The Virgin-Birth of Our Lord | Page 3

peplerophoremenous eis ton kurion hemon alethos onta ek genous
David kata sarka, huion theou kata thelema kai dunamin theou,
gegenemenon alethos ek parthenou, bebaptismenon hupo Ioannou ...
alethos epi Pontiou Pilatou kai Herodou tetrarchou kathelomenon huper
hemon en sarki." --
In his Epistle to the Trallians, he writes: "Be ye deaf, therefore, when
any man Speaketh to you apart from Jesus Christ, who was of the race
of David, who was the Son of Mary, who was truly born."*
-- * Trall., 9. "kophothete oun, hotan humin choris Jesou Christou lale
tis, tou ek genous Daveid, tou ek Marias, hos alethos egennethe." --
2. Aristides of Athens.
In his Apology, written about the year 130, mentioning the Virgin-Birth
as an Integral portion of the Catholic Faith, he writes: "The Christians
trace their descent from the Lord Jesus Christ; now He is confessed by
the Holy Ghost to be the Son of the Most High God, having come

down from heaven for the salvation of men, and having been born of a
holy Virgin+ . . . He took flesh, and appeared to men."#
-- + Another reading here is "a Hebrew Virgin," and the Armenian
recension has the name "Mary." See Hahn, Bibliothek der Symbole, p.
4; and Harnack's Appendix to the same work, p. 376. # Apol., ch. xv.
The quotation is from the Greek text preserved in the History of
Barlaam and Josaphat. See The Remains of the Original Greek of the
Apology of Aristides, by J. Armitage Robinson. Texts and Studies
(Cambridge, 1891), vol. i. pp. 78, 79, 110. "hoi de Christianoi
genealogountai apo tou Kuriou Jesou Christou, houtos de ho huios tou
theou tou hupsistou homologeitai en Pneumati Hagio ap' ouranou
katabas dia ten soterian ton anthropon; kai ek parthenou hagias
gennetheis ... sapka anelabe, kai anephane anthpopois." --
3. Justin Martyr.
In his Apologies and in his Dialogue with Trypho he has three
summaries of the Christian Faith, in all of which the Virgin-Birth, the
Crucifixion, the Death, the Resurrection, and the Ascension are the
chief points of belief about Christ.
In his First Apology (written between 140 and 150) he says: "We find it
foretold in the Books of the Prophets that Jesus our Christ should come
born of a Virgin . . . be crucified and should die and rise again, and go
up to Heaven, and should both be and be called the 'Son of God.'" *
And a little later in the same work he says: "He was born as man of a
Virgin, and was called Jesus, and was crucified, and died, and rose
again, and has gone up into heaven."+
-- * Apol., i. 31. "En de tais ton propheton biblois heuromen
prokerussomenon paraginomenon gennomenon dia parthenou . . .
stauroumenon Iesoun ton hemeteron Christon, kai apothneskonta, kai
anegeiromenon, kai eis ouranous anerchomenon, ai huion theou onta
kai keklemenon." + Apol., i. 46. "Dia parthenou anthropos apekuethe,
kai Iesous eponomasthe, kai staurotheis kai apothanon aneste, kai
aneleluthen eis ouranon." --
In his Dialogue with Trypho the Jew (written after the First Apology)
he says: "For through the name of this very Son of God, who is also the
First-born of every creature, and who was born of a Virgin, and made a
man subject to suffering, and was crucified by your nation in the time
of Pontius Pilate, and died, and rose again from the dead, and ascended

into heaven, every evil spirit is exorcised and overcome and subdued."#
-- # Dial., 85. "kata gar tou omonatos autou toutou tou huiou tou theou,
kai prototokou pases ktiseos, kai dia parthenou gennethentos kai
pathetou genomenou anthropou, kai staurothentos epi Pontiou Pilatou
hupo tou laou humon kai apothanontos kai anastantos ek nekron, kai
anabantos eis ton ouranon, pan daimonion exorkizomenon nikatai kai
hupotassetai." --
4. St. Irenaeus.
Writing not later than 190, he makes constant reference to the
Virgin-Birth as an integral portion of the Faith of Christendom. He says:
"The Church, though scattered over the whole world to the ends of the
earth, yet having received from the Apostles and their disciples the
Faith--
In one God the Father Almighty... and in one Christ Jesus, the Son of
God, who was incarnate for our salvation: and in the Holy Ghost, who
by the Prophets announced His dispensations and His comings; and the
birth of the Virgin (kai ten ek Parthenou gennesin), and the Passion,
and Resurrection from the dead, and the bodily assumption into heaven
of the beloved Jesus Christ our Lord, and His appearance from heaven
in the glory of the Father . . .
having received, as we said, this preaching and this Faith, the Church,
though scattered over the whole world, guards it diligently, as
inhabiting one house, and believes in accordance with these words as
having one soul