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trusted absolutely in any assertion He may make is certain, for "He Whom God hath sent
speaketh the words of God". We believe that there is a full and adequate guarantee both
for the Saviour's sinlessness and for His utter and complete infallibility to be found in the
recurring references at certain junctures of His life and ministry to the purposeful
interposition of the Holy Spirit. These references we must now consider together,
rejoicing already in the knowledge that God `gave not the Spirit by measure unto Him'.
While the Scriptures maintain that Christ was indeed `man', that He partook of `flesh
and blood', that He was indeed `The Son of Man', that there is one Mediator, Himself
man (R.V.) Christ Jesus, and that `since by man came death, by Man came also the
resurrection of the dead', it also maintains at every turn that He was ever and always
`holy, harmless, undefiled', that He knew no sin, that He did no sin, He was `Jesus Christ
the righteous'. No explanation is offered that accounts for this but two statements of fact
are given which in the eyes of God are all-sufficient. The Saviour was born of a virgin.
This while contrary to nature is no more to be rejected than that the first man had neither
father nor mother, but came into the world at the creative decree of God. The Virgin
Birth cuts through the entail that descends to all men from Adam, for in the Scriptures
genealogy is always computed through the male line. This fact is actually recognized in
the Hebrew language by the employment of one word zakar for `man' that means `to
remember' and one word for woman nashim which means `to forget'. The Virgin Birth
therefore cuts through the line to Adam. This is not all however. When the angel Gabriel
announced the news to Mary that she had been chosen of all women to be the mother of
the Messiah, she, as a right minded, intelligent and sensible woman, exclaimed "How
shall this be, seeing I know not a man?" (Luke 1: 34). The angel's answer is explicit,
even if it be not fully explanatory:
"The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall
overshadow thee: therefore also that Holy Thing that shall be born of thee shall be called
the Son of God" (Luke 1: 35).
To the mind of Gabriel, the power and overshadowing of the Holy Ghost was a
sufficient answer, `therefore' is a logical connection.
"In the annunciation to Mary, as well as in the vision of Joseph, not only is the
supernatural conception declared, but the part of the Spirit in that mystery, about which it
is almost impossible to speak, is defined and emphasized. Before the first stage of
organic development had dawned, He so wrought and ruled, that the life fostered in
the unique mother was protected against all the frailties of an earthly lineage, and made
fit to blend with that divine consciousness now and hereafter to be infused into it."
(T. G. Selby).
The record of Matthew's gospel is brief and to the point:
"Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was
espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy
Ghost" (Matt. 1: 18).
The reactions of Joseph are perfectly natural, and he had to be assured by Divine
intervention that all was well.