I BELIEVE in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth: And in Jesus Christ his only Son, our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; he descended into

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I BELIEVE in God the Father Almighty, Maker of
heaven and earth And in Jesus Christ his only
Son, our Lord who was conceived by the Holy
Ghost, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under
Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried
he descended into hell the third day he rose
again from the dead he ascended into heaven, and
sitteth on the right hand of God the Father
Almighty from thence he shall come to judge the
quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Ghost
the holy catholic church the communion of
saints the forgiveness of sins the resurrection
of the body and the life everlasting. Amen
The Creed
I BELIEVE in the VIRGIN BIRTH
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I BELIEVE in God the Father Almighty, Maker of
heaven and earth And in Jesus Christ his only
Son, our Lord who was conceived by the Holy
Ghost, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under
Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried
he descended into hell the third day he rose
again from the dead he ascended into heaven, and
sitteth on the right hand of God the Father
Almighty from thence he shall come to judge the
quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Ghost
the holy catholic church the communion of
saints the forgiveness of sins the resurrection
of the body and the life everlasting. Amen
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Key Question Was Jesus Born of a Virgin? and
why does it matter?
The Creed I Believe in the Virgin Birth
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Was Jesus Born of a Virgin?

• most Christians in all the churches in the world
  confess as they recite the Apostles' Creed that
  Jesus was born of the virgin Mary. Now...modern
  Christians completely discount the historicity of
  the virgin birth and understand it in a
  figurative sense The tomb was full and the
  manger empty
• Gerd Luedemann, German NT scholar
• those first disciples when they thought about
  his coming they were sure that he came specially
  from God they associated with God's special
  influence and intention in his birth but they
  phrased it in terms of a biological miracle that
  our modern minds cannot use.
• - Harry Fosdick, 20th century pastor

A December 2008 Harris poll found 61 of
Americans believe in the virgin birth
The Creed I Believe in the Virgin Birth
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Does the Virgin Birth Matter?
What if tomorrow someone digs up definitive
proof that Jesus had a real, earthly, biological
father named Larry and archaeologists find
Larry's tomb and do DNA samples and prove beyond
a shadow of a doubt that the virgin birth was
really just a bit of mythologizing the Gospel
writers threw in to appeal to the followers of
the Mithra and Dionyslan religious cults that
were hugely popular at the time of Jesus, whose
gods had virgin births? But what if as you study
the origin of the word virgin, you discover that
the word virgin in the gospel of Matthew actually
comes from the book of Isaiah, and then you find
out that in the Hebrew language at that time, the
word virgin could mean several things. And what
if you discover that in the first century being
"born of a virgin" also referred to a child whose
mother became pregnant the first time she had
intercourse? What if that spring was seriously
questioned? Could a person keep jumping? Could
a person still love God? Could you still be a
Christian? - Rob Bell, Velvet Elvis
The Creed I Believe in the Virgin Birth
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Prophecies of the Virgin Birth
The Lord God said to the serpent, Because you
have done this, Cursed are you more than all
cattle, And more than every beast of the field
On your belly you will go, And dust you will eat
All the days of your life And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman, And between your seed
and her seed He shall bruise you on the head,
And you shall bruise him on the heel." (Genesis
314-15)
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Prophecies of the Virgin Birth
"Then he said, Listen now, O house of David! Is
it too slight a thing for you to try the patience
of men, that you will try the patience of my God
as well? Therefore the Lord Himself will give
you a sign Behold, a virgin will be with child
and bear a son, and she will call His name
Immanuel."(Isaiah 713-14)
The Creed I Believe in the Virgin Birth
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• " Clearly, somebody went seeking in the Old
  Testament for a text that could be interpreted as
  prophesying a virginal conception, even if such
  was never its original meaning. Somebody had
  already decided on the transcendental importance
  of the adult Jesus and sought to retroject that
  significance on to the conception and birth
  itself.
• John Crossan, Member of Jesus Seminar
• commenting on Isaiah 714 and Christ

