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Let’s look at 3 aspects of the Incarnation: Prophecy, The Incarnation itself, and the Virgin Birth
A few definitions first:
Incarnation:
Dictionary.com – Incarnation in Theology: The doctrine that the second person of the Trinity assumed human form in the person of Jesus Christ and is completely both God and man.
Messiah:
Dictionary.com – Messiah:
1. the Messiah, the promised and expected deliverer of the Jewish people.
2. the Messiah, Jesus Christ, regarded by Christians as fulfilling the Old Testament promise and expectation of a deliverer.
Prophecy:
Dictionary.com – Prophecy:
1. the foretelling or prediction of what is to come.
2. something that is declared by a prophet, especially a divinely inspired prediction, instruction, or exhortation.
3. a divinely inspired utterance or revelation:
— Prophecy: —
What Prophecies exist concerning the coming messiah and the virgin birth?
Are there prophecies that prove that Jesus is the Messiah? Find out with Tim Moore and Nathan Jones of the Lamb & Lion Ministries evangelism team as they provide their Prophetic Perspectives. Time 9:05
All Verses are from the ESV
Micah 5:2 – Place of Birth
But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah,
who are too little to be among the clans of Judah,
from you shall come forth for me
one who is to be ruler in Israel,
whose coming forth is from of old,
from ancient days.
Isaiah 9:6 – The humanity and deity of the Messiah
For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon[a] his shoulder,
and his name shall be called[b]
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Numbers 24:17 – The star of Bethlehem
I see him, but not now;
I behold him, but not near:
a star shall come out of Jacob,
and a scepter shall rise out of Israel;
it shall crush the forehead[a] of Moab
and break down all the sons of Sheth.
Isaiah 7:14 – Virgin to bear a son who is Immanuel = God with us
Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
Psalm 72:10-11 – The gifts of the Magi
May the kings of Tarshish and of the coastlands
render him tribute;
may the kings of Sheba and Seba
bring gifts!
May all kings fall down before him,
all nations serve him!
Jeremiah 31:15 – the slaughter of the innocents
Thus says the Lord:
“A voice is heard in Ramah,
lamentation and bitter weeping.
Rachel is weeping for her children;
she refuses to be comforted for her children,
because they are no more.”
Isaiah 53:2 – The Messiahs humble beginnings
For he grew up before him like a young plant,
and like a root out of dry ground;
he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
and no beauty that we should desire him.
Isaiah 11:2 – https://www.bibleref.com/Isaiah/11/Isaiah-11-2.html “The Lord’s Spirit would rest on Him to provide great wisdom, strength, and knowledge.”
And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him,
the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and might,
the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
BOA Question: How do we know what is a prophecy and what isn’t?
1. Scripture says so explicitly, e.g. Thus says the Lord, the Lord himself will give you a sign.
2. It is implied by the context
3. Jesus quoted old testament scripture:
ESV Luke 4:21 And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
4. The new testament quotes the old testament as fulfilled scripture
BOA Question: How important are the prophecies of the coming messiah to your personal belief in Jesus?
— The Incarnation: —
What is the Incarnation?
What does it mean that Jesus is fully God and fully man?
Four Beliefs: Jesus is:
1: Fully God
2: Fully Man
3: The Two Natures
4: Exist in One Person
This lists the various heresies:
Ebionism – not really God
Docetism – not really human
Arianism – not fully God
Appolinarius – not fully human
BOA Question: Why do think that all of these various theories were developed concerning the nature of Jesus?
Magnify Evangelical Free Church – Doctrinal statement on the Incarnation:
https://magnifyefc.org/beliefs.html
4. We believe that Jesus Christ is God incarnate, fully God and fully man, one Person in two natures. Jesus-Israel’s promised Messiah-was conceived through the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He lived a sinless life, was crucified under Pontius Pilate, arose bodily from the dead, ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father as our High Priest and Advocate.
Extra credit: Here’s a video discussion from the article above from the Evangelical Free Church: 22:26
Summary questions from this video:
What are some ways that article 4 of the EFC statement of faith (the incarnation) are being questioned or doubted, even denied?
- Jesus is accepted as a good moral teacher, but is Jesus God? John 14:6
- The resurrection, and a crucified savior:
Can I really believe that Jesus rose from the dead, and how can I accept the cruelty of a crucified savior? - He requires sacrifice and full obedience to His Lordship.
Can I really accept his call to “Follow Me”?
Why are these truths critical?
Answer: “Without a proper perspective on the person and the work of Christ you have no Christianity.”
