Virgin birth of Jesus
In Christianity and Islam, it is asserted that Jesus was conceived by his mother Mary solely through divine intervention and without sexual intercourse, thus resulting in his virgin birth. In accordance with these beliefs, Jesus had just one biological parent instead of the necessary two; Mary's husband Joseph was his father only in the legal sense. Most Christians hold also that Mary's virginity was perpetual. Though not biologically related, Jesus being Joseph's adoptive son is cited as linking him to the Davidic line.
Quotes about
[edit]- Dost thou believe in God the Father Almighty?
- Dost thou believe in Christ Jesus, the Son of God,
- who was born by the Holy Spirit from the Virgin Mary,
- who was crucified under Pontius Pilate, and died.
- The Creed of Hyppolityus (c. 215), in The Apostolic Tradition of St. Hyppolitus, XXI, 12, 15 (ed. Gregory-Dix, p. 26). As reported in Father Paul Palmer, SJ, Mary in the Documents of the Church, p. 4 (of 129), Lowe and Brydone (printers) Ltd, London L.W. 10, for Burns Oates and Washbourne Ltd, 28 Ashley Place, London, S.W.I. (with nihil obstat by E.A Cerny, S.S, D.D., and imprimatur by Franciscus P. Keough, D.D., Archbishop of Baltimore, given on 23 November 1951). OCLC 3286267.
- I believe in God the Father Almighty,
- and Christ Jesus His only Son, our Lord,
- who was born from the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary,
- who was crucified under Pontius Pilate, and buried...
- The Creed of Rufinus (c. 400), quoted in Denzinger-Banwart (DB, 2), Enchiridion symbolorum, defintionum et declarationum de rebus fidei et morum, ed. 24-25 by Umberg; Barcelona, 1948. As reported in Father Paul Palmer, SJ, Mary in the Documents of the Church, p. 4 (of 129), Lowe and Brydone (printers) Ltd, London L.W. 10, for Burns Oates and Washbourne Ltd, 28 Ashley Place, London, S.W.I. (with nihil obstat by E.A Cerny, S.S, D.D., and imprimatur by Franciscus P. Keough, D.D., Archbishop of Baltimore, given on 23 November 1951). OCLC 3286267.
- ...τὸν δι' ἡμᾶς τοὺς ἀνθρώπους καὶ διὰ τὴν ἡμετέραν σωτηρίαν κατελθόντα ἐκ τῶν οὐρανῶν καὶ σαρκωθέντα ἐκ Πνεύματος Ἁγίου καὶ Μαρίας τῆς παρθένου καὶ ἐνανθρωπήσαντα,...
- Et incarnátus est de Spíritu Sancto / ex María vírgine, et homo factus est.
- ...came down from heaven, was incarnate, became human, was born perfectly of the holy virgin Mary by the Holy Spirit...
- See the Nicene Creed on en.wikipedia. Here are reported the Ancient Greek (First Council of Constantinople (381)) and Latin text, as well as the English translation of the Armenian version of the prayer.
- O you, Jews, which is more difficult, for a virgin to bear a child, or for a rod to quickened into a living thing? You admit that at the time of Moses a perfect straight rod took the form of a serpent and became an object of terror to him who cast it down, and he who before had held the rod fast now fled from it as a dragon...
- These stories are highly suggestive, but the Jews still contradict and are not impressed by the argument drawn from the rod so long as there is no reference to births similar to our case, births which are strange and beyond nature. Ask them, therefore, the following questions: From whom was Eve begotten at the beginning? What mother conceived her who was without mother? Do not the Scriptures say that she was formed by the side of a man? Why cannot a child be born without a father from the womb a virgin? Woman owed a debt of gratitude to man, for Eve sprang from Adam, conceived by no mother, but brought forth as it were by msn alone. Now Mary paid this debt of gratitude when, through the power of God, or herself alone and not by man, immaculately she brought forth by the Holy Spirit.
- Saint Cyril of Alexandria, Catechetical Lectures, 12, 28-29 (PG 33,760-761). As quoted in Father Paul Palmer, SJ, Mary in the Documents of the Church, p. 8 (of 129), Lowe and Brydone (printers) Ltd, London L.W. 10, for Burns Oates and Washbourne Ltd, 28 Ashley Place, London, S.W.I. (with nihil obstat by E.A Cerny, S.S, D.D., and imprimatur by Franciscus P. Keough, D.D., Archbishop of Baltimore, given on 23 November 1951). OCLC 3286267.
