16:1 Now when the Pharisees 1 and Sadducees 2 came to test Jesus, 3 they asked him to show them a sign from heaven. 4
1:18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ happened this way. While his mother Mary was engaged to Joseph, but before they came together, 5 she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit.
1 sn See the note on Pharisees in 3:7.
2 sn See the note on Sadducees in 3:7.
3 tn The object of the participle πειράζοντες (peirazontes) is not given in the Greek text but has been supplied here for clarity.
4 sn What exactly this sign would have been, given what Jesus was already doing, is not clear. But here is where the fence-sitters reside, refusing to commit to him.
5 tn The connotation of the Greek is “before they came together in marital and domestic union” (so BDAG 970 s.v. συνέρχομαι 3).