24, 27, 28; 2 Cor. 1:3, 19; Gal. 1:16; Gal.
4:4; Eph. 1:3; Eph. 3:14; Col. 1:3, 15, 19; Col. 3:17;
1 Thess. 1:10; Heb. 1:1–3, 5; Heb. 4:14; Heb. 5:5, 8,
10; Heb. 6:6; Heb. 7:3; Heb. 10:29; 1 John 1:7; 1 John
2:22–24; 1 John 3:8, 23; 1 John 4:9, 10, 14; 1 John
5:5, 9, 10, 13, 20; 2 John 3; Rev. 2:18
Swanson, James ; Nave,
Orville: New Nave's. Oak Harbor : Logos Research
Systems, 1994
VIRGIN BIRTH OF JESUS*
Doctrine, drawn from the birth narratives of Matthew 1 and Luke
1–2, which states that Jesus Christ was conceived of the Holy
Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. The whole concept of the
Incarnation (as well as Jesus’ divine and human natures) focuses
upon this historical event as its foundation. At the same time,
rationalists and literary critics deny this miracle, stating
that it was created by the early Christians.
Pagan
parallels to the virgin birth
Some critics of the virgin birth argue
that the early church first propounded the belief that Jesus was
the Son of God and then proved it by using Hellenistic
parallels. In Greek mythology Zeus, as well as the other gods,
bore many children by human mothers, including Perseus and
Hercules. These offspring were also men of heroic proportion. In
addition, there were tales of the miraculous births of great
historical figures, such as Plato (whose father was Apollo) or
Alexander the Great (whose father, Philip of Macedon, was kept
from consummating his marriage until the child, conceived of
Zeus, was born). Interestingly, the church fathers often used
these stories in their polemic against their Greek opponents to
show that the idea of the virgin birth was not really so
incredible to the Greek mind. However, the differences between
the pagan and Christian forms are too great. For one thing, the
lustful promiscuity of the gods starkly contrasts with the
sexual restraint commanded by the NT. Also, in the pagan stories
the concept of “virgin” hardly has any stress. In all cases, it
is simply a physical union between a god and a human, not a
spiritual conception, as in the case of Jesus. The same is true
of the birth of Buddha, for the oldest records state that the
entrance of the “white elephant” (representing the spirit of
childbirth) into Gautama’s mother took place in a dream, and the
story of an actual virgin birth is post-Christian. As for the
Persian myths of the birth of Zoroaster or the birth of Mithras
from a rock, there is no concept of a virgin birth. Babylonian
tales do involve the goddess-mother Ishtar, but again virginity
has no emphasis and is actually doubtful.
The Old Testament Prophecy
The
kjv of Isaiah
7:14 says that a “virgin” shall “conceive and bear a son …
Immanuel,” and Matthew 1:22–23 expressly states that this was
fulfilled in Jesus’ birth. This passage has been greatly
debated, especially since the
rsv changed
the kjv “virgin”
to “young woman,” based on the ambiguity of the term in the
original manuscripts. The Hebrew
’almah
refers generally to a young girl who has passed puberty and thus
is of marriageable age. Another Hebrew word (bethulah)
specifies a woman who is a virgin. The Septuagint translators,
nevertheless, translated
’almah
as
parthenos, which does denote a
virgin.
From these linguistic considerations come the
following four interpretations:
1. The “virgin”
(Is 7:14) was Ahaz’s new wife and the son was Hezekiah. But
Hezekiah was nine years old when Ahaz began to reign, so this
prophecy must look to the future.
2. She was
Isaiah’s wife and the son was Maher-shalal-hash-baz. Many
scholars support this interpretation because the definite
article with
’almah
seems to indicate that “the woman” was known to Isaiah and Ahaz
and because Isaiah 7:14–16 seems to indicate that the prophecy
was to be fulfilled in Isaiah’s time. The difficulty here is
that Isaiah’s wife already had a son and so she could not be
called
almah.
3. The prophecy
is purely messianic. This is the traditional evangelical
position, based on the name of the child Immanuel, “God with
us,” and the reference (Is 9:6–7; 11:1–5), which points to a
divine person.
