I wish a very Merry Christmas to anyone reading this pot.  Today I am going to blog about the theological significance of the Virgin Birth.  Though I have always believed in it personally, until recently I would have just chalked it up as another miracle that proves the deity of Christ not unlike walking on water.  The doctrine of the virgin birth actually goes much deeper than that and is considered foundational to Christianity by scholars around the world.  For example, the Nicene Creed reads as follows:

“…For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven: by the power of the Holy Spirit he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary, and was made man….”

That was written close to 325 AD so there is no doubt that this is a very old Christian doctrine.

Born of a Virgin

The first place that the virgin birth is prophesied is at the very beginning in Geneses 3:15

“And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” Gen 3:15 KJV

You will miss it there if you’re not paying attention.  Notice three key points:

• First where God is talking about Eve
• Second he mentions HER seed
• Her seed shall bruise the head of the snake

I am no physician, but in the anatomy course that I took it’s not possible for a woman to bear offspring of their own seed without help.  However, the one time that this does happen per Gen 3:15 we see someone (Jesus) who crushes the head of the serpent (Satan).  This verse is regarded by Christian theologians over the ages to not only be the first messianic prophecy in the Bible, but the first prophecy of the virgin birth.  Messianic prophecies are littered throughout all of the Old Testament, some of them referencing a single point, and others going into great detail.  We don’t see the virgin birth again though until Isaiah Chapter 7.

“Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” Isa 7:14 KJV

This verse is later interpreted in the New Testament where Matthew delves into greater detail:

“Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.” Matt 1:23 KJV

So we can see that Moses, Isaiah, and Matthew inspired by the Holy Ghost are all in agreement that the messiah was to be brought forth from a virgin.  This is significant because there is some controversy over the word used for Virgin in Isaiah.  It is important to remember that these texts were not all originally written in English.  Many Jewish scholars today will argue that the word found in Isaiah 7:14 is Almah, which means maiden or young woman, rather than virgin.  They argue that if the prophet had intended a virgin he would have used the word “Bethulah” instead.

I am no expert on ancient Hebrew but even without being one it is possible to argue against this with two key points:

• First, Almah is used more consistently to refer to a virgin throughout the Old Testament than Bethulah. See Joel 1:8 and Esther 2:8-17, though the world Almah is used there is no question that a virgin is being referred to by anyone.
• Second, it goes without saying that a young Jewish maiden (Almah) would logically be a virgin. It hasn’t been until the past ten years or so that it is considered normal for 13 year old unmarried boys and girls to be sexually active.

Lineage of Christ

The lineage of Christ is found in two locations in the New Testament.  First is Matt 1 and the second is in Luke 3.  This is at first troubling for new scholars  as they do not read the same.   They both cite the lineage of Christ back to David as required by 2 Samuel  7:13

“He shall build an house for my name, and I will stablish the throne of his kingdom forever.” 2 Sam 7:13 KJV

They do not however match exactly.  For example, Luke 3:23 states the Joseph was the son of Heli and Matt 1:16 states that “Jacob begat Joseph”

“And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, which was the son of Heli,” Luk 3:23 KJV

“And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.” Matt 1:16 KJV

When I first caught on to this itconcerned me, however a little bit of research cleared it up.  It turns out that the Jerusalem Talmud  (Chag. 77,4) refers to Mary as the daughter of Heli.  Not only that, but in the language that Luke was writing in there was no word at the time for father in law.  It was something you either had to know or derive from the context.

So by putting the pieces together we can see that Jesus Christ was the seed of woman, who was related to David through Nathan.  Though Nathan was not the royal line, Jesus Christ still had a blood connection to David through his mother.

Curse of Coniah

Here is where it gets interesting, in Jeremiah 22 we find the following:

“As I live, saith the  Lord , though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet upon my right hand, yet would I pluck thee thence;    And I will cast thee out, and thy mother that bare thee, into another country, where ye were not born; and there shall ye die.    But to the land whereunto they desire to return, thither shall they not return.    Thus saith the  Lord , Write ye this man childless, a man that shall not prosper in his days: for no man of his seed shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David, and ruling any more in Judah.” Jer 22:24, 26-2, 30 KJV

This man was king right before Jerusalem was sent into captivity in Babylon.  Due to his sins and the sins of his fathers (Jer 22:9) the throne was removed from him and his entire line as you can see in the text above.  This is referred to by scholars and a “blood curse” on his line.  That means that the royal line which the Messiah was supposed to inherit had been cursed by God.  Ponder on this for just a moment, it doesn’t mean that he couldn’t have kids, it just means that none of them could inherit the throne promised to David’s line.

You can see other references to this man in the various lineages.  He goes by several names but in Jeremiah 22 he is referred to as Coniah.  If you follow the lineage of Jesus in Matt 1:11 and following you will see that Joseph follows the royal line through the same.  This means he could not be king nor pass it down to his kids.

Now we see why the virgin birth is so foundational to Christian doctrine.  Jesus Christ was both blood related to David through his mother, and he was able to inherit the throne of David through his earthly father via adoption.  In doing so Jesus Christ was and is the only one who could ever fulfill every role and prophecy concerning the Messiah.  Even if one were to be born today claiming lineage to David through Solomon he would still be cursed through Coniah.  And if such a man were bold enough to claim a virgin birth he would then have to show the line of his mother to David via another route than Solomon.  The odds are too long to be approached when the entirety of Scripture is considered which is why Jesus Christ was and is the Messiah.