Catholic Church Scandal!
LOL nobody thinks Paul had a birth certificate or DNA analysis.
Thanks for the ginomai/gennao distinction. Do you think that's referring to David's "line" or his actual sperm? and is it a point in favor of Paul thinking Mary was a virgin?
Obviously there was no birth certificate or DNA analysis (smart arse! ;)), but there's also no evidence of any oral or written history either behind that,
just repurposed scripture, which is what I was pointing out.
Regarding the virgin birth, I don't think that had been thought up yet during Paul's time. He makes no mention of it nor Mary, nor do any other writers, until that story debuted in Matthew, written a least a generation after Paul died, with Matthew repurposing Isaiah 7:14. (There's even a clever little twist in Matthew, as Isaiah reads "the young girl/virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him
Immanuel." Jesus is never in fact referred to as Immanuel, which translates to "
God is with you," but there is a play on this in the last line of Matthew, where he concludes his Gospel with Jesus saying "
I am with you.")
Regarding what Paul meant, sperm or line, he literally and specifically says God made Jesus' flesh from David's sperm/seed, not that he was merely born of his line (as many if not most or even all first century Jews would have believed themselves to be descendants of David), so I lean to that intent. But the former wouldn't preclude the latter, and either way it's a theological construct of a zealot, so he's just repeating and rationalizing what he "learned" from 2 Samuel.