Since God was in the business of re-starting creation in the sending of his Son, might we not expect him to create \u201cout of nothing\u201d the second time, just as he did the first? Karl Barth, the greatest theologian of the 20th Century, thought so. Just as the Spirit brooded over creation the first time, so again in the birth of Jesus the Spirit \u201cbrooded\u201d over the virgin Mary. Also, just as creation was totally initiated by God the first time, so creation (the second time, in Jesus) gets to be totally initiated by God. The Virgin Birth tells us that Jesus was not born \u201cof the will of man\u201d, but wholly of the Father\u2019s initiative. God chose to by-pass the normal male role in the work of redemption, in part, so the logic goes, to signal his own headship. \u201cMan as a creating, controlling, self-assertive, self-glorifying being was set aside in favor of a woman who listened, received, and served.\u201d (From, A Step Further, by the author)<\/p>\n
We honor the Virgin Birth, of course, because Scripture teaches it. But we can also see the logic behind it. God\u2019s sovereign action is a challenge to the human psychological need to contribute to our own salvation, to be co-creators with God. Mary is a witness against the drive, push, and self-assertion that men especially (though not exclusively) associate with a healthy self-image and by which men often mask their own impotence.<\/p>\n