Monday, January 4, 2010, 5:59 PM
Beato Angelico, Annunciation, Saint Mark, Florence
Question
If we believe that Jesus is the Son of God (as all Christians who accept the Apostles' Creed do - NOT an imaginary God-the-Son, a later elaboration which had its crowning with the doctrine of the "trinity" at the end of the 4th century), was it necessary for God, the One and Only, the Father Almighty, to resort to the Virgin Birth for the Incarnation of His Eternal Word in/as the God-man Jesus Christ?
Answer
No, strictly speaking it was NOT necessary: in the Incarnation of God's Eternal Word in/as Jesus, the Son of God, the are two distinct elements:
• The mystery, which consists in God's Eternal Word getting incarnated in/as the real man Jesus Christ. This is the essence of the Incarnation, and it is difficult enough to accept it, let alone understand it.
• The miracle, which consists in God resorting to His Holy Spirit so that His Eternal Word would, somehow "work" as the functional equivalent of a man's seed in procreating a human being (a male, Jesus) in the Blessed Womb of the Virgin Mary. Put is more modern terms, the Word of God, by the mysterious and miraculous work of God's Holy Spirit, acted as the functional equivalent of a male sperm (even the Church Fathers use the expression λογος σπερματικος, logos spermatikos,
literally, "Seminal Word"). To be even more accurate, and resorting to
the terminology of our days, God's "Seminal Word", by joining itself
with the ovum of the Blessed Virgin Mary, acted functionally as some sort of "divine DNA", which, by joining itself with the human (female) DNA of the Blessed Womb of the Virgin Mary, produced the God-man Jesus.
If "Virgin Birth" (better, Virgin Conception) means anything at all as fact (NOT just as a symbol), it MUST mean what I have above described, or something similar.
Is the miracle of the Virgin Conception important? I believe it is, and for at least two reasons:
1. It is immediate, self-explanatory evidence that God, the One and Only, the Father Almighty is NOT an "idea", or a "force", BUT (in the most obvious sense of the word) a Personal God, who can intervene in His Creation as He pleases.
2. God wants everybody to know that, in Jesus He has fully relealed His Will, His Word. The "humble and simple", unlike the "learned and prudent", would certainly find it hard to confront, let alone understand the metaphysical sophistications of the Incarnation, but everybody, even a child, can perfectly well understand the miracle of the Virgin Conception ...
... of course one has to be ready to accept the Supernatural, miracles, and that ...
34 And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” [since I do not know a man]
35 And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore [διό καί] the child to be born [of you] will be called holy—the Son of God. 36 And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. 37 For nothing will be impossible with God.” 38 And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant [bondservant] of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her. (Luke 1:34-38 - emphasis MdS)
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