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Matthew 1:18 Updated American Standard Version (UASV)
¹⁸Now the birth of Jesus Christ was in this way: When his mother Mary had been betrothed^[1] to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit.

The apostle Paul tells us in Galatians 4:4 that the Father “sent forth his Son, born of a woman.” How did the laws of heredity work with this union of perfection (the life of the Son) with imperfection (the ovum or egg cell in Mary’s womb)?

How was the life of the Son transferred from heaven to earth to be united in the fertilization of an ovum or egg cell in Mary’s womb? How could Jesus, as the actual son of Mary, a genuine descendant of forefathers Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah, and King David and legitimate heir retain the same identity that he had in heaven? (Gen. 22:15-18; 26:24; 28:10-14; 49:10; 2 Sam 7:8, 11-16; Lu 3:23-34) The Scriptures reveal that the Holy Spirit caused the conception, namely, the fertilization of an egg cell by the transferal of the life of the Son from heaven to Mary’s womb. The Holy Spirit would have canceled out any imperfection in Mary’s ovum, producing a pattern of genes that was perfect from conception. Matthew tells us that Mary “was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit.” (1:18) Luke tells us that the angel said to Mary, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason, the one who is born will be called holy, the Son of God.” (Lu 1:35) In other words, the Holy Spirit fertilized Mary’s egg by the life of the Son. At the same time, the Holy Spirit formed what we might call a defensive wall that protected the Son in Mary’s womb so that no imperfection could affect the developing embryo from conception up unto the time of the birth. When Jesus was born, he was both fully divine and fully human, unified perfectly in one person.

[1] In the Jewish culture of the time, engaged couples were viewed more legally committed, as though they were already married if you will.