and literally born from a virgin a sine qua non for faith? Is this one of those beliefs that is essential for salvation and for remaining within the good graces of God? I think not and I would propose another and distinctive possibility, a new interpretation of what the evangelists had in view.
A Reinterpretation of the Gospel Accounts
Inasmuch as no canonical New Testament writing other than the opening chapters of the gospels of Matthew and Luke make any reference to a virgin conception and birth and inasmuch as this was not the theology of the earliest Christian believers and inasmuch as the evidence suggests that his origins created problems for the church, it is altogether possible that he was an illegitimate child. Is this the death knell for our faith in Jesus as God’s Son and our Savior? Not at all! It is very possible that this is what the Apostle Paul refers to in First Corinthians when he writes, “God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong, God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God” (1.27–29). Was Paul aware of the question of Jesus’ illegitimate birth? Probably. How could any believer of the time be unaware. Was it a stumbling block to Paul? Not at all. For God chooses what is low and despised to carry forward his great plan and purpose for the redemption of the entire human family. Who would have been lower or more despised in that generation than a child born out of wedlock? The attitudes of many of us towards such an innocent have hardly changed over the centuries. What could be more damning to the criteria we have set up for God to be God than his choice of an illegitimate child to be raised from such ignominy to his position of lordship over all?
Our Salvation Always and Ever of God
What did the evangelists intend by their references to the virgin conception and birth of Jesus? Is it possible that they were simply enunciating their faith that our salvation is beyond the reach and the capacity of man? Is it possible that they were setting forth in a worshipful and reverent way that the ways of God are beyond our understanding? For who has known the mind of the Lord, and who has been his counselor? There is nothing inconsistent or contradictory in their teaching when understood in this way with the Pauline point of view expressed in the words, “by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2.8). God alone accomplishes our salvation without any assistance from us; in fact, God works his work of grace in us in spite of our resistance and our efforts to second-guess and improve upon what he has done. Jesus is Jesus without regard to human origins, or manner of coming into the world, or credentials, or legitimacy. He is Jesus, our Lord and Savior, because God has chosen him, God has appointed him, God was in him reconciling us to himself. The marvel of God is just this that he calls those who are unworthy—sinners, unrighteous, those whom he has every right to throw upon the trash heap, and through them accomplishes his work of grace. The evidence is in scripture itself, when we consider the life history of a few of the great personages in the history of salvation—Moses, David, and Saul who became Paul. And he has called you and me to be his disciples, witnesses to his grace and of our salvation.
The virgin conception theology is one of the most sublime expressions of the human spirit, liberated from the dungeons of ignorance, from bondage to sin and ego, and enlightened by God’s Spirit to confess with reverence and awe, “I believe in God the Father, I believe in God the Son, I believe in God the Holy Spirit.”
Genealogies in Matthew and Luke
¶ The genealogies in our two gospels, Matthew and Luke, may seem to be uninteresting topics for discussion. We are mostly bored by a long list of names, many of which are unfamiliar and never referred to in another Biblical passage. Numerous genealogical tables in the Old Testament are never listed as favorite passages for our devotional reading. But these tables are of high importance because they provide the background for an understanding of the need for and the purpose of the genealogical tables in our gospels.
There are numerous examples in the Old Testament of historical crises in the life story of God’s people, Israel, when their future, both physically and spiritually, was in jeopardy. One of the most serious of these was the exile to Babylon in B.C.E. 587. The land of Judah was devastated, Jerusalem and the temple in shambles, and their religious heritage threatened by exposure to a superior religious culture. The people of God survived this threat largely because of the devotion and commitment of their religious leaders, the prophets and priests. A new chapter began in their religious development in B.C.E. 540 with the rise to power of the Persian king, Cyrus the Great. He gave them a choice—remain in the land of Babylon or return to Jerusalem. Many chose the second option. Their problems did not abate, however, since they had to rebuild their homes and restore the land to productivity. A first option was the rebuilding of the temple, a very important option since the Mosaic law required worship and sacrificial rituals that could not be observed apart from the temple. There were threats from the inhabitants of the land, especially the descendants of the northern Israelites, whose capital had been Samaria. There had been rivalry and strife between the northern Israelites (Ephraim) and the southern Israelites (Judah) ever since the breakup of David’s kingdom after the death of Solomon. The northern kingdom came to an end in B.C.E. 721 when Samaria was destroyed by the Assyrians and the people deported and scattered throughout that vast kingdom. The Assyrians imported exiles into Samaria from many parts of their kingdom and eventually religious practices and ideals changed radically as a result of their influence upon the Samarians. Intermarriage resulted in ethnic differences as well.
Upon their return from Babylon, the Judahites were confronted by the problem of relationships with the inhabitants of the land—Samarians to the north and descendants of their own people who had not gone into exile. The latter had belonged to a lower class of society and the lack of spiritual leadership had resulted in a degeneration of their faithfulness to the Mosaic religion. Intermarriage with Samarians and with people brought into the land by the Assyrians had also weakened their religious loyalties. Their desire to share in the rebuilding of the temple and in the worship of the new community founded by those who came from Babylon led to conflict. Those who had returned from Babylon did not consider the inhabitants of the land to be true Israelites. They excluded them from the congregation of God’s people and rejected their overtures for help in rebuilding the temple.
Conditions for Membership in the Community of Israel
When Nehemiah came from Persia to become the head of the new community in Jerusalem, he enacted a number of conditions for membership in Israel. Two of the more important were faithfulness to the Mosaic religion and second, proper birth credentials. Genealogical tables came to be highly important because intermarriages with the inhabitants of the land now made it incumbent upon the member of the community to document his lineage to meet the second of the above criteria. Nehemiah even enacted legislation to forcibly separate intermarriages, since they did not meet the requirements for membership in the community. This episode in history accounts for the preparation and inclusion of genealogical tables in the Old Testament and throws light upon the reason for the preparation of a genealogy for Jesus, two of which are included in the gospels of Matthew and Luke.
Difficult questions were raised for the Christian community by the Jews of the time about the legitimacy of Jesus. They rejected the use of their scripture by the Christians to prove that Jesus was the Messiah and counterattacked by questioning his legitimacy. Jewish sources from the time respond to Christian propaganda by stating that Jesus was born from an illicit union between Mary and a Roman soldier. It was necessary, therefore, for the Christians to refute this slander by demonstrating that Jesus was a true Jew of proper birth and that he was faithful to the Mosaic tradition in his teaching and in his deeds. Since the gospels of Matthew and Luke speak to this issue specifically by presenting a genealogy of Jesus, it is apparent that it was a very live question at the time of their writing.
A Comparison of the Two Genealogies
A comparison of the two genealogies
