The Evangelist’s silence regarding the Virgin Birth can only be understood when it is considered along with his other notable “omissions”. It is one of “a whole series of episodes, cardinal to the Synoptic story” (Scott, _Fourth Gospel_, p. 42). This series includes the Genealogy, the Virgin Birth, the Baptism, the Temptation, the Transfiguration, the Supper, the Agony, the Ascension. The true explanation is probably that given by Dr. E. F. Scott: “These remarkable omissions ... cannot be due to oversight or to the leaving out of what was non‐essential. Without doubt they have been made deliberately, in view of certain theories and presuppositions with which the writer approached his subject” (ib., p. 42 f.). These words set us on the right track. The Evangelist’s silence does not mean that he rejected the Virgin Birth tradition. The Synoptic birth‐stories were more probably accepted by him “as a part of the orthodox tradition, in which, as a member of the Church, he acquiesced” (ib., p. 188). His doctrinal sympathies, however, lay in another direction. It may be that at the time when he first heard of the Virgin Birth tradition, his doctrine of the Incarnate Word had already shaped itself in his mind. Jesus Christ was the Eternal Son of God, the Word made flesh, who became incarnate by His own voluntary act. The fact that his own theological scheme was already developed, together with its specific character,(26) may well account for his neglect of the Virgin Birth. _He does not deny the story, but his own Christology has superior spiritual attractions._ It will be seen that this theory leaves little room for difficulties arising from such passages as i. 45 and vi. 42, and explains at once the Evangelist’s attitude to the question of the birthplace of Jesus. On the one hand, the doctrinal presuppositions of the Virgin Birth were not operative in his mind; on the other hand, in the light of his doctrine of the Logos, the difficulties mentioned would scarcely be felt. The Jewish controversies must have seemed to him so much playing with words. What did it matter where the Word became flesh? What did it matter if men called Him Joseph’s son? Our conclusion, then, is that the Fourth Evangelist tacitly accepts the Virgin Birth, but gives it no place in his doctrinal system. With the theological significance of this result we are not now concerned. Our present interest is rather in its historical implications. On the positive side, it yields little; on the negative side, its importance is greater. It is not permissible to argue against the Virgin Birth tradition on the ground that the Fourth Evangelist rejected it. We may go further and say that, having regard to his evident preoccupation with the Logos‐doctrine, it may not even be safe to make too much of the fact that he ignored the tradition. VII. The Pastoral and the Catholic Epistles and the Apocalypse