Adam Hamilton says Christians don't have to believe in virgin birth of Jesus
Pastor Adam Hamilton, who is running for the U.S. Senate as a Democrat, is facing scrutiny for a resurfaced church podcast in which he said Christians don't have to believe in the virgin birth of Jesus.
Hamilton, an author and pastor at Resurrection church, a United Methodist multi-site congregation based in Leawood, Kansas, is challenging incumbent Republican Sen. Roger Marshall in the November midterms.
The online publication Protestia posted a video clip on X Monday showing Hamilton answering submitted questions in the Dec. 17, 2024, episode of his podcast, “Making Sense of Faith,” titled “Ask Adam ANYTHING! (Christmas Edition).”
Hamilton explained that while he personally believed that Jesus was miraculously conceived, he doesn't think Christians must believe in that miracle to receive salvation.
Hamilton claimed that the Gospel account of Jesus being born of a virgin was “less about biology and primarily about theology,” adding that “I don’t think it's trying to explain” how “did the biology of that work.”
“I believe in the Virgin Birth because these stories tell it, and it’s one of those places where in a sense I suspend my logic to be able to say, ‘you know what? I don’t know exactly what happened,’ so I’m going with this story,” Hamilton said. “I choose to trust and believe in the virgin birth.”
Nevertheless, Hamilton said that, since the virgin birth gets little mention in the New Testament apart from the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, it was “OK” for people to not believe in it.
“I just want you to follow Jesus,” Hamilton added. “He didn’t come to His disciples and say, ‘Hey, let me tell you the story about how I was conceived and now, if you believe that, you can be one of my disciples.’ He never said that. He just said, ‘Come follow me.’”
He added that “when Christian fundamentalism took off, one of the fundamentals was the virgin birth,” and he understands “how that’s a struggling point for some people.”
Protestia protested Hamilton’s take on the issue, critically asking, “what's the alternative?” and pointing out that to deny the virgin birth is to “dismiss and disbelieve the Bible.”
Belief in the virgin birth of Jesus is found in the Apostles’ Creed and Nicene Creed, two historic affirmations of Christian faith still widely recited in church services across denominations. It is also affirmed in the United Methodist Church’s Articles of Religion, which say Christ took man’s nature “in the womb of the blessed Virgin.”
The Christian Post reached out to the Hamilton campaign for this story, with a spokesperson responding that Hamilton "has always been consistent that he believes in the virgin birth of Jesus Christ."
"As he says explicitly in the podcast, he simply says he doesn't want one person's doubt to stop them from becoming a follower of Christ," the spokesperson added.
The Hamilton campaign spokesperson also provided CP with a quote from Hamilton's book, Making Sense of the Bible, where he explains that, of the five "fundamentals" of the Christian faith, he accepts "four and a half" of them.
"I believe Jesus was born of a virgin, that Christ’s death atones for our sin and 'reconciles us to God,' that Christ was physically raised from the dead, and that Jesus actually performed miracles when he walked on the earth," wrote Hamilton in the book.
"But I reject that the Bible is inerrant and that every word or idea was virtually dictated by God. There are places where the biblical authors were limited in their knowledge, were shaped by their culture and times, or actually misrepresented God and God’s will (for instance, slavery or the subordination of women)."
Hamilton went on to write in Making Sense of the Bible that using "historical-critical methods for studying the Bible can help us discern how culture and historical circumstances shaped the biblical authors and can guide us to the profound truths of scripture while making sense of its confusing parts."
A theological progressive, Hamilton has drawn controversy during his campaign over comments that many Christians claim contradict sound Christian teaching.
In August, for example, Breitbart News posted an edited clip on its X account of Hamilton from 2022 in which the Kansas Democrat endorsed the idea that many non-Christians are saved.
In an emailed statement to CP, a spokesman for the Hamilton campaign said, “Adam was not speaking of universalism” but rather “was discussing inclusivism.”
The spokesperson provided CP with quotes from some of Hamilton’s past books, including a passage from Christianity and World Religions that says inclusivists “believe that God examines the hearts of people of other faiths; that God sees their true faith in him; and, as was the case with Abraham, that God credits this faith to them as righteousness.”
“Inclusivists are not saying that all religions are equally valid paths or that their teachings are all true,” wrote Hamilton. “In addition, inclusivists do not necessarily believe that all people will be saved; they are not universalists.”
