12
THE KING’S BUSINESS
not -the scripture said, That Christ cometh o f the seed o f David, and out o f the town o f Bethlehem, where David was?” (John 7:41, 42). (c ) The Silence of Paul. W e are not so sure that Paul was silent on the doctrine o f the Virgin Birth, but even if he was, that would be no evidence that he was ignorant o f it or disbelieved it. He does not mention Mary the mother of our Lord irr any o f his writings. Are we to understand by this silence that he did not believe in her existence ? It is true that Paul refers to Christ as o f “ the seed o f David,” but that is no argument against the Virgin Birth, for Matthew (1 :1) and Luke (1:32) refer to Him in like manner, and they most certainly were cognizant of the miraculous birth o f Christ, for they S record it. Is not Luke Paul’s gospel? It is so admit ted by all scholars. Luke was the com panion o f Paul. Is it likely that Luke would be cognizant o f so important a fact and the apostle Paul not know it? To Paul, Christ was the second Adam, the sinless One. He must have known that no clean thing could come from an unclean thing. T o him the second Adam was from heaven, from above; May it not have been Luke’s purpose, in tracing the genealogy of Christ back to Adam, to show that He was the second Adam ? as miraculously brought into the world as was Adam the first? Luke’s gospel is Paul’s gospel. Why may npt Romans S :12-21 and Luke 3 :38 be one in aim and purpose? Logician as Paul was, he must have known that any ordinary mortal was subject to Loth sin and death and that Christ, being subject to neither, must therefore have not sprung from the first Adam alone, and in the same sense that all other men have done. In Romans 8:3, Paul refers to Christ as being made in the “likeness o f the flesh of sin.” Does not this intimate a knowledge o f the supernatural birth? In Philippians 2 :S-8, he speaks o f Christ as emptying Him self o f the form o f God which He previ ously possessed. Does not this intimate a knowledge o f the miraculous birth? In
Galatians 4 :4, he refers to Christ as “being born o f a woman.” May we not suppose that he had in mind Genesis 3:15, which refers to the coming Redeemer as.“ seed o f the woman” and not o f the man ? It is true that Christ uses a similar expression o f John, “o f all men born o f women;” but the words translated “born” are not the same in both passages. Indeed Paul uses the word “ born” three or four times in Galatians 4, but in speaking o f Christ’s birth (4 :4) he uses a different word than he does when speaking o f Isaac and Ishmael (vs. 23, 29). 4. That the story of the Virgin Birth grew out of a mistaken application of prophecy. It is stated that the disciples believed Jesus to be the Messiah because o f His wondrous and unique life and that the story o f the Virgin Birth was invented to account for the superhuman element in the life of Jesus. In looking around for material to enforce this claim, Matthew lighted upon this prophecy o f Isaiah, o f which he makes a free use by referring it to Christ as he does o f the prophecy in connection with the flight into Egypt, the residence in Naza reth, and Rachel weeping for her children. W e are told that the religious faith o f the disciples was on the lookout for Old Testa ment intimations, and this prophecy in Isaiah agreed with their notions, therefore they applied it to Christ. It has been reasonably questioned by some conservative scholars whether Isaiah 7 :14 was ever looked upon by the Jews as being Messianic, and hence it cannot be proven that [Matthew quoted it because current opinion associated it with the Mes siah. Would not the story o f the Virgin Birth, intimated in prophecy, be a stumb ling block to the Jews? Matthew’s apolo getic would seem to indicate it. Matthew’s treatment o f the Virgin Birth o f our Lord is polemic. Joseph’s part in the narrative is emphasized to show the Jews that Joseph gave Mary and the Child his pro tecting care and vindication, and thus not only vindicated the miraculous conception,
Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online