Don Stewart :: Why Is the Doctrine of the Virgin Birth Important?
Don Stewart
Why is this one doctrine so important? Does it matter whether or not Jesus was born of a virgin? There are at least five reasons why it is important to believe in the Virgin Birth.
1. Jesus Had A Heavenly Origin
The most important reason to hold the belief in the Virgin Birth concerns Jesus' identity as God the Son, the Second Person of the Trinity. If Joseph were His true father, then Jesus would be only a human being. He would not be the Son of God as Scripture clearly states. He would have had His beginning in time rather than eternally existing. As the Bible states,
In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God (John 1:1).
Thus the Virgin Birth is crucial to Jesus being the Son of God.
2. Jesus Had A Sinless Nature
A second reason why the Virgin Birth is important concerns the sinless character of Christ. If Jesus had a human father, then He would have inherited a sinful nature as the rest of us have. The Bible says.
Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, . . . thus death spread to all, because all sinned (Romans 5:12).
To the contrary the Scripture states that Jesus never sinned. Peter wrote,
Who [Jesus] committed no sin, nor was guile found in his mouth (1 Peter 2:22).
John testified.
And you know that he was manifested to take away our sins, and in him there is no sin (1 John 3:5).
If Jesus were the son of Joseph, then His sinless character would only be a myth.
3. Jesus Was The Perfect Sacrifice
A third reason why the Virgin Birth is crucial to the Christian faith concerns our salvation. Without the sinlessness of Christ there would be no salvation. Christ came, according to the Apostle Paul, to save those who were under the law.
But when the fulness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons (Galatians 4:4,5).
This echoes Jesus' own statement,
For the Son of Man has come to seek and save that which was lost (Luke 19:10).
God required a sacrifice that was without blemish, "Your lamb shall be without blemish" (Exodus 12:5). If Jesus were a sinner in any sense of the word, then He could not provide salvation for us. However, because He came into the world by supernatural means and lived a sinless life, He could be that sacrifice for our sins without spot and without blemish. The Bible makes this clear:
For he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him (2 Corinthians 5:21).
4. It Shows The Uniqueness Of Christ
What the virgin birth does is show the uniqueness of Jesus Christ. No one else has ever come into the world the same way as Jesus. The unique and miraculous nature of Jesus carried on through His entire life. His birth was a miracle, His public ministry consisted of miracles, Jesus miraculously lived a sinless life, He miraculously came back from the dead, and left this world in a miraculous way. From His entrance into this world until His departure, the life of Jesus Christ was a miracle.
5. The Bible Says So
The fifth reason to believe in the Virgin Birth is because the Bible says so. If Jesus were not actually born of a virgin then the Bible is wrong. If it is wrong concerning the Virgin Birth, then it is possible that it may be in error about other matters. Once the door opens to the possibility of error in Scripture the eventual and logical result is that the entire foundation of the Christian faith will crumble. The doctrine of the Virgin Birth and the credibility of Christianity go hand-in-hand.
Summary
There are at least five reasons why the virgin conception of Christ is an important doctrine. First, it confirms Jesus heavenly origin. Second, it is necessary for His sinless nature. In addition, the virgin conception was also necessary for Him to be the perfect sacrifice. It also points out the uniqueness of Jesus. Finally, the virgin birth is important because the Bible says that is what happened.