The Creed I Believe in the Virgin Birth
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Does Isaiah 714 Speak of Christ?
Plural, referring to Davidic House
Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign
Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a
son, and she will call His name Immanuel."(Isaiah
714)
almah a marriageable girl a young woman until
the birth of her first child. Four uses in OT
(Gen 2443, Ex. 28, Prov 3019, Is 714) all
refer to a woman who has not known a man.
The Creed I Believe in the Virgin Birth
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Does Isaiah 714 Speak of Christ?
As many Biblical prophecies do, this had a near
and distant fulfillment. A son was born to Ahaz
Hezekiah who would sit on the throne in Judah
(and not someone from the immediately threatening
enemies). But the distant fulfillment spoke of a
miraculous birth (there is nothing special about
a virgin becoming pregnant by normal means) the
coming Messiah. As good a king as Hezekiah was,
he was not referred to as God with us. Note
some scholars think the birth was Isaiahs son.
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Does Isaiah 714 Speak of Christ?
When the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the
Hebrew Old Testament) was written, the authors
(non-Christian) used the word parthenos in Is.
714. That word has a very specific meaning
one who has never engaged in sexual
intercourse. Some argue that the Hebrew word
betulah would have been used (which can mean
virgin), yet Joel 18 speaks of a betulah
mourning for the husband of her youth.
The Creed I Believe in the Virgin Birth
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Prophecies of the Messiahs Birth
The scepter shall not depart from Judah, Nor the
rulers staff from between his feet, Until Shiloh
comes, And to him shall be the obedience of the
peoples. (Genesis 4910)
The Creed I Believe in the Virgin Birth
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Prophecies of Messiahs Birth
"For a child will be born to us, a son will be
given to us And the government will rest on His
shoulders And His name will be called Wonderful
Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of
Peace. There will be no end to the increase of
His government or of peace, On the throne of
David and over his kingdom, To establish it and
to uphold it with justice and righteousness From
then on and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of
hosts will accomplish this. (Isaiah 96-7)
The Creed I Believe in the Virgin Birth
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Prophecies of Messiahs Birth
But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Too little
to be among the clans of Judah, From you One will
go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His goings
forth are from long ago, From the days of
eternity. (Micah 52)
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"The charge of contemporary feminists, then, is
not that the image of the Virgin Mary is
unimportant or irrelevant, but that it
contributes to and is integral to the oppression
of women. - Jane Schaberg
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The Virgin Birth in the New Testament
Jacob was the father of Joseph the husband of
Mary, by whom Jesus was born, who is called the
Messiah. (Matthew 116) The word is feminine,
singular, indicating that Jesus was born of Mary
only and not of Mary and Joseph.
The Creed I Believe in the Virgin Birth
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The Virgin Birth in the New Testament
Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows
when His mother Mary had been betrothed to
Joseph, before they came together she was found
to be with child by the Holy Spirit. And Joseph
her husband, being a righteous man and not
wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away
secretly. But when he had considered this,
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. She will bear a Son and you shall call
His name Jesus, for He will save His people from
their sins. Now all this took place to fulfill
what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet
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 118-23) Virgin Parthenos
The Creed I Believe in the Virgin Birth
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How can this be, since I am a virgin? - Luke
126-34
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The Virgin Birth in the New Testament
" Now when they had gone, behold, an angel of the
Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, Get
up! Take the Child and His mother and flee to
Egypt, and remain there until I tell you for
Herod is going to search for the Child to destroy
Him. (Matthew 213) "Get up, take the Child
and His mother, and go into the land of Israel
for those who sought the Childs life are
dead. (Matthew 220) Jesus is always
associated with Mary, but is never referred to
Josephs son.
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The Virgin Birth in the New Testament
"But as it is, you are seeking to kill Me, a man
who has told you the truth, which I heard from
God this Abraham did not do. You are doing the
deeds of your father. They said to Him, We were
not born of fornication we have one Father
God. (John 840-41)
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The Virgin Birth in the New Testament
"But when the fullness of the time came, God sent
forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the
Law, (Galatians 44) In the Jewish patriarchal
culture, one was begotten by a father, not the
mother
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Fulfillment of Genesis 4910
The scepter shall not depart from Judah, Nor the
rulers staff from between his feet, Until Shiloh
comes, And to him shall be the obedience of the
peoples. Josh McDowell, in his book, Evidence
that Demands a Verdict, points out that "the
first visible sign of the beginning of the
removal of the scepter from Judah came about when
Herod the Great, who had no Jewish blood,
succeeded the Maccabean princes who belonged to
the tribe of Levi and who were the last Jewish
kings to reign in Jerusalem. The crucial turning
point came soon after Herod's death when, in
about 7 AD, the Romans removed the power of the
Sanhedrin Council in Judah to pronounce the death
penalty. Thus the scepter (the supreme judicial
power) passed from Judah.There is a notation
about this in the Talmud (the Jewish oral
tradition). The Talmud states that on this
occasion the members of the Sanhedrin were
overtaken by "a general consternation."
Incredibly, it is further recorded that they
"covered their heads with ashes and their bodies
with sackcloth, exclaiming 'Woe unto us, for the
scepter has departed from Judah, and the Messiah
has not come!What they did not realize was that
Jesus the Messiah had been born around 4 BC
during the last years of Herod (Matthew 21). So
"Shiloh" had arrived shortly before the scepter
departed just as prophesied!
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The Virgin Myth A Pagan Myth?

