The Virgin Birth: Unveiling the Prophecy and Its Impact on Christian Faith

As Christians in the 21st century, we often take many things for granted, like the fact that we don’t have to wait for prophecies to unfold—they’ve already happened. We have the complete picture, while first-century Jews did not.

Take the virgin birth, for example. Like many Christians, I haven’t given it much thought. Why would I? Honestly, the biggest miracle I’ve experienced is my heart being transformed from the ways of the world to the ways of God. Only God could have done that.

So when it comes to miracles like the virgin birth of Christ, I didn’t think much about it until one day at work. During lunch, some coworkers asked me about Christ’s birth, arguing that something like that couldn’t happen, and therefore, it wasn’t true. I gave them a response, but it wasn’t my best—I was caught off guard because I assumed everyone believed this. I couldn’t remember the exact scripture or some of the ancient writings that could’ve helped make my point stronger. I have dyslexia, so remembering and writing things down is challenging—thank God for technology.

That’s why I decided to write this blog on the birth of Christ, focusing on the prophecy of Isaiah 7:14 (NIV): "Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel."

After some research, I discovered some interesting things about this prophecy. First, this prophecy of the virgin birth is only mentioned once in direct connection to Christ, and that’s in Isaiah 7:14. Now, here’s where it gets interesting—I remembered hearing somewhere that the word "virgin" doesn’t actually appear in the Bible verse. So, I looked into it more and found out that it does exist in scripture, but I can see how it could have been interpreted as "young woman" instead of "virgin."

Let’s break down the Hebrew words "almah" and "bethulah" to see how each is used in various biblical contexts:

Almah (עַלְמָה): Typically means a young woman of marriageable age. It doesn’t explicitly denote virginity but often implies it in cultural and contextual usage.

Bethulah (בְּתוּלָה): Specifically means "virgin," with a clear implication of sexual purity.

Now, as a Christian, I know that Christ was born of a virgin. This is clear to me, and I assumed it was clear to every Christian throughout history. Even Jews thought this way. The Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, which was done by Jewish scholars in the 3rd or 2nd century BCE, translated "almah" as "parthenos," which means "virgin" in Greek. This reflects how Jewish scholars at the time understood the word, and it was done long before Christianity arose.

Many scholars are confident that Isaiah 7:14 refers to a "virgin" based on several lines of evidence:

Early Manuscripts: Early Septuagint manuscripts consistently translate "almah" as "parthenos."

Context: The context of the prophecy in Isaiah 7:14 suggests a miraculous birth, contributing to the interpretation of "almah" as "virgin."

Jewish Interpretation: Early Jewish tradition often aligned with this understanding.

Patristic Evidence: Early Christian writers confirmed the translation of "almah" as "parthenos."

So, while "almah" primarily means "young woman," the context and historical translations suggest that in Isaiah 7:14, it implies "virgin." This is especially true given the translation choices of the Septuagint and the context of the prophecy.

I would love to go more into this, but I don’t have the time. The point is, "virgin" was used, and it was clearly in scripture. it’s important to note that until Isaiah 7:14 was translated into Greek, the word "almah" was a perfect match for this prophecy. It’s fascinating that the Jewish translators in the 3rd or 2nd century BCE understood it to mean "virgin."

Even more fascinating is the fact that if "almah" was translated to "parthenos," it seems this prophecy wasn’t heavily discussed by the time the first century rolled around when Christ was born.

If you look at literature from a hundred years before Christ’s birth, none of it—commentaries or prophecies—mentions the birth of the Messiah by a virgin. I found this part fascinating. It’s almost like God hid it from them.

It’s clear that first-century Jews weren’t looking for a virgin birth, which makes me believe Mary and Joseph wouldn’t have talked about this miracle with many people. Even though I believe the Holy Spirit would have shown them the scripture, it wouldn’t have mattered. I’m not even sure if they would have told their children about Jesus’ miraculous birth. You kind of get this from scripture as well.

In fact, we only hear about his birth in the opening of the gospels, and it’s not mentioned again, which tells me the disciples probably didn’t even know. Christ likely wouldn’t have said anything either, keeping it low-key until his grand entrance at age 30. Up until then, people would have just seen him as a normal person—maybe a nice boy who kept to himself and didn’t cause any problems.

to be continued