If this view is sound, the verse in itself is not necessarily inconsistent with the Virgin Birth, since it may reasonably be urged that it carries us no further than Mt. i. 24, where the marriage is implied.[34] If this fact is put forward in a narrative [pg 034] which expressly teaches the Virgin Birth, it could be so here. The phrase “with Mary his wife” is certainly congruous with the view that the doctrine is a later element in the Third Gospel, but it would be improper to employ it in support of that view. (The case is like those of ii. 48, iv. 22.) But even if we must leave the question open, at any rate we have no longer to reckon with the words, “with Mary, who was betrothed to him”. There is nothing, therefore, in the verse which is in conflict with the view that St. Luke had no knowledge of the Virgin Birth when he first wrote his Gospel.
Before leaving this part of the subject it may be well to recall the nature of the argument. The several points treated are not regarded as contentions which inexorably demand a certain conclusion, but as distinct difficulties, greater or less, which arise, on the view that St. Luke knew of the Virgin Birth from the first. We may fairly say that the facts examined thus far would be best satisfied by considering the Virgin Birth as a later element in the Gospel; but, until we have investigated the important passage Lk. i. 34 f., it would be precarious to say more.
II. The Passage Lk. i. 34 f
In the Revised Version Lk. i. 34f. reads as follows: “And Mary said unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? (35) And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee: wherefore also that which is to be born shall be called holy, the Son of God.” As regards the last clause, the margin gives the alternative rendering: “the holy thing which is to be born shall be called the Son of God”. The difference rests upon a question of punctuation in the Greek, and does not affect our immediate problem.
Our purpose in this section is to inquire how far the view, which is widely held, that Lk. i. 34 f. is a later insertion is justified. But two important questions must detain us first. (a) Is the assumption we have made thus far, that Lk. i. 34 f. implies the Virgin Birth, tenable? What is the true interpretation of the passage? (b) What is the purport of the angelic announcement in Lk. i. 30-3? Is Dr. Plummer's language justified, when, [pg 035] in reference to this message, he speaks of “the strange declaration that she [Mary] is to have a son before she is married” (op. cit., p. 24)? Is there any suggestion of a virgin birth?
(a) The Interpretation of Lk. i. 34 f
In the text as it stands, in answer to the angel's words in Lk. i. 30-3, Mary says: “How shall this be, seeing I know not (οὐ γινώσκω) a man?” The interpretation of this verse depends upon the force we give to the word γινώσκω. Schmiedel (EB., col. 2956) thinks that γινώσκω in this verse “cannot mean the act of concubitus for which the word is often employed”, because it is here used in the present tense. On the other hand, the quite general sense of knowledge in the way of acquaintanceship, is also, in his view, “equally precluded”, since it would be “quite meaningless in the present context”. Accordingly, he finds the true interpretation to be “the intermediate one; I have no such acquaintanceship with any man as might lead to the fulfilment of this prophecy”. In other words, Mary's objection or difficulty is that she is not even betrothed. Schmiedel is not daunted by the fact that this interpretation is in conflict with Lk. i. 27 (“a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph”). Indeed, the contradiction is given as one reason for regarding Lk. i. 34 f. as a later insertion. In this respect Schmiedel's view will probably not command much support. He gives no example of γινώσκω used in the special sense in which he interprets it, and fails to justify his rejection of the common use of the verb. (See Th-Gr., p. 117; VGT., p. 127.) It is altogether preferable to follow Dr. Plummer (op. cit., p. 24), whose view is indicated in the references which he gives to the OT. passages, Gen. xix. 8; Judg. xi. 39; Num. xxxi. 17. “The words”, says Dr. Plummer, “are the avowal of a maiden conscious of her own purity”. According to this view the phrase “seeing I know not a man” must be interpreted of the marital relationship. Mary's perplexity is that she, an unmarried woman, is promised an immediate conception. It is impossible to accept Schmiedel's view, when he says: “Mary takes the words of the angel as referring to a fulfilment in the way of nature”. This explanation is, of course, consistent on the interpretation which Schmiedel gives to Mary's question, but not on that which we have found [pg 036] reason to prefer. Had Mary understood the angelic message to mean a natural human birth after marriage, there would have been no cause for perplexity. Her words, “How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?”, are clearly a reply to what is understood as the announcement of an immediate conception, and not of a birth within the marriage tie.
If this view is taken of Mary's words, it follows that verse 35 must be explained as the yet clearer announcement of a virgin birth, supernaturally caused. If the verse is treated in itself, it is possible to interpret it of an ordinary human birth, and there is much that is attractive in the interpretation. The words may be said to speak of the Holy Ghost who should come upon Mary to inspire and preserve the purity of her soul in the act of conception. They may speak, that is to say, of God's use of His own appointed agencies. But, to accept this view, it would be necessary to regard the words “seeing I know not a man” as a later insertion, and, though this opinion has been held by some (including Kattenbusch, Weinel, J. M. Thompson), it does not on the whole commend itself as a satisfactory solution of the problem (see further pp. 69 ff.). We are compelled therefore to accept the ordinary interpretation of verse 35, as implying the Miraculous Conception.