Christ the God-Man: An Advent Reflection on the Virgin Birthናሙና

Because the incarnation—Christ’s taking on of flesh—is so critical to the Christian faith, I want us to first examine two unbiblical views. 

1) “Jesus came through usual means—God and Mary had sexual relations.” This irreverent take on the virgin birth manages to offend everybody. Many Muslims think the Christian version of the Trinity is made up of God the Father, Mary, and their offspring, Jesus. To them, this is obscene. They assume the doctrine of the Trinity implies that God had to sleep with a human to bear a son. In this, they are wrong. They accuse Christians of worshiping a human as God. In this, they are right.  

2) “Jesus came through the usual means—he had human parents.” Those who subscribe to this view say Jesus was a product of typical male-female relations. Indeed, some who lived close to Jesus’ time considered Him to be the illegitimate son of a rapacious Roman soldier.  

These profane views upset us, but they shouldn’t surprise us. What else can human beings make of such an incredible mystery? Even Joseph, the rightful and righteous bridegroom of Mary had secular questions. He wasn’t naïve. He knew how babies were made. Mary herself was greatly troubled by the angelic greetings (Lk. 1:29) and asked the honest question: “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” (Lk. 1:34). 

Babies are only made one way, unless you worship a God with whom “nothing is impossible” (Lk. 1:37) and a God who is interested and involved in human history.  

Joseph and Mary yielded to this kind of God—a holy Creator and a loving Savior who would take the risk of embarrassment and misunderstanding to save His people from their sins (Matt. 1:21).