Matthew 1:18-25 “The Virgin Birth” January 6, 2008

Is it proper to call Mary “the Mother of God”?

In the early church there was a bishop named Nestorius who objected to that title.

Actually, the Greek word was theotokos,

which means “God-bearer.”

So the real question is whether Mary bore God in her womb.

Did Mary give birth to God?

The early church decided that if you would not call Mary “the God-bearer,”

then you must be a heretic.

Why?

Well, to whom did Mary give birth?

Jesus.

Who is Jesus?

As the Heidelberg Catechism puts it,

“Christ alone is the eternal, natural Son of God.”

And as the angel said to Joseph in Matthew 1:20,

“that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.”

This child is “Immanuel” – God with us.

So if the child that she bore is true God,

then Mary is unquestionably the theotokos, the God-bearer.

She is the Mother of God.

She is not the mother of God the Father.

Nor is she the mother of God the Spirit.

But she is the mother of God the Son,

for the person that was born of her was the eternal Son of God.

So in question 33, the Heidelberg Catechism asks,

33.  Why is He called God's only-begotten Son, since we also are children of God?

Have you ever noticed that translations don’t use “only-begotten” in John’s gospel anymore?

There are two Greek words that look a lot alike:

Monogennes – which means only-begotten

Monogenes – which means unique

What is the difference between them?

An “n” (nu).

[look this up a bit more]

John says that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have beheld his glory,

glory as the unique one from the Father, full of grace and truth.

This phrase “the unique one from the Father” here in John 1:14

(translated in the ESV as “only Son from the Father”)

then is worked out more in verse 18 when John says,

No one has ever seen God;

the unique God, the one who is at the side of the Father,

that one has made him known.

Because of the close relationship between the word “monogenes”

and gennaw “to be the father of,”

the church quickly started translating it “only-begotten.”

It is probably not the best translation,

but it does fit the theology of John’s gospel.

In chapter one, John is saying that the Word is the Unique one from the Father.

And in this chapter John is saying that we become children only through this Unique one.

And by the end of the chapter John the Baptist is declaring that Jesus is the Son of God.

So John is saying that the eternal Word is the unique Son of God,

the one through whom we become children of God.

And this Son is also called the unique God who is at the Father’s side.

The Father is Father precisely because of this monogenes – this unique Son.

The word “begotten” is not used here to refer to him,

but what other word can you use?

The Eternal Word, the Son of God, has been Son for all eternity.

And there are only two kinds of sons –

adopted sons, who did not start out as sons of this father,

and natural sons, who have always been sons of this father.

And as our catechism answer 33 puts is so well:

A.  Because Christ alone is the eternal, natural Son of God. We, however, are children of God by adoption, through grace, for Christ's sake.

As we confess in the creed,

“and in Jesus Christ, his only Son our Lord”

34.  Why do you call Him our Lord?

A. Because He has ransomed us, body and soul, from all our sins, not with silver or gold but with His precious blood, and has freed us from all the power of the devil to make us His own possession.

This is what the angel said to Joseph –

You shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.

35.  What do you confess when you say: He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary?

A.  The eternal Son of God, who is and remains true and eternal God, took upon Himself true human nature from the flesh and blood of the virgin Mary, through the working of the Holy Spirit. Thus He is also the true seed of David, and like His brothers in every respect, yet without sin.

This takes a little unpacking.

First, why was Jesus born of a virgin?

Some have thought that original sin is transmitted by the male seed,

and so therefore he avoided the taint of original sin by the virgin birth.

That is interesting speculation, but there is nothing in scripture that supports it.

It would be better to say that since it was a woman who sinned first,

therefore it must be a woman who bears the Savior of the world.

After all, that is what God says in Genesis 3:15.

The seed of the woman will crush the serpent’s head.

Our closing hymn tonight has a great line in it:

“to show God’s love aright, she bore to men a Savior, when half-spent was the night”

There is so much fear of Mariolotry in the Protestant church

that part of me is a little surprised that this line survived the editor’s desk!

