N.T. Wright Chapter 11 - Born of a Virgin?

"Jesus' birth usually gets far more attention than its role in the New Testament warrants. Christmas looms large in our culture, outshining even Easter in the popular mind." Yet much of Christmas is not actually what is said in the Bible. For one thing Christmas is miraculous and for the God of the Bible, miracle is not a biblical category, since He is not separate but "always present and active". For another, the virgin birth divides christians on grounds not only of miracle but on notions of sexuality. Essentially for Wright the life and purpose of Jesus is disconnected from the birth stories. It is not the birth, but the death of Jesus that defines Christianity.

The whole of Matthew is concerned with Jesus fulfilling scriptures along 3 themes. First Jesus is Joshua - bringing Israel into the promised land. Second Jesus is Immanuel - embodying God's presence with His people. Thirdly Jesus is the new David - the messiah born at Bethlehem.

Wright notes the virgin birth claims of other important historical personages of the time and raises 3 points. First, the meaning would be that the God of Israel has brought history to a new height by a new creation from the womb of the old. Second, only pagans believed in virgin births never jews and no one had used Isaiah 7:14 the way Matthew did before. But third, if the evangelists believed the stories to be true, how did the stories come to be if they are not actually true? It strains credulity to construct any such process says Wright. "I hold open my historical judgment and say: if that's what God deemed appropriate, who am I to object?"

Summary notes - Jock McTavish

13 November, 2000