Preface

This book is intended to be a literary and critical examination of the historical evidence for the Virgin Birth. It is not the writer's desire to discuss the evidence from the point of view of an advocate; with a view, that is to say, of obtaining an uncompromising verdict. His aim is rather to trace and to define the earliest Christian tradition upon the subject, and to show the limits and the bearings of the historical question.

A limited aim such as this ought not to require much justification. If, however, justification is needed, it is not far to seek.

Much of the literature which treats of the Virgin Birth is controversial in point of origin if not in form, and, in the nature of the case, it could not have been otherwise. Controversial literature has, of course, a necessary place in the search for truth. Nevertheless, it is exposed to serious perils, especially when such a subject as that of the Virgin Birth is discussed. It is not always easy, for example, to avoid an arbitrary treatment of the New Testament, and to prevent philosophic or dogmatic presuppositions from determining purely critical questions. Few will deny that the discussion of the Virgin Birth has suffered in these directions, and that, as a consequence, the problem remains in considerable confusion. Not only has the evidence been variously estimated, but there are the widest differences of opinion as to what the evidence really is. Neither side has succeeded in convincing the other, and very many students of the question preserve an attitude of suspended judgement.

The point which it is important to make is that, if any escape is to be made from the present impasse, the problem must be approached in another way. Doctrinal presuppositions must be resolutely laid aside; there must be a common desire to ascertain the true facts of the evidence, whatever the results may be. Not that dogmatic considerations have no place in the problem! It is part of the conclusion reached in this book that in the end [pg iv] dogmatic considerations do determine the issue. But it must be “in the end”; not at the beginning, nor in the middle.

It may be that the writer has not himself escaped the perils to which he has referred. He can only say that no pains have been spared to achieve this purpose. It is true that the problem has been faced with a conviction that, while truly man, Jesus was much more than man as we know him to be. But this is not a presupposition which colours the evidence. On the contrary, it is the one point of view which recognizes that there is a problem to be solved. If our Lord was a prophet, and no more, there is no real difficulty; no one would defend the Virgin Birth upon such terms. The question becomes a living issue only when Jesus is believed to be more than man.

In Chapter I the New Testament evidence outside the First and Third Gospels is discussed. On the question of the attitude of the Fourth Evangelist to the Virgin Birth—a question as difficult as it is interesting—the writer has been glad to accept and to work out a striking suggestion made by Dr. E. F. Scott (The Fourth Gospel, its Purpose and Theology).

One reason for allotting three chapters to the Third Gospel is the complexity of the Lukan problem. The theory which is outlined in Chapter IV is one which has not yet received sufficient consideration. The alternative, in the opinion of the writer, is to regard the Miraculous Conception as a “necessary stone in the structure” of Lk. i, ii. It is the difficulties mentioned in Chapter II which have prevented him from taking this view. The writer is convinced that St. Luke believed and taught the Virgin Birth. Nevertheless, the critical difficulties are such that it has not been found possible to accept this view in the form in which it is generally held.

It is well to remember that he who states a theory in connexion with such problems contributes to their solution, whether his theory stands the test of time or not. Even in the case of failure the possibilities are reduced and a by-path is revealed as such. As an illustration of this, reference may be made to the view which ascribes the Virgin Birth tradition in Lk. i, ii to an unknown and later writer.

One chapter (Chapter V) has been assigned to the First Gospel. The exposition there given is one which is widely held [pg v] in this country, but an attempt has been made to emphasize the unique character of the Evangelist's standpoint, which, it is believed, is the key to the textual problem of Mt. i. 16. The textual problem is treated in an Appendix to the chapter.

It may seem strange that in Chapter VI no decided opinion is expressed for or against the Virgin Birth. The justification for this position is the fact that, in the end, the question becomes one of Theology, and that to attack the theological problem would be to go beyond the limited aim which the present work has in view.

One result of the investigation is that the documentary evidence for the Virgin Birth is found to be earlier than “negative” criticism has allowed. But to accept this conclusion is only to be brought face to face with the question which the modern New Testament student cannot escape. “Whence come the sources upon which the Evangelists drew?” At first sight the problem seems hopeless. To recover and to describe with objectivity of statement the several sources which the Evangelists employed is a task beset with difficulties: to penetrate still further might well seem impossible. If, however, the problem is faced bravely, with an open mind and an eagerness to learn, it may be that as time passes there will be cause to rejoice over real progress made. The journey is not the plunge into the dark which it might be thought to be. If, indeed, it will bring men nearer to the Jesus of history, it is a quest which cannot be refused, however great the difficulties may be.

