Preaching About the Virgin Birth

Preaching About the Virgin Birth

“Born of the Virgin Mary….”  That’s how the Apostles’ Creed goes.  Preaching about the virgin birth is the next step in our doctrinal series of messages.  This subject introduces challenging truths for us to consider.  A reminder: we are in a series of posts on developing a doctrinal series of messages.  The first post in the series is here.   Challenging truth #1 is that Jesus was born of a virgin.  A second challenging truth is that he is unique in the human race, that he is both divine and human in one person.  Let’s get to it.

Was Mary a Virgin?

The Virgin birth is one of the basic tenets of the Christian faith.   However, when preaching about the Virgin Birth it will be helpful to you to remember that this doctrine has had its critics.   Kyle Roberts, in a post on his Patheos blog, lists 6 problems that have caused people to doubt that Jesus was born of a virgin.   They are:

1. Paul doesn’t refer to it. The apostle Paul, who was chronologically the first …
2. Only two gospels do mention it. (And None of the Rest of the New Testament …
3. The existence of early rumors about Jesus’ “illegitimate” birth. 
4. The presence of other stories of virgin births of heroic figures in history. 
5. The “virgin” in Matthew is 1 is actually a “young woman” in Isaiah.
6. Historical problems in the infancy narratives.

You can check out his blog to get a detailed explanation of each of these.  Here I just want to point out that preaching about the virgin birth may stir some questions in the minds of your hearers.

Rumors About The Virgin

Nazareth in Mary’s time

However, note especially problem #3, the rumors about Jesus’ illegitimate birth story.   The rumor that doubters spread was that near Nazareth there was a Roman army base.  A Roman soldier probably raped her, and then she made up the story about an angel talking to her to cover her infidelity.

Or, in another version, Mary fell in love with another Jewish boy, they made love, and the virgin birth story provided a cover the indiscretion.

Yet, Scripture assures us that this young woman, as predicted in Isaiah 7:14, was a virgin.  She herself says, when contacted by the angel, that she has never slept with a man.  Here is the way Luke reports the response of Mary after the angel announces the upcoming pregnancy: ³⁴ “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”

The Necessity of the Virgin Birth

The writer of Hebrews notes the necessity of the dual nature of Jesus Christ in chapter 2:

¹⁴ Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanityso that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— ¹⁵ and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. ¹⁶ For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham’s descendants. ¹⁷ For this reason he had to be made like them,^[k]fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people.

So, the doctrine of the Virgin Birth is not just something nice to believe.  It is essential to our understanding of what the life and death of Jesus meant.

Conclusion

So, preach about the Virgin Birth.  Here is another resource from sermon central.com.  Brian Bill is an effective preacher, and in one of his sermons he reflected on the Virgin Birth.  You can access that sermon here.