THE KING’ S BUSINESS
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But it is not true that the scholarship o f the world is against the acceptance o f the doctrine o f the Virgin Birth. Dr. Orr lines up the following scholars as believing' in this doctrine: Tholuck, Lange, Luthardt, Delitzsch, Rothe, Dorner, Mortensen, Oster- zee, Godet. Were Bishop Lightfoot and Bishop Wescott scholars? Are Dr. Sanday o f Oxford and Dr. Sweet o f Cambridge not among the finest Greek scholars in the world today? How about Principal Fair- bairn o f Warfield, Oxford, is he not a scholar and thinker? Are not Sir William Ramsay o f Aberdeen, Bishop Gore, Canon Ottley, Dr. Dick Wilson, and Margoliouth Scholars o f the first order? Was not Dr. Orr himself one o f the best scholars o f the day? In view o f these facts then, it is untrue to say that the scholarship o f the day is against the acceptance o f the doctrine o f the Virgin Birth. The contrary is true. The wise men o f the East have been fol lowed by the wise men o f the West. The brainy men have come to the manger to worship the King. III. Reasons for the Acceptance of the Doctrine of the Virgin Birth. There are certain reasons why the doc trine o f the miraculous birth o f our Lord as narrated in the gospels should be accepted by the Christian Church. Among these reasons may be stated the follow ing: 1. The record of the Virgin Birth is a part of the gospel narrative and is entitled to be received as much as any other part of the record of the evangelists. The story of the Virgin Birth has always been a part o f the gospel narrative; not a single complete manuscript omits it. Other parts o f the gospels like John 8:1-11 and Mark 16:12-20, may be disputed and conse quently omitted in some o f the manu scripts, but this is not the case with the accounts o f the Virgin Birth as recorded in Matthew and Luke. All the Versions contain the record o f the supernatural birth o f Christ. For 1500 years the Church o f Christ has received the narrative as abso lute truth. The trustworthiness o f the entire Gos pel narrative rises or falls with the accept
ance or rejection o f the narrative as a whole. It cannot be considered piecemeal. Luke declares that he has traced accu rately the facts o f Christ’s life from the beginning to the end. His whole narrative is impregnated with the thought that when Christ was born, Mary, His mother, was a virgin. It is impossible to eliminate verses 34 and 35 o f chapter 1 without' discrediting Luke’s whole narrative. Further, other facts in connection with the Virgin Birth are admittedly historical, e. g. the date o f Christ’s birth, o f Herod’s reign, o f the public census. So firmly con vinced are we o f these facts that we date our letters from them. Dispense with Matthew and Luke and we have no basis for the dating o f your letters. The genealogical tables are accepted as giving the line o f Joseph and Mary accu rately. Why not then accept their testimony regarding the supernatural element in con nection with Christ’s birth? The genealo gies tell us that “Jacob begat Joseph, the husband o f Mary, o f whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ” (Matthew 1:16). In speaking o f the birth o f Christ, we are told that it was “on this wise” (1:18), which , means that a difference is recognized between the generation o f Jesus Christ and those that had preceded it. No law o f human generation can account for Christ’s birth. It was “ on this wise.” How could it be otherwise if “that which born o f the flesh is flesh?” I f Christ is the second Adam, the Lord from heaven, His generation too must be from heaven, from above, or there can be no „second Adam, for He would then be sinful, earthly, fallen, like the rest o f the sons o f men. The pres ent status o f the scientific doctrine o f heredity also compels us to < describe Christ’s birth “on this wise.” The denial o f the Virgin Birth means either the denial o f the Virgin’s purity or the acknowledged truthfulness o f the narratives o f Matthew and Luke. 2. Because the sinlessness o f Christ is involved in thé doctrine o f the Virgin Birth. If Christ had been born in the ordinary
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