The
virgin birth of Jesus is the belief that
Jesus was conceived in the womb of his mother
Mary through the
Holy Spirit without the agency of a human father and born while Mary was yet a
virgin. The New Testament references are and . It is believed by Christians to follow the prophetic message in . It is not expressly mentioned elsewhere in the Christian scriptures, and "the modern scholarly consensus is that the doctrine of the virgin birth rests on a very slim
historical foundation."