Eph 283 5/11/86; Phil 3/29/76; 1/16/77; 7/17/77

DOCTRINE OF THE VIRGIN BIRTH

A. The Necessity of our Lord’s Virgin Birth.

1. Adam’s original sin is the origin of the old sin nature in the human race, Rom 5:12. Therefore, there is an affinity between Adam’s original sin and the old sin nature. It is Adam’s original sin that is the antecedence for the old nature, not the woman’s original sin, since Adam’s sin was deliberate; the woman was deceived. Therefore, the old sin nature is transmitted through the twenty-three male chromosomes which fertilize the female ovum in copulation.

2. This imputation of Adam’s original sin to the old sin nature is a facsimile of Adam at the point of his fall in the Garden. In this real imputation at birth, there are two factors.

a. Adam’s original sin.

b. Old sin nature.

3. All the cells in your body are contaminated by the old sin nature. (Cancer is a good illustration for the old sin nature). When God the Father imputes Adam’s original sin to the old sin nature, spiritual death results.

4. Through meiosis and polar body,twenty-three chromosomes are thrown off the female ovum, leaving twenty-three uncontaminated chromosomes in the female ovum prior to fertilization. All the other cells in the female body are contaminated by the old sin nature; the ovum prior to fertilization is the only exception.

5. Although both the man and the woman in the Garden were equally guilty, the woman’s sin of ignorance was the reason she became the bearer of the embryo, 1 Tim 2:13-15. While both man and woman are carriers of the old sin nature, only the man can transmit the old sin nature through the fertilization of the female ovum.

6. Since it is only the male’s twenty-three chromosomes that carry the old sin nature and not the female’s, this means that if a woman could have a virgin pregnancy, i.e., if her ovum could be fertilized apart from male copulation, the progeny could be born into the world without an old sin nature. And being born without an old sin nature, Adam’s original sin could not be imputed to that person, there being no affinity required for this real imputation.

7. This was the case in the birth of the humanity of Christ, originating from Mary’s virgin pregnancy and virgin birth. Being born without an old sin nature meant there was no imputation of Adam’s original sin to our Lord.

8. This was how our Lord was born as the last Adam. The first Adam was created perfect; the last Adam, Jesus Christ, was born perfect. So Jesus Christ was the facsimile of Adam before the fall.

9. Mary, with an old sin nature, was still a virgin when she became pregnant for the first time with our Lord. In Mt 13:55 and Mk 6:3, Mary’s other children are mentioned, so we know she eventually copulated with Joseph. She had at least two daughters and four sons, at least six children by Joseph. So there is no such thing as the perpetual virginity of Mary.

10. Mary’s virgin pregnancy was caused by God the Holy Spirit fertilizing the female ovum. He provided twenty-three perfect chromosomes to fertilize her twenty-three perfect chromosomes which were uncontaminated by the old sin nature. In this way, Mary had a virgin pregnancy, PARTHENOGENESIS, the origin of our Lord’s humanity into the world. So the virgin pregnancy resulted in the virgin birth, thus excluding the old sin nature from the humanity of Christ.

11. Remember that while Mary was a virgin, she was not perfect or impeccable. Only her virgin-born Son was absolutely perfect at birth. 12. Mary received at birth the imputation of human life to her soul and the imputation of Adam’s original sin to her old sin nature; so she was not perfect. But in the case of her Son, Jesus, God the Father imputed human life to his human soul, but divine justice could not impute Adam’s original sin since there was no target, no home, no antecedence, no affinity, there being no genetically-formed old sin nature in Him.

13. No old sin nature means no imputation of Adam’s original sin. For a real imputation cannot occur without a target, affinity, or antecedence.

14. So it is the virgin birth that is the basis for redemption, because it provided the world with a perfect human being, the only One qualified to be judged for the sins of the world.

B. The Contrast Between Our Birth and Our Lord’s Birth.

1. Human life is, in each case, created by God and imputed to each person at birth. There is no life in the womb. There is only life when God imputes it to the human soul.

2. Simultaneously, Adam’s original sin is imputed to the old sin nature, genetically-formed by the twenty-three male chromosomes. Our personal sins are never imputed to us. They were all collected into one PROM chip for a one-time only printout and judgment to Christ on the cross.

3. At the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, God the Father created human life and imputed it to His human soul. But because our Lord was born without an old sin nature, there could be no imputation of Adam’s original sin. So our Lord was born physically alive and spiritually alive. 4. Instead of a sin nature, our Lord was born with a human spirit, born as Adam was created. Instead of receiving the imputation of Adam’s original sin, He received the imputation of the prototype divine dynasphere, imputed to His human spirit. In His humanity, Jesus was born filled with the Spirit. He was born trichotomous with a body, soul and spirit.

C. The Impeccability of our Lord’s Humanity.

1. The doctrines that teach how our Lord was sustained on earth in His humanity all relate to the fact that He was born into the prototype divine dynasphere, the place of the filling of the Spirit.

