Since Jesus was born of “the substance” of the Virgin Mary, how was He without original sin?



SPROUL: Now, when we talk about Jesus receiving what you call “the substance” from His mother, the Virgin Mary, of course we’re talking about His human nature. And because we’re talking about His deriving His human nature from His mother, you would

Think that that human nature would pass along, as it is the case with every other human being, all of the ramifications of original sin. Now, that raises all kinds of theological questions that touch upon it. One of the oldest theological questions is the question of how the soul, for example,

Is transmitted from parents to their children. And the two schools of thought of that are called “creationism” and “traducianism.” Traducianism says that the whole person, body and soul, is transmitted from the parents to their progeny through the natural process of birth.

Others argue, which is called “creationism,” that every time a human being is born, that person is a brand new creation by the immediate and direct power of God’s creativity. And so it’s not a matter of transmitting human nature by natural processes.

Now the reason I say that this question you’ve raised touches on the dispute over creationism and traducianism is that if you’re a creationist, you have no problem with having a human nature coming from the mother of Jesus, yet at the same time being born without original sin

If it’s a direct and immediate act of divine creation. If you’re a traducianist, on the other hand, where you see the body and soul being transmitted through the natural process, then the question that you raise becomes a more difficult problem. However, others have argued, and particularly historically in the Roman Catholic Church

That the reason for the virgin birth and to bypass the male was not because they believe that original sin was transmitted by the male rather than the female, but rather that the miraculous dimension of Jesus’ birth being a virgin birth was partly designed by God

To interrupt the normal transmission of human nature from parents to their children in order to make it possible for a human being post-Adam to be born without original sin. Now in the mystery of the incarnation, we don’t know exactly what process God used to make that so in the birth of Jesus.

We do know, as the Scriptures teach us, that He was made like us in every respect except one, namely without sin and without original sin. Some have argued against that saying if Jesus didn’t have original sin, He wasn’t truly human.

But of course, the problem with that is this, that Adam before the fall was truly human, and we in our glorified state in heaven without sin then will still be human. So that original sin is not an inherent necessity for humanness.

So we know theologically that God could have this child born through the virgin birth from His mother and bypassing the normal process of original sin. WEBB: R.C., I’m just curious, did some of the earliest church councils wrestle with that question? SPROUL: Well yes, they did.

And of course, early on there was a debate and a dispute over from whence Jesus’ divine nature came? And Mary was called “theotokos”, the mother of God, but not in the sense that Jesus derived His divine nature from His mother, but only to point out that the One that she bore and

That she nurtured as His mother was God incarnate.

#Jesus #born #substance #Virgin #Mary #original #sin

The Virgin Birth: Ultimately with R.C. Sproul



SPROUL: The New Testament is not  suggesting that a virgin walks down   the street and on her own strength and  her own power suddenly conceives a child Of all of the miracles in the New Testament—the  miracles of Jesus walking on the water, turning  

Water into wine, feeding five thousand  people, raising people from the dead,   and so on—there’s one miracle story that seems to  have been singled out for particular controversy,   and that being His virgin birth. I mean, there  have been furious debates, particularly in our  

Day, over the credibility of the New Testament  documents at the very beginning of Jesus’ life,   because the New Testament presumes to  teach that Jesus was born of a virgin. Now, some have tried to argue that  the text doesn’t really teach it,  

But that seems to be an act of despair to  support it. But others just say, “Well,   this is part of the mythical surroundings of  the New Testament documents that no scientific,   educated, sophisticated person in the twentieth  century could ever believe.” Because if there’s  

Anything that we know through our research and  our understanding of the biological process,   the system of reproduction, it’s this: that  virgins don’t have babies. That it takes two   people, male and a female. It takes the egg to  be fertilized by the sperm in order for a baby  

To be conceived—in vitro or ex vitro, doesn’t  matter. It still takes both sides. A virgin, in   and of herself, cannot conceive and have a baby.  That is an inflexible, unbreakable natural law.   And so anyone who would argue to the contrary  must be involved in fantasy, legend, or myth.

But dear friends, let me say in the first  instance that the New Testament is not suggesting   that Jesus is born “”de”” like  Athena out of the head of Zeus—that   a virgin walks down the street and  on her own strength and her own  

Power suddenly conceives a child, and this  child then is born and becomes the Messiah.   No, it’s not as if we have a biological wonder  that seeks to produce something out of nothing,   that we can have the process of birth  and the advent of life from no cause,  

No power. But rather, the New Testament is  saying, “Yes, indeed. There is a normal power,   a normal facility, by which the race is  propagated and the species replenished that   we call the reproductive system. And there is a  power unleashed through the reproductive process.”  

The New Testament’s saying is that that power  that we have in normal categories of nature   has been set in motion and injected into  this planet by a superpower that we call God,   whose power stands behind  all of creation, all of life.

Without the power of God, there can  be no egg, there can be no sperm,   there can be no life at all. The great miracle  comes from the naturalist today who tells us   that the world popped into existence on its  own power. That’s the virgin birth of the  

Whole universe. They deny the virgin birth  that God Himself brings about by this power,   this virgin birth, a very small thing for  the Lord of heaven and earth to accomplish,   indeed. And those who deny it put in its place  the virgin birth of the universe. It’s incredible  

That we have this kind of thinking going on, but  it’s there and we have to confront it every day. But the point I want to make is this,  that the New Testament says power   stood behind the birth of Christ,  but it was not the potency  

Of Joseph that generated this child,  but the potency of God the Father.”

#Virgin #Birth #Ultimately #R.C #Sproul