"If I profess with the loudest voice and the clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God except that point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christ. Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved, and to be steady on all the battlefields besides is mere flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point." -- Martin Luther.
Did you know that the first person to doubt the doctrine of the virgin birth was the virgin herself? "How can this be?" she asked the angel Gabriel (Luke 1:34). But upon further explanation of the miraculous nature of the Messiah's conception, her doubts evaporated. "I am the Lord's servant, and I am willing to do whatever he wants. May everything you said come true" (Luke 1:37).
In the 19th century, German scholars such as Albrecht Ritschl questioned the virgin birth, saying that it required a "special biological miracle." This skepticism became a trend among German theologians. Eventually, in Germany and elsewhere, the authority of the Bible was almost completely replaced with liberal theology and a secular worldview. We were told that only the most naive person could accept such a teaching and make such a confession. Indeed, in our day the liberal attitude on this doctrine is not so much argued as assumed and is represented as the "assured consensus of scholarship."And yet, as the great J. Gresham Machen declared, "If the Bible is regarded as being wrong in what it says about the birth of Christ, then obviously the authority of the Bible, in any higher sense, is gone."
Against this trend of unbelief, may we take a valiant stand against the current unbelief and for the full truth of the gospel. No true follower of the Lord Jesus can deny his virgin birth. Let us therefore sing, with full assurance:
Christ, by highest heaven adored,
Christ, the Everlasting Lord!
Late in time behold him come,
Offspring of the Virgin's womb.
Veiled in flesh the Godhead see.
Hail th' incarnate Deity,
Pleased as man with men to dwell,
Jesus, our Emmanuel.