Christian Essentials
What are Christian essentials? Simply put, they are non-negotiable beliefs and doctrines that must be agreed on in order to be considered a true Christian.
Within Christianity, there are uncompromising, non-negotiable beliefs that must be held. These are also referred to as primary doctrines.
A step beneath the primary doctrines are secondary doctrines. These beliefs can be held deeply and zealously, but they are not deal-breaking beliefs that should hinder Christian fellowship. For example, the subject of Calvinism (predestination) vs Arminianism (free will) is often a hotly contested doctrinal debate. However, it is a secondary doctrine that true Christians can disagree on and maintain Christian fellowship. There are great proponents of each position that are true and godly people.
A step beneath the secondary doctrines are tertiary doctrines. Many times these are simply preferences and opinions. Topics such as using musical instruments in worship vs vocal singing only, the age of the earth whether young or old, worship styles such as hymns vs contemporary praise songs, alcohol use, and the likes fall squarely within the tertiary doctrines. These are completely inconsequential to Christian fellowship.
Today we discuss the essential doctrine of Jesus' divinity: Jesus' virgin birth.
Introduction
At first glance, the virgin birth seems not only a bizarre belief on the surface, but odd to its core.
Some simply dismiss it because of its unnatural precedence and dismiss any miraculous possibility. But if there is a God who brought all space, time, and matter into being to create a universe, what would it be for Him to specially create a human zygote in a virgin's womb, or raise that Man to life again after a horrible execution some 33 years later?
But Wait! "Virgin Birth Stories of Gods Were Common"
Some skeptics have claimed that origin stories of various gods through the ages have included virgin births. They make the claim that the story of Jesus' virgin birth was stolen from a number of other, older, ancient world myths. Among the most popular are:
Mithra
Proponents of Mithra claim that the ancient middle-eastern god, Mithra, was born of a virgin and born on the traditional Christmas date of December 25th.
Little literature regarding Mithra remains, but there are various Greek and Roman texts that mention him. [1] Many of the sources simply mention Mithra, but of those that speak of his origin story, they agree with the fact-checking Bad Ancient website article: the origin story of Mithra has him emerging fully grown from a rock, not as a baby from a womb. [2] Looking at the date of authorship of those ancient sources at the Tertullian website, four of them that predate the birth of Christ do not address Mithra's origin.
As for the birthdate of December 25th, critics point out that various pagan holy days and special events fell on that day such as the Sol Invictus worship of a sun god, or Saturnalia in which a week-long gift exchange and festivities were held. They will claim that the early Christians selected December 25th in order to lure the pagans into Christianity via celebratory familiarity.
It is really a non-issue. It is speculation that this was the birth date of Jesus. It is not recorded in scripture, and the annual celebration of Jesus' birth didn't occur for a few centuries after the fact. Scripture puts emphases on the fact that He came to be born; and then that He was crucified, died, was buried, and rose again to life on the third day. These are different because these dates were scripturally associated with the Jewish high feast days of Passover, Unleavened Bread, and First Fruits. Such an association was not made regarding His birth.
These and other claims regarding similarities between Jesus and Mithra are equally unsupported and non-existent.
Horus
The suggestion that the story of the Egyptian god, Horus, being like that of the birth of Christ is even more silly. The origin story of Horus relates that he is the offspring of his father, Osiris, and his mother, Isis. That alone knocked out a virgin-birth claim. But the story is even more bizarre.
The earth god, Geb, and the sky goddess, Nut, had children: Osiris, Set, Isis, and Nephthys. Osiris and Isis wed, and Set and Nephthys wed. Set became envious of Osiris for a number of reasons, murdered him, and hid his body. Some of the tales relate that Set dismembered Osiris.
As the story goes, Isis found Osiris's body and brought him back to life with the intent of having a child by him. Isis and Osiris came together, and Isis became pregnant with Horus. Definitely not a virgin birth story.
These are two of the more popular offerings by skeptics, and they have no weight to them. A little research into the claims of stories of other gods and demi-gods offer at least equally as unsupported.
The Prophecy
Every Christmas, Christians point to the prophecy of Isaiah regarding the birth of Christ. The prophet Isaiah is a source for the doctrine of a virgin birth, but it is not without its opposition.
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 7:14
Critics point out that the word used for "virgin", alma, can mean virgin but it can also mean a young woman "of marriable age" or "newly married". However, they miss that this is a dual-fulfillment prophecy. Dual-fulfillment prophecies and foreshadowing are methods God uses to show that He both knows and controls the future. Jesus speaks of His own pending crucifixion, death, and burial by comparing Himself to when Jonah was in the belly of the fish for 3 days and 3 nights.
For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.- Matthew 12:40
Another evidence of foreshadowing took place when Israel was in the wilderness after leaving Egypt. Their constant complaining resulted in God sending/allowing fiery serpents to sting them. God told Moses to fashion a brass serpent, put it on a pole, and lift it up. Whoever looked upon it would be healed and live.
