The Virgin Birth Of Christ

Having been born of the virgin Mary, Jesus was human Offspring. Having been conceived of the Holy Spirit and overshadowed by the power of the Most High, Jesus was holy Offspring, the sinless Son of God. Therefore, the doctrine of the virgin birth impacts ones view of the sinlessness of Christ. When Mary conceived, she passed on her human nature to the theanthropic person, but she was prevented by the Holy Spirit from transmitting a sin nature.

"This volume sustains, and more than sustains, Dr. Machen's reputation as not only one of the world's foremost New Testament scholars but as one of the ablest defenders of historic Christianity. His former books, 'The Origin of Paul's Religion' (1921), 'Christianity and Liberalism' (1923) and 'What is Faith?' (1925), have so whetted the appetites of their thousands of readers that the announcement of a new book by Dr. Machen fills them with eager expectancy---whatever may be their theological position. It will be recalled that Mr. Walter Lippmann, whose theological position is about as far removed as possible from that of Dr. Machen's, in his widely read book, 'A Preface to Morals', not only speaks of Dr. Machen as 'both a scholar and a gentleman' but says of his book, 'Christianity and Liberalism': 'It is an admirable book. For its acumen, for its saliency, and for its wit, this cool and stringent defense of orthodox Protestantism is, I think, the best popular argument produced by either side in the current controversy. We shall do well to listen to Dr. Machen.' Dr. Machen's latest book, it is true, like 'The Origin of Paul's Religion', moves throughout in the field of exact scholarship. It would be difficult to point to a book anywhere that is more thorough-going in its recital and examination of all that bears upon the subject with which it deals. But while this is the case, Dr. Machen writes so simply and lucidly that men and women of intelligence everywhere, whatever their standing as technical scholars, will be able to read it with understanding and profit. Certainly no minister or Bible teacher of adults can afford to ignore this book. To the reviewer at least it is a source of much satisfaction to know that what is confessedly the most exhaustive and most scholarly book on the problem of the Virgin Birth of Christ ever published, at least in English, has been written by a man who after having acquainted himself with everything of importance that has been written on the subject since the first century, no matter in what language, holds to the historic belief of the Christian Church that its founder was born without human father, being conceived by the Holy Ghost and born of the Virgin Mary." -Samuel Craig

In what remains a widely discussed issue in contemporary theology, J. Gresham Machen’s The Virgin Birth of Christ acts as both an introduction to the subject, and a window into American ‘Princeton’ theology in the early twentieth century. Machen undertakes an encyclopaedic study of the different perspectives on the virgin birth. He begins with a close reading of the scriptural accounts, comparing and contrasting the stories of Jesus’ birth told in Luke and Matthew. Secular historical accounts are then considered, as well as possible alternative theories, including the likelihood of the story being of early Jewish or Pagan origin. Machen’s study was the definitive work on the virgin birth for the majority of the twentieth century, and remains an invaluable resource, both as an apologetic work and as a time capsule of theological progress.

Beginning with a fundamental doctrinal summary of the Trinity, Gromacki then considers the primary passages in both Testaments that present the virgin birth and the deity of Christ. He works through "problem texts" and supplies plausible alternatives where evangelicals differ. topics addressed in the book include the Two Gospel accounts of the virgin birth (Matthew and Luke), popular misconceptions about the virgin birth, physical and biological implications of the virgin birth and the so-called parallels to the virgin birth in pagan literature.

Excerpt from The Virgin Birth of Christ: Being Lectures Delivered Under the Auspices of the Bible Teachers' Training School, New York, April, 1907 These lectures were delivered during the month of April, 1907, in the Chapel of the Fifth Avenue Presby terian Church, New York, under the auspices of the Bible Teachers' Training School of that city, and they are now published, practically as prepared for delivery, under the same auspices. The author regrets that their revision for the press had to be undertaken at a distance from facilities for checking quotations and references in his pages; but he trusts that these, if not so copious as he could wish, will be found generally correct. The papers summarised in the Appendix came into the au thor's hands in New York after his own work was com pleted, and he has made no use of them in the text. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.