阅读经文 

你或许和我一样，喜欢看悬疑小说。很多人喜欢神秘的事情，因为它们就像一个等着人去破解的谜团。耶稣的出生，是人类历史上一件最不可思议的事，而这个谜团迄今仍然有未被破解之处。

我们在使徒信经中宣称，耶稣是“因圣灵感孕，由童贞女马利亚所生”。这个声明包含了关于我们救主耶稣的一个奥妙的真理。圣经教导我们，耶稣是完全的神、也是完全的人。创造宇宙的耶稣的出生，和我们每一个人一样，都是经母腹分娩而来。然而，马利亚腹中的胎儿不是来自已经和她定了亲的约瑟，马利亚腹中的胎儿乃是来自圣灵——神的感孕。

耶稣为什么需要是完全的神又是完全的人呢？答案就是，唯独一位全然是神和全然是人的救主，才能填补我们犯罪背叛神造成的人神之间的裂痕。

童女如何能生子，仍然是个谜。历代历世以来，有些人不接受，认为这是不可能的事。人的逻辑永远不能破解神的儿子成为全然的人这个谜团。然而，这个事实满足人需求拯救的真理始终不变：全然是神，并且全然是人的耶稣，破解了我们与神被罪而隔离的困境。愿颂赞归与神！

Maybe, like me, you enjoy mystery novels. Many people like mysteries because they are like puzzles that need to be solved. The story of Jesus’ birth is one of the most mysterious events in human history, and some parts of the puzzle remain unknown.

With the Apostles’ Creed, we confess that Jesus “was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary.” This statement summarizes a profound truth about Jesus, our Savior. The Bible teaches that Jesus is fully God and fully human. Jesus, the creator of the universe, was born in the same way each of us was born, from our mother’s womb. But the seed planted in Mary’s womb was not from Joseph, who was pledged to be her husband. The seed in Mary was planted by God the Holy Spirit.

Why did Jesus need to be fully God and fully human? The answer is that only a Savior who was both fully God and fully human could heal the breach opened by our rebellion in our sin against God.

The how of the virgin birth remains a mystery. Through the ages some people have rejected it as impossible. Human logic will never solve the puzzle of how the Son of God became fully human. Yet the deeply satisfying truth of this story remains: Jesus, fully God and fully human, solved the problem of our separation from God. Praise be to God!