But I am glad that it did,

because we should not be ashamed to honor the blessed virgin.

After all, all generations are to call her blessed.

If we will not call her the blessed virgin, then we do not believe the scriptures!

Truly, “blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment

of what was spoken to her from the Lord.” (Luke 1:45)

But there is a far simpler reason for why Jesus must be born of a virgin.

He is the eternal Son of God.

He is the natural Son of God.

If he had a human father, then he could not be a natural Son of God.

The virgin birth demonstrates that God alone is his natural Father.

What do we mean by “natural” Father?

It means “according to nature.”

In all births, you have a natural father and a natural mother.

(Today we often say “biological” father and mother,

but natural is better because it addresses the question of “nature”).

Who is Jesus’ natural father?

Obviously he has no “biological” father,

but in the virgin birth there is still a natural Father.

As the angel says in Luke 1:35,

The Holy Spirit will come upon you,

and the power of the Most High will overshadow you;

therefore the child to be born will be called holy – the Son of God.

Both in his divine nature, and in his human nature,

Jesus has one Father.

He is NOT an adopted Son of God.

He is a natural Son.

And this emphasizes the unity of the person of Christ.

As the Council of Chalcedon put it in the year 451,

Therefore, following the holy fathers, we all with one accord teach men to acknowledge one and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, at once complete in Godhead and complete in manhood, truly God and truly man, consisting also of a reasonable soul and body; of one substance with the Father as regards his Godhead, and at the same time of one substance with us as regards his manhood; like us in all respects, apart from sin; as regards his Godhead, begotten of the Father before the ages, but yet as regards his manhood begotten, for us men and for our salvation, of Mary the Virgin, the God‑bearer; one and the same Christ, Son, Lord, Only‑begotten, recognized in two natures, without confusion, without change, without division, without separation; the distinction of natures being in no way annulled by the union, but rather the characteristics of each nature being preserved and coming together to form one person and subsistence, not as parted or separated into two persons, but one and the same Son and Only‑begotten God the Word, Lord Jesus Christ; even as the prophets from earliest times spoke of him, and our Lord Jesus Christ himself taught us, and the creed of the fathers has handed down to us.

Jesus is “recognized” in two natures.

In other words, you can see that he is true God and true man.

He is one person who acts according to the properties

of two distinct but inseparable natures.

If you ever get confused by how to think or speak of the two natures,

just remember this:

persons act,

natures are.

Have you ever seen a nature walking by?

Or have you seen a nature scrubbing the floor?

No!

Natures don’t do anything.

“Nature” simply means a set of properties or characteristics of a being.

Human nature refers to that set of properties or characteristics that belong to humanity.

Divine nature refers to that set of properties or characteristics that belong to God.

Natures do not act.

Persons do.

Persons walk.

Persons scrub floors.

So if you ever hear someone say,

“it was the human nature of Jesus that suffered,”

they are simply revealing their ignorance of the English language.

Because it was the person, Jesus, the eternal Son of God, who suffered—

and he suffered according to the properties of his human nature.

Jesus is one person who acts according to the properties of two natures.

And so we say that “The eternal Son of God, who is and remains true and eternal God,

took upon Himself true human nature from the flesh and blood of the virgin Mary,

through the working of the Holy Spirit.

Thus He is also the true seed of David,

and like His brothers in every respect, yet without sin.”

This language of the “true seed of David” is the second part of the importance of the virgin birth.

Because the promise of the virgin birth is related to God’s promise to the house of David.

God had promised Ahaz that the sign of a virgin birth (or young woman –

the Hebrew word there can mean either young woman or virgin,

and in the context of Isaiah 7, it is probably a reference to Isaiah’s wife)

If you look over at Isaiah 7:10-17,

Isaiah has come to King Ahaz (a wicked king of the house of David)

and promises that Damascus and Samaria will not overthrow Jerusalem.

And God tells Ahaz to ask for a sign,

but Ahaz refuses.

And Isaiah says that the Lord himself will give you a sign.

Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,

and shall call his name Immanuel.

