So concerned is the author with Mary’s lack of
exposure to sexual activity that her own conception is framed as
possibly a miraculous one. After Joachim has been in the wilderness fasting for
forty days and nights on account of his childlessness (Prot. Jas. 1:10), an
angel appears to Anna and delivers news of her impending pregnancy: “You will
conceive (συλληψει) and will give birth (γεννησεις), and your offspring will be spoken of (λαληθησεται) through the world” (Prot. Jas. 4:1). Each of
the verbs is this angelic message is the future tense, indicating that none of
what is described has yet to take place. Immediately after this message is
delivered and received, however, the situation changes. Anna is told by two
more angels that Joachim is on his own home. The narrator comments: “An angel
of the Lord had come down to Joachim, saying, ‘Joachim, Joachim, the Lord God
has heard your prayer. Go down from her. Behold, your wife Anna has become
pregnant” (εν γαστρι ειληφεν) (Prot. Jas. 4:4). Here the verb (ειληφεν) has shifted to the perfect tense, indicating
that the action it describes has been completed in the past but with effects
persisting into the present. In short: Anna has conceived, and she has done so
presumably in Joachim’s absence. (Eric M. Vanden Eykel, “Protoevangelium
Iacobi,” in The Reception of Jesus in the First Three Centuries, ed.
Jens Schröter, 3 vols. [London: T&T Clark, 2020], 2:100)