If it weren’t for Jesus, Mary would be the star of Christmas. People all over the world love Mary.
Get this: there are about 4,200 churches dedicated to Mary in the United States alone.1 There are likely tens of thousands more churches named after Mary around the world, but no one knows for sure. Catholics devote pilgrimages to her, as well as religious feasts and national celebrations. Even Muslims respect Mary, for she is the only woman whose name appears in the Qur’an.2
If that’s not enough, then there is the art depicting her. On the left is a French painting from 1644 that portrays the angel Gaberial announcing the birth of Jesus. In the middle is a painting that is in the Met in New York City, from an Italian painter from the 1480s, and it simply shows Mary holding the baby Jesus. Then, on the right is a well-known sculpture by Michelangelo that shows Mary holding Jesus after His crucifixion. Led by many of our Catholic friends, Mary is one of the most recognized and celebrated women in the world today. She is globally honored and celebrated like no other.
Mary appears on flags, seals, currencies, local festivals, and national histories. Yes, Mary is a big deal. But the bigger deal is Jesus.
If you’ll find Luke 1 with me, please.
Today, I invite you to focus on what is known as the Virgin birth of Jesus. Why is it so important that Jesus was born of a virgin? What is the significance that Mary was a virgin when she gave birth to Jesus?
Today’s Scripture
“In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And he came to her and said, ‘Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!’ 29 But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. 30 And the angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.’
34 And Mary said to the angel, ‘How will this be, since I am a virgin?’
35 And the angel answered her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. 36 And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. 37 For nothing will be impossible with God.’ 38 And Mary said, ‘Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.’ And the angel departed from her” (Luke 1:26-38).
Let’s do a deep dive into the virgin birth of Jesus, asking, Why is it so important that Jesus was born of a virgin?
1. He’s the Miracle that Changes Your Story
“And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus” (Luke 1:31).
1.1 What is the Virgin Birth?
When we say Jesus was born of a virgin, what do we mean? Jesus was conceived in the womb of His mother, Mary, by the Holy Spirit and without a human father.3 Let me pause at the outset and say this: really, we are talking about the virgin conception and not the virgin birth. In a time before c-sections and epidurals, Mary’s birth of Jesus appears to be completely natural.4 But nobody calls it this, so we’ll stick with what everyone knows. Jesus was conceived even though Mary had no sexual relations with anyone. Jesus is the exact kind of Savior you need.
And the virgin birth plays a crucial part in how Jesus saves you.
Jesus is tailored perfectly for you and me, and here’s why.
1.2 How Does the Virgin Birth Change My Life?
The Bible shows us that the virgin birth is vitally important for three reasons.
1. The Virgin Birth Means Only God Can Save Us.
Nothing I could do could save me from the mess I’ve made. The saving you and I need never comes by human effort. It’s 100% the work of God Himself.
2. The Virgin Birth Unites Jesus’ full deity and His full humanity.
Let’s do a mind game for a minute and think about the ways God would have brought His Son to earth.
Imagine the alternatives: Jesus could have appeared fully formed from heaven. But then we would never understand how He was fully human. Jesus could have been born to two human parents. But then we would never understand how He was fully God. God, in His perfect wisdom, combined the human and divine in Jesus’ birth in a perfect way.
3. The Virgin Birth Means Jesus Fully Human but Sinless.5
Every single human has inherited sin – except Jesus. The Holy Spirit was so powerful that He prevented any transmission of sin from both Mary and Joseph.
So, how does the virgin birth change your life?
1. Only God can save you.
2. Jesus is fully God and fully man.
3. Jesus is human, yet He is sinless — He is able to pay for your sins.
1.3 You Have to Admit
Now, to receive God’s gift at Christmas means you have to admit you need His gift. Imagine in a few weeks, I am sitting in my house opening presents given to me by my family. What if the first gift I open up is a book entitled Fashion for the Clueless? I put it aside, and the next book is How to Lose Fifty Pounds in 50 Days. I put that aside, and the next gift is a year’s supply of Rogaine. I look at these, and if I turn to the people who have given these to me and say, “Thank you,” what I’m really saying is, “Yes, I need help with my wardrobe, my waistline, and my hairline.” There’s no way to accept certain gifts without admitting “I need this.”6
To receive Jesus is to admit your spiritual need: God became a baby. God emptied Himself of power. God ultimately emptied Himself of life. What it’s saying is we are so bad off that nothing less than the sacrifice of the Son of God could save us.
1. He’s the Miracle that Changes Your Story
2. He’s the Miracle No One Could Manufacture
“And Mary said to the angel, ‘How will this be, since I am a virgin?’ And the angel answered her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God’” (Luke 1:34-35).
Someone said that since the virgin birth is mentioned only in two places in the Bible, it isn’t that big of a deal.
But nothing could be further from the truth. The Virgin Birth of Jesus is both important and controversial. It’s always been this way. Only the resurrection of Jesus is more controversial in Jesus’ life than the fact that He was born of a virgin.7
2.1 Is the Virgin Birth a Big Deal?
If you were in a room with all the Christian believers down through the centuries, and someone asked, “Is it a big deal to believe Mary was a virgin when Jesus was conceived?”
2.1.1 Patristic Era
Some of the earliest creeds speak of Jesus being “conceived by the Holy Spirit” and “born of a virgin Mary.” By the late 100s, believers were required to affirm this truth before baptism.8
2.1.2 Twentieth Century
Then perhaps some American believers like your grandparents might stand up next to answer the question. Because when we fast forward to the 1900s, when massive numbers of Americans were leaving the faith and watering down what it meant to be a Christian… … and the virgin birth was thought to be one of the 5 “fundamentals” of the faith for every orthodox Christian to affirm.
2.1.3 Jesus’ Day
People have debated and ridiculed the virgin birth from the beginning. People in His hometown did not believe that Jesus was special (Matthew 13:53-38; Mark 6:1-6). Second, Jesus’ brothers did not believe that He was special (John 7:1-5). Plus, it seemed to be common knowledge that Jesus’ birth was illegitimate (John 8:39-41). There was even a rumor running around the Roman Empire that Mary was really raped by a Roman soldier, and that’s how Jesus came to be.
2.2 Matthew and Luke Agree
Still, both the Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel of Luke agree that Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary. Now, Matthew and Luke both know how women become pregnant. But they believe in the miracle of Jesus’ conception. In fact, though they wrote their separate stories, scholars have noted eleven details describing that first Christmas that Matthew and Luke agree on. Yet, let me share four details both Matthew and Luke agree on, in our focus on exploring the virgin birth.
1. Joseph and Mary were betrothed to one another but had not had sex or moved in together yet (Matthew 1:18; Luke 1:27, 34).
2. Mary would not conceive this child through sexual intercourse (Matthew 1:20, 23, 25; Luke 1:34).
3. Mary conceived a son by the power of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 1:18, 20; Luke 1:35).
4. Joseph and Mary were married before Jesus was born (Matthew 1:24–25; Luke 2:5–6).9
Again, Matthew and Luke both know how babies are conceived. But they also believed the virgin birth made Jesus special. The virgin birth begins the path toward Jesus’ perfect obedience and His sinless sacrifice for our sins. You need a sinless Savior. That begins right here.
1. He’s the Miracle that Changes Your Story
2. He’s the Miracle No One Could Manufacture
3. She Receives the Miracle of the Manger
“And he came to her and said, ‘Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” (Luke 1:28).
Turn your focus on Mary with me for a few minutes.
You cannot tell the story of Christmas without telling the story of Mary.
You cannot tell the story of Jesus without telling the story of Mary.
Watch how God delivers grace to this young woman.
3.1 The Angel’s Greeting
The Latin Vulgate used by many Roman Catholics places the emphasis on Mary’s grace when it translates verse 28 as “Hail [Mary], full of grace, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.” But this is an inaccurate translation. Mary receives God’s grace, and she never bestows it. Mary isn’t the mother of grace; she’s the daughter of grace.10 The angel says, “I bring grace to you, Mary.”
3.2 Quick Overview of Mary
Now, it’s really likely that Luke gets the story about the birth of Christ from Mary.
Mary is featured in every episode when Luke talks about the birth of Jesus.11 Were Mary alive when the Gospel of Luke was composed, she probably would have been in her eighties. Even if she had already died, Jesus’ brothers and sisters could have relayed her experiences to Luke.
Only Mary would know:
• She had never been intimate with a man
• of Gabriel’s private visit
Luke gives us the Christmas story from a mother’s perspective. Matthew gives it from a father’s perspective.
3.3 Here’s How It Happened
It’s often said that good things come in small packages. Luke tells us that God sends Gabriel to Nazareth to say to a virgin she’s about to have a baby in verse 26.12
The first thing Luke tells us about Mary is that she is a virgin. Later on in verse 34, Mary tells us how confused she is by all this by telling the angel her lack of sexual experience.
3.4 Two Facts about the Virgin Mary
The virgin birth means that Mary was sexually pure. She had not slept with her fiancé or any other man. When God chose a mother for His Son, He chose a virgin. Virginity before marriage is important because the recipient of God’s best gifts ought to be pure.13 Second, Mary was not already pregnant. Her conception happened because of something God did and not because of anything any man did.
3.5 Betrothed to Mary
The Bible says Joseph and Mary were engaged but not married. They didn’t live together as so many people do today. In fact, the Bible says Mary and Joseph are betrothed. Joseph and Mary’s engagement was called a betrothal, which is like our engagement, but it is much stronger. Marriage proposals and weddings in their day would have two parts: the betrothal and the actual wedding itself. Although the public ceremony of the wedding had not taken place, Mary and Joseph would have publicly communicated their desire to be married. This act would have been recorded as we would record a legal transaction at the courthouse because it was legally binding for both Mary and Joseph. Usually, one year after you were betrothed to someone, you would marry.
Had Joseph died before their wedding day, Mary would have been considered a widow. While the Bible doesn’t give Mary’s age when she married Joseph, Jewish law allowed a woman to be betrothed as early as twelve.14 The practice in the Roman Empire and among Jewish people was for the girl to be around twelve years of age and the boy to be around fourteen years of age at the time of marriage.15 They were not living together as husband and wife, as this would wait for the actual wedding ceremony.
3.6 What Was Joseph Thinking?
Even Joseph doubted the virgin birth in the beginning! The Gospel of Matthew fills us in on some of the details of Joseph’s thinking. The way Joseph thought of it was, “Here is a woman I am engaged to be married to who, during our engagement, gets pregnant by somebody besides me.” Now, Joseph has a decision in front of him. If he marries her, the disgrace will become his, too.
Did you follow that? The only way he can be free of the shame of this pregnancy is if he divorces her. Divorce will make it clear she has been unfaithful to him. But if Joseph marries Mary, then it’ll be clear to everyone that THEY have been unfaithful to God together. The shame would be attached to him as well as her. So, as Joseph is considering all of this. But an angel comes to Joseph to tell him this: “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. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins’” (Matthew 1:20-21).
It's settled in Joseph’s mind – he’s going to wed Mary and raise Jesus as his.
3.7 Back to Mary and Gabriel
3.7.1 Mary’s Family
Nothing is said of Mary’s family, and this is significant. In a time when family meant everything, the fact that the Bible doesn’t mention Mary’s family tells you that she comes from an ordinary family. Nothing to see here, as we would say in our day. Mary is given God’s favor when she is lowly and has no status.
3.7.2 Mary’s Response
Later on, Mary responds this way:
“My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.
For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed” (Luke 1:46b-48).
