As we have seen, at best it only emerges elsewhere relatively late in the development of the Matthean tradition. The lack of mention of a virginal conception in the earliest birth announcement tradition and the absence of it in Paul or in Mark also indicate that its circulation was not widespread and that the Lukan material’s familiarity with it is unlikely to have originated very much earlier than the time of the final version of the Gospel. This is in line with the commonly held view that, though the infancy narrative is now integral to Luke’s Gospel, it is likely to have been written last.
