Why was it so important that Jesus be born of the virgin Mary?

I would like to rephrase the question a little bit: why is it important that Jesus was born from a virgin?

The apostle Matthew gives us an answer. Matt 1:22-23

All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”-which means, “God with us.”

This comes directly from Isa. 7:14: “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.”

The answer: The miraculous birth is definite proof that Jesus is the Messiah. The Messiah was to be born of a virgin. How many people could say their mother was a virgin? I only know of one. By this fact alone, we can have confidence that Jesus is the Messiah. However, God gave us many more prophesies about the Messiah in the Old Testament, which were also fulfilled in Jesus. If you read through the book of Matthew, you will see that the writer refers constantly to the Old Testament in order to show the fulfillment of prophecy about the Messiah in Jesus Christ.

Why would God give us so many prophecies concerning the Messiah? In order for us to discern, beyond a doubt, who the real Messiah is: Jesus Christ. Let’s join the centurion who witnessed Jesus’ death. That by himself was proof enough for him: Matt 27:54—“When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, ‘Surely he was the Son of God!’”

Have you accepted Jesus as your Saviour? It is still not too late!

Rob Chaffart  

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Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit. The reproductive cell of the mother could have been used whether the mother was a virgin or not. The same technology would have been involved. However, Jesus birth was a miracle and had to be seen to be a miracle. It was not normally possible for a virgin to conceive. Also, Jesus had to be born in the most humble of circumstances to carry out His great task. He had no beauty of appearance, was dark skinned, was conceived out of wedlock, was born in a stable and laid in a stock feeding trough for a bed. In addition, He was born a Jew.

Conceived by the Holy Spirit.

Matthew 1:18-AV Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.

The birth of Jesus was necessary to provide mankind with a person who COULD qualify as a redeemer. You see, when Adam ‘sold out’ to Satan, Satan came into legal possession of the earth and all in it.

Job 1:6-AV Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them.

Job 1:7-AV And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.

According to God’s law concerning ownership, only a descendant of the original owner was eligible to pay the redemption price. Since the wages of sin is death, the redemption price in this case was severe. It called for the death of a man. However, not just any man would do, he had to be a man without sin, as the original owner was, and since all Adam’s descendants were born into sin, it was impossible for the human race to produce a redeemer. That is where God came in with His rescue plan. By being born of woman, Jesus was every bit a man, so in that respect He qualified as redeemer. But because the Holy Spirit and not a man, fathered Him, He was born without the taint of Adam’s sin. As truly a man without sin, provided He could lead a sinless life and offer Himself as a sacrifice for mankind, He could pay the redemption price.

The miracle of His birth goes beyond this even. We are told that the spirit of the man Jesus, was none other than the ‘Word of God’, His Son, the entity who created the universe and the earth and all in it, the same who dealt with mankind as ‘God’ throughout the Old Testament. This great entity, a third part of God, humbled Himself to become a lowly man, born into the most humble circumstances, crucified by the people He came to save. Whilst truly God as well as man, Jesus had to live and die as a man, without using any divine power of His own, lest Satan accused Him of cheating.

Why a virgin?

Well, a number of reasons come to mind. Those who were looking for a messiah from studying diligently the prophecies concerning His coming, would be able to recognize this as a sign it was He. There was no mystery in a married woman conceiving, it would go unnoticed. But if a virgin were to conceive, it was either the messiah or she was a liar and not really a virgin, but it would be enough to call attention to the child for those who were watching for Him.

Isaiah 7:14-AV Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

Another reason is the humility thing. In Jewish culture there was no worse stigma than to be conceived out of wedlock. By being conceived in a virgin, Jesus had this point covered.

Another reason is to cloud His birth with mystery. Such a thing would normally be impossible and divine intervention seen as the only explanation that made sense. This was a witness to all mankind that would not have been possible otherwise. How do we know she was really a virgin? Well, the bible does not mention that anyone had a look. Joseph was preparing to quietly divorce her until the angel visited him and told him how it happened, and to go ahead and marry the girl anyway.

