We may say at once that we have few new arguments to bring forward. The contentions we have to examine are familiar to every one who studies the question of the Virgin Birth. They have been brilliantly stated in two well‐known articles in the _Encyclopaedia Biblica_, one by P. W. Schmiedel (on “Mary”), and the other by Usener (“Nativity”). In a review (HJ., vol. i, no. 1, p. 164), Dr. Moffatt justly describes these articles as “competent and first‐rate essays, which deserve alert recognition”. But both these articles not only deny that the Virgin Birth was an original element in the Third Gospel, but also that St. Luke, the companion of St. Paul, ever taught that doctrine—and this without any linguistic examination of the passage i. 34 f. They provide, in fact, a clear illustration of the point we have already discussed. Inasmuch, then, as our purpose is to consider the question, Was the Virgin Birth an original element in the Third Gospel?, interpreted in its strictest terms, we shall need to state and weigh the arguments afresh. This is the more desirable, because, in the form in which these scholars present their case, each argument is put forward with an assurance and a finality which individually it does not merit. It is the cumulative force of a number of arguments, each of which has strong presumptive value, which ultimately carries conviction; not a series of arguments each of which is conclusive in itself. We do not suppose, of course, that a writer like Schmiedel would deny anything so obvious as this. Nevertheless, very many English readers feel that his several arguments are stated too much in the light of the result. Moreover, they appear to be shaped by presuppositions which are themselves fatal to the Virgin Birth. In the present treatment of the question, an attempt will be made to assign to each argument its proper force, to observe its limitations as well as its cogency. The result sought is not a conclusion to which we can append a triumphant Q. E. D., but that hypothesis, whatever it be, which best explains the observed facts taken as a whole. I. Narratives and Passages Said to be Inconsistent With the View Our first task must be to examine _those narratives and passages in the Third Gospel which are said to be irreconcilable with the view that St. Luke wrote in the belief that Jesus was miraculously conceived of the Virgin Mary by the Holy Ghost_. What we have to ask is whether or not they are consistent with that supposition. We begin with Lk. iii. 22. (a) Lk. iii. 22, according to the “Western Text”