HUIOS TAU THEOS /SON OF MAN, HUIOS TAU ANTHROPOS (Lesson 2)
INTRODUCTORY SCRIPTURES:
Therefore, the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel (Isaiah 7:14).
But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” which means “God with us” (Matthew 1:20-23).
And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14).
SUBSTANTIATING COMMENTARIES:
Jesus Christ is God's eternal Son who was born of a virgin as both God and man, lived a sinless life, died to atone for the sins of human beings, was buried, arose from the grave, ascended into heaven and will literally return to earth one day.[1] – Jack Graham
Critics claim the story of the virgin birth originated from pagan myth. It is true that myths and legends depict divine males, in human or other form, impregnating female humans. But theologian James Leo Garrett, Jr. points out that unlike the myths, the story of Jesus’ conception was without sensuality or immorality. At the time, the Israelites excluded themselves from Gentile ways and thought. Therefore, it’s unlikely that devout Jewish Christians would have borrowed mythological elements for the story of the Messiah (Systematic Theology: Biblical, Historical, and Evangelical, 591)... The virgin birth is an essential historical indication of the Incarnation. It confirms both Jesus’ humanity and His deity.[2] – Charles Stanley
If Jesus is everything to us (the second Person of the godhead incarnate, the Son of God, the God-man and substitutionary, atoning Savior); and in Him are hidden “all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:3); and He alone is the path to God and the way to Heaven (John 14:6, Acts 4:12) and the incarnation is His beginning (so to speak)—and further, without the incarnation there are no Christian teachings or even a Christianity[9]—then what is more important or essential and foundational than the virgin birth through which the incarnation occurred?[3] – John Weldon
CURRENT BELIEF IN THE VIRGIN BIRTH:
We, as Christians, would think that belief in an issue (the virgin birth) that is so critical to the very foundation of Christianly would be commonplace. However, we would be wrong.
The survey research center of the University of California at Berkeley polled the denominations to get their view on the virgin birth. Sixty-nine percent of the American Baptists believed in the virgin birth. Sixty-six percent of the Lutherans believed in the virgin birth. Fifty-seven percent of the United Presbyterians. Thirty-nine percent of the Episcopalians. Thirty-four percent of the Methodists, and 21 percent of the Congregationalists believed in the virgin birth of Jesus Christ. Now the church in many, many ways - is the church not evangelical, but the church liberal – is not even ready to accept the deity of Jesus Christ and his virgin birth, so it seems rather obvious that the world isn’t beating a path to the door of this great concept in reality. But you shouldn’t be surprised. The apostle Paul said in Romans chapter 3 these words. “For what if some did not believe? Shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect? God forbid. Yeah, let God be true and every man - ” what? “ - a liar.” So says Paul in Romans 3:3-4. – John MacArthur
[1] Jack Graham, God as Son, © 2016 Power Point, All Rights Reserved, jackgraham.org/about/jack-grahams-beliefs.
[2] Charles Stanley, Bible Study - Does the Virgin Birth of Jesus Really Matter, © 2016 Intouch Ministries, All Rights Reserved, intouch.org/read/bible-study-does-the-virgin-birth-of-jesus-really-matter
[3] John Weldon, Why Is the Virgin Birth Virtually the Most Important Teaching in the World and the Most Neglected?, © 2012, Ankerberg Theological Research Institute, jashow.org/articles/jesus/christmas/why-is-the-virgin-birth-virtually-the-most-important-teaching-in-the-world-and-the-most-neglected/.
A Few Clouds, 63°