Christmas is not a word you will find in the Bible. But Christmas is all about the essential, core message of the Bible, which is that God sent Jesus to save humans.
You may not think “theology” when you hear the word “Christmas,” but taking a closer look at the theological implications of what we celebrate during Christmas will reveal how important the virgin birth of Christ really is to the whole of Christianity.
Gifts, trees, spending time with family, going to church, and singing certain songs are all things we love about the Christmas season. But when we look at what God accomplished through Christmas, especially in relationship to the virgin birth, we will not only love Christmas more but we will love Christ more for all that he’s done for us.
The Virgin Birth Is Essential to Our New Nature and Justification
Core to Christmas is the virgin birth. The virgin birth wasn’t just a prophetic sign that God used to mark the coming of his Son (Isaiah 7:14), although it certainly was that. The virgin birth is massively important to our new nature and justification.
The problem every human has is that we are all born with a sinful nature. Our mother and father were both sinful, and so when they came together and had us, we inherited their sinful nature which ultimately was inherited in every generation stemming all the way back to Adam and Eve. Every humans after Adam and Eve did not sin and then become sinners. We sinned because we were born as sinners.
If Jesus would have been born by two natural parents, he would have inherited the sinful nature just as all humans had before him. Since Jesus was born through the miraculous power of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 1:20) who conceived him in Mary, Jesus was both fully man and fully God. Thus he became the perfect atoning sacrifice who could pay for the sins of all humans as the only sinless human.
Likewise, when we put our faith in Jesus, the Holy Spirit causes us to be “born of the Spirit” (John 3:6). When we were born in natural birth, we were born in the lineage of Adam, which was sinful. But when we put our faith in Jesus, we are “born again” into the linage of Jesus, which is spiritually perfect. Romans 5:17-19 explains:
For if, because of one man’s (Adam) trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.
18 Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. 19 For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.
Jesus came to earth and was born through the virgin Mary, lived a perfect life, died a perfect death, and then rose from the grave. When we place our faith in Jesus, God transfers the perfect birth, life, death, and resurrection of Christ onto us, giving us the benefits of perfection which we do not deserve but have in full through Christ. Galatians 4:4-5 says this:
But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.
Because Jesus was born as a man and then lived a perfect life, thus fulfilling every requirement of the law on our behalf, he has given all humanity the opportunity to be adopted into the family of God. If Jesus wasn’t born supernaturally, he would just be a man. And if Jesus was just a man and not fully God, then all that the Bible says he accomplished for us is not true. But because Jesus was conceived physically by the Holy Spirit, all humans now have the opportunity to be born again spiritually through the Holy Spirit to receive justification and a new nature from God.
So why is the virgin birth so important? Without Jesus coming the way he did, we would not have redemption available to us like we do now. 1 Timothy 1:15 states, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” Luke 19:10 explains, “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”In other words, Christmas, including the virgin birth, is about God sending his Son Jesus to save us all.