— The Virgin Birth: —
What are some objections to the Virgin Birth:
- The Jesus story was copied from ancient myths
- Only 2 Gospels mention the virgin birth Matthew and Luke, not Mark and John
- The word virgin really means “young girl”
1. Was the Jesus story copied from ancient myths?
Mithras Issues (from CrossExamined.org): play to 2:19
- Too late to influence Christianity – from early 2nd century A.D
- Born out of a rock (not a virgin)
- He was said to be a god not a teacher; he didn’t have 12 disciples.
- He didn’t sacrifice himself, he sacrificed a bull
- We don’t know anything about his death (there was no resurrection)
BOA Question: Would you agree that the story of Mithras falls short of being an antecedent to the historical Jesus?
2. Only 2 Gospels mention the virgin birth Matthew and Luke, not Mark and John. Play :50 to 1:07
Rebuttal to: Only 2 Gospels mention the virgin birth Matthew and Luke, not Mark and John:
Bart Ehrman’s worst argument against the virgin birth. From Testify 7:09
BOA Question: Do you agree that omission doesn’t necessarily imply contradiction, and that Ehrman’s case is defeated here?
3. The word virgin really means “young girl”
In https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1cXGYAGeso “An Unexpected Discussion on the Virgin Birth | Richard Dawkins” Dawkins states (at 3:00 to 3:05) that “The Virgin Birth is actually a mis-translation of Isaiah”.
I assume that he gets that from the argument the word virgin in Isaiah really means young girl.
In https://www.gotquestions.org/virgin-or-young-woman.html :
Title: Is “virgin” or “young woman” the correct translation of Isaiah 7:14?
We have the following:
“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.” Quoting Isaiah 7:14, Matthew 1:23 reads, “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel – which means, ‘God with us.’“ Christians point to this “virgin birth” as evidence of Messianic prophecy fulfilled by Jesus. Is this a valid example of fulfilled prophecy?
The Hebrew word in Isaiah 7:14 is “almah,” and its inherent meaning is “young woman.” “Almah” can mean “virgin,” as young unmarried women in ancient Hebrew culture were assumed to be virgins.
…
At first glance, Isaiah 7:14 has no connection with a promised virgin birth of the Messiah. However, the Apostle Matthew, writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, connects the virgin birth of Jesus (Matthew 1:23) with the prophecy in Isaiah 7:14. Therefore, Isaiah 7:14 should be understood as being a “double prophecy,” referring primarily to the situation King Ahaz was facing, but secondarily to the coming Messiah who would be the ultimate deliverer.”
For context this is Matthew 1:18-23 ESV from Bible Gateway:
The Birth of Jesus Christ
18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ[e] took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed[f] to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. 19 And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. 20 But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:
23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and they shall call his name Immanuel”
(which means, God with us). 24 When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, 25 but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.
BOA Question: What does the context of Matthew 1:18-23, indicated by the 3 highlights referencing Mary’s virginity, say about Matthew’s use of the word virgin when quoting Isaiah 7:14?
A look at the translation of Isaiah 7:14 vs Matthew 1:23:
Title: Does THIS Prove Mary Wasn’t a Virgin? time 5:58
Red Pen Logic, Tim Barnett, rebuttal
BOA Question: Do you believe that Tim Barnett adequately defended the virgin birth in this rebuttal?
— Other Objections to Christ’s birth story: —
Bart Ehrman claims Christmas story biblical contradiction with Egypt travel. 3:59
BOA Question: Do you agree with Tim Barnett that these Ehrman’s objections are not problematic?
— BONUS Question —
BONUS Question: Since Jesus was born of “the substance” of the Virgin Mary, how was He without original sin? quote from Ligonier Ministries – R C Sproul.
Is the Virgin Birth Essential?
drcraigvideos 1:24
“nor is the Virgin birth essential to the sinlessness of Jesus”
“if you think that original sin is passed on by human procreation, well then, he would inherit original sin from Mary alone without Joseph”
“the virgin birth … is not essential to His Deity or sinlessness as some may have thought”
So, hold the phone, here:
Craig’s comments here surprised me, I did assume that the virgin birth was tied to Christs sinlessness.
What then is the doctrine of Christs sinlessness as it relates to the virgin birth?
Here are some questions that came to mind:
Why wasn’t Mary’s sin (or orginal sin) passed on to Jesus?
Did Jesus have some of Mary’s DNA or was his DNA completely unique?
Would a DNA test on Jesus have shown any of Mary’s DNA?
Does DNA or biology have any role in sin nature at all?
What is the actual mechanism by which the sin nature is passed on?
Is it possible or even Biblical that the sin nature was passed on, but Jesus didn’t sin?
Is the sin nature passed on spiritually as opposed to biologically?
and: Why and how did the virgin birth allow Jesus to bypass the curse passed down from Adam?
This question came from the Got Questions Article – What is the sin nature?
https://www.gotquestions.org/sin-nature.html
“There is only one Person in the history of the world who did not have a sin nature: Jesus Christ. His virgin birth allowed Him to enter our world while bypassing the curse passed down from Adam.”
