“Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” -Isaiah 7:14 KJV
One of the questions I hear most often is “Why did Jesus have to be born of a virgin?” I always wonder if lurking in the background of this question is doubt that it is even possible that Jesus was born through some extraordinary means instead of the normal coming together of a man and woman. My answer to such skepticism is that EVERY conception is miraculous. The conception and birth of every person is so miraculous, that God always deserves the praise!
As to the second question—Jesus HAD to be born through a virgin birth or else He could not have been our Savior. If He had been conceived in the normal way, he would have been born a sinner, like us, and would have needed a Savior Himself. When God broke the normal “way it happens,” it allowed Jesus to be the Perfect God-Man—fully God and fully man, putting Him in the position of becoming our Savior, following His death on the cross and subsequent resurrection. Therefore the virgin birth is ESSENTIAL to the Gospel we believe.