The Virgin birth.

 Jesus Christ, the son and legal heir of David, beyond whom his genealogy can be traced to Abraham, the Father of the faithful of all times, was conceived and born of Mary, the virgin mother, after Joseph, His foster Father, had been instructed through a wonderful angelic vision as to God's inter- position.
 For a bout eighteen centuries after ascension of Christ and the founding of the Christian Church the fact of the virgin birth was not called into question. and the comforting doctrines drawn there from were university accepted. Throughout the Christian Church the words  of the Apostle Creed: " who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, " was confessed and believed. But the era of rationalism, of believing only what reason admitted to be true, ushered in a new conception of
Bible criticism and this played havoc with our doctrine. One critic attacked the idea of a supernatural origin of Jesus and tried to find a natural explanation of the event. Another declared that Joseph was the father of Jesus. A third calmly treated the stories of Christs nativity as myths.In this manner, the  entire Bible account was soon discredited, both the fact of the virgin birth and the doctrine of the necessity of the sinless birth of the Savior being denied. It is stated that the modern world cannot believe in, and therefore has no place for miracles. Some have maintain that the virgin birth has no doctrinal significance anyway, not the physical basis of Christ's existence, but the moral and spiritual character of His personality being involved in redemption. But such statement reveal the fact that they are very well aware of the vital connection between doctrine of the virgin birth and faith in Christ divinity. A third class of critics favors  the mythological explanation, declaring that legends and myths have ever sprung up in connection with the development of all religions. A divine paternity by carnal intercourse being assumed in the majority of  cases  and while nothing can equal the simple, chaste, convincing language of the Bible narrative. The final argument of the critics that historical and textual criticism has proved consecutive editing of New Testament stories and the presence of material foreign to essential Gospel sources,  reveals the intention they are anxious to put into execution, namely to destroy the faith of Christians in truthfulness of the Bible story. Let us in  combating these attacks, rely upon the weapon which Christ Himself indicated to us namely:" it is written,"it is plainly written, Is. 7,14 that the Messiah should be born of a virgin, for the Hebrew word
 there used, both according to etymology and according to usage, designates not merely a " women of marriageable age.," but a virgin, a maiden that has not known a man. The virgin birth is most taught  in the passage, Matt. 1,20-25, as well Luke 1,34,35.  It agrees with the prophecy, Gen. 3, 15, where the seed of the women alone is named as the crusher of the serpents head. It finds its final conformation in the fact that St. Paul refers to it in the most self-evident way, When he speaks of the Son of God as having been made of a women, Gal.4,4.
 In the light of these plain passages we have every reason to say: therefore these learned men and critics are the falsifiers, visionaries, and writers of legends, not the apostles, and evangelists. Their historico- critical  research is plain fraud. From the view point of their unbelief , indeed, they can not do otherwise.  Theirs is the experience of the Jews, with seeing eyes they see nothing, and with hearing ears they hear nothing, and they have their reward, and the Devil thanks them!
  As Lutherans- Missouri synod, we shall retain the doctrine of the Virgin birth as a necessary part of our faith. We believe that it is essential for a full appreciation of the super natural, the divine character of the Savior. " in order to constitute  a divine-human personality, the divine being had to enter into the procreative depths of humanity and select and  assume a human nature of his formation and purifying, and unite himself personally with it.  It must be bone of our bone, flesh of our flesh, soul of our soul, in order to be organically connected to the human race; but it must be our nature lifted out of itself, separated, purified, transmuted- a human nature, that could be 'tempted' in all points like we are, yet  without sin. Christ  indeed became a real true man, but not conceived and born in sin, as other children of Adam.For that reason His mother had to  be a virgin whom no man touched, in order that He might not  be born under the curse, without sin and the devil would have no right or power over him. We celebrate such mercy to-day in order to thank God, that he purified our unholy conception and birth and took the curse from us, and brought he blessing upon us. The fact the sinless humanity of Christ,guaranteed to us by the virgin birth, made His being placed under the law, His perfect fulfillment of the law, and thus His entire work of redemption possible.