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Passage of Focus: Matthew 1:18-25 (cf. Isaiah 7:14) 

Are you content with being regarded as a fool for Jesus Christ? This question gets to the heart of what it means to be a Bible-believing Christian while dwelling in the midst of an unbelieving world. From the earliest days of the church age, followers of Jesus Christ have not only been characterized as foolish by the majority of secular society; they have likewise embraced this reputation for the sake of magnifying the glory, power, and wisdom of God in saving sinners from His wrath. Consider how the Apostle Paul fleshes out these observations in the middle of the first century. 

18 For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are   being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written:

“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, And the understanding of those who have understanding, I will confound.”

20 Where is the wise person? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has   God not made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe (1 Cor. 1:18-21).[1]

What’s Paul saying here? Simply this: Biblical Christianity is the embodiment of divine wisdom for those who have a saving relationship with Jesus Christ. Conversely, for those who have not surrendered to the Lordship of Jesus Christ by faith alone, biblical Christianity is absolute foolishness. Take a few moments to reflect on some of the most foundational doctrines of the faith[2]–

• The Trinity
• The Hypostatic Union of Christ
• The Creation of All Things Ex Nihilo
• The Virgin Birth of Jesus 
• The Future Bodily Resurrection and Final Judgment of All Human Beings

When considered holistically, should it come as any surprise that unbelievers have a difficult time accepting these matters as literal or objective truth? After all, according to many who comprise the “intellectual elite” of our day, belief in the miraculous—or the supernatural—is simply irrational. A prominent example of this mentality is expressed by Richard Dawkins, a renowned Evolutionary Biologist and ardent critic of the Christian faith. 

[According to Dawkins], the virgin birth of Christ, the resurrection of Christ, and [all of the biblical miracles] are freely used for religious propaganda, and they are very effective with an audience of unsophisticated [adults] and children.[3]

Statements such as these demonstrate that whether one resides in the first century, the twenty first century—or at any other time in between—the question remains the same for all disciples of Jesus Christ: “are you content with being regarded by the world as a fool for your faith?” With the Christmas season upon us, it is appropriate to ask such a question with specific reference to the virgin birth.

Over the past century, few tenets of Christianity have been subject to more criticism by unbelievers—and to more indifference by believers—than Jesus being conceived of the Holy Spirit, and born of the virgin Mary.[4] While there are many viable explanations for this trend, perhaps the most simple reason why the virgin birth is not championed with greater enthusiasm boils down to what is universally observable throughout the human race: virgins do not conceive and give birth to children (Luke 1:26-38; esp. v. 34).

In the final analysis, if naturalistic presuppositions are granted at the outset of understanding reality, then Dawkins’ critique of Christianity is entirely valid. However, since the universe is governed by a divine being who is all-powerful, then it would be unwise to place any limits on what can or can’t occur in nature (Job 11:7-9). Therefore, regardless of its difficulty to conceptualize, embracing the testimony of the virgin birth ought not to be an issue for Bible-believing Christians.

Indeed, if the virgin birth of Jesus is not true, then the truthfulness of Scripture—and the truthfulness of Christianity itself—must be dismissed wholesale. Stated differently, the fidelity of God’s written word is dependent upon the literal and historical event of Jesus being born of the virgin Mary. At least two fundamental premises can be offered to substantiate the preceding assertions.

1. Since God’s written word cannot err, any subject addressed therein will be truly represented.

By virtue of God’s perfection of being (Ps. 18:30; James 1:17), He is incapable of allowing His self-revelation to be tainted with error (Num. 23:19; Matt. 5:48). Thus, as a direct byproduct of Scripture being inspired by God (2 Sam. 23:1-2; 2 Tim. 3:16-17), both the Old and New Testaments are presented as being flawless in their content (i.e., inerrant)-

• In Psalm 119:160, the author writes that “the sum of [God’s Word] is truth, and every one of [His] righteous judgments is everlasting.”
• Moreover, in John 17:17, it is recorded that the Lord Jesus Christ prayed for God the Father to “sanctify [His people] in truth [because God’s] word is truth.”

Upon evaluating the internal witness of Scripture on its own terms, there should be no doubt as to what it claims about itself. Namely, to be nothing less than the inspired and inerrant word of God. Throughout church history, believers have sought to safeguard these convictions through developing creeds and confessions of faith. One such example is the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy (1978), which sets forth the following proclamation in the opening section.

Holy Scripture, being God’s own Word, written by men prepared and superintended by His Spirit, is of infallible divine authority in all matters upon which it touches: it is to be believed, as God’s instruction, in all that it affirms, obeyed, as God’s command, in all that it requires; embraced, as God’s pledge, in all that it promises… Being wholly and verbally God-given, Scripture is without error or fault in all its teaching, no less in what it states about God’s acts in creation, about the events of world history, and about its own literary origins under God, than in its witness to God’s saving grace in individual lives. The authority of Scripture is inescapably impaired if this total divine inerrancy is in any  way limited or disregarded, or made relative to a view of truth contrary to the Bible’s own; and such lapses bring serious loss to both the individual and the Church.[5]

Inasmuch as the Bible is the word of God, the entirety of the Bible is, therefore, absolutely trustworthy. As such, the next premise teases out a logical and necessary consequence of this deduction to the virgin birth.

2. Since the virgin birth of God’s Messiah is prophesied to occur in the Old Testament, and since this prophecy is directly applied to Jesus in the New Testament, the historicity of the virgin birth must be affirmed by Christians.

Two of the most relevant passages pertaining to the virgin birth are found in Isaiah 7:14 and Matthew 1:18-25. The text in Isaiah foretells how God’s Messiah will be born of a virgin, and the text in Matthew documents the fulfillment of that prophecy after a span of seven centuries.[6] In light of Matthew referencing Isaiah 7:14 in verse 23 of chapter one, it will be sufficient to examine these passages within that specific context.

¹⁸ Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah was as follows: when His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be pregnant by the Holy Spirit.¹⁹ And her husband Joseph, since he was a righteous man and did not want to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly.

²⁰ But when he had thought this over, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a    dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. ²¹ She will give birth to a Son; and you shall name Him Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” ²² Now all this took place so that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet would be fulfilled: 

²³ “Behold, the virgin will conceive and give birth to a Son, and they shall name Him Immanuel,” which translated means, “God with us.” 

²⁴ And Joseph awoke from his sleep and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took Mary as his wife, ²⁵ but kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a Son; and he named Him Jesus.

While much can be said about this portion of Scripture, perhaps the most important element of these verses is the affirmation that God’s Word had been validated through the virgin birth of Jesus Christ. When Matthew writes his Gospel to a predominantly Jewish audience—who would have been intimately familiar with Isaiah’s prophecy—he makes the bold declaration that God had been faithful to His Word after a gap of 700 years.[7] In the perfect providence of God, His Messiah had arrived to Earth, and His written word was fulfilled once again.

Think about the organic relationship between the anticipation of the Messiah’s arrival, and the response to His arrival in the first century A.D. When Matthew contends that Jesus fulfills the Old Testament prophecy regarding God’s Messiah being born of a virgin, he thereby shows that this prophecy was intended to be literal and historical. On the basis of Isaiah’s prophecy recorded in God’s written word, believers spent over 700 years awaiting the advent of their promised Messiah. And when Matthew depicts Jesus fulfilling that prophecy at the time of His virgin birth, he is reporting authentic history to living human beings.

So, why does the virgin birth matter? If the virgin birth is not true, then Matthew has dispensed false information to billions of people who have read his Gospel over the past 2,000 years. And from the standpoint of Matthew—and all believers who lived before the coming of Christ—if the virgin birth is not true, then their erroneous hope was first rooted in the myths of an undependable document. The absence of the virgin birth necessitates untrustworthy Scriptures, and untrustworthy Scriptures necessitates the absence of Christianity. Why does the virgin birth matter? Our Scriptures, and Christianity itself, depends on it!

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[1] Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture citations are derived from the New American Standard Bible (2020 edition).

[2] R. Albert Mohler offers helpful insight in differentiating between various “tiers” of biblical doctrine in “A Call for Theological Triage and Christian Maturity,” Albert Mohler, July 12, 2005, https://albertmohler.com/2005/07/12/a-call-for-theological-triage-and-christian-maturity.

[3] Richard Dawkins, “Snake Oil and Holy Water,” Forbes (Forbes Magazine, October 4, 1999), https://www.forbes.com/asap/1999/1004/235_2.html.

[4] Mark Galli, “The Virgin Birth: What’s the Problem Exactly?,” ChristianityToday.com (Christianity Today, December 20, 2017), https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2017/december-web-only/virgin-birth-whats-problem-exactly.html.

[5] The entirety of the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy (1978) can be accessed here: “The Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy,” The Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy (Moody Bible Institute), accessed December 15, 2022, https://www.moodybible.org/beliefs/the-chicago-statement-on-biblical-inerrancy/.

[6] Dating of Isaiah based on insights provided in J. Alec Motyer, Isaiah: An Introduction and Commentary (Nottingham, England: Inter-Varsity Press, 2009), 22-25.

[7] All insights regarding the Gospel of Matthew’s original audience are derived from R. T. France, Matthew: An Introduction and Commentary (Nottingham, England: Inter-Varsity Press, 2008), 30-41.