Why does the Creed include the phrase, “was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and of the Virgin Mary”?

The history of the people of God is marked by a number of miraculous births, such as: God’s promise to Abraham and Sarah of the birth of Isaac (Gen. 17:16–19); Hannah and the birth of Samuel the prophet (1 Sam. 1:1–20); Manoah and his barren wife and the birth of their son Samson (Judg. 13:2–3); and Zacharias the priest and Elizabeth and the birth of John the Baptist (Luke 1:5–25). But a young, unknown virgin conceiving and bringing forth Jesus the Savior of the world surpassed all previous divine promises; for the Virgin bore in her body the promise of the salvation of the world. At the annunciation of the incarnation, the angel Gabriel said, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you” (Luke 1:35).

The existence of polytheism in the world cried out for the Son to come, as St. Cyril of Jerusalem explains: “Was it without reason that the Son came? or was it in order that the Father might be acknowledged? You have learned what moved the Only-begotten to come down from the throne at God’s right hand. The Father was despised, the Son must needs

correct the error: for He Through Whom All Things Were Made must bring them all as offerings to the Lord of all. The wound must be healed: for what could be worse than this disease, that a stone should be worshipped instead of God?”³¹⁸