In a subject such as this, certain things have necessarily to be taken for granted. The author of the First Gospel is regarded as unknown; accordingly, he is spoken of as the First Evangelist or as St. “Matthew”. The writer of the Fourth Gospel is also referred to as the Fourth Evangelist, the question of authorship being left open. St. Mark and St. Luke, the companions of St. Paul, are assumed to be the authors of the Second and Third Gospels respectively; St. Luke is also believed to be the author of the Acts. The reader who does not accept these views may mentally substitute such phrases as the Second and Third Evangelists wherever St. Mark and St. Luke are mentioned. Such abbreviations as Mt., Mk., Lk., Jn. are always meant to refer to the Gospels, not to their authors.

Abbreviations

DCG. Hastings's Dictionary of Christ and the Gospels (1906-8).

EB. Encyclopaedia Biblica (1899-1903).

Evan. Da-Meph. F. C. Burkitt's Evangelion Da-Mepharreshe (1904).

GHD. V. H. Stanton's The Gospels as Historical Documents, Parts I and II (1903-9).

GHT. F. C. Burkitt's The Gospel History and its Transmission (1906).

Gr. ii. J. H. Moulton's Grammar of New Testament Greek, Vol. II (1919).

HDB. Hastings's Dictionary of the Bible (1898-1904).

HJ. The Hibbert Journal.

HS. Horae Synopticae, Sir John C. Hawkins (2nd ed., 1909).

ICC. The International Critical Commentary.

INT. JÜlicher's Introduction to the New Testament, Eng. Tr. (1904); J. Moffatt's An Introduction to the Literature of the New Testament (3rd ed., 1918).

Proleg. Vol. I of J. H. Moulton's Grammar of New Testament Greek (3rd ed., 1908).

SH. Sanday and Headlam's Commentary on The Epistle to the Romans (ICC., 1895).

Th-Gr. Thayer-Grimm's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament (1905).

VGT. Moulton and Milligan's The Vocabulary of the Greek Testament, Parts I to III (1914-18).

Chapter I. The Virgin Birth And The New Testament Outside The First And Third Gospels

Outside the First and Third Gospels there is no direct reference to the Virgin Birth in the New Testament. There are passages which have been said to imply a knowledge of the doctrine, but, for particularity of statement, none of them can be compared with Mt. i. 18-25 and Lk. i. 34 f. This fact must be our justification in the present chapter for treating together the New Testament Books outside these two Gospels.

The inquiry is mainly a study in silence; it is for that reason both difficult and complicated.

Dr. Sanday has expressed considerable distrust in the argument from silence (cf. The Criticism, of the Fourth Gospel, pp. 33-41). He quotes a striking passage from Dr. Drummond's Character and Authorship of the Fourth Gospel (p. 157 f.), in which reference is made to Theophilus of Antioch, who, in a defence of Christianity, relates nothing about Christ Himself, and maintains a remarkable silence concerning the Gospels. The quotation ends with the words: “We may learn from these curious facts that it is not correct to say that a writer knows nothing of certain things, simply because he had not occasion to refer to them in his only extant writing: or even because he does not mention them when his subject would seem naturally to lead him to do so.” Dr. Sanday has two main objections to the way in which the argument from silence is often handled.

“(1) The critic does not ask himself what is silent—what extent of material.... And (2) experience shows that the argument is often most fallacious” (op. cit., p. 35).

Nothing can be lost in considering this opinion at the outset of our inquiry. In the connexion in which it is urged, it has very great justification. Dr. Sanday is referring to the paucity of references to the Gospels in the second century previous to [pg 002] 170 a.d. The real question is, he says, “What is the relation which the extant evidence bears to the whole body of that which once existed, and how far can we trust the inferences drawn from it?” The available literature is confessedly small. “If we take the whole extant Christian literature between the years 130 and 170 a.d., it would not fill more than a thin octavo volume, and by far the greater part of that is taken up with external controversy” (ib., p. 39).

The caution suggested by these words is distinctly healthy. It may be questioned, however, whether Dr. Sanday's point of view would apply quite so well as regards the alleged silence of so many New Testament Books with reference to the Virgin Birth. There are good reasons for this opinion.

(1) The existing New Testament Writings represent the best Christian literature of the period which they cover. No one would compare them in this respect with the extant works of the first seven decades of the second century.

(2) While not exhaustive in their treatment, the Gospels are faithful to the outstanding events in the life of Jesus.

(3) The Epistles are rich in doctrinal teaching. Occasional in point of origin, they impinge again and again upon the great doctrines of the Christian Faith. The Incarnation and the Person of Christ especially are central.

If, then, very many New Testament Writings are found to be silent as regards the Virgin Birth, the silence is not one which can be ignored. It may in part be explained, but it must not be explained away. If it exists, it is not a silence which can be regarded with equanimity; it must be significant, and no pains can be spared in trying to understand that significance.

We believe, then, that the In treating the New Testament Books outside the First and [pg 003] Third Gospels, our first task must be to determine whether their silence is complete. Where this is the case, we have to try, so far as we can, to interpret the silence. Each stage is, however, a further step into the unknown, and must therefore be taken with increasing care and caution.