Can a Christian deny the virgin birth?
by R Albert Mohler Jr, Guest Columnist
Posted: Monday, December 10, 2007, 16:23 (GMT)
Anyone who claims that the virgin birth can be discarded even as the deity of Christ is affirmed is either intellectually dishonest or theological incompetent.
Several years ago, Cecil Sherman - then a Southern Baptist, but later the first coordinator of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship - stated: "A teacher who might also be led by the Scripture not to believe in the Virgin Birth should not be fired." Consider the logic of that statement. A Christian can be led by the Bible to deny what the Bible teaches? This kind of logic is what has allowed those who deny the virgin birth to sit comfortably in liberal theological seminaries and to preach their reductionistic Christ from major pulpits.
Christians must face the fact that a denial of the virgin birth is a denial of Jesus as the Christ. The Savior who died for our sins was none other than the baby who was conceived of the Holy Spirit, and born of a virgin. The virgin birth does not stand alone as a biblical doctrine, it is an irreducible part of the biblical revelation about the person and work of Jesus Christ. With it, the Gospel stands or falls.
"Everyone admits that the Bible represents Jesus as having been conceived by the Holy Ghost and born of the Virgin Mary. The only question is whether in making that representation the Bible is true or false." So declared J. Gresham Machen in his great work, The Virgin Birth of Christ. As Machen went on to argue, "if the Bible is regarded as being wrong in what it says about the birth of Christ, then obviously the authority of the Bible in any high sense, is gone."
The authority of the Bible is almost completely gone where liberal theology holds its sway. The authority of the Bible is replaced with the secular worldview of the modern age and the postmodern denial of truth itself. The true church stands without apology upon the authority of the Bible and declares that Jesus was indeed "born of a virgin." Though the denial of this doctrine is now tragically common, the historical truth of Christ's birth remains inviolate. No true Christian can deny the virgin birth.
This article was originally published on December 13, 2003. It is republished here by request.
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R. Albert Mohler, Jr. is president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. For more articles and resources by Dr. Mohler, and for information on The Albert Mohler Program, a daily national radio program broadcast on the Salem Radio Network, go to www.albertmohler.com. For information on The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, go to www.sbts.edu. Send feedback to mail@albertmohler.com. Original Source: www.albertmohler.com.
Have your say on this article
The comments below are readers' personal opinions and are in no way intended to reflect the editorial opinion of Christian Today.
Added: Saturday, December 27, 2008, 15:15 (GMT)
By Mohler's standard, some of the New Testament authors he claims as his authority were not Christians. This is the irony of this "conservative" approach, which silences the plurality of Scripture's voices in order to come up with one thing that is allegedly "what the Bible really teaches" on this or that subject. But such picking and choosing is not better in any obvious way that the Liberal approach which Mohler decries.
http://exploringourmatrix.blogspot.com/2008/12/naughty-christians-of-bible.html
James McGrath, Indianapolis, USA
Added: Monday, December 17, 2007, 15:15 (GMT)
Its no wonder the world struggles with Christians. I am a Christian and have been for the last 25yrs. I am sick of hearing and reading the so called theologians amongst us trying to smart-mouth their way through the scriptures.A Virgin in the language of the scripture writers simply means a girl or a woman who has not had intercourse with a man. Therefore as a believer I can and do accept that Mary only conceived Jesus in a miraculous way. Nowhere in scripture does it say that Mary remained a virgin after the birth of Jesus. Infact according to scipture Jesus had brothers and possibly a sister, born of Mary his mother and Joseph. In the book of Philippians, the Apostel Paul, (historical person) tells exactly where Jesus came from and how. It is only when we get to Roman Catholicism do we enter the realms of fantasy.
Keith Gillard, Derby,England
Added: Friday, December 14, 2007, 10:36 (GMT)
If Mohler jr is right, why do only two of the Gospels mention the birth at all, and why is the necessary connection between the divinity of Christ and the virginity of his mother never expounded anywhere in the New Testament? The Hebrew word translated "virgin" in Isaiah's prophecy is also translated "maiden" elsewhere, and in several places, the description "virgin" is augmented by the additional information that the unmarried woman had also not "known any man". They key information about the term "virgin" in both Old and New Testaments is that the girl is unmarried.
So, I fear Mohler jr is going way beyond Scripture in his assertion that, to be a Christian, you must believe in the virgin birth.
Jethro, Scotland
Added: Thursday, December 13, 2007, 2:20 (GMT)
I appreciate the stand that Dr. Mohler has taken. The reality of our time is that the authority of the Bible is the central issue in the once-mainline churches. The liberals appeal to how they feel, what they "discern" in their spirits, or they (in essence) take a poll, as if God is shaped by majority vote. To insist on Biblical truth is a sure way to be branded a bigot, or as insensitive, divisive, mean-spirited or the like. As one member protested in one of our judicatory meetings, "The only sins left are being mean and driving an SUV!"
John R Kerr, Jacksonville, NC
Added: Wednesday, December 12, 2007, 2:40 (GMT)
I think that a true christian should not question the workings of God the father who made everything.
That is all i have to say
Emma , sydney
Added: Monday, December 10, 2007, 17:18 (GMT)
I have a comment on Bishop Joseph Spague, who made him a Bishop and why he still considered a "Christian"?. Does he understand why Christians were called Christian?. There are certain beliefs that YOU need to adhere too to consider yourself a Christian and if you don't beleive in those beliefs, then please don't consider yourself a Christian, its very simple!
Sean, USA
