Answer: The
doctrine of the virgin birth is crucially important (Isaiah 7:14; Matthew
1:23;Luke 1:27, 34). First, let’s look at how Scripture describes the
event. In response to Mary’s question, “How will this be?” (Luke 1:34), Gabriel
says, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will
overshadow you” (Luke 1:35). The angel encourages Joseph to not fear marrying
Mary with these words: “What is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit”
(Matthew 1:20). Matthew states that the virgin “was found to be with child
through the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 1:18). Galatians 4:4 also teaches
the Virgin Birth: “God sent His Son, born of a woman.”
From
these passages, it is certainly clear that Jesus’ birth was the result of the
Holy Spirit working within Mary’s body. The immaterial (the Spirit) and the
material (Mary’s womb) were both involved. Mary, of course, could not
impregnate herself, and in that sense she was simply a “vessel.” Only God could
perform the miracle of the Incarnation.
However,
denying a physical connection between Mary and Jesus would imply that Jesus was
not truly human. Scripture teaches that Jesus was fully human, with a physical
body like ours. This He received from Mary. At the same time, Jesus was fully
God, with an eternal, sinless nature (John 1:14; 1 Timothy
3:16; Hebrews 2:14-17.)
Jesus was
not born in sin; that is, He had no sin nature (Hebrews 7:26). It would seem
that the sin nature is passed down from generation to generation through the
father (Romans 5:12, 17, 19). The Virgin Birth circumvented the
transmission of the sin nature and allowed the eternal God to become a perfect
man. .(courtesy: GotQuestions.org)
