Question on Virgin birth

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duneman

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I have friend that does not believe in the Virgin birth. Says not translated .
How do I answer this ?
 
Raised Catholic. But believes in God was Lutheran for awhile claims not translated correctly
 
Before answering, would you want to know his accepted translation, and how he determined this was ‘correct’?
 
This might be a good starting point for the OP. Perhaps I phrased my post poorly. I mean that the OP can ask the person to supply the translation and why he/she believes it is incorrect.
 
duneman said:
I have friend that does not believe in the Virgin birth. Says not translated .
How do I answer this ?
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Perhaps your friend is referencing Matthew 1:25 ("[Joseph] had no relations with [Mary] until she bore a son, and he named him Jesus")…?

I mean, that seems pretty clear that Mary was at least a virgin up till Jesus’ birth. (The usual Protestant claim is that “until” implies that they did have relations after Jesus’ birth.)

My gut feel here is that either you or your friend is confusing “virgin birth” with “perpetual virginity”. Protestants will argue against the latter, using Mt 1:25 as their “proof”. A Catholic would respond with a discussion about prepositions in Koine Greek, and point out that the word that gets translated as “until” only discusses what happened before the “until” time, and not what happened after it. There are a number of Scriptural examples where we see this word being used, in which it’s clearly talking about before without referencing after. You might do a search on these forums on “perpetual virginity” or “until she bore a son” or the Greek word “heos”.
 
The “young woman” translation comes from the Hebrew word almah. Although almah means “young woman”, young women were expected to be virgins in the cultural context of ancient Israel. In fact, the Septuagint version which was used by Greek-speaking Jews before the coming of Christ translates almah with the Greek word parthenos which specifically means “virgin”.

The constant and perennial teaching of the Church however is what ultimately confirms that “virgin” is a correct translation.
 
Look at Mary’s words to Gabriel! “How is this to happen, since I know not man”

Couple of points here. Despite her young age and virginity, Mary knew that sexual relations produced the next generation. Also implicit in her statement was that she was going to remain virgin, even though she was betrothed. Essentially “Yes, I know that sexual relations produce a child, and that I am about to be married, but how on earth shall I conceive since I do not have sexual relations?”

Next, examine Gabriel’s words - which are God’s words, since angels are His messengers: The Holy Spirit! The language used is likened to a cloud overshadowing her, strongly reminiscent of the cloud in Exodus. This overshadowing is spoken of in the Book of Wisdom (19:7) as to the events which occurred in Exodus. Consider that Wisdom was penned about 50 years prior to the Incarnation.

As to Matthew 1:25, Monsignor Ronald Knox put it more clearly in his translation of the scriptures: “and he had not known her when she bore a son, her first-born, to whom he gave the name Jesus.”

Such a belief as this friend harbors calls the entirety of Christianity into question. Perhaps a crisis of faith, or some odd sect’s twist on salvation history.
 
Your friend must not believe that the Holy Spirit Inspired the Writers of the New Covenant’s Sacred Scriptures, then; it was the Writer of St. Matthew that translated the term to virgin:
22 Now all this was done that it might be fulfilled which the Lord spoke by the prophet, saying:
23 Behold a virgin shall be with child, and bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us. (St. Matthew 1)
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Consider too that women have been giving birth since after Creation; even today it is not unusual to hear that a young woman (sometimes as young as 10 if you believe the news reports) has given birth. So what special sign would it be to offer ‘and here’s the sign, a young woman/teen will give birth to a child?’

Further investigation then leads us back to the Virgin since the Angel Gabriel attests that it is the Holy Spirit, God Himself, that would Come upon the Virgin and cause her to Conceive (the Incarnation of the Word); hence, her Holy Child would be the Son of God.

Maran atha!

Angel
 
There is also some indication that Mary was not only a virgin, as girls her age (14 or so) would be, but a Temple virgin – young girls who served at the Temple in Jerusalem until they were of marrying age. An “almah” is a young woman of marrying age, but not yet married.

Of course, we know as an article of faith that Mary is ever-virgin and perfect in her purity, body and soul.
 
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