The significance of the baptism of Jesus as recorded in the Acts
The utterances of Peter, Paul, and the other preachers of the gospel in the Acts make no mention that Jesus was born by the Holy Spirit, much less than that of a virgin.
On the contrary, there are several places that link Jesus Christ's beginning with his baptism.
"Therefore it is necessary that of the men who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us--
beginning with the baptism of John until the day that He was taken up from us-- one of these must become a witness with us of His resurrection."
(Act 1:21-22 NAU)
you yourselves know the thing which took place throughout all Judea, starting from Galilee, after the baptism which John proclaimed.
You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him. (Act 10:37-38 NAU)
"From the descendants of this man, according to promise, God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus,
after John had proclaimed before His coming a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel.
"And while John was completing his course, he kept saying, 'What do you suppose that I am? I am not He. But behold, one is coming after me the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to untie.'
(Act 13:23-25 NAU)
Paul said, "John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in Him who was coming after him, that is, in Jesus." (Act 19:4 NAU)
In reading over these passages, not only do I find circumstantial evidence of the truth behind what I am saying about the virgin birth, I see opportunities that the apostles missed for revealing that Jesus was
born the Son of God, if indeed they believed that.
They called Jesus the "Son of God" in the Acts, but never implied that he was the Son by birth.
NOT ONCE did they indicate anything of significance occurring before Jesus' baptism. Instead, they indicated repeatedly that Jesus Christ came after the baptism, and in one place linking the anointing of the Spirit with his baptism.
Despite the criticisms by some of John's gospel (I accept that some of them are valid), at least it, along with Mark, does not attribute any significance to Jesus' life before his baptism.