indicates that while in following Jesus we are separated from the world,
we are gathered into the fellowship of the saints, and are members of
the whole family in heaven and earth.


* * * * *




ARTICLE 3


_Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary_


The Creed proceeds to declare belief in the doctrine of the Incarnation,
which is thus set forth in the Shorter Catechism: "Christ, the Son of
God, became man, by taking to Himself a true body, and a reasonable
soul, being conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost, in the womb of the
Virgin Mary, and born of her, yet without sin."[069]

Two Evangelists record the miraculous birth of Jesus. Mark and John do
not refer to it, and their silence has led some opponents of
Christianity to discredit the statements of Matthew and Luke. But while
there is no direct account given by Mark or John of the miraculous
conception and birth of Jesus, the fact of His Divine descent is implied
in many portions of their Gospels. The words with which Mark opens his
narrative clearly express it, "The beginning of the gospel of Jesus
Christ, the Son of God;"[070] as does the statement he makes that at His