Loading...In my previous post I introduced the seventh-century Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew, one of the most popular Christian writings of the Middle Ages. It tells an expanded version of the events leading up to Jesus’ birth, and then yet more legendary tales of what happened afterward. I continue here with another intriguing portion of the account: the events surrounding Mary conceiving Jesus, even though she was a virgin, and the reactions of Joseph when he realizes she is pregnant, and then – something completely missing from the New Testament – the religious “test” inflicted on her by others to see if she was telling the truth.
Again, this is taken from the translation in my book The Other Gospels, produced with my colleague Zlatko Pleše.
The Annunciation
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1 On the next day while Mary was standing beside the fountain to fill her small pitcher, an angel appeared to her and said, “You are blessed, Mary, for you have prepared a dwelling place for God in your spirit. Behold, a light will come from heaven in order to dwell in you, and through you it will enlighten all the world.” Likewise on the third day while she was working the purple with her fingers, a young man of indescribable beauty came in to her. When Mary saw him she was afraid and began to tremble. He said to her, “Do not fear, Mary; you have found favor with God.[1] Behold, you will conceive and bring forth a king who will rule not only on earth but also in heaven; and he will reign forever and ever.”
Joseph Discovers Mary’s Condition
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1 While these things were happening, Joseph was in Capernaum beside the sea, occupied with his work, for he was a carpenter. He had stayed there for nine months. And so, when he returned to his house, he found Mary pregnant and he began to tremble all over; and out of anguish he …
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Wow, Mary & Joseph fanfic
Conception – Birth – Message
(Quran)OMary! God chose you and purified you above all women of all nations of the worlds.
(Isaiah)the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son,
(Mathew)Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bringforth a son,
(Quran)Behold! OMary! God giveth thee glad tidings of a Word from Him: his name will be Messiah-Christ Eesa, son of Mary, held in honor in this world and the Hereafter..Mary said: How can I have a son when no man has touched me, neither have I been unchaste.
(Luke)’For nothing is impossible with God..
(Matthew)’the Prophet Jesus of Nazareth…’
(John)’And he said, ‘He’s a Prophet.”
(Quran)Jesus, son of Mary-the word of truth inwhich they will be in dispute’.
(Quran)He Eesa/Jesus) said: Verily! I am a servant of God Almighty, He has given me the Scripture proclaiming me a Prophet;
Jesus was given a mission to spread Abraham’s faith i.e Oneness of God-Absolute Monotheism.
(John) Jesus said ‘for if you are the children of Abraham, you would follow his example.’
(Mathew)’I was sent only to help God’s lost sheep–the people of Israel.’
(Romans)Remember,Christ came as a servant to the Jews showing them God is true to the promises he made to their ancestors.
Writing pious fiction seems at one time to have been a popular hobby! I wonder how much has been lost. Could be, only a small faction of such material survived.
Reading this, one can conclude that Mary had the conviction to not “know any man” during her life. So, the brothers and sisters of Jesus must therefore only be step siblings at best. However, without the link of Joseph to Jesus, there is no blood relationship with what must be older siblings. Or did Mary give up her conviction after the birth of Jesus?
Was Mary the only virgin who interacted with the angels prior to becoming pregnant? Was she already special in the community? It appears Joseph wasn’t special in any way other than being “old”.
Perhaps I am just slow, but this whole scenario appears to fail the test of reasonability. Little of this seems reasonable for today. Would it be more reasonable 2,000 years ago?
Finally, I believe Capernaum is known and has been excavated in recent years. Is this also true of Bethlehem? Are they far apart?
Yes, I wish we actually had reliable information about what really happened in Mary’s life. And no, Bethany and Capernaum are not close, B is in Judea near Jerusalem and C about a hundred miles north near the Sea of Galilee.
It is part of Catholic dogma that Mary remained a virgin for life. Some traditions even held that Joseph, too, was a lifelong virgin — demoting Jesus’s brothers from true brothers, to step-brothers, to eventually cousins or other relatives.
Hey, if sex is inherently sinful, no way the parents of Jesus engaged in it….
Wow. Good story! I guess these people were pretty hung up about sex. Apparently G~d was as well. How did that square with the OT commandment to be fruitful and multiply? How was one supposed to take place without the other? And….if G~d had (s) such a dim view of sex as some kind of sin……why did he design us with sexual functions? He could have made us asexual creatures that reproduce without any involvement of others.
Boy, I think we could use some of that “water of drinking” in Washington D.C.
It would have to be rationed.
Footnote [2]: is the original in greek? Does it match Matthew’s text?
I have found a similar apocrypha in Burke and Landau’s New Testament Apocrypha, more canonical writings. It is called ‘On the priesthood of Jesus’ and it has Mary questioned by priests because Jesus is considered to become a priest. The story goes that she gets a medical exam to prove her virginity. This is pre Jesus’ actual beginnings of his ministry in Luke 3.
