THE PRINCETON THEOLOGICAL REVIEW
THE VIRGIN BIRTH IN THE SECOND CENTURY.
At the close of the second century, the virgin birth was a firmly established part of the creed of the Catholic Christian Church. What was the origin of that belief? This question can be answered only after an examination of the birth narratives which are included in our first and third Gospels. But an examination of extra-canonical sources is also not without value. At the time of Irenaeus, belief in the virgin birth was firmly established. Can a gradual establishment of that belief be traced in the history of the second century, or was the belief firmly fixed from the very beginning? The present article will attempt to give some answer to this question, and thus lay the necessary foundation for answering the further and more important question: is the belief in the virgin birth based upon fact, or did it originate in some other way?
Of course, no one denies that the belief in the virgin birth arose long before Irenaeus. The most that could by any possibility be held is that the doctrine did not attain the full assent of the Church until his time. Even such a view, however, can be dismissed very quickly.
In the first place, the virgin birth has a place in the so-called Apostles’ Creed.[1] The form of that creed which is now in use was produced in Gaul in the fifth or sixth cen-
- ↑ The following discussion of the Apostles’ Creed is not based upon independent investigation. All that has been attempted is to point out the bearing which the commonly accepted conclusions in this field have jpon the question of the virgin birth. See especially Harnack, Vetus