She calls God “my Savior.” Our Catholic friends believe in Mary’s Immaculate Conception, which teaches that Mary was born without sin. She here stresses her need for God’s grace and mercy. We have no biblical reason to believe that Rom 3:23 does not apply to her. She is included in that group of “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Mary needs saving like any of us sinners. Like the rest of fallen humanity, Mary needed what God provided for us on the cross of Christ. Mary isn’t the source of grace. Instead, she receives God’s grace in the story. Grace eliminates all boasting.
Mary did not deserve this honor. This is all by God’s grace. The angel’s words assure Mary that God is with her. The logic of the angel’s message to Mary in verse 31 goes like this: Mary will conceive, bear, and name the child. God will give him the throne of David; as a consequence, the promised Son will reign forever.
3.8 Mary’s Question and the Angel’s Answer
Look at Mary’s question to the angel: “‘How will this be, since I am a virgin?’ And the angel answered her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. For nothing will be impossible with God’” (Luke 1:34-35, 37).
She asks the question any of us would ask, “How is this going to work?” Ancient peoples may not have known the intricacies of modern embryonic science, but they knew how babies were made. Mary knew she had not yet consummated her marriage to Joseph. She also knew she had not been sexually active or raped (as some rumors later invented).16 She has a mixture of wonder and fear, but you can see her faith progressing right before your eyes. The Bible does not detail the mechanics of how the Spirit caused Mary to conceive. To do so would rob the event of dignity and sanctity.
But this much is clear: The Spirit’s presence caused her to conceive. The angel says in effect, “It’s a supernatural miracle of the Holy Spirit, Mary.” Mary has doubts. Mary has questions.
3.9 Mary’s Surrender
But in the end, Mary has faith in the Son of God, and she surrenders: “And Mary said, ‘Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word’” (Luke 1:38a). She could have lost her husband Joseph, because he would have known that he was not the father of the baby she was carrying. She could have been shamed as a harlot and tried as an adulteress according to the law of Moses (Leviticus 20:10; Numbers 5:11–31).
She offers no excuses. No resistance. Only faith-filled surrender. Like Jesus, she could say, “Not my will, but yours, be done.” Mary received grace as any of us receives from God, by faith in God.
3.10 More Blessed than Mary
But as blessed as Mary must have been to be the woman who gave birth to Jesus, Jesus said that her blessing paled in comparison to the blessing of those “who hear the word of God and keep it” (Luke 11:27–28).
God wants to bless anyone today who hears His word and keeps it.
1. He’s the Miracle that Changes Your Story
2. He’s the Miracle No One Could Manufacture
3. She Receives the Miracle of the Manger
4. He’s the Miracle of the Manger
“And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end” (Luke 1:31-33).
4.1 Choosing Your Birthplace
We do not choose the time and place where we are born. We do not pick the people with whom we share a name and a family history. Only one person in history was an exception to this rule.
4.2 Adrian Rogers and Muhammad Ali
Years ago, Pastor Adrain Rogers had the opportunity to witness to the famous boxer, Muhammad Ali. The two were in a small room late at night before one of his fights.
And here’s how Pastor Adrian Rogers tells it:
“We were talking about Jesus Christ, and I had had a prayer in my heart that this man might receive Christ as his personal Lord and Savior. And he was studying the Islamic faith, and so we were talking back and forth, and he challenged me with this question. He said, ‘You say that Jesus Christ is the Son of God because He was born of a virgin; He didn’t have an earthly father.’ And then he said to me, ‘Adam didn’t have a father or a mother. Wouldn’t that make Adam more a Son of God than Jesus?’ I said, ‘Champ, I want you to understand this: Jesus was not the Son of God because He was born of a virgin; He was born of a virgin because He was the Son of God.’”17
The virgin birth did not cause Jesus to become God. Jesus was already the Son of God from eternity past. No, it didn’t cause Him to be God, but the virgin birth did put Jesus’ divine nature on display for all to see.18
4.3 Conclusion
Our sins are laid on Jesus. The sinless One carried those sins to the cross, and in agony and blood, He died upon that cross to pay our sin debt. Because our sin is on Jesus, thank God, His righteousness is on us. And the Bible says it clearly, plainly, simply, sweetly: “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved…” (Acts 16:31b).
