If someone asked you, “Why is Jesus’ virgin birth important?” what would you say? You may not give that question much thought outside of December so I would not blame you if you struggled to come up with a good answer right away. Allow me to provide two reasons for your consideration that I hope will help equip you to answer this question. These are not the only reasons, but I pray these are an encouragement to you.
Christ’s virgin birth is important because it was a fulfillment of prophecy.
Matthew 1:22-23 says, “Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, ‘Behold a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is God with us.’” The prophet mentioned here is Isaiah who lived centuries before the birth of Christ (see Isaiah 7:14). God promised his Son would be born of a virgin and he would be God in the flesh.
God always keeps his promises. Denying or minimizing the importance of Christ’s virgin birth undercuts the very integrity of the Scriptures and the Lord himself who created those life-giving words. That is one reason we must defend and cherish this teaching as an essential piece of Christian doctrine. If God cannot be trusted to do as he said through the prophet Isaiah, he may be untrustworthy with other matters as well. The fact that Jesus was born just as Isaiah said secures our confidence in God’s ability to do as he says he will even centuries later.
Christ’s virgin birth is important because it demonstrates his uniqueness as the Son of God.
The accounts of Christ’s birth found in Matthew and Luke are designed to magnify Christ as the unique Son of God. The fact that Jesus is the predicted virgin-born Emmanuel is one of the brightest stars in the constellation of miraculous events surrounding his incarnation. No other person has ever been born this way. No birth in human history is superior in supernatural wonders. Even the account of John the Baptist’s birth, whom Jesus called, “The greatest born of women” in Luke chapter one is deliberately contrasted as inferior in every way to the birth of the Savior. Praise God for his wisdom in revealing His son in such a show of power and glory!
Why is the virgin birth so important? The virgin birth is an important thread in the overall integrity of Scripture linking our promise-keeping Lord to his divine means of salvation--Jesus. Second, the virgin birth is like a bolt of lightning illuminating the world with the reality of “God with us” by bringing him into the world in such a unique way. The virgin birth ought to bolster our confidence in God’s faithfulness to keep his promises and cause us to worship Jesus Christ as the holy Son of God.