Bible Question: Was Jesus really a virgin birth?

Bible Answer: Yes. Of all the central truths in the Bible, this is one of the most important foundational facts of our faith, that Jesus was a virgin birth, just as had been promised long before.

Some of our modern so-called Bible scholars have ridiculed this idea, and a survey of seminar professors found a big majority did not believe in the virgin birth of the Lord Jesus.

Is it any wonder we have so many lukewarm pastors today?

But the flimsy pretext for denying the virgin birth hinges on one solitary word, the use of the word virgin in Isaiah 7:14.

"Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel," Isaiah prophesied some 740 years before Christ.

These so-called Bible experts say the original language of the Bible uses the same word for "virgin" as for "young woman." Therefore, they say, Mary was merely a young woman, not a virgin. Their logic is backward. Mary was most certainly a young woman, and was also a virgin. One does not exclude the other.

If these so-called experts want to argue against the virgin birth, they have to deal with many other Scriptures than just Isaiah 7:14, for the virgin birth goes back to the beginning.

In Genesis 3:15, we get the first promise of the virgin birth, when God pronounces the curse of sin upon the earth after Adam and Eve had broken the only commandment He gave.

Speaking to Satan, God said "And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel."

The full implication of this promise is revealed bit by bit through the Old Testament, and by the time Jesus is born, every generation of Jews looked for the Redeemer as promised in Gen. 3:15, the Messiah who would be the seed of the woman, who would bruise Satan.

Isaiah clearly speaks of the seed of the woman when he promises a virgin will give birth and her son will be the Messiah.

The name Isaiah said He would be called, "Immanuel," is explained in Matthew 1:23, where Matthew quotes Isaiah 7:14 and then adds, "Immanuel, which is translated, 'God with us.'"

And that's who Jesus was and is, God come down to earth, to walk among us and live and die among us to pay for our sins.

The Gospel story in Matthew makes very plain that Jesus' birth to Mary was what every young virgin in Israel had dreamed of at least since Isaiah's time and probably longer, that she would be the one chosen by God to be the virgin mother.

Matthew 1:18 tells us "Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit."

Joseph didn't understand how the woman he was engaged to marry should suddenly be pregnant, but an angel explained it to him in Matt. 1:20-21, saying "that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she shall bring forth a Son, and you will call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins."

Matthew even adds Joseph "did not know her till she had brought forth her firstborn Son," which means in plain language that Joseph and Mary had no sex until after Jesus was born.

And if that's not enough to establish the virgin birth, read Luke 1:26-56, a long section which gives many details about how the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary to tell her she was chosen among all women of Israel as the virgin mother of Christ.

If Jesus was not born of a virgin, then He did not fulfill the prophecies of Genesis and Isaiah and other prophecies about the Messiah. But He was, and He did, and His birth, life, death and resurrection are the most important events in the Universe.

Submit Bible questions by email to writeme@johnwmyers.com

(John Myers has been a Christian lay speaker, Sunday School adult teacher and newspaper Bible study columnist for more than 20 years.)