Question: Matthew 1:18 (NIV)

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> This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about[a]: His mother
> Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came
> together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit.
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It says Mary became pregnant through the Holy Spirit, but how does one rule-out the involvement of a male in fertilizing the egg? Other miraculous conceptions in the bible are not usually understood as involving a non-sexual conception, so why is a non-sexual conception inferred here?

Answer: 
First, the text eliminates the possibility that Joseph’s seed contributed to the conception because it said Mary was found pregnant (lit., “having in her womb”) while she and Joseph were betrothed and before she and Joseph came together (i.e., had intercourse).

Notice the phrase at the end: «ἐκ πνεύματος ἁγίου». The text does not use the prepositions διὰ or ὑπὸ to suggest that the Holy Spirit functioned as an instrumental agent in the conception.1 Rather, it uses ἐκ. For example, in Rom. 9:10, the apostle Paul wrote the following:2

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> 10 and not only this, even Rebecca, having conception **of one**, our father Isaac,  
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> Ιʹ οὐ μόνον δέ ἀλλὰ καὶ Ῥεβέκκα **ἐξ ἑνὸς** κοίτην ἔχουσα Ἰσαὰκ τοῦ πατρὸς ἡμῶν·
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In Rom. 9:10, ἐξ is referring to the father of the offspring (twins) conceived in Rebecca. Likewise, in Matt. 1:18, ἐξ is referring to the father of the offspring conceived in Mary. For that reason, the child was called the son of God.3

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Footnotes

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        1 As in the case of God enabling an infertile woman such as the 90-year old Sarah to conceive Isaac with Abraham. Gen. 17:17 cf. Gen. 21:2.  

        2 Rom. 9:10 has the word κοίτην, literally “bed.” Most translators agree that it is understood as “intercourse,” but not only that. As a metonymy of the cause for the effect, the author likely means seed or conception. BDAG, κοίτη, 2., b., has a remark on Rom. 9:10: κοίτην ἔχειν ἐξ ἑνός conceive children by one man Ro 9:10. Likewise, in the LXX of Num. 5:20, it has «καὶ ἔδωκέν τις τὴν **κοίτην** αὐτοῦ ἐν σοὶ»—“and if some man gave you his **bed** in you.” (Here, κοίτην clearly refers to seed.)  

        3 cf. Luke 1:35
Here is the passage from the ancient Greek translation to which he appeals:

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> [Isaiah 7:14](https://studybible.info/Brenton/Isaiah%207:14)
> Brenton(i) 14 Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; behold, a virgin shall conceive in the womb, and shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Emmanuel.
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Matthew has demonstrated repeatedly that he is working from a Greek translation, not from a Hebrew text [(though see here)](https://www.academia.edu/32013676/Hebrew_Gospel_of_MATTHEW_by_George_Howard_Part_One_pdf). He is determined by hook or crook to have every OT passage (as found in the Greek translation) find a corresponding "fulfillment" in his gospel. For example, "out of Egypt have I called my son" is proffered by Matthew as being "fulfilled" in Joseph's family escaping Herod (something of which his biographers never show any knowledge, and clearly refers to Israel escaping slavery in Egypt). And he has his family moving to Nazareth "fulfilling" the passage:

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> [Jdg 13:5 KJV] (5) For, lo, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and no razor shall come on his head: **for the child shall be a Nazarite** unto God from the womb: and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.
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> [Mat 2:23 KJV] (23) And he came **and dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene**.
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So Matthew contrives all kinds of fictional nonsense to show that Jesus was, in fact, the Messiah, and the fulfillment of ALL prophecy.

Since that is his driving design for his gospel (and the same is true of all the NT), he recasts the "sign" that Isaiah predicted for his current time as referring to the NT times, aka "the Messianic Age":

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> [Isa 7:16 KJV] (16) For before the child shall know to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her kings.
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> [Isa 8:4 KJV] (4) For before the child shall have knowledge to cry, My father, and my mother, the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria shall be taken away before the king of Assyria.
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