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25. υἱὸν (א B) for τὸν υἱὸν αὐτῆς τὸν πρωτότοκον. The reading of the receptus is probably due to Luk 2:7, where πρωτότοκον is unchallenged. The insertion may have been made for controversial reasons, as slightly favouring the view that ‘the brethren of the Lord’ were his full brethren. But this is unlikely.
Εὐαγγέλιον, like χριστός (see ch. Mat 1:18), is rare in the classics. The history of it is that of many Hellenistic words—first Homeric, then vernacular, then again found in literature. It occurs twice in Homer, in the sense of ‘reward for good news,’ Od. XIV. 152 εὐαγγέλιον δέ μοι ἔστω | αὐτίκʼ ἐπεί κεν κεῖνος ἰὼν τὰ ἃ δώμαθʼ ἵκηται: and again in the same passage l. 166. In Aristoph. Eq. 656 εὐαγγέλια θύειν is ‘to sacrifice for good news,’ Eq. 647 εὐαγγέλια στεφανοῦν, ‘to crown for good news.’ In later Greek εὐαγγέλιον acquires the more familiar sense of ‘good news,’ as distinct from ‘reward for good news.’ The LXX. has the word in both senses. It was a familiar term to educated Romans: cp. ‘Primum ut opinor εὐαγγέλια. Valerius absolutus est,’ Cic. ad Att. II. 3. In its N.T. use εὐαγγέλιον is closely allied to the thought of the Kingdom of God, it is distinctively the announcement of the Messianic hopes fulfilled. The word is not used by St John except in one passage of the Apocalypse, ch. Mat 14:6, or by St James, and once only by St Peter, it does not occur in St Luke’s Gospel. With St Paul, however, εὐαγγέλιον is very frequent, and to him is due its leading place in the Christian vocabulary. For the verb see ch. Mat 11:5. The English equivalent ‘gospel’ (A.-Saxon Godspell) is a felicitous rendering, though it fails to convey all that belongs to εὐαγγέλιον. The Continental languages have naturalised the Greek word: évangile (French), evangelium (German), evangelio (Italian).
κατά, ‘according to.’ The gospel is presented according to the plan and aims of the different writers inspired to meet the requirements of particular readers and to satisfy special needs.