2. His humanity advanced very rapidly. Jesus “grew in wisdom [Bible doctrine], stature, and in favor with God and man,” Lk 2:52. He quickly reached gate #5 and spiritual self-esteem from personal love for God; then gate #6 with spiritual autonomy and impersonal love for all mankind, and eventually reached gate #8, spiritual maturity. This was “evident” by the unique temptations of His evidence testing found in Mt 4.

3. So after being born perfect, our Jesus Christ continued to live perfectly for thirty three years in the prototype divine dynasphere. Not once did He ever sin. He was tempted far beyond anything we will ever understand, but totally apart from sin. He resisted temptations that we will never even experience. He reached the cross with impeccability.

D. The Hypostatic Union of the God-Man.

1. This doctrine cannot be taught without an understanding of the doctrine of the Hypostatic Union.

2. Jesus Christ is God, and as God, He is coequal and coeternal with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. All three members of the Trinity have identical essence. When speaking of the attributes of God, God is said to be one. But there are actually three persons in the Godhead, all having identical attributes. Each one has coequal, coeternal, and coinfinite sovereignty, holiness, justice, righteousness, love, eternal life, omniscience, omnipresence, omnipotence, immutability and veracity. So God is One in essence but three in persons.

3. But Jesus Christ became different from the Father and the Holy Spirit at the point of the virgin birth, because He now became true humanity; hence, the God-man. This is the doctrine of the Hypostatic Union.

4. In the person of the incarnate Christ are two natures, inseparably united, without mixture or loss of separate identify, without loss or transfer of properties or attributes, the union both personal and eternal.

5. In other words, since the incarnation, our Lord Jesus Christ is both true humanity and undiminished deity in one person forever. So Jesus Christ is different from the Father and the Spirit in that He is true humanity. He is different from true humanity in that He is God.

6. But note that whoever is the mediator between God and man must be equal with both parties. Jesus Christ is both God and true humanity. Therefore, as God He is equal with party of the first part, God the Father. As true humanity, He is equal and superior to all members of the human race. So as the God-man, He becomes the Mediator between God and man.

7. The preincarnate person of Christ was deity. But once His First Advent occurred at the point of the virgin birth, Jesus Christ became the unique person forever, the God-man.

E. The Significance of the Virgin Birth to the Angelic Conflict.

1. While Jesus Christ was the Angel of Jehovah in the Old Testament, He never really became an angel; He simply appeared as an angel. (See the Doctrine of Theophanies.)

2. Note that Jesus Christ bypassed the angelic creation by His human birth. He became true humanity. But Jesus Christ was never a true angel.

3. Once the Lord came in the flesh in the incarnation, there were no more manifestations of the Angel of Jehovah.

4. In bypassing the angelic creation, God did a remarkable thing. He prepared the way in eternity for every believer in Jesus Christ to be superior to angels in his resurrection body. Angels are superior to us now during history, but we will be superior to them for all eternity. This is the subject of Hebrews 1 and 2.

F. The Necessity for Christ Becoming a Member of the Human Race.

1. To be our Savior. As God, Jesus Christ could have nothing to do with sin. To provide redemption, the sins of the world had to be imputed to Christ on the cross. Then from His justice, God the Father judged every one of those sins. That’s the basis for our so-great salvation. Without becoming true humanity, Jesus could not have been judged for sin.

2. To be our Mediator, 1 Tim 2:5-6; Heb 9:14-15.

3. To be our High Priest.

a. Now seated at the right hand of the Father in His humanity, Jesus Christ as our great High Priest now makes intercession for us.

b. He is not a Levitical priest as the Jews had in the Old Testament, but with His third royal patent He became a royal priest.

c. As His royal family in the Church Age and sharing all He has by positional sanctification, each Church Age believer is a royal priest.

d. A priest is defined as a member of the human race representing himself or humanity in general before God. We, the royal family in the Church Age, are a “kingdom of priests,” 1 Pet 2:9.

4. To become the Son of David, 2 Sam 7:8-16; Ps 89:20-37.

a. Over 3000 years ago, God promised David that he would have a son who would reign forever.

b. This promise was made in the form of an unconditional covenant; being unconditional it must be fulfilled.

c. So at the First Advent of the virgin birth, our Lord receives His second royal title, “Son of David.” In order to become the Son of David, Jesus Christ had to become true humanity.

d. In His Second Advent our Lord will fulfill that promise to David. The humanity of Christ, riding a white horse, will come back and reign on earth, not only for the 1000 years of the Millennium, but for all eternity in the new earth.

e. So the promise was offered in the First Advent; it is fulfilled in the Second Advent.

f. When the apostles dealt with the Jews after the Day of Pentecost in the early part of Acts, they always brought up the question: how can Jesus Christ be the Son of David and at the same time God? Of course, the answer is found in the Hypostatic Union, which in turn leads to the concept of redemption.

G. Scripture.

1. The first prophecy of the virgin birth: Gen 3:15-16.

1. The Jewish prophecy of the virgin birth: Isa 7:14, 9:6.

2. The historical fulfillment of the virgin birth: Mt 1:19-25.

3. The result of the virgin birth: Jn 1:14; Rom 1:3; 1 Tim 3:16; Heb 2:14; Phil 2:5-11. _

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