The Virgin Birth An Inquiry into the Biblical Doctrine -------------------------------------------------------------

Since the rise of rationalistic theology in the 19th Century, the approach to discussing the person of Yeshua has seen a marked change. While the Christian Church had for centuries begun her inquiry into Christology “from above,” humanistic rationalism required that such inquiry begin “from below.” In other words, while the Church had always begun with the deity of Yeshua and proceeded from there to His humanity, the theology produced in the 19th Century (and which still undergirds a great deal of the contemporary theology relating to Christology) began “from below.” It was reasoned that the earliest followers of Yeshua must have first known Him as human and only then moved on to accept Him as divine. Undoubtedly, from a strictly historical perspective, this must have been the case. Moreover, one might welcome a Christology that begins “from below” as a needed corrective to the unbalanced Christology of the medieval Church in which the strong emphasis upon the deity of Messiah tended to eclipse His humanity. Yet when we come to the Apostolic Scriptures and the Christology they teach, just the opposite is the case. Almost unanimously do they present a Christology that begins “from above.” Surely this is most obvious with John, whose Prologue to his Gospel describes the pre-existent Logos (Word) becoming flesh. He does not diminish the humanity of Yeshua in this, but rather makes clear that his starting point is “from above,” not “from below.” His Prologue begins describing the Word as already existing in the beginning, as having a relationship with God while at the same time being God (1:1). And the concluding verse of the Prologue (1:18) makes the same assertion: “The only one, himself God, who is in closest fellowship with the Father, has made God known.” The Epistle to the Hebrews follows the same pattern. There the author affirms the complete humanity of Yeshua: “Since the children have flesh and blood, He too shared in their humanity” (Hebrews 2:14). He “tasted death” (2:9) and was made perfect through suffering (2:10). Even more, He was subjected to the same temptations as we are (4:15) and therefore sympathizes with our weakness (5:8). But this is not where the author to the Hebrews begins his treatise. He begins with the statement that when God spoke through the Messiah, He did so through His Son (1:2) Who is the heir of all things and the Creator of all things (1:2). The Son is the effulgence of the Father’s glory and the express image of His being (1:3). And the author of Hebrews goes on to exclaim that as far as the highest beings in creation are concerned, the Son is infinitely superior. What angel was ever address by God as “Son?” And even more to the point, what angel ever received the title God (1:8)? Paul follows the same pattern of a Christology that begins “from above.” In one of his earliest epistles, that written to the Galatians, he wrote: “But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Torah....” In 2Corinthians 8:9, Paul does not describe Yeshua as moving from poverty to riches via the resurrection, but just the opposite: “For you know the grace of