He shall eat curds and honey

when he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good.

For before the boy knows how to refuse to the evil and choose the good,

the land whose two kings you dread will be deserted.

The sign of Immanuel is a sign for Ahaz.

And indeed, only a couple years later

Damascus and Samaria were overthrown by Assyria.

But then Isaiah continues and says that those days will be days of judgment,

not blessing.

Isaiah says four things about that day in verses 18-25:

In that day, the Egyptians and the Assyrians will overrun the land.

In that day, the king of Assyria will be a hired razor to shave the land.

In that day, sheep and cows will have plenty to eat.

And in that day, the cultivated land will be desolate

(which explains why the sheep and cows will have so much to eat!)

The sign of Immanuel – God with us –

is a sign to the house of David that God will come in judgment.

The only way that you can turn the prophecy of Immanuel into a nice happy promise

is if you take Isaiah 7:14 and totally ignore the rest of the chapter!

You might think that Matthew is doing this in Matthew 1:23,

because Matthew doesn’t mention the rest of the context.

All he says is that

“all this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:

Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,

and they shall call his name Immanuel (which means, God with us).”

But of course, if you think of the rest of Matthew’s gospel,

you very quickly start to realize that Jesus is the one

who came in judgment to the house of Israel.

When God comes to dwell in our midst,

then truly judgment has come to the household of God.

The Virgin Birth is a sign of judgment,

for in this birth – in the coming of Immanuel –

God has come in the flesh.

As Paul says in Romans 8:3,

By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin,

he condemned sin in the flesh,

in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us,

who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

Let me put this to you simply.

God created Adam as his son – his adoptive son.

He called Adam to live as the Son of God.

But Adam failed.

And Adam brought the curse of God upon the whole human race.

And so God called Abraham and his seed.

The seed of Abraham – Israel – was called succeed where Adam failed.

Israel is my son, my firstborn.

Would Israel, the son of God, undo the curse?

No. But that was not Israel’s purpose.

Israel would fail.

And so God called David and his sons.

The son of David would be the son of God –

I shall be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son.

Israel had failed to live like the son of God.

Will the son of David succeed?

No.

And in the son of David’s failure, the curse of Adam comes upon Israel,

and Israel was sent into exile with the Son of David.

The history of the people of God is the history of the son of God (see Galatians 3-4).

But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son,

born of woman, born under the law,

to redeem those who were under the law,

so that we might receive adoption as sons. (Gal. 4:4-5)

36.  What benefit do you receive from the holy conception and birth of Christ?

A.  He is our Mediator, and with His innocence and perfect holiness covers, in the sight of God, my sin, in which I was conceived and born.

When it says that his innocence and perfect holiness covers my sin,

this is not talking about his death – nor even his whole obedience in his life.

It is talking simply about his holy conception and birth.

Irenaeus liked to say that because the Son of God came as an infant

he sanctified infancy,

and because he passed through all the stages of life,

he sanctified all the stages of life.

Because he was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary,

he covers my sin, in which I was conceived and born.

And so indeed, the song speaks truly when it says,

“to show God’s love aright, she bore to men a savior, when half-spent was the night.”

So let me ask you,

33.  Why is He called God's only-begotten Son, since we also are children of God?
A.  Because Christ alone is the eternal, natural Son of God. We, however, are children of God by adoption, through grace, for Christ's sake.

34.  Why do you call Him our Lord?

A. Because He has ransomed us, body and soul, from all our sins, not with silver or gold but with His precious blood, and has freed us from all the power of the devil to make us His own possession.

35.  What do you confess when you say: He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary?

A.  The eternal Son of God, who is and remains true and eternal God, took upon Himself true human nature from the flesh and blood of the virgin Mary, through the working of the Holy Spirit. Thus He is also the true seed of David, and like His brothers in every respect, yet without sin.

36.  What benefit do you receive from the holy conception and birth of Christ?

A.  He is our Mediator, and with His innocence and perfect holiness covers, in the sight of God,

my sin, in which I was conceived and born.