The Word and The World

Who was conceived…

“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 …”

To just say that Jesus is the Son of God, only begins to tell what we believe about him Christians acknowledge that he was conceived by the Holy Spirit. In other words, he was not the product of a normal sexual relationship.

We understand this to mean that Mary, his mother, was a virgin when Christ was born. Until the last century, few could acknowledge the possibility of a virgin giving birth. This was a stumbling block for many in their belief in Jesus, Scientific developments in terms of ‘test tube babies’ and the artificial insemination of animals have caused many people to change their opinion about this.

Yet that is how Scripture describes Christ’s birth. It states that Mary was a virgin and that her husband did not have relations with her until after Jesus was born. In fact, Mary’s pregnancy was a cause for potential shame on her, Joseph, and their families. Matthew’s Gospel gives a clue how Joseph felt about this:

“Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins." All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: "Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel," which means, "God is with us." When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife, but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son; and he named him Jesus.“

- Matt 1:18-25 (NRSV)

But the discussion of Jesus’ birth is only a part of the story. It is only the beginning of the greatest story ever told, the redemption of humanity and our reconciliation to God through our belief in Jesus Christ, his Son, our Lord.

We acknowledge the complete humanity of Jesus. He was born, lived, suffered and died in a horrible, cruel death and was buried in a tomb as we shall be. These are human events and they happened to Jesus as they will happen to each of us. But if this was all we believed about Jesus, he would be just another prophet, a man of God, but not God incarnate, “Emmanuel” – “God with us.” Those truths are proclaimed in the rule of faith as well as we shall discover in the next section of this study.

Loving God, grant us continued faith to believe all that you have revealed of you love for us in Jesus Christ. Help us to recall his complete humanity, for he was one of us. But help us too as we wrestle with his complete Divinity, for he is God. Amen.

Podcast Coming Soon!!!