On the other side may be pleaded (1) the difficulty of ἐπεὶ, (2) many of the arguments we have sketched in Chapter II. The difficulty of ἐπεὶ we have to admit. As regards the second point, we believe that the theory we have yet to outline in the next chapter meets the case much better, without suffering from the special objections which can be brought against the view we have just discussed. For the reasons given we are unable to accept that view. We prefer to regard Lk. i. 34 f. as a unity, and to interpret both verses as implying the Virgin Birth. And as we have found sufficient reasons, both on textual and linguistic grounds, for ascribing the passage to St. Luke, we believe that he taught the Virgin Birth. CHAPTER IV. THE PLACE OF THE VIRGIN BIRTH IN THE THIRD GOSPEL In the present chapter we must formulate a theory which shall do justice to the results obtained in the last two chapters. We have argued that the Virgin Birth is not an original element in the Third Gospel, that several passages in it are inconsistent with the doctrine, and that Lk. i. 34 f. is a later insertion. On the other hand we have given reasons for our belief that St. Luke really did write the passage just mentioned, and that in consequence he taught the Virgin Birth. It is useless, we think, to set these results against one another; they are not contradictory. The argument from the linguistic and textual facts will not make one iota of difference to those derived from the treatment and subject‐matter of Lk. i, ii, and the latter will not in any way impair the former. Writers who hold fast to the view that St. Luke wrote i. 34 f. have not, in that one contention, answered their opponents, and critics who plead for the hypothesis of non‐Lukan interpolation travel much too fast. The final theory must take all the facts into account. I. A Suggested Theory So far as we ourselves are concerned, there is only one hypothesis open to us, and it is not far to seek. It will be best if we first state it somewhat baldly, leaving obvious difficulties to be considered later. The theory is as follows: In the first instance St. Luke wrote his Gospel, either in whole or in part, without any knowledge of the Virgin Birth. To him, as to the compiler of the Lukan Genealogy, Jesus was the son of Joseph and of Mary. St. Luke’s estimate of Jesus was not less high than that of St. Paul and St. Mark, but, as was probably true in the case of each of these writers, no tradition of the Miraculous Birth had reached him. He looked upon Jesus as the Child of Wondrous Promise, and for his analogies he turned to the Old Testament to the stories of Isaac and of Samuel.