Prominent Christian apologist William Lane Craig’s name is most often associated with his ministry organization Reasonable Faith, the name of his most famous book and also weekly podcast.
While cosplaying as a conservative Christian voice and leader, he is more philosopher than theologian, and his recent spate of biblical pronouncements shows.
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In a recent Instagram post, Craig first denies the doctrine of original sin, then claims that the belief that Jesus was born a virgin is not an essential Christian belief, both as it relates to his sinlessness and his deity.
I suppose it depends on what you mean by “essential.” In one sense, it’s not essential to the deity of Jesus Christ. We shouldn’t think that it was in virtue of his being virginally conceived that Jesus was divine.
Even if he had had a human father, he still would have had a divine nature which he possessed from eternity past before he assumed a human nature as well.Nor is the virgin birth essential to the sinlessness of Jesus. If you think that original sin is passed on by human procreation, well then he would inherit original sin from Mary alone without Joseph, so that Roman Catholics have been compelled to affirm that Mary herself was immaculately conceived without original sin, a doctrine which has no biblical basis at all.
He continues:
So I would say that the virgin birth is ‘essential’ only in the sense that the Bible affirms it. Both Matthew and Luke teach it. It’s clearly meant to be taken as the way in which Jesus was conceived, and it may be that Jesus is to be understood as the Son of God in virtue of his virginal conception.
Luke says that the angel tells Mary, because the Holy Spirit is going to come upon you, that which is born of you will be called the Son of God.
So the virginal conception is inherent to the biblical view of Jesus, but it’s not essential to his deity or sinlessness in the way that some may have thought.
Craig previously adressed the issue of Jesus’ virgin birth in an interview with the New York Times, saying that he was “reasonably confident” that Jesus was born a virgin.
2 responses to “Apologist William Lane Craig Says Belief in Jesus’ Virgin Birth is Not ‘Essential’”
Teaching for doctrine, the commandments of Charles Darwin.
Science only factors the flesh. Yet man is made of flesh and spirit, with a soul. It is through man that sin entered the world. Through men that God’s promises are passed from generation to generation. All according to God’s created order. And science, which is the finite knowledge of mankind, cannot begin to understand what is truly passed down, flesh and spirit. Despite being focused solely on the flesh, without regard for the readily observable existence of the spirit of man, it doesn’t even begin to understand what is passed down solely flesh to flesh. It is possible that some sin nature is passed through paternal genes, through the flesh. Sure it is. The flesh is corrupted from the sin of Adam, and the change of Creation at that time, in ways we do not understand. But there’s a lot more to it than just genetics. An infinitude of things that we do not understand. And scripture is clear that much is passed to the spirit of man, created by the breath of God. Good things such as knowledge and that connection through our own spirit to our Creator, but also the weakness of man’s own spirit such that he is unable to save himself, of his own accord by his own righteousness, without the indwelling and aid of the Holy Spirit. The law is passed to the spirit (Romans first few chapters), not through the flesh. But God’s word is not implanted until we are born again. Science doesn’t begin to factor, much less understand, such things. But all know, as it is easily observable, mankind is far more than just flesh. And to deny it is to deny the Gospel, and the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit. This man has a form of godliness but denies the power thereof.
It’s not just because the Bible says it, but why the Bible says it. And that is because the Holy Spirit testified to the Apostles that the virgin birth was absolutely relevant and necessary. This man is very humble and conciliatory toward the wicked world, but very arrogant and defiant toward his Creator. Friendship with the world is enmity with God (James 4:4). Who is he to say to mankind that the virgin birth isn’t relevant or necessary? Who is he to tell the Holy Spirit that he didn’t need to inspire the inclusion of such things in God’s Word? Does this man have the infinite knowledge and understanding of Almighty God? He speaks with authority about things he couldn’t possibly know or understand. And there’s nothing “reasonable” about that whatsoever.
It is not just the corruption of man that makes his spirit weak, but also the corruption of all of Creation. In the garden, food was free, shelter was free, there was no need for man to work, nor was there death or the fear of death. The spirit of man is not strong enough to keep his own corrupt flesh at bay, and is also not strong enough to deal with the corruption of all Creation since the sin of Adam.
Mr. Lane betrays the existence of that corrupted Creation, in the course of trying to appeal to and appease the wicked world. Why? Fear of not having shelter. Fear of not having food. Fear that not appeasing the wicked will make life harder and could jeopardize his survival.
We don’t know what is passed from generation to generation. But to only factor the flesh, and to essentially therefore assume that the spirit of man is strong enough of its own accord, otherwise, is extremely unwise, short-sighted, and incomplete. The inheritance of a weak spirit is completely ignored and factored out. Which, therefore, factors out the entire Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Science knows that man has a spirit. But it doesn’t begin to understand it. It doesn’t even try to understand it, beyond vain and futile attempts to prove it is a mere product of nothing but fleshly genetics. And it certainly doesn’t begin to try to understand the Holy Spirit, and the reality that one can be born again – reborn with a spirit that is strong enough to withstand, because of the work of the Holy Spirit.
This is why Jesus said that sins against Him could be forgiven, but that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit could not and would not be forgiven. But none of us truly completely understands, even the Gospel. We could rationalize in the same manner as Mr. Lane, and say “well, since it’s about the work of the Holy Spirit, then Jesus didn’t need to die on the cross. The compulsion is to try to explain everything as if we’re the experts on everything, appealing to other “experts”, pretending to be very learned and knowledgeable in the sight of men (which again points right back to Creation and their desire to be like God, and to essentially call Him a liar, that it wasn’t for their own good that they recognize His superiority to them). But what we need to do is recognize the absolute fact that God is the only true expert, and that without Him, we’re all complete and total idiots. More humility toward our Creator, and less friendship and fealty to the wicked world, as if we need its approval.