{The birth of Jesus Christ} (	ou [I(8873)ou] Christou h(880a)genesis). In the Greek Jesus Christ comes before birth as the
important matter after  1:16 . It is not certain whether "Jesus"
is here a part of the text as it is absent in the old Syriac and
the Old Latin while the Washington Codex has only "Christ." The
Vatican Codex has "Christ Jesus." But it is plain that the story
of the birth of Jesus Christ is to be told briefly as follows,
"on this wise" (hout(9373)), the usual Greek idiom. The oldest and
best manuscripts have the same word genealogy (genesis) used in
 1:1 , not the word for birth (begotten) as in  1:16 
(genn(8873)is). "It is in fact the word Genesis. The evangelist is
about to describe, not the genesis of the heaven and the earth,
but the genesis of Him who made the heaven and the earth, and who
will yet make a new heaven and a new earth" (Morison).

{Betrothed to Joseph} (Mn(8873)teutheis(8873) t(9369) I(9373)(8870)h). Matthew
proceeds to explain his statement in  1:16  which implied that
Joseph, though the legal father of Jesus in the royal line, was
not the actual father of Mary's Son. Betrothal with the Jews was
a serious matter, not lightly entered into and not lightly
broken. The man who betrothed a maiden was legally husband ( Ge
29:21  De 22:23f. ) and "an informal cancelling of betrothal was
impossible" (McNeile). Though they did not live together as
husband and wife till actual marriage, breach of faithfulness on
the part of the betrothed was treated as adultery and punished
with death. _The New Testament in Braid Scots_ actually has
"mairry't till Joseph" for "betrothed to Joseph." Matthew uses
the genitive absolute construction here, a very common Greek
idiom.

{Of the Holy Ghost} (ek pneumatos hagiou). The discovery that
Mary was pregnant was inevitable and it is plain that she had not
told Joseph. She "was found with child" (heureth(8820)en gastri
echousa). This way of putting it, the usual Greek idiom, plainly
shows that it was the discovery that shocked Joseph. He did not
as yet know what Matthew plainly asserts that the Holy Ghost, not
Joseph and not any man, was responsible for the pregnancy of
Mary. The problem of the Virgin Birth of Jesus has been a
disturbing fact to some through all the ages and is today to
those who do not believe in the pre-existence of Christ, the Son
of God, before his Incarnation on earth. This is the primal fact
about the Birth of Christ. The Incarnation of Christ is clearly
stated by Paul ( 2Co 8:9  Php 2:5-11 ; and involved in  Col
1:15-19 ) and by John ( Joh 1:14  17:5 ). If one frankly admits
the actual pre-existence of Christ and the real Incarnation, he
has taken the longest and most difficult step in the matter of
the supernatural Birth of Christ. That being true, no merely
human birth without the supernatural element can possibly explain
the facts. Incarnation is far more than the Indwelling of God by
the Holy Spirit in the human heart. To admit real incarnation and
also full human birth, both father and mother, creates a greater
difficulty than to admit the Virgin Birth of Jesus begotten by
the Holy Spirit, as Matthew here says, and born of the Virgin
Mary. It is true that only Matthew and Luke tell the story of the
supernatural birth of Jesus, though  Joh 1:14  seems to refer to
it. Mark has nothing whatever concerning the birth and childhood
of Jesus and so cannot be used as a witness on the subject. Both
Matthew and Luke present the birth of Jesus as not according to
ordinary human birth. Jesus had no human father. There is such a
thing in nature as parthenogenesis in the lower orders of life.
But that scientific fact has no bearing here. We see here God
sending his Son into the world to be the world's Saviour and he
gave him a human mother, but not a human father so that Jesus
Christ is both Son of God and Son of Man, the God Man. Matthew
tells the story of the birth of Jesus from the standpoint of
Joseph as Luke gives it from the standpoint of Mary. The two
narratives harmonize with each other. One credits these most
wonderful of all birth narratives according as he believes in the
love and power of Almighty God to do what he wills. There is no
miracle with God who has all power and all knowledge. The laws of
nature are simply the expression of God's will, but he has not
revealed all his will in the laws that we discover. God is
Spirit. He is Person. He holds in his own power all life.  Joh
3:16  is called the Little Gospel because it puts briefly the
love of God for men in sending his own Son to live and die for
us.