It will be recognized that the situation is quite different on the view which credits i. 34 f. to a later Christian editor. Against this theory the objection we are considering has much greater force. For it is unlikely that the redactor would approach the Gospel with a knowledge of the Virgin Birth but lately gained. On the contrary, it would probably be a doctrine with which he had long been familiar. Accordingly, in addition to the other objections that we have raised against the theory of late interpolation, it would be legitimate to ask, Why has the redactor not done his work better? Our own hypothesis—that St. Luke had only just entered into a knowledge of the new tradition—is, indeed, the one theory where we have the least need to ask this question. For the reasons given, we believe that the objection that St. Luke’s revision should have been more drastic is not insuperable. That there is difficulty we allow. But there is probably no solution of the Lukan problem, not even the correct one, which will not leave difficulties of a kind. The problem is complex and the facts often elusive. It is on the ground that the theory we have sketched leaves least difficulties, and does justice to the facts as they appear, that we venture to find in it a reasonable solution of the problem of the Virgin Birth in relation to the Third Gospel and to St. Luke. IV. Certain Consequences It remains for us to consider certain consequences which follow if our hypothesis is true. (1) In the first place, _we can claim St. Luke as a witness to the tradition of the Virgin Birth_. This is a result of first importance. For those who regard St. Luke as a very credulous person with a special “fondness” for “a good miracle”, this conclusion will mean little. But for those who are impressed by his claim to be regarded as a good historical writer, it is not a view to be lightly esteemed. There are those who will consider that St. Luke’s witness settles the historical question, and will be disposed on the ground of his authority to accept the tradition. But with greater reason there are others who will feel that, with all his excellences as an historian, St. Luke has the elementary human right to make a mistake, especially when he is dependent upon the evidence of others. The determining feature is clearly the character of his source or sources.