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THE KING’S BUSINESS
way o f generation he would undoubtedly have been contaminated by sin, for “that which is born o f the flesh is flesh” (John 3 :6 ). He must also have been subject to sin and death. If Joseph and Mary, who were sinners by nature and deed, could have given birth to a sinless being like Christ, then a greater miracle than the Vir gin Birth has taken place, and the critics have a very much more difficult position to face and a harder problem to explain than that which they find in the supernatural birth. The scientific doctrine o f heredity would at once say that it is impossible to bring a clean thing out o f an unclean thing, a sinless being from sinful parents. Further, if Christ had been born as other human beings are born, He would not .only have been a sinner, but also subject to death. Yet we know that death had no claim upon Him, but that He voluntarily offered up His life as a sacrifice for others (John 10:18). It is exceedingly difficult, yea, impossible, to explain the presence o f an absolutely holy human being in the midst o f a sinful humanity on a purely natural basis. This would be a miracle in the moral world as the-Virgin Birth is a miracle in the physical world. In Christ moral and spiritual purity were found in their perfection. In Him the taint o f sin was not found. M^as such a sinless being, like others, merely a child of Adam, or was He separate from all the rest, and if so how is that separation to be accounted for except in such a supernatural manner as the Evangelists record? W e should remember, further, that the sinlessness o f Christ has a relation to the sins o f men. Matthew’s record o f Christ’s birth thus relates it: “ Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he it is that shall save his people frpm their sins.” In other parts of the Scripture, too, His birth and sinlessness are related. In 1 John 3 :5 we read: “And ye know that he was manifested to take away sins; and in him is no sin.” In the argument o f Romans 5, in which the Apos
tle contrasts the sin o f the first Adam with “ the righteousness o f the second Adam, it should not be overlooked that it is the very fadt o f the absolute sinlessness o f the One, that is Christ, that makes it possible for God to impute righteousness to those who believe in Him. In Luke’s narrative o f the birth o f Christ, we find sinlessness asso ciated with the Virgin Birth: “ And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power o f the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be bom o f thee shall be called the Son o f God.” It was only by the entrance into the world o f a sinless being, o f One on Whom the taint o f sin did not and could not rest, that a Saviour from sin was pos sible for mankind. The denial o f the Vir gin Birth then fobs us o f a Saviour from sin. Note the word “therefore” in Luke 1 ;35 R. V. M .: That which is to be born o f the Virgin is the product o f the Holy Ghost, therefore it is to J>e holy. 3. The Virgin Birth is connected with the Deity of our Lord Jesus Christ. In Luke 1 :35, we are told that because o f the miraculous element in the generation o f Christ, He should be called the “ Son of God,” “the Son o f the Highest.” These titles are not merely official, but denote a unique relationship o f the Son to the Father. Matthew in his account o f the birth o f Christ, tells us that His name shall be called Immanuel, which means, “ God With us.” I f the Virgin Birth o f our Lord is denied, Jesus Christ is reduced to the level o f an ordinary man, no matter how intimate His relation to God may have been. It has been well said that' “ it is the fact o f the Incarnation which rescues Christianity from being a philosophy merely, or a mere system o f ethics, and makes Jesus more than a Socrates or Solomon.” By the Virgin Birth, our Lord is marked off as a unique and divine product, the “ only begot ten Son o f God.”
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