It has some footnotes on a Levite connection to the family of Mary.
Sidenote:
The birth narratives deserve special attention. There is a lot of compressed information to be found. For example Luke 2,21 informs us that the Jesus who was conceived was the same who was circumsized. That goes against a wide spread legend that ‘God the Son’ somehow descended on a precreated human nature ‘on christmas eve’ to ‘incarnate’ (Enhypostasis theory). Spurgeon taught this in “Lo I come” 04.26.1891 among many others (Darby, Gill, MacArthur, James White)
I always wanted to write an article on the fact that incarnation christology is adoptionistic and seperationist. Christ descends on the human nature on christmas eve and leaves for Hades when the human nature dies. It’s an overlooked topic.
Are you asking about Pseudo-Matthew? It was written in Latin.
Vulgate:
haec autem eo cogitante ecce angelus Domini in somnis apparuit ei dicens Ioseph fili David noli timere accipere Mariam coniugem tuam quod enim in ea natum est de Spiritu Sancto est
Does Pseudo Matthew have “coniugem” ?
I ask because that is an ancient translation corruption. We have “γεννηθὲν” here and not “συλλαμβάνω”.
Even Bible Hub puts ‘conceived’ in the interlinear. So do many translations.
One needs to be of the highest precision in verses dealing with the generation of God’s Son in Mary’s womb. There has been much trickery there and it’s of utmost importance.
That is similar to adding “εκ σου” into Luke 1:35.
It distorts things.
In this post you say that the seventh-century Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew was one of the most popular Christian writings of the Middle Ages. How is the popularity of such a text judged please? Is it based on the number of copies of the gospel which survived; quotations in the writings of others; depictions of the events in art etc, etc?
By the number of mss, the references to it, the effect it has on broader culture, such as art and literature.
Bart, do you know what exactly was in the bitter drink referenced in Numbers? Was it an agent that would bring about an abortion?
No, we have no idea; and no, abortion does not appear to be the issue.
Please reimburse my money. You hold back comments I see you respond after I post and it ‘awaits moderation’. I took screenshots.
You are very short in response and you make many spelling errors. I can already tell you dislike knowledegeable lay christians like myself.
I want my money back please.
Please send me an email. I’m happy to refund your money if you think you have not been treated fairly?? I”m not sure why my spelling errors tell you that I dislike Christians? I believe I posted your comments? Are you saying I didn’t? Yes, please send me a screenshot.
Big fan Dr Ehrman. Was listening to your presentation about thr history of heaven and hell. What puzzles me is that you mentioned nothing about Zoroastrianism as a possible source for the ideas of heaven and hell. Is there a reason for that?
Many thanks and happy holidays
I considered including it in my book, but as I did more intense research I came to think Zoroastrianism had not affected Jewish Apocalyptic thought.
A very interesting story. Since you are on the subject of expanded legends of folks who appear in the New Testament, have you ever done a post on the Revelation of the Magi; a possible late second- or early third-century account of the Magis, their history, and their journey to Bethlehem? It also is quite the interesting tale.
Curious about the following sentence: “She will bear a son who will be named Jesus; for he will save his people from their sins.”
Why does the name Jesus indicate that he will save his people from sin, wasn’t that just a common name at the time Jesus’s birth? Wouldn’t it more probably be the title “Christ” that indicates this? Is this more evidence of a late date for composition as perhaps the writers have confounded the etymologies of “Jesus” and “Christ”?
The name “Jesus” comes from the Hebrew name Joshua which means something like God (Yahweh) is Salvation.
Dear Bart, was Mary (at least according to Luke) from the tribe of Levi, the clan of Aaron like her relative Elisabeth (and Zechariah)?
Is there any historical data that indicates that Levite women were allowed to live in the temple premises or serve in it in any function as virgins? Would this make Jesus a Levite, eligible for priesthood and entitled and zealous to “clean” the temple from unclean traders?
1. The historical Mary, no. In Luke: it depends on whether she was a blood relative of Elizabeth or an in-law.
2. No
Dr Ehrman, among the early Christians, or among any of the apocryphal gospels, did any group/writer ever consider Mary (the mother of Jesus), in any sense, divine?
In Quran (and/or in the early Islamic traditions) there are certain claims regarding the deity of Mary that are quoted from the contemporary Christians (e.g. Quran 5:116). Given the vast diversity of early Christianity, is there any historicity to such claims in Islam? Many thanks,
As with all things divine, it depends on what you mean by divine. Some groups think we are all children of God, and in that sense divine. If by “divine” you mean a “pre-existent being who is equal with God the father,” no probably no one says that about Mary. That she is at a higher level than all of us and even of the saints in the divine-human scheme of things, yes, she is more divine than us, for many.