s on Matt. 1:18: "Though Joseph was not
the father of our Lord and Saviour, the order of His genealogy is
traced down to Joseph"--first, because "the Scriptures are not wont
to trace the female line in genealogies": secondly, "Mary and Joseph
were of the same tribe"; wherefore by law he was bound to take her as
being of his kin. Likewise, as Augustine says (De Nup. et Concup. i),
"it was befitting to trace the genealogy down to Joseph, lest in that
marriage any slight should be offered to the male sex, which is
indeed the stronger: for truth suffered nothing thereby, since both
Joseph and Mary were of the family of David."

Reply Obj. 3: As the gloss says on this passage, the word "_mulier_
is here used instead of _femina,_ according to the custom of the
Hebrew tongue: which applies the term signifying woman to those of
the female sex who are virgins."

Reply Obj. 4: This argument is true of those things which come into
existence by the way of nature: since nature, just as it is fixed to
one particular effect, so it is determinate to one mode of producing
that effect. But as the supernatural power of God extends to the
infinite: just as it is not determinate to one effect, so neither is
it determinate to one mode of producing any effect whatever.
Consequently, just as it was possible for the first man to be
produced, by the Divine power, "from the slime of the earth," so too
was it possible for Christ's body to be made, by Divine power, from a
virgin without the seed of the male.

Reply Obj. 5: According to the Philosopher (De Gener. Animal. i, ii,
iv), in conception the seed of the male is not by way of matter, but
by way of agent: and the female alone supplies the matter. Wherefore
though the seed of the male was lacking in Christ's conception, it
does not follow that due matter was lacking.

But if the seed of the male were the matter of the fetus in animal
conception, it is nevertheless manifest that it is not a matter
remaining under one form, but subject to transformation. And though
the natural power cannot transmute other than determinate matter to a
determinate form; nevertheless the Divine power, which is infinite,
can transmute all matter to any form whatsoever. Consequently, just
as it transmuted the slime of the earth into Adam's body, so could it
transmute the matter supplied by His Mother into Christ's body, even
though it were not the sufficient matter for a natural conception.
_____________________