Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ: the focus is on legal rather than physical descent. According to Jewish teaching, if a man acknowledged a son as his own, then he was considered that man’s son, without any further question. Matthew can thus show that Jesus was a descendant of David through Joseph and at the same time emphasize the unique aspect of Jesus’ birth through the virgin Mary (1.18-25).

For the husband of Mary, some languages say “Joseph, who married Mary.”

There are several things to consider before translating this verse. It is important to structure the verse so that it is clear that Jesus is Mary’s child, not Joseph’s. Secondly, translators do not want to give the impression that Joseph married Mary after Jesus had been born. A third problem for some translators is that of whom Jesus was born must be rendered by an active sentence, such as “She gave birth to” or “She was the mother of Jesus.” A further concern is that in many languages it is not possible to separate “Jesus” from “who is called the Christ” by the phrase “was born” unless a new sentence is started. Keeping all these things in mind, some translators have sentences such as “Jacob was the father of Joseph. He married Mary, who gave birth to Jesus, who is called Christ,” or “Jacob was the father of Joseph. Joseph’s wife was Mary who was the mother of Jesus. Jesus is called Christ.”

Who is called Christ: the present tense, is called, indicates that this is what people continue to call him. Here, “called” does not mean he is named “Christ,” but refers instead to the fact that people have applied the title of “Christ” to him, that is, “People call him the Christ” or “People say, ‘He is the Christ.’ ”

For Christ (Good News Translation “the Messiah”) see comments at verse 17 and Matthew 1.1.

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on the Gospel of Matthew. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1988. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .