(3) It is probable that Mt. i. 16 contained a reference to Mary. This view is supported by the earlier references to women in the Genealogy. “It is inconceivable that the Evangelist, who thought it served the purpose that he had in hand to mention Thamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Uriah's wife, should leave the step containing Joseph bare” (Burkitt, p. 264).
(4) Of the two qualifying clauses open to us, τὸν ἄνδρα Μαρίας is more likely to be the older. (i) It is an expression such as we can easily suppose the First Evangelist would use (cf. Mt. i. 19). (ii) It safeguards the Virgin Birth; there would be no point in describing Joseph as “the husband of Mary” unless that expression bore some special meaning. (iii) In the Dialogue of Timothy and Aquila we possess “actual proof” that the phrase was “liable to change” (Burkitt, quoted above, p. 106). (iv) The expression could easily be misunderstood at a time when the interest in the Davidic Sonship was no longer paramount. (v) In that case the phrase ᾧ μνηστ. π. Μ. would commend itself as a doctrinal modification. (vi) It would be altogether less easy to say this of τὸν ἄνδρα Μαρίας.
(5) It is probable that Joseph was mentioned twice. (i) This conclusion follows of necessity, if, as we have argued, ἐγέννησεν and not ἐγεννήθη is original. (ii) It is implied in the earlier steps of the Genealogy. (iii) It is attested by the Syr.-Sin., and the omission of the second Ἰωσήφ in (A) and (B) is not difficult to explain (see later).
(6) It is on the whole more probable that τὸν ἄνδρα Μ. followed the first Ἰωσήφ and not the second. (i) This view is supported by the compiler's method. “The practice of the writer is to interpose no words between the name and the verb ἐγέννησεν” (Burkitt, p. 263). (ii) This order enables us to give an explanation of the fact that both (A) and (B) omit the second Ἰωσήφ (see below).
Gathering together these several results, we obtain the following as the reconstructed text of Mt. i. 16:
Ἰακὼβ δὲ ἐγέννησεν τὸν Ἰωσὴφ τὸν ἄνδρα Μαρίας;
Ἰωσὴφ δὲ ἐγέννησεν τὸν Ἰησοῦν τὸν λεγόμενον Χριστόν.
In addition to the reasons already given, we may also urge the fact that, with this text posited, we can give the simplest and least involved account of the origin of (A), (B), (C).
(1) The scribes who have produced (A) substituted the passive (ἐγεννήθη) for the active (ἐγέννησεν). This caused the second Ἰωσήφ to drop out, its place being taken by ἐξ ἧς “from whom” (fem.). Ἰησοῦς ὁ λεγ. Χρ. followed as a grammatical change.
(2) All that the originators of (B) had to do was to substitute ᾧ μνηστ. π. Μ. for τὸν ἄνδρα Μ., and then, by omitting Ἰωσὴφ δέ, to leave Μ. as the subject of ἐγέννησεν.