The Virgin Birth Doesn’t Really Matter

After I moved to Virginia for law school, I quickly started my journey to find a church home in the area. I found a list of churches and made a selection for my first Sunday in town. When Sunday morning arrived, I made my way across the city and found the structure. It was a beautiful church that exhibited different elements of southern architecture. I made my way inside and found my way to an adult Bible study that was currently studying other religions.

Upon entering the class, I introduced myself and was then asked if I had any questions about the church or anything else. As is my custom when I am in new places, I asked the people what they believed—specifically about God, Jesus, and salvation.

As self-appointed spokesman for the class, an older gentleman began to explain their beliefs. Pretty standard stuff: We are all sinners. Our sin separates us from God. God sent His only Son to reconcile us to Himself. Jesus lived, was crucified, and rose again. We can have a personal relationship with God. Nothing sounded out of place, especially for an evangelical setting.

Then he ended His synopsis of Christianity with an incredulous comment: “That’s pretty much what we believe…except that whole virgin birth. The virgin birth doesn’t really matter.” There was one other student who was attending this church for the first time in the room. When we heard the man’s comments on the virgin birth, we both locked eyes. I was shocked. What’s worse is that no one else in the room spoke up against the assertion. It was accepted in the room without a second thought.

So, I have to ask—Does the virgin birth of Jesus really matter?

The answer is YES!

The insistence of this man regarding the minimization of the incarnation is quite astounding. One of the most shocking points about such a view (in light of his other viewpoints in the domain of Christianity) is how much it is lacking in logic. If you’re going to defend all the major, essential tenets of Christianity except for one, then you’ve lost them all.

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[quote bar=”true” align=”center”]After all, Scripture reinforces Scripture. If you take away the Book’s common thread, then the story dies.[/quote]

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In a previous post, my father referenced the acrostic: DOCTRINE. This acronym spells out the essential truths of Christianity. To deny one is to deny them all. Let’s go through the exercise based on this man’s point…

Under his view, “I” (the Incarnation of Christ) is not all that important, but the other seven points are. Without the virgin birth, can the other points be defended? Let’s take a look at two of the points below.

The Deity of Christ – That’s a no. There is an immediate problem in claiming that Jesus is God if the incarnation did not take place. If we attribute Jesus’ genealogy to both Mary and Joseph, then we are left with a basic man. What’s the implication of this? There are a multitude of consequences!

If Jesus was born of two sinful humans, then He would also be born into sin. He wouldn’t have been able to live a sinless life because He would have failed from the start. As a result, His sacrifice on the cross would have been useless in reconciling humanity to God because He wouldn’t have been the spotless Lamb of God.

Additionally, Jesus would have had a beginning. If Jesus is God, then He would share in the same essence and nature as God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. Since Scripture tells us that the Creator God had no beginning, then Jesus would be immediately disqualified as God with a human-only lineage.

The Canon of Scripture – Negative, Ghost Rider. It may seem obvious, but if the virgin birth did not occur, then the Bible is a complete waste. The virgin birth is referenced numerous times throughout Scripture (see Genesis 3:15, Isaiah 7:10-16, Matthew 1:23, etc.). If these recordings are false, then these books could not be trusted as the word of God.

Further, given the implications of the previous point, the essential element—Jesus—that binds Scripture together would be deemed false, and the pages would begin to unravel. There would be no more salvation in the name of Jesus because Jesus wouldn’t be God. After all, Scripture reinforces Scripture. If you take away the Book’s common thread, then the story dies.

It’s sad that some people masquerading as believers minimize various elements of Christianity without thinking through the consequences. The essentials of the faith are essential for a reason. With a foundation in Jesus, each of the essentials is another building block in the story of Christianity. To deny one essential block is to deny them all.

The virgin birth is one of those essential blocks.

So, to the gentleman from my story, I have to ask: “If you deny the incarnation, why are you still in church?”

Z. Montgomery