EndNotes
1 https://www.mariedenazareth.com/en/marian-encyclopedia/mary-fills-the-world/americas/usa/; accessed December 2, 2025.
2 https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/display/document/obo-9780195390155/obo-9780195390155-0143.xml; accessed December 2, 2025.
3 Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine, Second Edition. (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Academic, 2020), 663.
4 Putman, 4.
5 Grudem, 663-665.
6 I adapted an illustration from Timothy J. Keller, “Mary’s Son,” The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive. (New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2013).
7 Millard J. Erickson, Introducing Christian Doctrine, ed. Arnold L. Hustad, Third Edition (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2015), 252.
8 Hippolytus, Apostolic Tradition, 21; as quoted in Putman, 4.
9 Here are all 11 common details as offered by scholar Raymond Brown: 1. Joseph and Mary were betrothed to one another but had not had sex or moved in together yet (Matthew 1:18; Luke 1:27, 34). 2. Joseph was in the lineage of King David (Matthew 1:16, 20; Luke 1:27, 32; 2:4). 3. An angel announced the birth of a child (Matthew 1:20–21; Luke 1:30–35). 4. Mary would not conceive this child through sexual intercourse (Matthew 1:20, 23, 25; Luke 1:34). 5. Mary conceived a son by the power of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 1:18, 20; Luke 1:35). 6. The angel commanded the boy to be named Jesus (Matthew 1:21; Luke 1:31). 7. Jesus, whose name means “the Lord saves,” would be the Savior (Matthew 1:21; Luke 2:11). 8. Joseph and Mary were married before Jesus was born (Matthew 1:24–25; Luke 2:5–6). 9. Jesus was born in Bethlehem (Matthew 2:1; Luke 2:4–7). 10. Jesus was born during the reign of Herod the Great (Matthew 2:1; Luke 1:5). 11. Jesus was raised in Nazareth (Matthew 2:23; Luke 2:39). Raymond E. Brown, The Birth of the Messiah: A Commentary on the Infancy Narratives in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, New Updated Edition (New York; London: Yale University Press, 1993), 34.
10 Bengel, Gnomon, 2:216; as quoted in Edwards, 45.
11 Charles L. Quarles, “Why Not ‘Beginning from Bethlehem’?,” in Memories of Jesus: A Critical Appraisal of James D. G. Dunn’s Jesus Remembered, ed. Robert B. Stewart and Gary Habermas (Nashville: B&H Academic, 2010), 175; as quoted in Putman, 22.
12 Omitted in the interest of time: Nazareth is a small town with a population of no more than 500 in Mary’s day. Many Jews outside of Nazareth looked down on its residents for having “an unpolished dialect, a lack of culture, and … moral laxity.” Jerry W. Batson, “Nazareth, Nazarene,” in Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary, ed. Chad Brand, Charles Draper, and Archie England (Nashville: Holman Bible, 2003), 1177–78.
13 John Piper, “Christ Conceived by the Holy Spirit,” Sermons from John Piper (1980–1989) (Minneapolis, MN: Desiring God, 2007).
14 Darrell L. Bock, Luke: 1:1–9:50, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 1994), 107.
15 Jewish practices were comparable, so that marriage for a female usually took place before she reached 12½ years of age. This was advantageous for her husband, who thus received the benefits of her service over a longer period of time, but also for the girl’s father. Practically speaking, he was able more easily to guarantee his daughter’s purity (i.e., virginity) if he could arrange for her to be married by the time she reached puberty. Archer, Her Price Is beyond Rubies, 151–71; as quotes in Joel B. Green, The Gospel of Luke, The New International Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1997), 86.
16 Putman, 75.
17 Adrian Rogers, “His Unequal Birth,” Adrian Rogers Sermon Archive (Signal Hill, CA: Rogers Family Trust, 2017).
18 Ibid.
