Important and well-known discussions of the textual problem of Mt. i. 16 are those of Sanday (Outlines, pp. 197-200); P. W. Schmiedel (EB., col. 2961 ff.); F. C. Burkitt (Evan. Da-Meph., ii, pp. 258-66); W. C. Allen (ICC., St. Mt., p. 8); G. H. Box (The Virgin Birth of Jesus, pp. 215-18).[98] For purposes of reference, the most important facts may be summarized as follows:
(A) First, we have the text followed in the A V. and R V., which reads: Ἰακὼβ δὲ ἐγέννησεν τὸν Ἰωσὴφ τὸν ἄνδρα Μαρίας, ἐξ ἧς ἐγεννήθη Ἰησοῦς ὁ λεγόμενος Χριστός. This is the text of all extant uncials, very many minuscules, and many versions (Sanday). “It is definitely attested by Tertullian, De Carne Christi, § 20” (Burkitt).
(B) A different text is attested by the “Ferrar” Group. It is implied by a number of important MSS. of the Old Latin Version, by the Armenian, and by the Curetonian Syriac. This text is as follows: Ἰακὼβ δὲ ἐγέννησεν τὸν Ἰωσὴφ ᾧ μνηστευθεῖσα παρθένος Μαριὰμ ἐγέννησεν Ἰησοῦν τὸν λεγόμενον Χριστόν.
(C) Thirdly, we have the Sinaitic Syriac. Syr.-Sin. reads: “Jacob begat Joseph; Joseph, to whom was betrothed Mary the Virgin, begat Jesus, who is called Christ,” and implies Ἰακὼβ δὲ ἐγ. τὸν Ἰωσήφ· Ἰωσὴφ [δὲ] ᾧ μνηστευθεῖσα [ἦν] π. Μ. ἐγέννησεν Ἰ. τὸν λεγ. Χ. (Burkitt, p. 263). [The reading of the Syr.-Cur. is: “Jacob begat Joseph, him to whom was betrothed Mary the Virgin, she who bare Jesus the Messiah”.] We may also mention here the passage from the Dialogue of Timothy and Aquila which Conybeare claims to be the true text of Mt. i. 16. The alleged quotation includes the text as given under (A) together with the words, “And Joseph begat Jesus who is called Christ”.
II.
(1) Conybeare's claim, mentioned above, has failed to win general acceptance. It is rejected by Schmiedel,[99] who justly asks, “How can we suppose that an evangelist deliberately added the second half to the first?” (col. 2961). Schmiedel's view is that in the passage cited from the Dialogue “it is precisely the youngest text and the oldest which have found a place peaceably side by side in one and the same line”. F. C. Burkitt's theory probably gives the best explanation. He does not think that “And Joseph begat Jesus who is called Christ” is meant to be a part of the quotation of Mt. i. 16, but is simply the inference of the Jew. “The Jew quotes the Genealogy and then draws his inference, which is of course repudiated by the Christian disputant” (p. 265). Accepting this view we may leave the supposed quotation outside our discussion. We may note, however, that, according to Burkitt, the second of two other quotations of Mt. i. 16 in the Dialogue is interesting “as affording an actual proof that the phrase ‘husband of Mary’ was liable to change”. (p. 265).
(2) G. H. Box regards the Curetonian Syriac as “an interpretation rather than a translation of the Greek text given us by the ‘Ferrar’ Group” (p. 216). Burkitt thinks it is “like an attempt to rewrite the text of S” (p. 263), but as he derives the Syr.-Sin. from the same Group,[100] his opinion leads to the same result. Directly or indirectly Syr.-Cur. is a witness for the text (B). As such its general character in Mt. i, ii needs to be taken into account. In i. 20 it has “thy betrothed” instead of “thy wife”. It omits “her husband” in i. 19. In i. 24 it substitutes “Mary” for “thy wife”. In i. 25 it shares with the Diatessaron the reading “purely dwelling with her”, and it renders ἐκάλεσεν by “she called”. It is clear that its text is dominated by a desire to assert unmistakably the historic fact of the Virgin Birth.
(3) W. C. Allen takes the Greek text implied in the Syr.-Sin. to be the true text of Mt. i. 16. Burkitt, as we have seen, derives it from (B). For the present it is important to consider the [pg 107]character of the Syr.-Sin. in relation to the Virgin Birth. In i. 21, with the Curetonian, it adds the words, “to thee”. In i. 25 it omits “knew her not until”, and, as in the English versions, it renders ἐκάλεσεν by the masculine; in the same verse it also has the reading, “she bore him a son”. At first sight it would appear as if the tendency of the MS. is in direct opposition to the doctrine of the Virgin Birth; it is, however, very questionable if this is the case. It is not improbable that “he knew her not until” (omitted also by the Old Lat. k) is an interpolation in the First Gospel. Burkitt thinks that “to thee” in i. 21 appeared in the Evangelion Da-Mepharreshe, and that “him” is a “mere stylistic addition” in the Syr.-Sin. When we add that this MS. includes Mt. i. 18-25, and the parenthesis, “to whom was betrothed Mary the Virgin”, in Mt. i. 16, it becomes impossible to suppose that its text is of “Ebionite origin”. Nor is it any more likely that it represents “the slip of a scribe”. It is too much of a piece with the entire representation of the MS., of which the most we can say is that it hardens the unique point of view which is characteristic of the Evangelist himself. Whether it represents the original ending of the Genealogy, in a form independent of, and earlier than, the First Gospel, is a point which may be left open, though the view is not one which otherwise finds support from the Genealogy, as it now appears in the Gospel.[101] In any case, we ought very probably to reject the view that the Syr.-Sin. in Mt. i. 16 asserts, or implies, the physical paternity of Joseph. It clearly takes ᾧ to “refer to ἐγέννησεν as well as μνηστευθεῖσα” (Burkitt, p. 263), but, having regard to its character as a whole, the strong probability is that it interprets ἐγέννησεν in the same sense which it bears throughout the earlier links of the Genealogy, viz. of legal parentage (Allen, p. 8). In this case the scribe who produced the Syr.-Sin. has remained truer to the mind and spirit of the First Evangelist than any other early Christian writer we know. Whether he has preserved the letter is more open to question.
(4) As regards the rendering (B), it is sufficient to say that the “Ferrar” Group and the Old Lat. MSS., while representing a text [pg 108] which differs from (A), agree in affirming the Virgin Birth. Some of them do so with emphasis (e.g. c and b). All of them (except q) contain the word “Virgin”, but, with the exception of c and b, the connexion between ᾧ (cui) and μνηστευθεῖσα (desponsata) is left ambiguous.