Skeptics think we're hopelessly naive to believe it; even many who call themselves Christian scratch their heads at it. Radical feminists declare that it's a story designed to protect the reputation of a bad girl we want to claim as holy. The Virgin Birth stirs as much controversy today as when it actually happened. It is certainly inconvenient to the modern mind (although no more so than it was to Joseph), so why does the Creed specifically say Jesus was "born of the Virgin Mary?"
Well, in the first place, it's in the Creed because it's in the Bible. The story is quite clear about it: this baby did not have a biological father. But this is no story of pagan origin where gods regularly impregnated human women. There is no such coarseness here; Luke tells us that the Holy Spirit "came upon" Mary. There is no other, more detailed description; the statement is dropped into the narrative without explanation. It was just as inexplicable then as it is now. Joseph certainly had a hard time coming to grips with his fiancee's having gone for a three month visit to her cousin Elizabeth and coming home pregnant. In fact, he wouldn't have believed it apart from an angelic visitation in a dream. Which hints at something very important.
Our salvation is not irrational, but neither is it fully understandable, and it remains unintelligible until a person is convicted of their sin, confesses it as such, repents of it, and turns to faith in Christ for forgiveness. Until one has experienced the miracle of new birth, all other miracles in the Bible seem foolish and implausible. But once a person has experienced grace that has delivered them from lifelong addiction or that has freed them from guilt and despair, believing such things as the Virgin Birth are tame by comparison. At Park church for example, are many people who five, ten, or fifteen years ago would never have imagined they would be worshipping and praising God in a Methodist (or any other) church. They are living, breathing miracles who have no trouble believing in the Virgin Birth because they've experienced a New Birth of their own.
The Virgin Birth is in the Creed because it's in the Bible, but also because it states in rudimentary form that Christ had no sin (because sin was believed to be transmitted through the male). To say, "I believe in Jesus Christ...who was born of a virgin" is to recognize that God is doing something unique here to preserve and proclaim the ability of this Man to forgive sins because he has none of his own with which to contend. I am grateful tonight that Jesus Christ was born of a virgin, insuring Christ's ability to secure my salvation, but also reminding me that with God, nothing is impossible. If it is possible for Jesus to be born of a virgin, it's possible for me to be born again into a new and more perfect life.
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