The Virgin Birth

Each year on Christmas Eve our church holds a candlelight and carol service, and at the end of this service, after we have read all the Christmas lessons and sung most of the great Christmas carols, we stand in the candle-lit sanctuary and sing "Silent Night" together.
         
               Silent night! Holy night!
               All is calm, all is bright
               Round yon virgin mother and Child. . . .

In this way we profess belief in the virgin birth of Jesus as an important part of the Christmas story.  And so do millions of others.  Unfortunately, many do not believe it, and others who do, do not know why it is important.

In the early decades of this century (1900s), the virgin birth was a focal point for liberalism's many denials of Christian truth.  Those who believed the Bible recognized that the virgin birth is indeed biblical and rose to the doctrine's defense, answering the liberal objections.  They did such a good job that eventually most liberals refused even to grapple with the arguments made on behalf of this truth.  They just continued in their unbelief, as some people do, in spite of the fact that the Word of God clearly teaches the virgin birth and that the objections to it have been answered.

Much of this debate centered around the Old Testament text that Matthew cites as a prophecy of the virgin birth: Isaiah 7:14.  "The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son,and they will call him Immanuel" (Matt. 1:23).  It has been argued that Isaiah's word for the young woman, bethulah, does not necessarily mean "virgin," though it usually does.  It can mean merely a young woman of marriageable age.  But whatever Isaiah meant in his own context is a secondary matter here, since it is beyond doubt that Matthew at least meant to teach that Jesus was conceived by God apart from any human father.  He makes this clear in Matthew 1:18, which reads,  "This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit."

The account then goes onto explain that Joseph was disturbed by Mary's pregnancy, as any man in his position would  be.  Being a righteous (that is, an upright) man, he did not think it proper to go through with the marriage and decided to break his engagement to Mary in a private manner.  But while he was pondering this, an angel appeared to him to explain that Mary had not been unfaithful to him but that the child she was carrying had been conceived by God.  The angel 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" (vv. 20-21).

Joseph did as the angel had commanded, and the account concludes, "But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son.  And he gave him the name Jesus" (vv.24-25).
   (James M. Boice, Matthew Commentary Vol. I)