Did Isaiah Really Predict a Virgin Birth? Some Interesting Backstory to the Bible’s Most Famous Prophecy

As I seem to be doing more and more these days, I have taken on an utterly too ambitious topic for this article.

Maybe you could chalk it up to the inner masochist in me, but I don’t think such an explanation tells the (entire) story. Truth is, this subject has been in the back of mind for over three years, rattling around in there and surfacing every once in a while to see if I was ready for the task of tackling the issue of the virgin birth prophecy.

Mick Haupt

After learning that the word virgin in Isaiah 7:14 does not strictly mean virgin, I began wondering if skeptics' claims that early followers of Jesus mistranslated or misconstrued the Scriptures to suit their purposes are legitimate.

In truth, although I have done quite a bit of homework on this, I am in no way an authority on the subject. Furthermore, the web article format simply cannot do the issue the justice it merits. To say this issue could fill an entire book is no exaggeration as many authors have already undertaken and fulfilled the task.

Nevertheless, I think the issue is worth addressing and revisiting because it is important we know of deficiencies (or perceptions thereof) regarding the Bible.

Wasn't Jesus Always Perfect?

Hebrews 2:10 tells us God made Jesus "perfect through suffering."

But wasn't Jesus always perfect? Why did God need to perfect him?

Daniel Sandvik

If you're new here, you might be interested to know I write a monthly article for my email subscribers. This month we're discussing this very question, "Wasn't Jesus always perfect?" And we'd love for you to join us.

Here's a snippet of the article:

We can answer this question fairly easily when we recognize we might be thinking of the word "perfect" in a different way than the author of Hebrews presents it here.

When I hear or read perfect I understand it as flawless or without fault. As one definition reads:

Being entirely without fault or defect; corresponding to an ideal standard or abstract concept. [2]

From a Christian perspective we might speak of moral perfection, of being sinless.

In all of these regards, yes, Jesus was perfect. He never sinned. He was never at fault. And, being the incarnation of God, he corresponded in every way to the ideal standard.

In New Testament Greek, the word which most closely equates to this concept is probably amomos. The word is a compound one beginning with a which means not or without, and mómos meaning blame or blemish.

So this combination yields blameless or spotless.

Such is a great descriptor of Jesus, and, in fact, Peter uses the word to compare Jesus's death with that of a spotless lamb. Just as Mosaic Law dictated the sacrifice of an unblemished lamb, Jesus lived a perfect (amomos) life and therefore could serve as the final sacrifice for sins.[3]

Nevertheless Hebrews 2:10 does not use amomos when discussing how God made Jesus perfect. Instead, the passage uses a different word.

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The Supernatural Power of Adoption

I had not given much thought to the word “begotten” at the time Katie and I adopted two boys.

Just a couple of weeks before our daughter's first birthday we climbed the steps of the courthouse, and not-so-patiently waited outside the courtroom. Adoption was a decision we both knew was right, but that knowledge couldn’t work to suppress the nerves produced by our impending legal responsibilities.

Mannhai (CC)

Within the hour the gavel would slam the desk, and Katie and I went from having one child to three. The boys had been in our home for some time as foster children, but prior to that day, they were not legally ours. They belonged to others: first their birth parents, then the state. But on that day, the sordid DHS case was closed, marking the beginning of a new and challenging saga.

We were now a family of five: two adopted children, and Georgia, our only begotten.

Perhaps the Most Misquoted Verse in All of Scripture

People misquote scripture all the time, but there’s one verse that seems to rise above the rest in its errant rendering, and the misrepresentation goes multiple layers deep.

Kevin Dooley (CC)

The verse is 1 Timothy 6:10a. It’s actually half of a verse because most people only reference the first sentence. See if you can recite it. It has the words “money,” “root,” and “evil.”

Let’s see how you did. Here’s the verse in the New International Version: