the story at the outset, and remain of decisive significance throughout the Gospel. The hypothesis that the story rests on a pre-Christian legend, refashioned to apply to Jesus (H. Gressmann*), has been sufficiently criticised by Bultmann, 323–325, and Machen, 348–358. Recent study tends to regard the narrative as a creation on the analogy of the story of the birth of John (P. Winter; see 1:5–2:52 note) or as an independent Christian legend. (Those who take these views allow that pre-Christian