Matthew 1 · a question people ask
Mary and Joseph were only engaged. Why does Matthew call them husband and wife?
Matthew uses both. Mary "was engaged to Joseph, before they came together" (1:18), and in the next verse he is "Joseph, her husband" (1:19). The angel says, "don’t be afraid to take to yourself Mary as your wife" (1:20), and Joseph "took his wife to himself" (1:24). Luke too says Mary was "pledged to be married" to Joseph (Luke 1:27), and later that she was "pledged to be married to him as wife" (Luke 2:5). Matthew doesn't explain the words, and these notes bring in no customs from outside the Bible to explain them.
The verses
“Now the birth of Jesus Christ was like this: After his mother, Mary, was engaged to Joseph, before they came together, she was found pregnant by the Holy Spirit. Joseph, her husband, being a righteous man, and not willing to make her a public example, intended to put her away secretly. But when he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, don’t be afraid to take to yourself Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.”
“Joseph arose from his sleep, and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took his wife to himself;”
“to a virgin pledged to be married to a man whose name was Joseph, of David’s house. The virgin’s name was Mary.”
“to enroll himself with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him as wife, being pregnant.”