Christmas Special: Virgin Born?

1A Word About Personal Liberties in Scripture

• “There are differing in the realm of Christianity.”
• Benefits:
  • Gives us room to
  • Proclaims our in Christ
  • Provides diversity and the church around the world and throughout time
  • Create strong parts of the entire Church
• “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.” 1 Peter 3:15
• Dangers:
  • When they break down
  • When they take light off of God and place light on
  • When they overwhelm a church and take
  • When they boarder on denying

2Pluralism Unleashed

• “We must determine what is worth labeling a preference, and what is worth ‘taking a for’?”
• Main Question concerning Truth vs. Pluralism:

  • How do we determine what doctrines are critical to our belief in God?

3Survey Of Seminarians

• One of the first exposes of the beliefs of our future ministers was made by Redbook magazine in August of 1961. The publishers hired one of the top pollsters in the nation to survey a full representation of our seminaries which are supposedly preparing men for Christian service in the Protestant churches. Here are some of the results:
  • Of the ministers in training, 56 percent rejected the Virgin Birth of Jesus Christ. 71 percent rejected that there was life after death. 54 percent rejected the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ. And 98 percent rejected that there would be a personal return of Jesus Christ to this earth.
  • —Hal Lindsay
  • gives us our definitions of what is non-negotiable

4Virgin-Birth Defined

• Scriptural definitions & revelations
• Intentional in the genealogy list in Matt.1:16

5Language indications – Greek: ex nes – Fem. Rel. Pronoun

• Indicates Mary as the mother
• Indicates Joseph was the physical father
• People’s prove Jesus’ unique birth
• Joseph:
• Others:
  • Prophetic definition of the term
  • Conception came about through the
  • Scripture prophesied the uniqueness of the event
  • Genesis 3 – The Fall: The of the woman would crush the head of the defiler
  • References to the “ of David”
  • Isaiah 7:14 – Prophecy of “now and later” virgin birth

6Historical Conceptions

7Historical birth of the “Immaculate Conception”

• Synonyms: Chaste, clean, spotless, unblemished, undefiled, impeccable, errorless, faultless, flawless, irreproachable, taintless, unsoiled
• Question:

  • Was there anyone in history who was able to fill this definition?

  • In 1687 – Catholic Church Decree: “Immaculate Conception” – these terms were attributed to Mary
  • Historical understandings for protecting the doctrine of the “Virgin Birth”
  • Wrong view #1: The was the sinful thing
  • 2 Problems
  • Denies Creation Mandate – Go and populate (God it)
  • Nothing God creates can be called
  • Wrong view #2: The man was the “sin- ” – the substance is sinful
  • 2 Problems

8This also denies the Creation Mandate

• This denies
• Correct view: Sin is “ ”
• Conclusion

9“Is the Virgin Birth a Major Doctrine of the Christian Faith?”

• The Virgin Birth holds truth concerning facts worth dying for:
  • If Christ were only – we could not be saved from sin
  • If Christ were only – we could not be saved from sin
  • God keeps His

10Jesus is fully God: born of the Holy Spirit

• Jesus is fully man: born of the virgin Mary