The Christ Child: Re-view of a central doctrine

WAS JESUS BORN OF A VIRGIN? The longstanding answer is yes. Pregnant Mary was a virgin in the human sense. A virgin birth is not only one of the listed fundamental doctrines, but the key upon which sound Christian faith can stand or fall. Had Christ been born of Joseph’s seed, it is explained, the infant would not only be merely human as the rest of us are, but would thus be tainted with sin. But if Mary’s moment of conception was “immaculate,” Christ at birth would be the Son of God; his physical body could house God incarnate in this material realm on earth. If Jesus had been born from human semen, God could not inhabit his body literally, and Jesus would not have the power to resist the sin that brings damnation to contaminated humans. But God, incarnate in Jesus, conceived immaculately, could save us from the sin that humans cannot escape in our sinful nature. As a man living among us, Jesus had all the physical temptations and feelings that plague the rest of us, but immaculately conceived, he lived with divine power undiminished. This doctrinal explanation embraces certain assumptions and corollaries to which some might take exception. I will attempt to answer these issues and suggest how the doctrine can still stand scrutiny. Assumption 1. Because Jesus (in his humanity) felt temptation as we do, he could empathize (in his divinity) with our dilemma. Unaddressed Issue: Empathy is not the same as actual experience. Assumption 2. Jesus understood his “difference.” He felt comfortable and natural with it. Unaddressed Issue: He obviously felt sure of his status with God, but is not on record claiming his own virgin conception. Assumption 3. Jesus displayed no ungodly air of superiority; he was unusually humble. Unaddressed Issue: If this carpenter were actually “superior,” his humility would be no achievement. Assumption 4. His believing followers knew he was fundamentally different; but they did not question the paradox of divinity and humanity combined. Not being theologians, they came to accept it. Unaddressed Issue: How did they live that close to a man who had frustrating habits, probably had body odor, and needed sleep like the rest of us--typical human short comings-- yet they thought he was perfectly holy? Assumption 5. Mary kept the “method” of conception a secret, with Joseph‘s complicity. Unaddressed Issue: There are no contemporary reports of a virgin birth. The idea was introduced later in the memoirs, named the Gospels. It is understandable that Mary would not speak to others about such unbelievable information, but she seems not to have accepted, or at least not understood, the implications of it for explaining Jesus’ “difference.” Assumption 6. The Council of Chalcedon later determined that Jesus was one substance, 100% human and 100% divine. Unaddressed Issue: Unless we, too, are equally human/divine, such a unique combination makes Jesus abnormal, which is to say he wasn’t a limited human as we are. This throws a wrench in the doctrinal mechanism of substitutionary atonement, i.e., Christ vicariously carrying for us other guilty humans the judgment for our sin. To be sound doctrine the Virgin Birth needs to clear up these assumptional issues. But do not despair. With some re-viewing, the notion can be seen as a remarkable display of God’s power and glory, securing all that Christians hold dearly. Why wear poorly fitting clothes when a guaranteed, tailored suit is on the rack? Here is how Jesus’ divinity can be straightforwardly understood. The following view addresses the questions raised about “virgin birth” assumptions by showing how the doctrine can simply carry the highly profound meaning of Christ’s divinity. Instead of trying to explain how Jesus was so different from us yet was just like us humans, consider how similar we are to Jesus who was just like us in his divinity. In other words, Jesus so thoroughly identified with us because he learned, as God’s creature, that he did not have to deny his humanity to be aware of his divinity. He repeatedly explained that all of us are children of God, capable of the same divine awareness to which he was alert. Humanity and divinity are unitary not dualistic qualities. It is quantum physics, not Newtonian materialism. It boils down to this. If Jesus was in any way different from each of us, his “atonement” for our sins would be ineffectual; it would be paternalism--good enough for slaves and pets. But if Jesus was just like us, then we have the same divine spark he had. The doctrine of the Virgin Birth as traditionally propounded risks leaving us with only the promise of adoption, when we actually are family. The usual explanation of virgin birth leaves us with Dualism--the idea that we are alienated from God, and by grace receive no more than undeserved entrance to heaven, where we will be eternally joyous but always stepchildren. I suggest that a re-viewing of the phrase, “virgin birth” makes Jesus’ message and teaching consistent, plain, and exciting. There is still room for virginal conception if we rid ourselves of images of a sex act and think of conception as the moment when the physical kindling is brought to heat (life) by the inbreathing of God’s spirit--when