Lesson for March 1, 2023
The Doctrine of Christology
Lesson 4
The Doctrine of the Virgin Birth of Christ
The virgin birth refers to the only supernatural birth in human history, namely the Incarnation of Christ. In this way, Jesus came into the world without the imputation of Adam’s sin and without a sin nature. The necessity of the Virgin Birth is based on the fact that the sin nature is passed down to each member of the human race through the human father. Jesus Christ had to be born without a sin nature and without the imputation of Adam’s sin to the sin nature. He also had to live for 33 years without committing personal sin, all of which He did. Therefore, without His own sin to pay for, Jesus was qualified to go to the Cross and pay for the sin of the entire human race.
The first prophecy of the Virgin Birth is found in Genesis 3:15 when God spoke to the serpent (Satan), “And I will put hostility between you and the woman, between your seed and her seed; he [the seed of the woman, Christ] shall crush your head [Satan], and you [Satan] will crush his heel [at the Cross].” The Jewish prophecy of the Virgin Birth (seed of the woman) is found in Isaiah 7:14, “Therefore, the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and she will name Him Immanuel.” The historical fulfillment of the Virgin Birth is found in Matthew 1:19-25, “And her husband Joseph, since he was a righteous man and did not want to disgrace her, planned tosend her away secretly. But when he had thought this over, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a Son; and you shall name Him Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.’ Now all this took place so that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet would be fulfilled: ‘Behold, the virgin will conceive and give birth to a Son, and they shall name Him Immanuel,’ which translated means, ‘God with us.’ And Joseph awoke from his sleep and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took Mary as his wife, but kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a Son; and he named Him Jesus.’” The result of the virgin birth is found in John 1:14, “The Word (Jesus) became flesh, and dwelt among us and we beheld the glory, the glory as of the unique one (Jesus) from the Father, full of grace and full of doctrine.”
Because Adam and Eve failed to continue to obey God, rejected the instructions from God, and became spiritually dead as a result of their sin, the entire human race is born spiritually dead as well. Therefore, the result of Adam’s and Eve’s rebellion was the necessity of a Savior, since they could not save themselves.
Jesus Christ was the Savior Adam and Eve needed after they sinned against God, and they believed in Him and became spiritually alive once again as a result. Incarnation is a term used for the birth of Christ and means embodied in flesh. Two natures became inseparably united at the Virgin Birth. The first nature was God (deity); the second nature was man (humanity). Therefore, Jesus Christ is the “God-man,” different from God in that He is humanity, different from mankind in that He is deity. Jesus Christ is the unique Person of the universe. In His deity, Jesus retains all of the essence of the Godhead. He is fully God and fully human. Jesus Christ is eternal God. He is coequal with the Father and with the Holy Spirit, and His deity was never diminished at any time.
This unique union of Christ’s divine essence and human essence is called the Hypostatic Union. Hypostatic is the Greek noun “hupostassis,”meaning substance or essence. In Hypostatic Union, the two natures of Christ were united without transfer of attributes from one to the other. The essence of His deity cannot be changed, Hebrews 13:8, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today, and forever.”
To remove a single attribute of Christ’s deity would destroy His deity and to remove a single attribute of Christ’s humanity would destroy His humanity. While fulfilling God the Father’s plan for mankind, certain attributes of deity were not manifest, though they were always there. This does not imply that they were surrendered or destroyed. This is made clear in the Doctrine of Kenosis where Christ restricted the use of His deity, but never emptied Himself of His deity. Kenosis is the doctrine pertaining to Christ voluntarily restricting the function of His deity. This doctrine takes its name from the Greek word “kenoo,” which means to deprive oneself of a rightful function. This doctrine explains how Christ, the Creator of the universe, could leave Heaven and become a man. II Corinthians 8:9 tells us that even though Christ was “rich,” for our sakes He became “poor,” “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich.”
During His life on earth, Jesus could be simultaneously omnipotent (all-powerful) in His deity and weak in His humanity. He could be omniscient (all-knowing) in His deity and lack knowledge in His humanity. He could be omnipresent in His deity and be located in one place at a time in His humanity. Luke 2:52, “And Jesus kept increasing in wisdom (knowledge of Bible doctrine) and stature (physically and spiritually), and in favor with God and people.”
The plan of salvation was formulated in eternity past and called for a sin-bearer to “bridge” the gap between God and humans. This sin-bearer had to be uniquely qualified, however. He had to have no sin of his own, He had to be equal with both parties involved and He had to be willing to bear the sin of the entire human race. Jesus Christ agreed to execute God the Father’s plan. Therefore, Jesus Christ became a man, lived a sinless life, and became our sin-bearer. (Romans 5:8; II Corinthians 5:21)
It was necessary for Jesus Christ to become a human being so that He could not only die spiritually as the payment for sin but could also die physically. This was so that believers could conquer physical death, as He did and receive a resurrection body like His. It was also necessary for Jesus Christ to become a human being in order to be the Mediator between God and mankind (a mediator must have an affinity with both parties). And it was necessary for Jesus Christ to become a human being in order for Him to become our High Priest.
God prepared a person to be the mother of the humanity of Christ, Mary. Mary was a wonderful Jewish believer and specially chosen by God to give birth to the Messiah. Mary was the mother of the humanity of Christ, not the “Mother of God.”
God also prepared a man to take care of His Son while He was growing up, Joseph. Joseph, like Mary, was a Jewish believer and a person of integrity. (Matthew 1:18-25) Though Joseph was not the biological father of Jesus Christ, he was the father (guardian) of Christ while He was growing up. We can only conjecture as to Joseph’s role in the earlier training of Jesus, as we are not given a great deal of information about Christ’s youth. We do, however, see Jesus at the age of twelve in the Temple.
We can learn some things about Mary and Joseph from statements that were made about them and several statements that they made. In Luke, the angel said that Mary was “highly favored,” that “the Lord was with her” and that she was “blessed among women.” In Luke 1:38, Mary confirmed her obedient attitude toward the Lord. Mary was a faithful believer who knew and quoted the Word of God, according to Luke 1:46-56. We can also learn something of Joseph. Matthew 1:19 calls Joseph “a just man.” The Greek word for just is “dikaios” and means righteous. Joseph was a believer who lived a righteous life in accordance with God’s will. Joseph was a man of integrity and he was obedient to the Lord, according to Matthew 1:20-25, 2:19-23. It was into this family of integrity that Jesus Christ was born and was raised.
From humble beginnings, Jesus grew to manhood and began an amazing journey. Part of His journey from age thirty to age thirty-three was recorded for us by four of His followers, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. It is this record of Jesus that not only teaches us how we are to treat one another, but it also gives us the greatest love story of all time. (Genesis 3:15; II Samuel 7:5-17; Isaiah 7:14)
This love story is between the Creator of the universe, Jesus Christ and His creations, mankind. Because of His great love, Jesus Christ laid down His life for all of humanity. Not willing that anyone would perish and spend eternity separated from God, Jesus Christ voluntarily became our sin-bearer. (II Corinthians 5:21)
Philippians 2:7-8, “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, Who, as He already existed in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped (held on to), but emptied Himself (of His rightful place as deity in Heaven) by taking the form of a bondservant and being born in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death: death on a cross.”