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QUESTION OF THE WEEK |
Question: Is the
story of the virgin birth of Jesus credible, or is it a legend drawn
from pagan mythology?
Answer: Biblical scholar, N.T.
Wright stated in our Jesus: The Search Continues:
Now, of course, I cannot prove
the virginal conception of Jesus, and I don’t think you can prove it
in the same way as I would prove the Resurrection—that you can’t
explain the rise of early Christianity without it. Then, that
forces me to hold my modern mind open to say, “If God was really in
Christ reconciling the world to Himself, ought I not to expect some
other strange things as well?” And when I then have these stories
which look so strange and yet, “Why would they do that?”–maybe it
really did happen. Because you see, as far as I know, nobody in
Judaism was going around and saying, “Ah ha! Isaiah 7:14—Messiah
must be born of a virgin.” I don’t know that anyone was taking that
text like that before, so it’s not that Matthew had that text in
mind and had to pin it on Jesus. I suspect that Matthew would have
been quite happy not to mention that. But it’s rather the case that
he’s got this story and he wants to find something in the Old
Testament to go with it. And likewise, Luke, it’s not the case that
he has stories about angels and shepherds which he’s wanting to pin
on Jesus; rather, this is the stuff that he’s got to work with.
Dr. Norman Geisler explored the
“virgin birth” question in these articles:
If you’d like more
information, check out these resources available through our
catalog:
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ANKERBERG SHOW |
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DR. JOHN ANKERBERG'S RESPONSE TO CREATION QUESTIONS
Dr. John Ankerberg answers your
questions on creation in the following article available both as
a downloadable PDF and broken down into individual questions for
online reading. Click the link below to read:
Does Scientific Evidence Today Show
that God Created the Heavens and the Earth? And What Does the Bible Say
About When He Created?
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Copyright 2006, Ankerberg Theological Research Institute
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