I think we could trust Joseph to have checked it out and no doubt Mary was quite proud of it too, and would have been eager for her husband to fully understand. Joseph stayed with her and played his part at considerable personal risk, in the early upbringing of the Child. I doubt this would have been so if Joseph had discovered that Mary was not truly a virgin. He would then have disbelieved the whole thing. No doubt there would have been several significant others, relatives etc, who had doubts and Joseph’s testimony would have been needed to convince them.

He was dark skinned.

Jesus was born to a mother that came from Nazareth. He was known as a ‘Nazarene’. These people were noted for two things. The men never cut their hair as did the rest of Jewish men, and, they were dark skinned even for that part of the world. Jesus was not a white man.

He was not pretty to look upon.

Isaiah 53:2-AV For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, [there is] no beauty that we should desire him.

So as for the humility aspect of Jesus birth we have dark skin, conceived out of wedlock, ugly, a member of a tribe looked down upon within a people looked down upon. So poor that he had to be born in a stable with a manger for a bed.

Because He was born without original sin, and managed to resist all temptation while living His life, His sacrifice was acceptable to the Father, and Jesus now has replaced Satan as the legal owner of this planet and all of mankind. He has extended to us an invitation to have our sins forgiven and to join Him in Heaven when the conflict with Satan is finally over. He will not force us to go with Him, but He will gather to Himself and keep all who accept His great sacrifice as a substitute for them. All who refuse this free offer will have to pay with their own lives for their unworthiness. It is our decision entirely and I urge any reader who has not yet decided to accept Jesus offer to hurry up before it is too late. It will be too late when our fragile life comes to an end. This life is the only time we have to make that decision. Look at it as a choice between eternal life in Paradise, a free offer, nothing to pay, or eternal death with this life being all we will ever know.

John 3:16-AV For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

I pray that someone will make such a decision after reading the responses to this question.

Lance Wearmouth

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Because Jesus had to be born without sin. If Mary, would have known a man this could not of happen.

Rev. Charles Bruce

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I run a devotions list and was going to tackle this subject last week but God led me elsewhere.  Here’s what I learned:

Sin is passed down through the seed of man.  This in no way implies women are sinless, we are all inheritors of sin in the natural man because of our births.  But a virgin woman who’s life was dedicated to God was needed.  A human man could not be the natural father of Jesus because Jesus already has a father – God, sinless.  In order for Jesus to be born sinless and remain sinless He could not have that inherited sin from man’s seed.  He was still tempted, yet remained sinless.  Notice the Bible says He was without sin (Heb 4:15), which means He never had any to begin with.
 

T. May    

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Obviously there some divine intervention being expressed.

Dave Schiefele 

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It is important that Jesus be born of a virgin. He would have inherited Adam’s sin and thus would not be the perfect Lamb of God to take away the sins of the world.

Tom Young 

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The Birth of Jesus our Christ had to come from a virgin birth in order for him not to have come from the family of man, thus not having the effects of the fall of Adam on him. 

Cheryl 

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To me it is very important as this is a very key way of showing people that Jesus was “Truly” Divine. If Mary had not been a Virgin then someone could have said that any person from off the street slept with her and Jesus is just a normal man and he can do nothing for us. Or it could take someone to the other extreme and they could say since Jesus had two human parents like us then we all have the ability to be gods.

Joshua Miller 

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Jesus virgin birth was necessary to insure he was not born of sin. His manner of birth, fathered by the Holy Spirit falling on Mary, was free of sin as there was no sexual content between man and woman, passing the sin of man onto his conception. 

Lou 

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I feel it was imperative that Jesus was born from the Virgin Mary in order to prove to people that He was GOD’S son. That God alone made Him special. If He would have been born as everyone else, then he wouldn’t have been GOD’S son. Mary found favor with the Lord. Scripture to refer to is (Luke 1:26-38)

God Bless and Happy New Year

DeeDee 

________________ I think that Jesus had to be born from a virgin so it would be a miracle.   If it had been after  she and Joseph were married and had been together  it would have been just another of Josephs children.   But because she was a virgin that proved it was a very important  birth.     Julie