Does it matter if we accept the virgin birth as truth? Whatever the Word of God proclaims - and the virgin birth is emphatically acknowledged throughout Scripture - Christians are to believe it. We are not free to pick and choose which portions of the Bible we will believe or interpret for our own benefit.
We do not have to fully understand the virgin birth in order to be saved. Certainly I did not comprehend that idea or many other scriptural concepts when I was saved at twelve years of age. I just knew I was a sinner and wanted Jesus in my life. But there is a difference between being ignorant or uneducated and deliberately rejecting Scripture's testimony about who Jesus was. When a person dismisses the Jesus presented to us in the Word of God, he cannot be saved.
People who deny the truth of the virgin birth also reject other foundational truths in the Bible. Some find it more comfortable to select the parts of Scripture that suit their lifestyle or opinions rather than to apply the entire Word of God to their life. When we limit which passages we will consider true, our susceptibility to Satan's lies grows. We drift further and further from narrow path of obedience to God.
To believe in the Jesus of the Bible is to accept Him as the virgin-born Son of God - the sinless Christ who gave His life at Calvary in order to take our sin upon Himself. Our freedom is greater when we accept God's truth instead of fighting for own opinions.
Excerpted from "The Virgin Birth - Does It Matter?" by In Touch Ministries (used by permission).
