From what has been said above it will be seen that, if we restrict ourselves to the First Gospel, there are three theories possible regarding the source or sources employed in i. 18‐25. (i) The narrative, very much as it stands, may have come from Joseph himself. (ii) Inference and imagination may have played upon a nucleus of historic fact. (iii) The narrative may be a story without historic foundation, which has grown up, as the result of inference and imagination, in answer to difficulties arising out of a belief in the Virgin Birth antecedently held. So long as we confine ourselves to the Gospel, it is not possible to choose between these views, unless we are prepared to assume that early Christian tradition cannot have been mistaken—an assumption which cuts the knot instead of untying it. As we are not ready to make that assumption, we have to be content to leave the possibilities open, and to regard the use of any one of them in the historical inquiry as illegitimate. In part this is a disappointing decision, but it is better to feel that we have solid ground beneath our feet. (4) The positive results to which we have been led are (i) that _the First Evangelist knew of, and believed in, the story of the Virgin Birth_; and (ii) that _the belief was shared by his readers, and had been held sufficiently long for some of its problems to be raised_. Unquestionably, this is an important result, and its place in the historical problem will fall to be considered later. Appendix To Chapter V. The Textual Problem of Mt. i. 16 I. Important and well‐known discussions of the textual problem of Mt. i. 16 are those of Sanday (_Outlines_, pp. 197‐200); P. W. Schmiedel (EB., col. 2961 ff.); F. C. Burkitt (_Evan. Da‐Meph._, ii, pp. 258‐66); W. C. Allen (ICC., _St. Mt._, p. 8); G. H. Box (_The Virgin Birth of Jesus_, pp. 215‐18).(98) For purposes of reference, the most important facts may be summarized as follows: (A) First, we have the _text followed in the A V. and R V._, which reads: Ἰακὼβ δὲ ἐγέννησεν τὸν Ἰωσὴφ τὸν ἄνδρα Μαρίας, ἐξ ἧς ἐγεννήθη Ἰησοῦς ὁ λεγόμενος Χριστός. This is the text of all extant uncials, very many minuscules, and many versions (Sanday). “It is definitely attested by Tertullian, _De Carne Christi_, § 20” (Burkitt). (B) A different text is attested by the _“__Ferrar__”__ Group_. It is implied by a number of important MSS. of the _Old Latin Version_, by the _Armenian_, and by the _Curetonian Syriac_. This text is as follows: Ἰακὼβ δὲ ἐγέννησεν τὸν Ἰωσὴφ ᾧ μνηστευθεῖσα παρθένος Μαριὰμ ἐγέννησεν Ἰησοῦν τὸν λεγόμενον Χριστόν.