Posted on 12/19/2011 4:02:26 PM PST by rhema
In one of his columns for The New York Times, Nicholas Kristof once pointed to belief in the Virgin Birth as evidence that conservative Christians are less intellectual. Are we saddled with an untenable doctrine? Is belief in the Virgin Birth really necessary?
Kristof is absolutely aghast that so many Americans believe in the Virgin Birth. The faith in the Virgin Birth reflects the way American Christianity is becoming less intellectual and more mystical over time, he explains, and the percentage of Americans who believe in the Virgin Birth actually rose five points in the latest poll. Yikes! Is this evidence of secular backsliding?
The Virgin Mary is an interesting prism through which to examine Americas emphasis on faith, Kristof argues, because most Biblical scholars regard the evidence for the Virgin Birth as so shaky that it pretty much has to be a leap of faith. Heres a little hint: Anytime you hear a claim about what most Biblical scholars believe, check on just who these illustrious scholars really are. In Kristofs case, he is only concerned about liberal scholars like Hans Kung, whose credentials as a Catholic theologian were revoked by the Vatican.
The list of what Hans Kung does not believe would fill a book [just look at his books!], and citing him as an authority in this area betrays Kristofs determination to stack the evidence, or his utter ignorance that many theologians and biblical scholars vehemently disagree with Kung. Kung is the anti-Catholics favorite Catholic, and that is the real reason he is so loved by the liberal media.
Kristof also cites the great Yale historian and theologian Jaroslav Pelikan as an authority against the Virgin Birth, but this is both unfair and untenable. In Mary Through the Centuries, Pelikan does not reject the Virgin Birth, but does trace the development of the doctrine.
What are we to do with the Virgin Birth? The doctrine was among the first to be questioned and then rejected after the rise of historical criticism and the undermining of biblical authority that inevitably followed. Critics claimed that since the doctrine is taught in only two of the four Gospels, it must be elective. The Apostle Paul, they argued, did not mention it in his sermons in Acts, so he must not have believed it. Besides, the liberal critics argued, the doctrine is just so supernatural. Modern heretics like retired Episcopal bishop John Shelby Spong argue that the doctrine was just evidence of the early churchs over-claiming of Christs deity. It is, Spong tells us, the entrance myth to go with the resurrection, the exit myth. If only Spong were a myth.
Now, even some revisionist evangelicals claim that belief in the Virgin Birth is unnecessary. The meaning of the miracle is enduring, they argue, but the historical truth of the doctrine is not really important.
Must one believe in the Virgin Birth to be a Christian? This is not a hard question to answer. It is conceivable that someone might come to Christ and trust Christ as Savior without yet learning that the Bible teaches that Jesus was born of a virgin. A new believer is not yet aware of the full structure of Christian truth. The real question is this: Can a Christian, once aware of the Bibles teaching, reject the Virgin Birth? The answer must be no.
Nicholas Kristof pointed to his grandfather as a devout Presbyterian elder who believed that the Virgin Birth is a pious legend. Follow his example, Kristof encourages, and join the modern age. But we must face the hard fact that Kristofs grandfather denied the faith. This is a very strange and perverse definition of devout.
Matthew tells us that before Mary and Joseph came together, Mary was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit. [Matthew 1:18] This, Matthew explains, fulfilled what Isaiah promised: Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel, which translated means God with Us. [Matthew 1:23, Isaiah 7:14]
Luke provides even greater detail, revealing that Mary was visited by an angel who explained that she, though a virgin, would bear the divine child: The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy child shall be called the Son of God. [Luke 1:35]
Even if the Virgin Birth was taught by only one biblical passage, that would be sufficient to obligate all Christians to the belief. We have no right to weigh the relative truthfulness of biblical teachings by their repetition in Scripture. We cannot claim to believe that the Bible is the Word of God and then turn around and cast suspicion on its teaching.
Millard Erickson states this well: If we do not hold to the virgin birth despite the fact that the Bible asserts it, then we have compromised the authority of the Bible and there is in principle no reason why we should hold to its other teachings. Thus, rejecting the virgin birth has implications reaching far beyond the doctrine itself.
Implications, indeed. If Jesus was not born of a virgin, who was His father? There is no answer that will leave the Gospel intact. The Virgin Birth explains how Christ could be both God and man, how He was without sin, and that the entire work of salvation is Gods gracious act. If Jesus was not born of a virgin, He had a human father. If Jesus was not born of a virgin, the Bible teaches a lie.
Carl F. H. Henry, the dean of evangelical theologians, argued that the Virgin Birth is the essential, historical indication of the Incarnation, bearing not only an analogy to the divine and human natures of the Incarnate, but also bringing out the nature, purpose, and bearing of this work of God to salvation. Well said, and well believed.
Nicholas Kristof and his secularist friends may find belief in the Virgin Birth to be evidence of intellectual backwardness among American Christians. But this is the faith of the Church, established in Gods perfect Word, and cherished by the true Church throughout the ages. Kristofs grandfather, we are told, believed that the Virgin Birth is a pious legend. The fact that he could hold such beliefs and serve as an elder in his church is evidence of that churchs doctrinal and spiritual laxity or worse. Those who deny the Virgin Birth affirm other doctrines only by force of whim, for they have already surrendered the authority of Scripture. They have undermined Christs nature and nullified the incarnation.
This much we know: All those who find salvation will be saved by the atoning work of Jesus the Christ the virgin-born Savior. Anything less than this is just not Christianity, whatever it may call itself. A true Christian will not deny the Virgin Birth.
So it in the NT also as Jesus in always spoken of as subservient to his father being called a servant, sent forth, being granted the power to judge, being granted life in himself, sitting at the right hand, not acting on his own initiative, not knowing what the Father knew, etc.
I didn’t notice. I was wondering if you understood what you were quoting, and who you thought I should forg9ive.
The arguments do not harden people. People who fail to remain in fellowship in Christ allow their thinking to degenerate and harden.
Remaining in Christ endures any situation or perceived problem by His Plan.
1Jn 5:7-13
(7) For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.
(8) And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one.
(9) If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his Son.
(10) He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son.
(11) And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
(12) He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.
(13) These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.
Hebrews 12:15 See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled;
Ephesians 4:25-27 25 Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. 26 Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27 and give no opportunity to the devil.
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