Conceived by the Holy Spirit, Rhyne R. Putnam. B&H Academic (ISBN: 9781087766317) 2024.

Summary: A study of the nativity narratives offering a defense of the virgin birth and considering its significance.

“Conceived by the Holy Spirit.” Some of us speak this phrase every week, or even every day. It is part of the Apostles Creed, one of the early creeds of the church. It is a confession to the supernatural conception of Jesus in the womb of Mary apart from sexual relations with a man. There has always been skepticism surrounding this idea. Babies just don’t happen that way. Yet Christians regularly confess that it did happen this way on one occasion.

Rhyne R. Putnam has given a wonderful gift to pastors preaching the nativity passages and to all of us who wonder about these things. This book explores the nativity passages in Matthew and Luke, defending the doctrine of the virgin birth, conceived by the Holy Spirit and considers the importance and significance of this doctrine. In the book, he takes small portions of the narratives and draws out the significance of the textual material.

He begins with Luke’s introduction and notes the Marian perspective of the early narratives evident in the following:

• Only Mary would know whether she had never been sexually involved with a man.
• Only Mary would have knowledge of a private visitation from Gabriel.
• If Mary spent three months with her cousin Elizabeth, she would have been very familiar with the circumstances surrounding John’s birth.
• Although Mary was not present with the shepherds when the angels visited them, Luke explicitly tells us that the shepherds “reported the message they were told about this child” to Mary and Joseph (Luke 2:17).
• She was present when Simeon and Anna blessed the child in the temple.
• Like any other parent, Mary would remember the time when her son went missing in a large city (p. 22)).

While these don’t “prove” the virgin birth, the likelihood that Luke’s account was based on the witness of the one in the best position to know about these things is not to be lightly disregarded. Along the way, Putnam also offers sidebar discussions of objections posed such as the origins of the virgin birth in pagan theology. He shows how the miraculous conceptions in the Old Testament (and that of Elizabeth) anticipate this event.

Not only does he defend the virgin birth, he unpacks the theological significance of this event. God keeps his covenant promises. We listen to Mary’s glorious Magnificat and realize we are even more blessed. The accounts reveal the babe as Savior, King, God with us, God’s Anointed One. He was born under the law, and from his circumcision and dedication onward, met all its requirements for all of us who don’t. And he is the King manifested to the nations in the visit of the Magi. For example, Putnam writes:

“In the case of the magi, something wonderful and unusual was happening. These men of a higher station–potentially emissaries from an eastern king–were lying prostrate in a humble Jewish home before a small child, revering him as a king unlike any other. More remarkable still, God had called these pagan men from a faraway land to worship at the feet of his Son. What Matthew depicts in this humble, earthly scene mimics the future heavenly scene where ‘a vast multitude from every nation, tribe, people, and language, which no one could number’ stand around the throne and sing praises to God and to the Lamb (Rev 7:9) (p.181).

Putnam’s writing is at once theologically and devotionally rich. This extends to the second part of the work which considers “The Virgin-Born King in Christian Theology and Practice.” Putnam discusses briefly and concisely the Christological debates of the early church. In concluding, he argues that they “saved Christmas.” Then he discusses how Jesus is both God and Man in One Person, and how it is fitting to call Mary theotokos (the God bearer). Appendices offer a harmonization of the accounts and an irenic discussion of the author’s differences with Marian dogma in the Catholic Church.

I especially liked the chapter on the “fittingness” of the virgin birth. Firstly, it is a sign we are saved by God’s grace alone. Secondly, it demonstrates that divine revelation is solely God’s initiative. Thirdly, it is a sign of Jesus uniqueness as the natural, only begotten Son of God. Fourthly, it is a sign of Christ’s supremacy. Finally, it is a fitting sign of Christ’s pre-existence. Rich stuff!

I wish I could have read this during Advent! As I’ve noted, Putnam does more then defend and expound the virgin birth. He leads us into the blessedness of these truths. Thus, our response becomes “O Come Let Us Adore Him!” I’d encourage you to pick up a copy to have it on hand for Advent reading next year. And pastors, get a copy to enrich your thought and preparation for next Advent and Christmastide. Apologists will benefit from the defense of the virgin birth. I’m glad to add this to my library!

_____________

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.