• The notion that Jesus had no human father
  because he was the son of God was originally a
  pagan notion.
• Robert J. Miller, Born Divine

Horus Mithras Attis Krishna Dionysus
Perseus Skeptics claim all had virgin births
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The Virgin Myth A Pagan Myth?

• Horus Conceived of Isis and Osiris
• Mithras Born/emerged out of a rock
• Attis - Nana puts fruit in her lap that came from
  a tree started by Zeus seed and conceives
• Krishna Born from Devaki after hairs of Vishnu
  placed in her womb
• Dionysus Only found in post-Christian sources
• Perseus Danae impregnated by Zeus who assumed
  the form of a shower of gold

Jesus virgin birth remains unique in history
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Justin Martyrs Accommodation
And if we even affirm that He was born of a
virgin, accept this in common with what you
accept of Perseus. - Justin Martyr, First Apology
Argumentum ad hominem You hold, Justin says to
his pagan detractors, that the virgin birth of
Christ is unbelievable well, is it any more
unbelievable than the stories that you believe of
Perseus?
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So What? and why all the hostility?
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Question What one person would you most like to
interview? Answer Jesus Christ. Question
What one question would you ask Him? Answer I
would like to ask Him if He was indeed
virgin-born. The answer to that question would
define history for me.
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Man Created in Gods Image
"Then God said, Let Us make man in Our image,
according to Our likeness and let them rule over
the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky
and over the cattle and over all the earth, and
over every creeping thing that creeps on the
earth. God created man in His own image, in the
image of God He created him male and female He
created them. (Genesis 126-27)
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Man Created in Mans Image
"When Adam had lived one hundred and thirty
years, he became the father of a son in his own
likeness, according to his image, and named him
Seth. (Genesis 53) "Behold, I was brought
forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived
me. (Psalm 515)
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Jesus Escaped Sin via Virgin Birth
"Therefore, just as through one man sin entered
into the world, and death through sin, and so
death spread to all men, because all sinned
Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until
Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the
likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a type of
Him who was to comeFor if by the transgression
of the one the many died, much more did the grace
of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man,
Jesus Christ, abound to the manyFor if by the
transgression of the one, death reigned through
the one, much more those who receive the
abundance of grace and of the gift of
righteousness will reign in life through the One,
Jesus Christ. So then as through one
transgression there resulted condemnation to all
men, even so through one act of righteousness
there resulted justification of life to all men.
For as through the one mans disobedience the
many were made sinners, even so through the
obedience of the One the many will be made
righteous. (Romans 512-19)
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"if the Bible is regarded as being wrong in what
it says about the birth of Christ, then obviously
the authority of the Bible in any high sense, is
gone." - J. Gresham Machen, The Virgin Birth
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Apologetic Points of Virgin Birth

• Refutes Deism God intervened in history
• Supports Miracles A God who supernaturally
  acted
• Refutes Gnosticism Perfect Spirit wedded to a
  perfect physical body
• Supports Christs Uniqueness He is not simply a
  good and moral man

Admitting the virgin birth means admitting the
Lordship of Christ
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Christ, by highest heaven adored Christ the
everlasting Lord! Late in time behold Him come,
Offspring of the virgin's womb. Veiled in flesh
the Godhead see Hail the incarnate
Deity, Pleased as man with men to dwell, Jesus,
our Emmanuel, Hark, the herald angels sing,
Glory to the newborn King.
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I BELIEVE in God the Father Almighty, Maker of
heaven and earth And in Jesus Christ his only
Son, our Lord who was conceived by the Holy
Ghost, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under
Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried
he descended into hell the third day he rose
again from the dead he ascended into heaven, and
sitteth on the right hand of God the Father
Almighty from thence he shall come to judge the
quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Ghost
the holy catholic church the communion of
saints the forgiveness of sins the resurrection
of the body and the life everlasting. Amen
The Creed
I BELIEVE in the VIRGIN BIRTH