On Christ's Virgin Birth

As we're entering the Christmas season again, I'm posting an excerpt from An Unconventional Christian Theology (Allen Bair. Amazon: 2019) which I wrote on Christ's Virgin Birth. This tends to be one of the facets of Christian theology which many bring up as an issue or barrier to belief. In this excerpt, I hope to demonstrate both the possibility and the miraculous nature of this central teaching of the Christian faith.

Parthenogenesis or “virgin birth” is a process that has been documented in reptiles, birds, sharks, and other species which permits a female of the species to produce an offspring without a male contribution. In short, it occurs when an egg cell begins dividing on its own without the introduction of a sperm cell. With rare exceptions, if a viable offspring is produced, it is always a genetic clone of its mother. There are several mechanisms observed which permit this among those species.

To date, while technically feasible, it has not been formally documented in mammals in nature. In 2004, Scientists at the Tokyo University of agriculture successfully induced parthenogenesis in a mouse producing an offspring without the introduction of sperm or the male chromosome¹. In August of 2007, it was revealed that a Korean scientist had successfully created human embryos through parthenogenesis under laboratory conditions as a part of his research into stem cells and stem cell production².

Human parthenogenesis, according to one research article by graduate students in Brazil³, is not necessarily a rare occurrence but almost always results in benign tumors called teratomas. These teratomas may on the rare occasion develop in such a way to where “the basic human body plan is present”⁴ though non-functional and as such develop fat cells, hair, teeth, and in rare cases, limbs, malformed head, and “other structures”. The authors of the paper however offer the hypothesis that human parthenogenesis producing a viable offspring in nature does occur in extremely rare circumstances due to mutation resulting in the deletion of two maternal genes that would otherwise prevent it, but is not noticed because the offspring is otherwise healthy and normal. Human parthenogenesis then, resulting in a viable, normal human offspring, can be considered astronomically improbable, but not technically impossible.

What is more improbable is the human parthenogenesis of a male offspring. Biological sex is generally determined by one’s chromosomes, either “XX” for female, or “XY” for male. The gene which is responsible for determining whether or not a fetus develops testes is called “SRY” and is normally contained within the “Y” chromosome. SRY determines sex by switching off the gene RSPO1 which in turn switches on the gene SOX9 producing a male offspring. In female offspring without the SRY gene, SOX9 has been switched off by the gene RSPO1. This being said, what has been found is that it is possible for RSPO1 to fail during the developmental process, leaving the SOX9 gene turned on thus producing testis in the fetus as opposed to ovaries according to an article by Keri Smith⁵. In this article, the author reference four brothers from a family, all of whom had the “XX”combination of chromosomes, and none of whom carried the SRY gene. However, each brother carried a mutation of the RSPO1 gene.

For the sake of brevity, I have tried to spare the reader from any more intense technical details than what I have presented to make my argument. I encourage you to read the articles I have referenced and draw your own conclusions. But from the articles and sources I have read, while requiring a precise series of mutations occurring in order, that Jesus Christ could have been conceived both male and by parthogenesis is, while astronomically improbable, within the realm of what is known to be scientifically possible. In this scenario, Jesus would have physically been a male genetic clone of his mother, Mariam, with the XX chromosome but biologically male due to the failure of the RSPO1 gene at a critical stage in embryonic development. One consequence of this scenario is that, in modern clinical terms, Jesus would also have been technically considered intersex regardless of the completeness of His male physical anatomy. This argument is not made to devalue the Scriptural account of his virginal conception by the Holy Spirit in any way, only to demonstrate that the assertion by His followers that He was conceived by parthenogenesis is by no means impossible or absurd as some have accused. In fact, the series of genetic mutations required is so specific that I would argue it is more plausible God was involved in the process than not, much like the evolution of life on Earth and human beings specifically. Here I see the hand of God working through obscure, but natural processes to produced the result He desired; in this case, a Son.

There is a question to be had as to why God would go to the trouble of this. One hypothesis would suggest that the genetic Hamartia disorder I described in the previous chapter is passed down through the male chromosome. There may some reference to this in the passage in Genesis chapter six which says that the “sons of God” went in to the daughters of men and took wives from them. In this interpretation, “sons of God”, rather than referring to “angels” as is commonly interpreted, refers to the particular family group of humans that God took a special interest in by interacting with them directly and placing them in the garden, and who later ate the toxic fruit which they had been warned not to.⁶ In this scenario, without a male human chromosome Jesus would have been born without the human neuropsycholoigical disorder, Hamartia, thus making Him “sinless”.

