The Historical Evidence for the Virgin Birth

I. St. Paul

We begin with ST. PAUL, the earliest New Testament writer, and the author of ten, if not thirteen, Epistles. Several passages have been quoted from his writings, in support of the view that the Virgin Birth tradition was known to him. Among these are Gal. iv. 4, Rom. i. 3, and passages in which St. Paul speaks of Christ as the Second Adam, notably Rom. v. 12‐15 and 1 Cor. xv. 47.

Gal. iv. 4 f. reads as follows: But when the fulness of the time came, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, that he might redeem them which were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. It is most improbable that there is here any reference to the Virgin Birth, or even any indication that the doctrine is known to St. Paul. The phrase “_born of a woman_” is one that is used naturally of an ordinary human birth (cf. Job xiv. 1; and Mt. xi. 11 (Lk. vii. 28) “among them that are born of women”). The determining consideration is, however, the argument of Gal. iv. 1‐7. St. Paul is there working out the figure of the heir who is yet a minor (verses 1, 2). While we were children, he argues, we were in bondage (verse 3). But, when the fulness of the time came, God sent forth his Son to redeem men from the law. To accomplish this purpose, the Son must needs make Himself one with those He came to deliver. Like them He must be “born under the law”; like them He must be “born of a woman”. The one clause asserts His position as a child of the Jewish race; the other declares the reality of His humanity. There is not the slightest suggestion of a miraculous birth.(1) Indeed, the more natural impression made by the words is that of a birth common to all the sons of men. If St. Paul had wished to avoid giving that impression, he could have done so with ease, since he was perfectly familiar with the distinction between γυνή (woman) and παρθένος (virgin) (cf. 1 Cor. vii. 34).

Rom. i. 3 f. reads: “... his Son, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, who was declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection of the dead.” Here the thought of the Virgin Birth is said to lie implicit in the opening words of the passage (cf. Orr, The Virgin Birth of Christ, pp. 119 ff.; also Knowling, Testimony of St. Paul to Christ, p. 313; and Sweet, The Birth and Infancy of Jesus Christ, p. 237 n.). Again, the exegesis cannot be allowed. St. Paul’s words state an antithesis; they speak of the Son from two standpoints, that of the body and that of the spirit (SH., Rom., p. 7). “According to the flesh”, He was “born (γενομένον) of the seed of David”, but, “according to the spirit of holiness”, He was designated (ὁρισθέντος) Son of God “by the resurrection of the dead”. It is very difficult to think that the antithesis would have been stated in this way, if the Apostle had been thinking of the Virgin Birth. “Born of the seed of David” contains no reference to the doctrine. The Divine Sonship, indeed, is not mentioned until the following clause, and there it is said to be predicated, not in the Virgin Birth, but in the Resurrection. Without pressing the view that “according to the flesh born of the seed of David” implies an ordinary human birth, we may certainly claim that the Miraculous Conception is a thought entirely foreign to the passage.

A further implication of the doctrine has been found in St. Paul’s thought of the Second Adam (Rom. v. 12‐21, 1 Cor. xv. 44‐9). In Dissertations (new ed., p. 11), Dr. Gore writes: “What we can maintain, with great boldness, is that St. Paul’s conception of the ‘Second Adam’ postulates His miraculous birth” (cf. Box, The Virgin Birth of Jesus, p. 150). In a question of this kind, we must distinguish between what the doctrine of the “Second Adam” may or may not “postulate” in our own minds, and what St. Paul’s thoughts may have been. Certainly he gives us no reason to suppose that the Virgin Birth was in the background of his mind when he wrote Rom. v. 12‐21.(2) There would be as much justification, if not more, for the contrary suggestion. So far as 1 Cor. xv. 44‐9 is concerned—(verse 47 reads: “_The second man is of heaven_”)—the reference is to the Resurrection, not the Incarnation.(3)

None of these passages is sufficient to show that St. Paul was acquainted with the Virgin Birth tradition, nor can any others be cited. This fact is the more remarkable when we call to mind the great Pauline passages which bear upon the Incarnation. With the closest scrutiny, not one of them gives us reason to think that the Apostle knew of the Virgin Birth. This is true of the great Christological passage of Phil. ii. 5‐11, and also of the well‐known words of 2 Cor. viii. 9. Most significant in this connexion are Phil. ii. 7 (“_Being made in the likeness of man_”) and Rom. viii. 3 (which speaks of the Son as sent “_in the likeness of sinful flesh_”). These passages are important because they clearly imply a difference between the humanity of Christ and ordinary humanity. This difference—indicated by the word “likeness” (ὁμοίωμα)—is certainly not a difference in mode of origin. Its character is manifest in Rom. viii. 3; it lies in the sinlessness and moral perfection of Jesus.(4) There is no indication that the Apostle is thinking of anything further, and the same is true of Phil. ii. 7. Viewing the passages as a whole, we must conclude that, not only is St. Paul completely silent as to the Virgin Birth, but that he is silent just where his silence is most difficult to understand, if he knew of the tradition.

Can we go further, and say that St. Paul did not know of the doctrine? Short of a hard and fast conclusion, we are at liberty to state what would seem to be the probabilities of the case; and as regards these we can have little hesitation. It is reasonable to urge that St. Paul would have phrased his references to the Incarnation somewhat differently, if he had known of the Virgin Birth, and that, on the whole, his words are best explained by presuming his ignorance of the tradition.

W. C. Allen has suggested that St. Paul’s silence may have been due to reasons of prudence. He may have thought that the tradition would prove “a great stumbling‐block to the progress of Christianity, and a continual source of wounded feeling for the reverence of Christians for the Person of their Master” (ICC., St. Mt., p. 20). It is possible that this argument might go some way to explain the absence of direct allusions to the Virgin Birth in St. Paul’s writings. It might cover his failure to employ the tradition as “an argument for Christianity in his preaching to the Gentiles”. But, assuredly, the theory is stretched to breaking‐point, if it is made to cover the absence of the slightest indication that the doctrine was present to St. Paul’s mind. For the most part, St. Paul’s Epistles were not public manifestoes, but private letters, written to Christian communities. Moreover, they are intensely self‐revealing. They permit us to appreciate how much St. Paul knew of the words and deeds of Jesus, and of the events of His earthly life. That they reveal no knowledge of the Virgin Birth is hardly to be explained by a policy of silence. Unless, on other grounds, it can be shown that the tradition was known in Apostolic circles during St. Paul’s lifetime, his silence must be interpreted to mean lack of knowledge concerning it.