During Christmas season each year, we read the accounts of Jesus’
birth in the Gospels (Matt 1:18–25; Luke 1:26–38), and we are reminded
once more of our Savior’s Virgin Birth. What exactly do we mean by the
Virgin Birth of Christ? Maybe that’s obvious, but let’s start with a
definition. By the Virgin Birth we understand that Jesus was conceived
in the womb of his mother Mary by a miraculous work of the Holy Spirit
without a human father.
We must not confuse the Virgin Birth of Christ with the so-called
Immaculate Conception. Many Christians incorrectly believe that the
Immaculate Conception has reference to Christ. Instead, the Immaculate
Conception is the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church that Mary, the
mother of Jesus, was herself conceived in her own mother’s
womb free from sin. The Roman Catholic Church teaches that Mary was not
only free from inherited sin by the Immaculate Conception, but neither
did she commit any personal sins in her lifetime. Thus, she was in fact
as sinless as her son Jesus. It’s important to remember that this idea
of the Immaculate Conception of Mary did not become an official doctrine
of the Roman Catholic Church until 1854.
But this doctrine of the Immaculate Conception of Mary is in reality
nowhere taught in Scripture. Nevertheless, the Roman Catholic Church
does point to a verse in Luke they claim teaches it—Luke 1:28: “And
coming in, he [Gabriel] said to her, ‘Greetings, favored one! The Lord
is with you’” (NASB). You may be saying, “I don’t see where this verse
teaches that Mary was conceived without sin or lived a sinless life.”
And you would be right; it teaches no such thing. Keep Reading >>>
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