The circumstances of His birth may have contributed to His death by heart rupture. Jesus died within hours of His initial torture and being nailed to the cross. Under normal circumstances, a crucified victim would die slowly over a period of two or three days from dehydration and asphyxiation. Because the day after Jesus’ crucifixion was a Sabbath, out of agreement with the Jewish leaders the executioners were ordered to remove the bodies before sundown, the start of the Sabbath. However, the condemned men would still be alive. This was the reason why the Roman soldiers were ordered to break the legs of the crucified victims in order to speed up their deaths, and were surprised to see that Jesus was already dead, thus the reason why they chose to stab His heart to confirm death rather than break His legs to induce it.

If he was, in fact, a male XX clone of His mother due to parthogenetic conception, this may have led to some physical weakness which a typically conceived XY male would not experience. A similar syndrome where the SRY gene is located on the male X chromosome instead of the male Y chromosome resulting in a male XX offspring can result in decreased libido, physical weakness, decreased stature, and malformed or hermaphroditic genitalia. While an argument can be made for decreased libido in the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ life through His own statements (see Matthew 19:11-12) as well as that He never married and, speculating, appeared to actively avoid marriage, He is very clearly identified as male in the Gospel accounts by His mother and all those who knew Him, thus suggesting no ambiguous or hermaphroditic genitalia. It is also recorded by St. Luke in chapter two of his Gospel that He was circumcised on the eighth day according to Jewish custom. If there was any ambiguity in His genitalia the circumcising Rabbi would have noticed. Also, His height as recorded by the image on His burial shroud indicates that He was of an average height for a Judean born man of that period. But that under extreme stress He suffered from hematidrosis and less than twenty four hours later died from what looks like stress cardiomyopathy where a typical man wouldn’t may seem to suggest that He might have suffered from an inherent genetic weakness in His physical system. Many people who are born with chromosomal disorders such as Down’s Syndrome also suffer from heart problems, for example. It could be that, due to His parthogenetic birth, He too suffered from a weaker heart muscle which could not endure the combination of extreme stresses He underwent during His torture and crucifixion and causing Him to die much earlier than a typical human being might.

I know there are some who may take issue with the idea of a physically weaker Jesus Christ in any way. However, it must be remembered that though fully divine, He is also fully human with every possibility that implies. It is never recorded that He was particularly physically strong or even “heart healthy” as it were. Consider in John 4 where Jesus was tired out after their journey and stayed behind to rest by the well whereas His disciples were still strong enough to head into town to buy food, and were concerned for His health when they returned trying to get Him to eat something. It is recorded that He attributed everything He did, not to His own strength or ability, but to His Father’s. It is also recorded that those observing the demonstrations of power He performed were constantly amazed, in particular, that they should be performed by Him. In this, I am reminded of St. Paul who writes in his first letter to the Corinthians (1:27-28, WEB):

“but God chose the foolish things of the world that he might put to shame those who are wise. God chose the weak things of the world, that he might put to shame the things that are strong; and God chose the lowly things of the world, and the things that are despised, and the things that are not, that he might bring to nothing the things that are: that no flesh should boast before God.”

It occurs to me that nowhere does Yahweh demonstrate this principle more than in the flesh and blood body of His Son who Himself stated that He could do nothing from Himself.

1Kono, Tomohiro, Yayoi Obata, Quiong Wu, et al. “Birth of parthogenetic mice that can develop to adulthood”. Nature. 428, 860-864 (22 April 2004)

2Minkel, JR. “Korean Cloned Human Cells Were Product of ‘Virgin Birth’”. Scientific American. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/korean-cloned-human-cells/

3Gabriel Jose de Carlie and Tiago Campos Pereira. “On human parthenogenesis”, Medical Hypotheses. 106 (2017) 57-60

4See previous, “On human parthenogenesis.”

5Smith, Keri. “Gene mutation turns girls into boys,” Nature. 15 October 2006, doi:10.1038/news061009-14

6 See chapter 3 of this work. In this way, those afflicted spread their affected genes to the rest of the human population through interbreeding. Accompanied by intentional extermination of other, different human groups this may explain why, by the time true civilization arose, there were no unaffected humans left on earth.