And the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.- Numbers 21:8-9
That would take faith to believe just looking at a metal snake on a stick to be healed, huh? Well, that was a foreshadowing of Christ's sacrifice when Jesus was crucified on the cross and lifted up for all to see.
But wait... Serpents represent the devil and sin. How does that point to Christ?
For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.- 2 Corinthians 5:21
Jesus "became" sin by taking the sin of the world upon Himself while He hung on the cross.
So dual-fulfilling and foreshadowing prophecies are events that have a short-time fulfillment and a long-time fulfillment. As Isaiah was speaking to king Ahaz about the impending doon of Judah, the next verses specify that a specific event would take place. A boy, who would be named Immanuel, would be born and shortly after that time would come that event "the land whose two kings you [Ahaz] dread will be deserted."
He [the boy, Immanuel] shall eat curds and honey when he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. For before the boy knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land whose two kings you dread will be deserted. The Lord will bring upon you and upon your people and upon your father's house such days as have not come since the day that Ephraim departed from Judah - the king of Assyria!”- Isaiah 7:15-17
The prophecy was equally applicable to the event that would shortly take place in Isaiah's time and the event centuries later at the birth of Jesus to an actual biological virgin. The dual meaning of the word is not unlike the dual meaning of the prophecy. Both can be equally valid and by no means detract from either.
The proclamation to Mary and her response appears in Luke 1:
Mary asked the angel, “But how can this happen? I am a virgin.” The angel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the baby to be born will be holy, and he will be called the Son of God.- Luke 1:34-35
What is interpreted in English here as virgin is a Greek phrase aner ou ginsoko meaning "know not man", with the usage of know in an intimate relational manner, as with "And Adam knew his wife, and she conceived." The ou is a hard negative. Clearly, the author was stating that she was not just a young woman of marriable age or a newly wed, but that she was a literal virgin.
Why Is The Virgin Birth Important?
Adam was created as the first human. As much as some modern people hate and rail against a patriarchal system, that is how humanity lived for thousands of years. The family was headed by a headship, generally a father or elder family member. We see this in that Abraham being referred to as the "Father of Israel". He biologically sired Isaac, and Isaac biologically fathered Jacob who was renamed Israel, and Jacob biologically fathered twelve sons that became the twelve tribes of Israel.
As each of the twelve sons of Israel were the patriarchal heads of their tribes, Adam was the patriarchal head of humanity.
When Adam sinned in the garden of Eden, we are told that sin passed through him to all mankind. All of his progeny, from Cain and Abel down to you and me, were subjected at birth to the curse of sin and death through his headship. It is our inheritance through the line of Adam.
Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.- Romans 5:12
Each person has their own sin to deal with, and its penalty is death. Because we descend from Adam, we each have sin to pay for with our lives
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord.- Romans 6:23
Every person biologically created is a direct progeny of Adam and therefore inherits that sinful state and is under its penalty. However, Jesus had a fully human body and was born of a human woman. Think about that for just a second. The only other man to be fashioned directly by God was Adam; the first Adam. Jesus became the second Adam.
Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.- 1 Corinthians 15:45
THAT is why the virgin birth is important! God fashioned Jesus in Mary's womb at a molecular level without a biological process. He was formed and born without that stain of sinfulness inherent to the direct lineage of Adam's seed. Without an inclination toward sin, Jesus lived sinlessly. Because He lived sinlessly, Jesus was undeserving of its penalty: death. When He was crucified and died, He was completely righteous and sinless and death had NO claim against Him, and He physically rose again to life in victory!
No other person in history, except for Adam, has ever been created outside of the combining of chromosomes from two human beings. Even nucleic cloning is using nuclei that contains chromosomes of "parent" beings.
Going back to the previous article on Essential Doctrines: Jesus is God, His infinitude is crucial. If somehow Jesus had been strictly biologically descended from Adam, had been only human, and somehow managed to live sinlessly, He would have only been able to pay for His own inherited sinfulness.
Religions like Jehovah's Witness that believe Jesus was originally an angel, specifically the archangel Michael, fall into this fallacy. The faithful angels that did not rebel against God, although righteous, are also finite created creatures. They, like us, had a created beginning even though we will continued into eternity.
Jesus was fully fashioned as a man in Mary's womb. But because Jesus is also fully God, He is infinite in His righteousness and power without beginning or end and able to pay every debt, and He came to be the substitutional sacrifice for all sinners who turn to Him for salvation.
For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous.- Romans 5:12
In short, it takes a perfect man and the infinitude of God to cover that amount of humanity's sin, and Jesus was the one and only individual who simultaneously met both conditions and could achieve that end.
Sources
[2] https://www.badancient.com/claims/jesus-mithras-birthday/
- - -
- - -
Posts
