22 lines
1.3 KiB
TeX
22 lines
1.3 KiB
TeX
\ifdefiningfootnotes
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\DeclareFixedFootnote{\fnParthenos}{PARTHENOS. In general Greek usage, PARTHENOS denotes an
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unmarried young woman of marriageable age --- the emphasis falls on social/marital status rather
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than on a biological claim. Virginity is typically assumed as part of that status, but is not
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the word's primary content.
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\fnPar{}
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The interpretive crux lies one layer back, in the Septuagint. Isaiah 7:14 uses Hebrew ALMAH,
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which means simply 'young woman' and does not specify virginity — Hebrew has a more precise
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word for virgin, BETULAH, which Isaiah does not use. The LXX translators nonetheless rendered
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ALMAH as PARTHENOS. Matthew 1:23 quotes this Greek text, not the Hebrew, and builds directly on
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the LXX's choice of word.
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\fnPar{}
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Matthew reinforces the virginal reading beyond the citation itself: Mary is described as PARTHENOS
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at the betrothal (1:18), Joseph is said not to have known her 'until' she bore her son (1:25), and
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the conception is attributed to the Holy Spirit before the couple came together (Matt 1:18).
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The virgin birth claim, in other words, rests on Matthew's own narrative assertions
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as much as on the PARTHENOS citation — the Isaiah quotation supplies scriptural warrant,
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but the substance of the claim is carried by the surrounding Greek text itself.
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}
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\fi
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