The Virgin Birth of Jesus

Welcome to the Gospel of Matthew! Like John, Matthew was one of Jesus’ disciples, specifically one of the twelve apostles. Scholars also identify Matthew with the name Levi in Mark 2:14. (Compare with Matthew 10:3)

You may have heard critics argue that Isaiah 7:14, the prophecy that Matthew quotes in verse 23, denies the Virgin Birth. Interestingly, there are two Hebrew words for virgin: bthuwlah (pronounced beh-too-lah), meaning a true virgin—one who has not had intimate relations with a man. The other word is almah’ and refers to a young woman of marital age, possibly one newly married. Critics argue that, since Isaiah used this second word, almah’, instead of the first, bthuwlah, Mary didn’t have to be a virgin.

However, they not only ignore the fact that almah’ is used in other verses like Genesis 24:43 and Song 6:8 (where context clearly reveals its virgin use), but Matthew also uses the Greek word for a virgin in verse 23 as he quotes Isaiah’s prophecy, “Behold, the virgin shall conceive….” This Greek word is parthenos, and it always refers to a woman who has never had sexual relations. No double meaning here!

As if all of this was not enough evidence, Matthew reveals that Joseph considered divorcing Mary, presumably because of her seeming unfaithfulness during their betrothal. Matthew also carefully notes, “It was discovered before they came together,” meaning Joseph and Mary had not entered into sexual relations.^[1] Finally, Matthew, with that sharp, tax-collecting-trained eye of his, adds the detail that Joseph did not “know” Mary until after Jesus’s birth, also referring to sexual relations. (Matthew 1:25) Don’t you just love God’s modest language as well as His impeccable detail in the Scriptures?

For what it’s worth, Isaiah 7:14 was both an immediate and distant prophecy. Immediately, Isaiah foretold that, in the time for a young woman to conceive, deliver her baby, and the child grow to know right and wrong, God would deliver His people from their Exile. (Isaiah 7:15) That immediate prophecy was fulfilled 150 years later when, just as Isaiah later prophesied, King Cyrus the Great released Israel to return home from Persian captivity and rebuild the Temple of the Lord. (Isaiah 44:28; 45:13; Ezra 1:3; 2 Chronicles 36:23). The distant prophecy was fulfilled in Jesus with the Virgin Birth.

Application

Does someone have to believe in the Virgin Birth to be a Christian? This is an important question to ponder. Paul says that all one must do to be saved is believe Jesus rose from the dead and confess that He is Lord. (Romans 10:9–10) So, technically, believing in the Virgin Birth of Jesus isn’t required. But, rejecting the Virgin Birth reveals that someone is either immature in faith or doesn’t take the Bible seriously as this doctrine is clearly revealed in God’s Word.

The Isaiah passage that Matthew quotes in verse 23 says that the virgin’s son would be called Immanuel, which is translated as “God is with Us.” Isaiah also refers to Jesus in Isaiah 11:1–9.

Some seven hundred years before Jesus was born, Isaiah prophesied a miracle… well, three miracles, really. The first two were: 1.) the Virgin Birth, and 2.) that Jesus would be the incarnation of God Himself. (John 1:14) God the Son became a man and began His human life as a vulnerable baby. Then came miracle number 3.) God living with His people. The concept of a close-up God was not at all common to those living under the Old Covenant, and to pagans the idea was not just unheard but deemed insulting to gods. Gods weren’t in the habit of leaving their glorious abodes to sully themselves with dirty humans!

No different, as many of us used to believe, God was “out-there” but not close. And then, through the incarnation, it was as if God pulled up a chair, sat down at a table across from us, and extended an invitation, saying, “Let’s get to know each other.”

God is here. God is with us. God is with you! And, He will never leave you nor abandon you! (Matthew 28:20; Hebrews 13:5; John 14:16) How’s that for the first chapter of Matthew’s Good News?

© Copyright 2026 Craig Beaman