At Christmas, we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. Well, Christians do. And around this time of year, we might hear about the virgin birth. Someone writes on the historicity of it, or how the Bible records Jesus’s miraculous birth.
But the question we should be asking is Why did a virgin birth Jesus? The answers to this question are nothing less than earth-shattering.
Here are two reasons.
First, only a virgin-birth could reverse the curse and fulfill God’s promise made to Eve
God cursed humanity due to our sin but left a blessing for us: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel” (Gen 3:15 ESV). God would bruise or crush the serpent’s head through the offspring of Eve.
Ultimately, that offspring is Christ.
He finally triumphs over the power of Satan through his life, death, resurrection, and ascension. Christ disarmed the power of Satan and armed the church to defeat evil: “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you” (Rom 16:20 ESV).
Second, only a virgin-birth could provide the means for God to become man for our salvation
If Jesus was born through a regular conception, he’d be fully human. But it would be hard to say he was God. Perhaps God took over his body after it was conceived?
But that’s not what the Bible affirms. It affirms that God became man (see John 1:14).
God became man, taking on the same fleshy nature that all people have. Like Adam, he represents us all. His obedience is our obedience, his holiness is ours, his righteousness ours, his wisdom ours, his redemption ours (see 1 Cor 1:30).
We gain all this through faith in him when our human nature unites to his human and divine natures, granting us everything that is in Christ. What Christ is, he shares with us. What a great exchange we can enjoy!
This Christmas remember that God became man for us and for our salvation. Without that, we’d be hopeless. Oh, and by the way, when Jesus died on the cross, the earth did, in fact, shake and rocks were split (Matt 27:51). So, I didn’t speak entirely metaphorically when I said that the answers to the question of why Jesus was born of virgin were earth-shattering!
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