“If sex is indispensable in reproduction and was made so by God, can we say that the Holy Spirit had sex with Mary?”
Thank you, Edet Ukpabio Esiet! Questions at the cross-section of philosophy and theology are difficult, and your question nicely highlights that. Since you framed the question in terms of Mary and the Holy Spirit, I will assume Christianity in this post.
The first thing to say is that this question seems to go from what is necessary for humans to thinking about God’s actions in the same context. I am not sure Christian thinking goes like this; instead, they would think in the opposite direction.
Christian thought would go something like this. God is not a physical being and therefore does not have sex. Further, God is transcendent and all powerful. This means that he is not bound by the rules or laws that govern our physical existence. Finally, God can perform miracles, which are the imposition of God’s will on the normal course of events. If all this is true, then sex is not necessary for Mary to become pregnant. God, being non-physical, all powerful, and transcendent, could have worked a miracle by which Mary became pregnant. No sex needed.
So, here is the all-important question for this line of thought: Are miracles possible? Perhaps the answer to this question rides on whether you accept the existence of God. If so, we would need to settle whether God exists in order to decide on miracles and on how to answer your question.
But perhaps we can decide on whether miracles are possible before we decide whether God exists, much less whether Christianity is true. Arguments against miracles tend to be skeptical arguments, or arguments that claim we cannot believe that miracles happen even if they do. Focus on Mary’s pregnancy:
- In all observed cases, pregnancy requires insemination.
- Therefore, we have good reason to believe that pregnancy requires sex.
- Mary’s pregnancy would be an exception to this regularity.
- We believe Mary’s case only by testimony.
- That testimony is not adequate to overturn scientific observations about birth.
- So, we have no good reason to think Mary’s pregnancy was a miracle.
- We cannot believe that Mary’s pregnancy was a miracle.
Or we might argue for the Miracle by noting certain odd features of Mary’s case in first century Jewish society. Consider the following:
- Joseph still married her.
- Her cousin, a Jewish ruler, took her into his home.
Admittedly, we might want more than this. But the idea is that if Mary’s pregnancy had not been a miracle, then these two events would be perplexing. First century Jews would not have suffered a woman having sex outside of marriage, much less with someone she was not engaged to. Thus, her fiancé still marrying her and her cousin—who was very religious—taking her in during her pregnancy are best explained by her pregnancy being a miracle.
What do you think? Was Mary’s pregnancy a miracle? Let us know in the comments.
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Image: The Annunciation, by Murillo (1655-1660)
I have been doing philosophy since 2012 and am currently working on my PhD at the University of Kent. I have a BA from Oklahoma Baptist University and an MA from the University of Florida. I am currently most interested in ethics-related issues of various kinds. My favorite works of philosophy, at present, are Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics and, for very different reasons, David Enoch's Taking Morality Seriously.
It doesn’t say anywhere in the bible that Mary had sex with the holy spirit, but i certainly believe it was possible. Ive actually felt extremely turned on in what i thought was the presence of God, and did things to myself, and before i knew it, i was out of breath. I really don’t know how i feel about that. Some Christians would call it perverse and sacrilegious. But any sexuality thats worthwile begins with love, and sexuality is one of the most powerful things in the world, and while i am a sinner and very flawed, there’s not a soul in the world i feel more connected to and in love with than God, and he sees every particle of my being and loves me just the same. So whether its wrong or not, sometimes it feels hard not to be drawn to the holy spirit in a sensual way.