the divine/human union is manifested in the physical universe as a “new born” baby. The “second birth” Jesus told Nicodemus about was an awakening to what it means to be an “image” of God. Jesus was “born of a virgin” in the sense that conception begins with God’s Spirit bringing to “life” the divine/human connection in a particular human body. It does not matter where the semen originates. The miracle is the life-giving. Creator and creatures are and ever have been conjoined. The “life” given to Jesus (of Nazareth) was and is the same as the life given to each of us. God is especially illuminated in Jesus, but we are all “begotten” of God. What about the Gospel’s announcement that Jesus was God’s “only beloved” son? This statement does not set him apart as an only child. It means he was unique in the degree to which he understood and appropriated the benefits and powers of the divine/human conjoining. God chose “only” Jesus for a key role in his revelational manifestation, but each of us is a chosen manifestation of God also. We are all virginally born. Jesus saw his mission as encouraging us to join with him in heaven as “joint heirs.” I see no hint in the New Testament of Jesus acting as if he were special, displaying an attitude of paternalism toward us.. Jesus did not have to be born without a human biological father to be part of the God concept, to be divine. The traditional method of explaining a virgin birth presumes that somehow Jesus was affixed to God in a way we cannot be, despite his explicit prayer (John 17) that his disciples be one with God as he was. If we take Jesus at his word (he said his disciples would do greater miracles than he) we are no more irreparably separated from God’s nature than Jesus was. To think so is to touch hands with Docetism, the heresy that diminishes Jesus’ humanity. Such anemic thinking cheats us from access to our true selves as the image of God. If we cannot ingest this more glorious heritage for ourselves, we will ever be dependent on Jesus’ difference from us, and will always be guests in heaven rather than family. Our salvation will be good luck rather than the fruit of true grace. Actually, “virgin birth” as commonly articulated, and “grace,” are competing concepts. God did not “send” Jesus to earth. God was already here, in all of us. The spiritual umbilical cord was never cut; Adam and Eve only stopped breast feeding. Our understanding (as the human race) has been clouded by materialistic fixation.. Jesus, our fellow human, simply participated more easily in God’s effervescent grace; he understood more clearly our (his and our) divine relationship. Grace is not given in response to our renouncing sin. Grace is something to experience as we turn our attention toward God, leaving sin to fade away. We don’t earn forgiveness, nor even need we beg for it. We open ourselves to God within us. Jesus does not stand outside our door knocking to come in. He is inside us already, as God, knocking to wake us up to who we are. Please understand I am not saying we each are God in God’s fullness, just that I am simply a connected “image” of divinity. The less I am captured by materialism, the more heavenly I become. Jesus shook off the shackles and invited us to do the same. God created neither robots, nor retards, which is all dualistic theology claims for us. I realize this sounds heretical; it is not the perspective in which I was raised in conservative circles. But conservatives insist that dualistic theology is what Jesus taught; that it is what the New Testament is about; and one must believe the Bible. Well, I take the Gospels seriously. I see dualism hanging around like a heavy fog, but I also see Jesus shining a different light, constantly preaching and guiding his followers into a “new” perspective. Dualism is an understandable notion for humans immersed in a material world; and it is a convenient tool for religious leaders to use to manipulate followers. But Jesus spurned any advantage he might have claimed as one specially positioned (by virgin birth) for mediation. I and God are not antagonists. God does not need to be persuaded to befriend me. Jesus’ role as mediator is as a bridge, not as a defense attorney. He told his friends to follow him not as imitators but as claimants. Sanctification is an experience, not a gift. Holiness is not a second birth reward; it is the cleaning up of the original, material afterbirth effects. God did not create unsanctified images of divinity. That would make us oxymorons. Jesus preached it differently. And I believe the Bible. I am a true child of God. It has taken me awhile, with the help of Jesus’ preaching, to realize this. But I am wary of the temptation is to become cocky. A professor at Cascade College once told me that he had not sinned in decades because he was sanctified. I did not believe his sanctimoniousness, for he sinned against me once in class, if unfairness is a sin. Holiness is a goal. When we “arrive,” we more than likely will be physically dead; that is, of no earthly good, at least in the minds of the unarrived. For most of us, physical death arrives before we figure things out. Jesus was not so slow to understand..

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