Chapter 1:18-20
Now the birth of Jesus Christ happened this way: After His mother Mary was engaged to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child by the Holy Spirit. 19 Then Joseph her husband, being a just man and not willing to make her a public example, had in mind to divorce her privately.
But while he thought on these things, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for He who is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.
Chapter 1:23
“A virgin shall be with child, and will bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,”[a] which is interpreted, “God with us.”
Is Matthew talking about a miraculous conception here? For almost 2,000 years, many Christian traditions have accepted the idea of a ‘Virgin Birth’.
But is this Matthew’s intention? It depends on how he was using ‘virgin’ and ‘through the Holy Spirit’.