This sentence states that the virgin birth allowed Christ to bypass the curse of Adam.
How Did Jesus Escape from Having a Sin Nature?
Greg Koukl of Stand to Reason 5:50
OK, so now we can add a new questions to our list.
Did Jesus avoid having a sin nature because he didn’t have a human father?
Is Jesus not having a sin nature a divine act of God?
Other comments from Greg Koukl:
Difficult because we are required to speculate.
What we do know is that Jesus was a true human being without sin
He had no human father, suggests that maybe the sin nature is passed down through the father.
Adam didn’t have a father.
Best explanation is that Jesus had no human father.
—
I communicated with Shea Houdmann of Got Questions Ministries, and he provided the following article:
Was Jesus the biological son of Mary? If so, how did He not inherit a sin nature?
https://www.gotquestions.org/Jesus-son-of-Mary.html
— start of Got Questions article —
…
So, seeing that Jesus was Mary’s son, conceived in her and born of her, how could Jesus not have had a sinful nature? There are a few theories that try to explain how Jesus could not have inherited a sin nature:
1. Sin nature is passed through the father. The thinking is that since Jesus did not have a biological father, the sin nature could not have been passed down to Jesus. While this has been a traditional view for centuries, it poses some problems. Scripture does not connect the virgin birth with not having a sinful nature. The prophecy of a virgin birth shows that Jesus’ birth would be miraculous, but it stops short of suggesting its theological significance. We should be careful not to apply extra layers of meaning to the virgin birth if those meanings are not clearly identified in Scripture. Also, to say that only men pass on the sin nature could imply that women are less culpable. Mary had a sin nature, not just because her father passed it on to her but because she was a sinner in her own right. Yes, Adam was held accountable for Eve’s sin, resulting in sin and death entering the human race (Romans 5:12, 17), but both were sinners after they sinned. Further, nothing changed biologically for Adam when he sinned, but we know that through this one man, Adam, sin entered the world (Romans 5:12-19). This is a spiritual problem, not a biological one, although sin has impacted biology as well.
2. Had a sin nature but did not sin. The argument says that since Jesus was Mary’s biological son, He received a sin nature, but He did not sin. This poses problems because God could not take on a nature that is contrary to His character. Further, Hebrews 7:26 tells us: “Such a high priest truly meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens.” Jesus took on flesh but was set apart from sinners. He was tempted in every way that we were yet without sin. And without a sin nature.
3. Conceived of the Holy Spirit and implanted in her. The thinking is that God created a body for Jesus as He did for Adam, and Mary carried Him from implantation to delivery; thus, He was made in the likeness of sinful flesh (Romans 8:3, Philippians 2:7) and still a seed of Mary, although miraculously created.
4. The sin nature is passed on spiritually not biologically. This theory states that sin nature is not confined to human DNA, as seen by the angels that also sinned. Further, the theory states that sin nature is not necessary for sin to occur. Neither Adam and Eve nor the angels had a sin nature, yet they were tempted both internally and externally. Internal temptation can be seen as Satan desired to be like God (Isaiah 14:14) and as the fruit looked pleasing to Eve’s eyes and desirable for gaining wisdom (Genesis 3:6). Externally, the serpent tempted Adam and Eve with fruit and a lie (Genesis 3:4-5). If a sin nature is not required to have the potentiality to sin, Jesus could have been tempted in every way we were without a sin nature, and, as God, was tempted yet without sin. Lastly, sin is a spiritual problem (1 Corinthians 15:22), and eternal life and salvation are spiritual realities passed on spiritually to those who trust in Christ. Therefore, it is not problematic to say that sin nature is passed spiritually and not biologically.
While we may not fully understand how Jesus could not have had a sinful nature, the reality is that Jesus, who was sinless, died on the cross without being a sinner. In order to die and be our perfect sacrifice so we could be saved from sin, He became sin for us (Hebrews 9:28; 2 Corinthians 5:21). Jesus possessed the image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15). All other men bore Adam’s image, stained with sin, but Jesus—by virtue of the conception by the Holy Spirit—did not. In fact, Paul contrasts Jesus with Adam in Romans 5, explaining that Adam brought death, but Jesus brought life (Romans 5:15–19).
— end of Got Questions article —
BOA Question: Which of these 4 theories would you subscribe to, and why?
Which of these 4 theories would you guess that Got Questions subscribes to?
Question to Shea Houdmann: Is it safe to say that “4. The sin nature is passed on spiritually not biologically.” is your preferred theory?
Shea Houdmann: “Yes, I think that 4 is our preferred theory.”
#4 is also BOA’s currently preferred theory.