What is the Greatest Miracle
Phil Mitchell • December 24, 2025
C.S. Lewis says it is the incarnation.
What is The Greatest Miracle?
C.S. Lewis says it’s Christmas
C.S. Lewis, in his book “Miracles,” defends the Christian doctrine of God’s supernatural intervention into history. Given the Christian assumptions about God Lewis says miracles are not only possible they should be expected.
It’s his usual brilliant defense of the Christian faith and I recommend the book to everyone. But in the middle of the book he does an interesting thing—he ranks the miracles in terms of importance. Or should I say, he ranks one of them. According to Lewis the Incarnation is the greatest miracle.
“The central miracle asserted by Christians is the Incarnation. They say that God became Man. Every other miracle prepares for this, or exhibits this, or results from this.”
A couple of years ago Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the heroic public intellectual and spokeswoman for the new atheist movement, announced she had become a Christian. Through a contemplation of Christianity’s historical power and meeting Christ in the midst of a personal crisis, Ayaan had turned to God. Shortly thereafter she debated her old friend, the famous atheist Richard Dawkins. I admit I was quite concerned about a young Christian entering into a debate with a veteran infidel who had been in many, many debates. But she did quite well. She scored her greatest points when she answered Dawson’s challenge—how can you believe in things like the virgin birth? Her response was, I think, given to her by the Holy Spirit. She said, “Richard, there is really only one issue here. Either there is something out there or there isn’t. If there isn’t then, no, things like the Virgin birth are not possible. If there is something out there anything is possible.” A great answer and the end of the debate.
Lewis does this with his argument on the Incarnation. If Christmas really happened, if God really became a man, then all other miracles are possible. It’s as simple as that. Lewis adds that the Incarnation is the best explanation for who Jesus Christ is and what He did. “The historical difficulty of giving for the life, sayings and influence of Jesus any explanation that is not harder than the Christian explanation, is very great.” In other words, when you consider the power of Jesus Christ on culture, history, and individual lives, it certainly seems like He is God incarnate. Attempts to explain Him any other way are pathetic failures.
Jesus is Immanuel—God with us. He entered the world in human form 2,000 years ago in a stable in Palestine. He has gone on to be the greatest man who ever lived, but more important, He went on to die on the cross for our sins and save us from eternal hell. He lives today in the hearts of everyone who trusts Him.
Merry Christmas everyone!
More: The Most Important Doctrine in the History of Religion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOeE61uEU50
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