4. Many
evangelicals recently have opted for a fourth interpretation,
which accepts the arguments for the historical fulfillment (in
Isaiah’s day) and for the futuristic fulfillment. This view
takes into account the historical fulfillment intended in Isaiah
7:15–16 while seeing the future as being fulfilled through the
virgin birth of Jesus, as indicated in Matthew 1:22–23.
The Gospel Records
Neither Mark nor John provides an account of the birth of
Christ; the actual event is chronicled only in Matthew and Luke.
Both agree that a “virgin,” Mary, conceived of the Holy Spirit
and bore a son, Jesus. Matthew’s account is simpler and more
direct, attributing the birth of the Messiah to divine origins
and highlighting the christological significance. Jesus is
called the “Christ [or Messiah],” the son of David (Mt 1:1), who
comes to inaugurate the kingdom of God. As evidenced both by the
fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy (vv 22–23) and by the nature of
his conception (vv 18–20), Jesus is “God with us,” now come to
“save his people from their sins” (v 21). The scene where Joseph
decides to privately divorce Mary is added to give even greater
stress to the miraculous conception.
Luke told the Nativity story from the
perspective of Mary. The angel Gabriel visited her and announced
that she would give birth to the Messiah (Lk 1:26–38). She
conceived miraculously by the Holy Spirit, as was foretold by
the angel Gabriel: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you;
therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of
God” (v 35, rsv).
Mary was portrayed by Luke as being devoutly submissive to the
purposes of God.
Theological Significance for the Church
From the very beginning of the church, the doctrine of the
virgin birth became the foundation of an exalted Christology.
Some of the earliest church fathers stressed this more than any
other event in Jesus’ life as proof of the incarnation and deity
of Christ. Justin Martyr and Ignatius defended the virgin birth
against opponents at the beginning of the second century, and
even at that early date it appeared to be a fixed doctrine. In
the debates of the next three centuries, the virgin birth became
a prominent issue. Gnostics such as Marcion contended that
Christ descended directly from heaven and so was never truly
human. On the other hand, those groups that denied his deity,
such as the Arians, also denied the virgin birth, stating that
at his baptism Jesus was “adopted” as Son of God. The Council of
Nicaea in ad 325
affirmed that Jesus was truly God, and then the Council of
Chalcedon in ad
451 stated that Jesus was at the same time human and divine, a
“hypostatic union” of the true natures. These were summarized in
the Apostles’ Creed of the fifth century, which declares, “I
believe in … Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, conceived of
the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary.” In most of the creeds
the virgin birth is also connected to Jesus’ sinlessness,
inasmuch as his incarnate, divine nature is the source of his
sinlessness.
From the beginning, as attested in Matthew
and Luke as well as the early patristic writers, the virgin
birth has been a central doctrine of the church. As such, it is
a living symbol of the twofold nature of Jesus: born of the Holy
Spirit and of woman, he is the incarnate God-man.
rsv
Revised Standard Version
Elwell, Walter A. ;
Comfort, Philip Wesley: Tyndale Bible Dictionary.
Wheaton, Ill. : Tyndale House Publishers, 2001 (Tyndale
Reference Library), S. 1286
Consequences of [sin], Entailed upon
Children: Ex. 20:5 Ex. 34:7. Lev.
26:39 v.
40.; Num. 14:33; Job 5:4; Job 18:19; Job 21:19; Psa.
21:10; Psa. 37:28; Psa. 109:9, 10; Prov. 14:11; Isa.
14:20–22; Jer. 31:29, 30; Jer. 32:18 Isa. 65:7. Lam. 5:7;
Rom. 5:12–21
Separates from God:
Deut. 31:17, 18; Josh. 7:12; 2 Chr.
24:20; Job 13:24; Job 23:3, 8, 9; Psa. 78:59–61; Isa.
59:1, 2; Isa. 64:7; Ezek. 23:18; Hos. 9:12; Amos 3:2,
3; Mic. 3:4; Luke 13:27 Matt. 7:23; 25:41. Rom. 8:7;
Heb. 12:14
Swanson, James ; Nave,
Orville: New Nave's. Oak Harbor : Logos Research
Systems, 1994