[B-Greek] Matt 1:20 to gennethen: Beget or conceive?

Webb webb at selftest.net
Fri Dec 15 16:31:47 EST 2006


Dear Anthony,

I'd be interested to know what Greek words you have in mind that refer to
conception as distinct from begetting. I thought the ancient concept of how
babies are made didn't include the exact analogue for the modern idea of
"conception", i.e. the creation of a zygote by the fertilization of an egg
by a sperm. So most contemporary English speakers would see conception not
as something that the woman does, but something that a couple does (put
"conceived a child" into Google, and 9 out of 10 results will refer to a
couple). I think the idea in Judaism when Matthew was written was that the
man planted a seed in the woman, and she nurtured it. So GENNAW probably
connoted something like "to spawn" or "to plant a seed" when it was used of
a man. The angel was saying to Joseph, the seed that has been planted in
your betrothed is from the Holy Spirit (not from another man).

But notice what happens when we go back, from this perspective, and express
it as "what has been conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit" (not from
another man). It's very close, the difference being that it assumes the
modern conception of conception, so to speak. 99% of modern people would not
be able to tell you the difference between "begetting" (an obsolete word)
and "conceiving" a child. So you don't achieve anything positive for the
vast majority of readers by preserving the verbal distinction. And I think
you risk getting into a conceptual and theological thicket by trying to
insist that there is significance to the fact that the text refers to
begetting and not conceiving. Email me off list if you want to hear my
theological remarks. But I don't think Matthew had the choice to use the
word for "conceive", because there was no Greek word equivalent to our
modern English word "conceive" at the time the text was written. Or was
there?

Webb Mealy





More information about the B-Greek mailing list