It has often been said that some of the most precious doctrines of the Christian faith are some of the most difficult to define and defend. So it is with the Virgin Birth of our Lord. Since the inspiration of the Scripture extends to not only the words of Scripture but to the letters and even parts of letters (Matthew 5.18), it is a blessing to see the Virgin Birth taught and proclaimed by Matthew's use of one small pronoun in the genealogy in Matthew 1.16.

This passage in the Authorised Version reads, 'And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ'. In this genealogy is profound blessing. In the Greek language, as in many languages, nouns and pronouns are of a specific gender; some are masculine, some feminine, some neuter. When a noun is of a particular gender, any pronouns—whether personal (he, she, it) or relative (who, which)—which refer to that noun will be in the same gender. It is much the same as, in English, thinking of a ship as feminine; thus, in 'she sails the sea,' 'she' would be understood to refer to the ship. So it is in this passage in Matthew's genealogy. In English the 'of whom' could possibly refer to Joseph only in his begetting, to Mary only in her giving birth, or to both Mary and Joseph. The first would indicate that Joseph was the natural father of Jesus; the latter would again indicate that, since Jesus was begotten of both Mary and Joseph, Joseph was Jesus' natural father. Both cases would eliminate the Virgin Birth of our Lord.

However, God did not leave us without a definitive answer. In the Greek, the relative pronoun 'of whom' is feminine singular; thus the antecedent—the noun to which the relative pronoun refers—must also be feminine singular. It could only be Mary to whom the genealogy is referring. Joseph is excluded from the begetting process. He is mentioned (and note here the change from 'begat' in the previous verses) as the husband of Mary, but Jesus came from Mary only.

The exclusion of Joseph from this relationship is clearly understood when seen in the other passages in which God tells of His Son's physical birth.

• '... for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost' (Matthew 1.20).
• 'Behold, a virgin shall be with child ...' (Matthew 1.23).
• '... Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name lmmanuel' (Isaiah 7.14).
• '... The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, ... therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God' (Luke 1.35).

God, in His providence, has provided for us a written record of the Virgin Birth of His Son. In providing that record, God did not overlook the smallest detail; He established that record down to the letter. He provided that record, in the New Testament, in Greek, so that a differentiation could be made in passages such as this; He provided that record in such a way that there could be no doubt as to the parentage of His Son. This is a perfect record of a perfect, virgin-born Saviour 'who is called Christ' (Matthew 1.16).

First published in Quarterly Record 517. Lightly edited for online publication on 15 May 2023.