The Creed

I BELIEVE I BELIEVE in in GodGod the Father Almighty, the Father Almighty, Maker Maker of heaven and earthof heaven and earth: And in : And in Jesus Christ Jesus Christ his his

only only SonSon, , our Lordour Lord; who was conceived by the ; who was conceived by the Holy Holy GhostGhost, , born of the virgin Maryborn of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius , suffered under Pontius Pilate, was Pilate, was crucifiedcrucified, dead, and buried, dead, and buried; he descended ; he descended

into into hellhell; the third day ; the third day he rose again from the he rose again from the deaddead; he ascended into ; he ascended into heavenheaven, and sitteth on the right , and sitteth on the right

hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence he shall come he shall come to judge to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in the the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Holy

GhostGhost; the holy catholic ; the holy catholic churchchurch; the ; the communioncommunion of of saints; the saints; the forgiveness of sinsforgiveness of sins; the ; the resurrectionresurrection of of

the body; and the the body; and the life everlastinglife everlasting. Amen. Amen

The CreedThe CreedI BELIEVE in the VIRGIN I BELIEVE in the VIRGIN

BIRTHBIRTH







The Creed – I Believe in the Virgin BirthThe Creed – I Believe in the Virgin Birth


“most Christians in all the churches in the world confess as they recite the

Apostles' Creed that Jesus was born of the virgin Mary. Now...modern Christians completely discount the historicity of the

virgin birth and understand it in a figurative sense… The tomb was full and

the manger empty”-Gerd Luedemann, German NT scholar

“those first disciples … when they thought about his coming they were sure that he came specially from God … they associated with God's special influence

and intention in his birth … but they phrased it in terms of a biological miracle

that our modern minds cannot use.“- Harry Fosdick, 20th century pastor

Was Jesus Born of a Virgin?


“What if tomorrow someone digs up definitive proof that Jesus had a real, earthly, biological father named Larry and

archaeologists find Larry's tomb and do DNA samples and prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the virgin birth was really just a bit of mythologizing the Gospel writers threw in to appeal to the followers of the Mithra and Dionyslan religious cults that

were hugely popular at the time of Jesus, whose gods had virgin births? But what if as you study the origin of the word virgin,

you discover that the word virgin in the gospel of Matthew actually comes from the book of Isaiah, and then you find out

that in the Hebrew language at that time, the word virgin could mean several things. And what if you discover that in the first century being "born of a virgin" also referred to a child whose mother became pregnant the first time she had intercourse? What if that spring was seriously questioned? Could a person

keep jumping? Could a person still love God? Could you still be a Christian?”

- Rob Bell, Velvet Elvis

Does the Virgin Birth Matter?


Prophecies of the Virgin Birth


Prophecies of the Virgin Birth


" Clearly, somebody went seeking in the Old Testament for a text that could be

interpreted as prophesying a virginal conception, even if such was never its

original meaning. Somebody had already decided on the transcendental importance of the adult Jesus and sought to retroject that significance on to the conception and birth

itself.”

-John Crossan, Member of Jesus Seminarcommenting on Isaiah 7:14 and Christ


“Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a

sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel."(Isaiah

7:14)

Does Isaiah 7:14 Speak of Christ?Plural, referring to Davidic House

“almah”: a marriageable girl; a young woman until the birth of her first child. Four uses in OT (Gen 24:43, Ex. 2:8, Prov 30:19, Is 7:14): all refer to a woman who has not known a man.


As many Biblical prophecies do, this had a near and distant

fulfillment. A son was born to Ahaz: Hezekiah who would sit

on the throne in Judah (and not someone from the immediately threatening enemies). But the distant fulfillment spoke of a

miraculous birth (there is nothing special about a virgin becoming pregnant by normal means) – the coming Messiah.

As good a king as Hezekiah was, he was not referred to as

‘God with us’.

Note some scholars think the birth was Isaiah’s son.

Does Isaiah 7:14 Speak of Christ?


When the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the

Hebrew Old Testament) was written, the authors (non-Christian) used the word

“parthenos” in Is. 7:14. That word has a very specific

meaning: ‘one who has never engaged in sexual intercourse’.

Some argue that the Hebrew word “betulah” would have been used (which can mean

virgin), yet Joel 1:8 speaks of a ‘betulah’ mourning for the

husband of her youth.

Does Isaiah 7:14 Speak of Christ?


“The scepter shall not depart from Judah, Nor the ruler’s staff

from between his feet, Until Shiloh comes, And to him shall be

the obedience of the peoples.”

(Genesis 49:10)

Prophecies of the Messiah’s Birth


Prophecies of Messiah’s Birth


“But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Too little to be among

the clans of Judah, From you One will go

forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long

ago, From the days of eternity.”

(Micah 5:2)

Prophecies of Messiah’s Birth


"The charge of contemporary feminists, then, is not that the image of the Virgin Mary is unimportant or irrelevant, but that it contributes to and is integral to

the oppression of women.“- Jane Schaberg


The Virgin Birth in the New Testament




“How can this be, since I am a virgin?”

- Luke 1:26-34








Fulfillment of Genesis 49:10


“The notion that Jesus had no human father because he was the son of God … was

originally a pagan notion.”-Robert J. Miller, Born Divine

The Virgin Myth – A Pagan Myth?


• Horus – Conceived of Isis and Osiris • Mithras – Born/emerged out of a rock• Attis - Nana puts fruit in her lap that came from a tree started by Zeus’ “seed” and conceives • Krishna – Born from Devaki after hairs of Vishnu placed in her womb• Dionysus – Only found in post-Christian sources• Perseus – Danae impregnated by Zeus who assumed the form of a shower of gold

The Virgin Myth – A Pagan Myth?


“And if we even affirm that He was born of a virgin, accept this in common with what you

accept of Perseus.”- Justin Martyr, First Apology

Justin Martyr’s Accommodation


So What?…and why all the hostility?


Question: What one person would you most like to

interview?

Answer: “Jesus Christ.”

Question: What one question would you ask Him?

Answer: “I would like to ask Him if He was indeed virgin-

born. The answer to that question would define history

for me.”


"Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth,

and over every creeping thing that creeps on the

earth.” God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male

and female He created them.“ (Genesis 1:26-27)

Man Created in God’s Image


"When Adam had lived one hundred and thirty years, he became the father of a son in his own likeness, according

to his image, and named him Seth.”

(Genesis 5:3)

"Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me.”

(Psalm 51:5)

Man Created in Man’s Image


"Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because

all sinned …—Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come…

For if by the transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man,

Jesus Christ, abound to the many…For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness

will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ. So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted

justification of life to all men. For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the

obedience of the One the many will be made righteous.”(Romans 5:12-19)

Jesus Escaped Sin via Virgin Birth


"if the Bible is regarded as being wrong in what it says about the

birth of Christ, then obviously the authority of the Bible in any high

sense, is gone." - J. Gresham Machen, The Virgin

Birth


Apologetic Points of Virgin Birth• Refutes Deism – God intervened in history• Supports Miracles – A God who supernaturally acted• Refutes Gnosticism – Perfect Spirit wedded to a perfect physical body• Supports Christ’s Uniqueness – He is not simply a good and moral man








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The Creed

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