My mother, a former catholic, now born-again (praise GOD!) is having a terrible time understanding how Jesus can be God and God’s Son at the same time, and cannot at all comprehend how Mary became impregnated with Jesus. I have tried to explain it to her to the best of my ability, but she is still very confused and can’t understand. Would you please help me find the right words to help her understand? I would appreciate it so much. I appreciate what you do here so much and trust completely that you are led by The Holy Spirit. Thank you very much for your time and attention!
When God decided to confine Himself to human form in order to save humanity, He used the term Son of God to describe His human self. This comes from Psalm 2:7 where God said, “You are my Son, today I have become your Father.”
Colossians 1:19 says that God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Jesus in order to reconcile us to Him. Hebrews 1:3 says that the Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being.
In John 4:4 Jesus said that God is a spirit. That means that the Father is God in His intangible form and the Son is God in His tangible form. The third component of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, connects them to each other and us to them.
In Luke 1:34-35 Mary asked how she could become pregnant since she was a virgin. The angel said that the Holy Spirit would “come upon” her. The Greek word that Luke used is the same one used in Acts to describe how other believers gained supernatural abilities. In Acts 10:44 the Holy Spirit came upon those who were listening to Peter enabling them to speak in tongues. The same thing happened in Acts 19:6 when Paul laid hands on some Gentile believers.
The point is that it was a supernatural act of the Holy Spirit that enabled Mary to become pregnant without the assistance of a man. Like the Trinity, the virgin birth is beyond our current understanding. Therefore we accept it in faith because God said it.