Home > Search Q&A

Why did St. Mary have to be a virgin? Why would it not have been suitable for Jesus to be conceived normally?

The angel Gabriel explained the incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ to St. Mary and to the world in the Gospel according to St. Luke, Chapter 1. The reason St. Mary was startled to learn that she would conceive, and thus, questioned the angel, is because she had submitted herself to a life of celibacy. However, the archangel explained:

"The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God" (Luke 35:1).

If St. Mary had conceived by natural conception through the seed of man, the child would be only human and not divine. The Lord Jesus Christ is both complete human, having taken flesh from the virgin mother, and He is also divine, because He is God. Thus, He is above time and is able to redeem all humanity throughout time and bear all our sins in His flesh. On this basis of the nature of Christ, the early Church Fathers battled many heresies, convened at the three historical councils in Nicea, Constantinople, and Ephesus, and formulated both parts of the Creed and the Introduction to the Creed.

"Our Lord Jesus Christ is God Himself, the Incarnate Logos, who took to Himself a complete manhood. His Divine Nature is united with His Human Nature in a complete Hypostatic (personal) Union without mingling, confusion, alteration or separation. Furthermore, the unity between the two Natures occurred without transmutation. Thus neither the Divine Nature transmutes to the Human Nature, nor did the Human Nature transmute to the Divine." [Read more]