Does the Virgin Birth Matter?

In his blog, Al Mohler recently highlighted a Slate article in which Chloe Breyer (an Episcopal priest, and daughter of US Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer) questions the veracity and the importance of the virginal conception of Jesus Christ. Now, such conjecture has been around for centuries. There is truly nothing new under the sun. Still, I’d been thinking about the virginal conception and its necessity recently, and reading Ms. Breyer’s article worked me up a little.

Why is the virgin birth of Christ important? Why does it matter? Why is it one of the doctrines that orthodox (little “o”) Christians stake their belief upon? One reason, which would itself be sufficient were it the only one, is simple: God said so. Isaiah recorded in what is now chapter 7 of his prophecy that Ahaz, king of Judah, was asked (even commanded) by God to ask Him for a sign . . . for proof that what He was saying was the truth. In his false piety, Ahaz refused God’s request, so God decided to give a sign anyway, and Isaiah told him what it would be:

And he said, “Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary men, that you weary my God also? Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

Another pointer to the necessity of the virginal conception is the curse the Lord declared on Jeconiah (aka: Coniah), the heir-apparent to the throne of David. In verse 30 of Jeremiah 22, God says of Jeconiah . . .

“Write this man down as childless, a man who shall not succeed in his days, for none of his offspring shall succeed in sitting on the throne of David and ruling again in Judah.”

This verse is what makes the seemingly-boring genealogies of Christ as recorded in Matthew and Luke’s Gospels so compelling. His earthly father, Joseph, was of the line and house of David, Solomon, and all of the subsequent kings and heirs-apparent of Judah, up to Jeconiah. That genealogy is recorded in Matthew. His mother, Mary, was also of David’s line, but descended from a different son of David, namely Nathan. Her genealogy is recorded in Luke. Joseph, being descended from Jeconiah, could not have been Jesus’ natural father, as Jesus would then been under the curse, and would have no right to be called “King of the Jews”. As Joseph’s step-son (but not his biological son), He inherited the legal right to the throne through Joseph, as a descendent of David, as that right was passed from the father. His biological right to the throne, however, came through Mary, who was also a descendent of David (but not of Jeconiah).

I’ve heard arguments here and there that Jesus needed to be born of a virgin because somehow the sin nature is passed from the father. Sounds nice, but I’m not convinced of that by Scripture. I think that if God had wanted the eternally pre-existent Son to be incarnated through the union of two humans, He could’ve made it happen. The bottom line is this: God said that he would give the virginal conception as a sign, and though Ahaz did not live to see it, God kept His word. God said that no descendent of Jeconiah would sit on David’s throne, but that a descendent of David would indeed reclaim that throne one day. He placed His own “seed” in the womb of Mary, a young girl descended from David, and again kept His word, as He always does

May your celebration of the virgin-born savior be sweet.