therefore the child to be born [of you] will be called holy, the Son of God. (Lk. 1:35, RSV) It is difficult to lay down, dogmatically, that there could be no incarnation without a virgin birth. What we can say, however, is that there would be something profoundly incongruous in a non-miraculous advent. In Hebrews 2:10, the writer speaks of the fittingness of the Captain of Salvation being made perfect through sufferings. There is surely a similar fittingness in the manner of our Lord’s birth as
Page 38