Tertullian
(160-225), Adversus Marcion Chapter 13
Well, but nature, says he (Marcion), does not permit
"a virgin to conceive,"
and still the prophet is believed. And indeed very
properly; for he has
paved the way for the incredible thing being believed,
by giving a reason
for its occurrence, in that it was to be for a sign.
"Therefore," says he,
"the Lord himself shall give you a sign; behold, a
virgin shall conceive,
and bear a son." Now a sign from God would not
have been a sign, unless it
had been some novel and prodigious thing. Then, again,
Jewish cavilers,
in order to disconcert us, boldly pretend that
Scripture does not hold
that a virgin, but only a young woman, is to conceive
and bring forth. They
are, however, refuted by this consideration, that
nothing of the nature of a
sign can possibly come out of what is a daily
occurrence, the pregnancy
and child-bearing of a young woman. A virgin mother is
justly deemed to
be proposed by God
as a sign, but a warlike infant has no
like claim to
the distinction; for even in such a case there does not occur the character
of a sign. But after the sign of the strange and novel
birth has been asserted,
there is immediately afterwards declared as a sign the
subsequent course
of the Infant, who was to eat butter and honey.
.
169-225