Some Bible skeptics have made the argument that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was raped by God because she didn’t give consent for Jesus’ birth. Is this true? Is there any evidence to the contrary?

First of all, Mary gave clear, verbal consent, ie, “be it unto me” in Luke 1:38 after Gabriel told her how it would happen and gave an example of another miraculous conception among her relatives (Elizabeth and Zechariah) in Luke 1:35-37.

In the Old Testament, God chose righteous and obedient people to pour His Spirit on, because He knew they would trust in Him and obey His instructions. The Spirit of the Lord came upon certain judges, warriors, kings, and prophets in a way that enabled them to see visions of God, speak on His behalf, or perform amazing feats. Some examples include Joshua (Num. 27:18-21), Samson (Judg. 14:5-6, Judg. 15:14-15), Daniel (Dan. 5:10-12), Elijah (1 Kings 18:46), and Ezekiel (Ezek. 2:1-5). God’s Spirit came upon Saul when he was anointed king, and he even prophesied (1 Sam 10:1-13). However, after he messed up, God’s spirit left Saul and fell upon David as Samuel anointed him to be King in 1 Sam 16:13-14.

This same spirit of God came on Mary in Luke 1:35, and in this case, God used her to give birth to the Messiah. God already knew about her obedient heart beforehand, and just like the others, He didn’t need her consent; He already had it because she had faith and trusted Him. She gave verbal consent when she said “be it unto me” in verse 38 as an act of her trust in God’s plan. None of the Old Testament patriarchs and prophets gave God-specific consent to receiving prophecy or being rescued from dire situations; does the logic that they were abused still apply? Does God need people’s consent to save them from immediate danger or to convey a message? The same Spirit came upon Mary, and God would know her consent status because He is God; He didn’t need to ask, as He often uses people whose answer would have already been yes, because He knows their hearts.

God could have selected any Jewish virgin woman who was a descendant of David. Was Mary the only woman who met these physical qualifications? No, but God needed someone who would have been obedient. God chooses righteous people to put His Spirit on, to fulfill His purpose. People aren’t perfect and they make mistakes, so Mary wasn’t a special, sinless person, but she was righteous because she trusted what God was doing with her (Luke 1:26-38). This is in contrast to Zechariah, who received a message from the same angel (Gabriel) that his barren wife would conceive in their old age, but doubted God’s ability to do it. In response, Gabriel shut his mouth until his miracle baby was born (Luke 1:18-20). Zechariah doubted, but Mary had faith. The Bible says that the righteous shall live by faith (Romans 1:17, Galatians 3:11, Hebrews 10:38), so her faith and righteousness are indicators of her consent to God’s will. I don’t believe she even needed to verbally consent since her heart desired that God’s will be done.