Why is the virgin birth so important?

Have you ever wondered why the virgin birth of Jesus is so important? This really is an essential doctrine of Christianity that sadly is not taught too often in churches today. The virgin birth is so vital that it has been endlessly argued, mocked, criticized, and laughed at by scoffers over all these centuries. But, once again, the question remains: why exactly is it so important? Let me attempt to explain it today.

In the book of Genesis, Adam and Eve lived in the Garden of Eden and they lived in complete and utter bliss with God. But that all changed one day when they disobeyed the one prohibition God had given: He said not to eat fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and yet they chose to do just that (Genesis 2:16-17; Genesis 3:6). Ever since that event, all human beings are born with what is called a sin nature. You may be asking, "What is a sin nature?" In simple terms, this means that humanity is born totally selfish and with its back completely turned against God. It means that human beings have a natural inclination to run away from God and toward their own self-gratification.

The Bible teaches us that even after a person becomes a Christian, they retain their inborn sin nature (Romans 7:15-19). At the same time, the Christian also has the Holy Spirit indwelling them (1 Corinthians 3:16). This sets up an internal battle. In Galatians 5, we read, “For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want” (verse 17; italics mine). I say an enthusiastic amen to that! In my own life, even after being a Christian for decades, there are episodes where I have chosen sin over God. I wish this wasn’t the case; I want to live with spot or blemish, but sinfulness is still an undeniable reality in my life. Once again, this is due to my sin nature.

There was one person, however, who didn’t have to deal with a sin nature and that is Jesus Christ. Isaiah 7:14 reads, “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel.” You've likely heard that important verse before, but fascinatingly, in the very next verse, Isaiah 7:15, we read that this baby born of a virgin will “reject the wrong and choose the right.”

Stop for a second and think about this question with me: who can honestly say that they always “reject the wrong and choose the right”? The obvious answer is no one. No one except for Jesus, that is. Because of the virgin birth, Jesus did not obtain the sin nature that is intrinsic to every other human. Jesus was able to live on Earth without being tainted by its sin because He was born from a virgin’s womb.  Because of this, Jesus was the only one qualified to provide the “atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:2).

Kevin

PS:

There’s one more very important point to keep in mind. Jesus “rejected the wrong and chose the right” because He was (and is) God. This will hurt your brain if you think about it too long, but Jesus’ life did not begin when He was born in a manger. Jesus existed before His time on Earth. In John 8, Jesus said He existed before Abraham. John chapter 1 says that Jesus existed with God in the very beginning, before the universe was created! Make no mistake: Jesus was and is fully God, and He took on human flesh when Mary gave birth to Him.

To be clear: there are not multiple God’s in Christianity; there is only one God (1 Corinthians 8:6); but there are three distinct persons in the Godhead, God the Father (Philippians 1:2), Jesus the Son (Colossians 2:9), and the Holy Spirit (Acts 5:3-4). No human being will ever fully understand the concept of the Trinity, but I take it by faith, as it is what the Bible teaches. In short, Jesus was the only one qualified to be our sin-bearer because He was God incarnate (or in human flesh).