As a parent I am going to be asked the tough questions. Punky jr. is going to at some point want to know more about Scripture and why her daddy and I believe what we do. When that happens it is vitally important that we can give her a concise answer so that she understands and can see the truth of the Bible.
This means that I have to know how to explain what I believe about all sorts of things in the Bible. One such important topic that I've been wrestling with since freshman year of college has to do with sin and Christ's virgin birth. Why is it so important to stress that Christ was born or a virgin, and just how did He as a full human escape sin?
I am an academic-- I like to research and study theories and weigh things before I decide if they are true or not. That is just how I am. I need the facts, the research, the evidence. Luckily for me, God understands my need and is willing to provide it and He understands this desire within me.
The first question: Why is it so important to stress the virgin birth? Well, there are many answers for this. First of all, since Mary was a virgin there is no question that the only way Jesus could be born was if God was his Father. Mary was the mother and God was the Father. This points out Jesus' divinity. Jesus is God. That is important. Jesus isn't just another man, a really good man. Jesus is God.
The second question is just as important. In order for His sacrifice to be enough, Jesus had to be without sin. Yet the Bible states that "All have sinned" (Romans 3:23) and Jesus is human, so just how did He escape sin, if we all do it, we are all born sinners? There are a lot of different theories on this.
Theory 1: Our proclivity to sin comes from our fathers, therefore since God is perfect and God is the father of Jesus, Jesus didn't have the proclivity to sin. This makes sin a purely physical thing and it has little to do with the spiritual realm of our being.
Question for this theory: If Jesus didn't even have the desire to sin, then was He REALLY tempted by satan-- it isn't much of a temptation unless it gets at your deep desires.
Theory 2: Our "Sin nature" that we inherited from Adam is just our desire to sin, and that desiring the sin is not sin itself till we actually commit the act. "Original sin" refers to the act in the Garden when Adam and Eve disobeyed God. (btw these 2 terms never appear in the Bible)
Question for this theory: If we just inherited a desire to sin from Adam, then why was Jesus the only person to overcome it, couldn't more people over this desire?
Theory 3: Our sin comes to us spiritually. This is the exact opposite of the first theory, which stated that sin came through our DNA. In this theory when we travel back to the garden we see that while Adam and Eve were not created with a sin nature they still gave in.
Question for this theory: if our sin nature is spiritual and not physical, why didn't Adam and Eve resist it, and thus protect all of us?
When it comes down to it the 3rd theory makes the most sense to me, while I can't explain everything "The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law." (Deut. 29:29) I do think this seems the most logical, and I like logic.
We all die physically but our souls lives on-- therefore our real lives, our true selves is found in the soul, and that is where sin reigns. Yet Christ came, He was perfect and therefore the perfect sacrifice. Salvation is not physical (being saved doesn't mean we escape dying) it is spiritual. The physical had to be conquered so the spiritual could be saved. Sin and death came through Adam and Salvation and Life come through Christ.
As much as the academic in me yearns to totally understand everything, I know that until I meet HIM face to face I won't gain full understanding and the full ability to explain things. This too I will show my daughter. She needs to know that it is OK to not be able to fully explain something. I can't fully explain the Trinity, yet I belive that I serve just 1 god and that He is 3 distinct entitites. That doesn't dim my belief. It gives me something to look forward to. I am excited to get to Heaven and have an eternity with God learning to understand Him!
What questions about the Bible and God do you have?
-JLP-
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