Matthew 1:18

(α) Ἰησοῦ, now read by Tisch. (ed. 8), though absent from editions 5 and 7, is supported by all the Greek codices, but rejected by some critics, chiefly on the evidence of Irenæus, who (as appears from the Latin version of his works) read τοῦ Χριστοῦ and sustained it on special grounds; but also because the collocation ὁ Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς is hardly defensible from the position of the adjective χριστός, and is not found elsewhere in the genuine text of the N.T. See Hammond (Text. Crit. p. 66 foll.), who discusses this reading at length: and Scrivener’s Introd. p. 493.

The reading τοῦ δὲ Χριστοῦ ἡ γένεσις, ‘the birth of the Messiah,’ is theologically valuable as denoting that the Messiah was born, against the false teaching that Jesus became the Messiah, or the Messiah entered into Him at baptism. Hence the interest of the discussion.

(β) After μνηστευθείσης the received text has γὰρ—the usual particle for beginning a narrative in explanation of a statement: cp.

τοιοῦτον ἦν τὸ πρᾶγμʼ, ὅπως γὰρ ἤλθομεν κ.τ.λ.

Soph. Ant. 407.

Nam is similarly used in Latin. The insertion of γὰρ in the text was probably the unconscious error of a copyist familiar with classical usage.

18. Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ. See Matthew 1:21.

Χριστοῦ. As a classical word χριστὸς is very rare (Æsch. Prom. Vinct. 480 and Eur. Hipp. 516 are among the few instances where it occurs) and thus belongs to a class of words that have passed into Christian use without any debasing pagan associations. In the LXX. it is frequent as a translation of the Hebrew Mashiach (anointed). To the Jew it would suggest the thought of (1) Prophet, μὴ ἅψησθε τῶν χριστῶν μου καὶ ἐν τοῖς προφήταις μου μὴ πονηρεύεσθε, Psalms 104:15; (2) Priest, καὶ εἰσοίσει ὁ ἱερεὺς ὁ χριστὸς�, Leviticus 4:16; (3) King, ποιῶν ἔλεος τῷ χριστῷ αὐτοῦ τῷ Δαβίδ, Psalms 18:50. As a proper name it was the Messiah, the Χριστὸς ἡγούμενος of Daniel 9:25—the only passage where the term Mashiach is applied directly to the coming Deliverer. In the N.T. the Hebrew form is used twice (John 1:41; John 4:25), where it is explained: εὑρήκαμεν τὸν Μεσσίαν ὅ ἐστιν μεθερμηνευόμενον χριστός (ch. John 1:42) and οἶδα ὅτι Μεσσίας ἔρχεται ὁ λεγόμενος χριστός. Note that one title—Messiah or Christ—has been adopted almost to the exclusion of others quite as common in the O.T., ‘The Branch,’ ‘He that cometh’ (ὁ ἐρχόμενος, Hebr. Habba), ‘The Prophet.’ This is partly due to the great influence of Daniel’s prophecy, partly to the appropriateness of the title to the Son of David.

μνηστευθείσης, ‘betrothed.’ Among the Jews the betrothal took place a year before marriage, and during the interval the betrothed maiden remained with her own family. But from the day of betrothal the pair were regarded as man and wife. For the genitive absolute μνηστ.… Μαρίας instead of the nominative as subject to εὑρέθη see Winer, p. 260.

Μαρίας. The Hebrew form is Miriam.