The Virginal Conception Of Christ

"The Virginal Conception of Christ"

Luke 1:26-38

Introduction: Larry King, the CNN talk show host, was once asked who he would most want to interview if he could choose anyone from all of history. He said, "Jesus Christ." The questioner said, "And what would you like to ask Him?" King replied, "I would like to ask Him if He was indeed virgin-born. The answer to that question would define history for me." -- from Just Thinking, RZIM, Winter 1998

Dr. Ian Paisley writes: IN MANY QUARTERS, ecclesiastical as well as secular, belief in the Virgin Birth of our Lord Jesus Christ is scouted as unworthy of twentieth-century intelligence. Biologically, it is vehemently asserted, such a birth is impossible. Science with pontifical authority has pronounced against it. Who dares to challenge the "all knowing" of such an eminent authority?

The fact of the Virgin Birth having been declared against, the evidence and proof which established the fact must now be discredited. Let it be carefully noted that this finding against the Virgin Birth was not the result of a fresh examination of the evidence but rather the arbitrary act of science falsely so called. Having destroyed, in their opinion, the supernatural birth, these "know-alls" must of necessity demolish the evidence which supported that birth. All sorts of ingenious methods have been brought into play to destroy the records-- from the mistranslation of words to the pen-knifing of whole passages of the Bible. Historical evidence is flouted without respect for any known rule of evidence. Unfounded assertions are put forward as sound conclusions and the whole basis of traditional Christian belief is subjected to the methods of a reckless infidelity.

This assault on the doctrine of the Virgin Birth is, however, but one phase of a great battle to evacuate the supernatural from Christianity and to reduce it to the plane of natural religion. These naturalists in religion are out to destroy supernatural Christianity.

They go through the Bible and tell us there is no supernatural revelation there;

They go through the Birth of Christ and tell us there is no supernatural incarnation there;

They go through the Person of Christ and tell us there is no supernatural deity there...

They go through the Works of Christ an tell us there are no supernatural miracles there;

They go through the Words of Christ and tell us there is no supernatural wisdom there;

They go through the Death of Christ and tell us there is no supernatural atonement there;

They go through the Blood of Christ and tell us there is no supernatural cleansing there; and

They go through the Tomb of Christ and tell us there is no supernatural resurrection there.

Having jettisoned the supernatural from the Gospel Ship they have reduced her to an old hulk of man's manufacturing, a mere plaything for the storms of unbelief and the reefs of infidelity.

Well may Moses say: "For their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves being judges. For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah: their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter: Their wine is the poison of dragons, and the cruel venom of asps." --Deuteronomy 32:31-33.

I. The Confusion about the Virginal Conception

The doctrine of the Immaculate Conception (Mary being conceived free from original sin) is not to be confused with her virginal conception of her son Jesus. This misunderstanding of the term immaculate conception is frequently met in the mass media. Catholics believe that Mary was not the product of a virginal conception herself but was the daughter of a human father and mother, traditionally known by the names of Saint Joachim and Saint Anne. The Immaculate Conception, according to the teaching of the Catholic Church, was the conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the womb of her mother, Saint Anne, free from original sin by virtue of the foreseen merits of her son Jesus Christ. The Catholic Church teaches that Mary was conceived by normal biological means, but God acted upon her soul (keeping her "immaculate") at the time of her conception.

The Immaculate Conception is commonly mistaken to be the conception of the Child Jesus in her own womb and the Virgin Birth of Jesus. These are covered by the Doctrine of Incarnation, while the Immaculate Conception deals with the conception of Mary herself, not that of her son.

Although the belief that Mary was sinless and conceived immaculately has been widely held since Antiquity, the doctrine was not dogmatically defined until 1854, by Pope Pius IX. Wikipedia.org

Not only do Catholics teach that Mary was free from original sin but they also teach that she was free from personal sin as well. What is wrong with the teaching referred to as the Immaculate Conception?