Let’s face it, there is a psychological yearning in mankind to separate Jesus from the rest of us when it comes to our humanity; however, to do so totally denies the purpose for which He came. Flesh can only be redeemed by flesh. If Jesus were of a virgin birth, then He didn’t share our origin, or nature, and then we must ask how could He ask us to follow Him? But, if He was born as a human like all of us, then what he did and what he achieved we can too. It’s so much easier to take the easy way out and make Jesus divine.
Let’s make it simple here. There are two camps. And I’m going to use a quote from each camp to illustrate the differences.
Thomas Aquinas said…….
“Without any hesitation we must abhor the error that asserts that Christ’s Mother, after his virgin birth, was carnally known by Joseph, and bore other children. This error is an insult to the Holy Ghost, whose shrine was the virginal womb, wherein he had formed the flesh of Christ: wherefore it was unbecoming that it should be desecrated by intercourse with man.”
John Knox said…………….
“For all his goodness and greatness, the wonder of his manhood, the qualities of mind and spirit which lift him so far above us, he was still a human being like ourselves. Not only should we not want it otherwise; we ought not to be able to bear otherwise. Jesus was a man like ourselves; Jesus’ nature was out common human nature. To say this is not to make a grudging concession to secular reason; it is to make a vital reaffirmation of the Christian faith.”
What do YOU SAY? 
I agree…one it answers questions I have always had since I was a child and I would ponder many things about Jesus and us becoming like Him, doing things He did and even GREATER, so He said Himself….two, what your comments say are readily and easily understood.
The more I think and meditate on the subject the more I lean strongly towards Knox’s view. How can I even begin to think I could follow Jesus if he was not a human being and instead was someone who was born and bred from some sort of hybrid womb? I’m not in any way meaning to be disrespectful but it is already hard enough to die to the flesh and aspire to be like Jesus. If I say that He is born of a human I stand a chance and can do the things and even greater that He said I,we, could do. Jesus being a human brings me comfort and peace, I believe He knows and has felt my pain, my fear, etc. Yes, the more I think of it the more I think Aguinas is way off in His thinking.
You’re right on. As someone has said, Satan’s greatest weapon has been the church- which has taught a doctrine the people literally could not follow (a virgin birth)
Let me introduce a third camp. I really have no position on this (at this time), but just following the trail: One has to ask is the virgin birth a real issue? If man was created by God, then man was created by a “virgin birth†event. Therefore the original state of man would be the same for Jesus whether he was born of a virgin or not. Then, that being said, does it matter if Jesus was/is God and became man or was man and became God(like)? If we (all humans) are born in a perfect state I am not sure the virgin birth matters. It seems the only real purpose for the virgin birth was to establish divinity and perfection in order for his sacrifice to be relevant, but to some extent man’s (Jesus’) divinity was established at birth/creation. Of course there is the born into sin thing I hear about. To me it’s like going into a room, I am in it (the room), but I am not the room. I am in France, but I am not French, etc. I am born into sin i.e this world, but not of it (I seem to recall a similar idea somewhere in the Bible). I am not convinced that we are born defective sinners. Sin(ning) is clearly a choice leading to a state of being, not the immediate result of birth. Just as “Adam†became “defective†through his actions, so do we. If we are born sinners then every child who dies at birth or very young would not be in a good spiritual place. I don’t know anyone who believes that. This is perplexing… So, are we created/born in a perfect spiritual state; or are we created/born in a sinful spiritual state? If you believe the latter, then you need a virgin birth for Christ to separate himself as perfect. So, what is the third camp’s mantra? Perhaps you can be born perfect without a virgin birth. The virgin birth may just be a metaphor for our (mankind’s) original created state. Divinity, just as sin, is a choice we make.
Well thought out!
1-I do not believe in original sin, but original blessing (Matthew Fox), but just being humans means we do junk real early on! And coming into a junky environment that billions before us have created isn’t a good thing as well.
2-Catholics like to do the “Limbo” on infant death, which thinking is now somewhat “in limbo”.
3-The “virgin metaphor” of your description, certainly isn’t what the metaphor that is being used as for those that don’t take it literally (though that should be a plus for your thinking).
4-Let’s add this to the mix. Jesus came not as the religious SUBSTITUTE, but as the spiritual REPRESENTATIVE.
Good job, by the way! I’d have a drink to your thinking any day.