Declaring His Generation

Quaeri etiam potest, et profundissima quaestio videtur, cur Matthaeus publica voce Liber generationis Jesu Christi dixerit, cum Isaias clamet et dicat, Generationem ejus quis enarrabit? Si enim, quis, pro impossibilitate ibi accipitur, quomodo hic iste generationem ejus narrare sibi possibile judicavit? Nisi quia ibi de generatione quae secundum Divinitatem est, dictum putamus: hic autem de generatione, quam pro nobis secundum hominem suscepit, quanquam et ista magna ex parte inerrabilis esse credatur. Verumtamen illa, per quam genitus est ab aeterno, tota ineffabilis et incomprehensibilis esse probatur. Nisi illud obsistat quod Joannes ait: In principio erat Verbum et Verbum apud Deum, et Deus erat Verbum. Ergo dum ait, In principio erat Verbum, narravit aliquid, et cum addidit quid hoc Verbum esset, et quod apud Deum Patrem esset, jam non solum aliquid de eo, sed multa dixit. Unde non inconvenienter sane quaeritur, quomodo ineffabilis, si effari possit, recte dicatur? Aut si non possit, quomodo ut probamus, quidpiam de eo narratur? Nam et sancta Dei Eccleisa ex omnium divinarum Scripturarum auctoritate colligans, plura de hac divina nativitate catholice confitetur. Forsitan ergo quando dictum est, Generationem ejus quis enarrabit? non impossibilitatem, sed raritatem narrandi ostendit, sicut et in aliis Scripturarum locis legitur. Denique habes in psalmo: Domine, quis habitat in tabernaculo tuo? aut quid requiescet in monte sancto tuo? Non enim dicit quod nullus habitabit, nec hoc, quod nemo requiescat, sed quod rarus et non nisi electus. Et, ut scias hoc verum esse, continuo definit loci illius habitator esse debeat. Et in alio psalmo: Quis ascendet in montem Domini? aut quis stabit in monte sancto ejus? Ut sit sensus, non quicunque de vulgo vel plebe, sed vitae egregiae, singularisque meriti. Quotienscunque quis dicitur in divinis litteris, non nullus, sed aliquis interdum significatur. Sanctus Paschasius Radbertus Corbeiensis, Expositio In Evangelium Matthaei, Lib I Cap I Source: Migne PL 120.45b-d

It is possible to ask, and it seems to be a most profound question, why Matthew with public voice said, 'The book of the generation of Jesus Christ,' 1 when Isaiah cries out and says, 'Who shall declare his generation?' 2 For if 'who' is understood here as impossibility, how did he judge it possible that he might speak of His generation? Unless we think that there is a generation according to Divinity but here the generation is that which is according to man, which He took up for us, and that the former greater part is believed to be ineffable. Truly that, by which He was begotten from eternity, is judged to be utterly unspeakable and incomprehensible. But here John opposes us when he says: 'In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God' 3 For when he says, 'In the beginning was the Word,' he speaks of something, and when he adds what this Word was, even that it was with the Father, not only does he speak of something concerning Him, but much more. Whence it is not out of place to ask how it may be right to say it is ineffable when it can be spoken. Or if it is not possible, how is it that we approve what he has spoken of concerning Him? For even the holy church of God, gathering from the authority of all the holy Scriptures, declares many things in a catholic manner concerning this Divine nativity. Perhaps, then, because it was said. 'Who shall declare His generation?' it was not to show the impossibilty of narration but the rarity of it, as we read in other places in the Scriptures. For you have in the Psalm: 'Lord, who shall dwell in your tabernacle? Or who shall find rest on your holy mount?' 4 He does not say that no one dwells there, nor that no one rests there, but that it is rare, and not unless one is elect. And that you might know this to be true, he goes on to define what the dweller in that place should be. And in another Pslam it says: 'Who will ascend the mount of God? Or who shall stand on His holy mountain?' 5 Which means that it is not anyone who is base or common, but only one of exceptional life and singular merit. So many times when 'who' is said in the Divine scriptures, it does not mean 'no one' but 'someone'. Saint Paschasius Radbertus, Commentary On The Gospel of Saint Matthew, Book 1 Chap 1 1 Mt 1.1 2 Isaiah 53.8 3 Jn 1.1 4 Ps 14.1 5 Ps 23.3