Anchor My Faith

Title: Jesus back to Adam (Luke 3:23-38)

In our gospel story we come to the second genealogy. The first was given by Mathew, in Matthew 1:1 – 17, and traces Jesus’ lineage from Abraham to emphasize Jesus’ Jewish heritage. Luke traces the genealogy back to Adam to show that Jesus is the fulfillment of the hopes of all people. When we covered Matthews’ genealogy, we noticed that it was developed from the genealogies of the Old Testament. The purpose of his genealogy was to demonstrate Jesus’ legal claim to the throne of David, emphasizing his legal descent from David and Abraham. Luke, on the other hand, emphasized Jesus’ biological descent from David and Adam.

When one compares the two genealogies, one finds some striking differences. The most commonly accepted suggestion today is that Matthew traces the line of royal succession from David to Solomon while Luke traces Joseph’s actual physical descent from David to Nathan who is a little known son mentioned in 2 Samuel 5:13 – 16 (ESV): “And David took more concubines and wives from Jerusalem, after he came from Hebron, and more sons and daughters were born to David. And these are the names of those who were born to him in Jerusalem: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon, Ibhar, Elishua, Nepheg, Japhia, Elishama, Eliada, and Eliphelet.” Both lines then converged at Joseph.

The genealogy given by Luke is as follows: “23 Jesus, when he began his ministry, was about thirty years of age, being the son (as was supposed) of Joseph, the son of Heli, 24 the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, the son of Melchi, the son of Jannai, the son of Joseph, 25 the son of Mattathias, the son of Amos, the son of Nahum, the son of Esli, the son of Naggai, 26 the son of Maath, the son of Mattathias, the son of Semein, the son of Josech, the son of Joda, 27 the son of Joanan, the son of Rhesa, the son of Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, the son of Neri, 28 the son of Melchi, the son of Addi, the son of Cosam, the son of Elmadam, the son of Er, 29 the son of Joshua, the son of Eliezer, the son of Jorim, the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, 30 the son of Simeon, the son of Judah, the son of Joseph, the son of Jonam, the son of Eliakim, 31 the son of Melea, the son of Menna, the son of Mattatha, the son of Nathan, the son of David, 32 the son of Jesse, the son of Obed, the son of Boaz, the son of Sala, the son of Nahshon, 33 the son of Amminadab, the son of Admin, the son of Arni, the son of Hezron, the son of Perez, the son of Judah, 34 the son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham, the son of Terah, the son of Nahor, 35 the son of Serug, the son of Reu, the son of Peleg, the son of Eber, the son of Shelah, 36 the son of Cainan, the son of Arphaxad, the son of Shem, the son of Noah, the son of Lamech, 37 the son of Methuselah, the son of Enoch, the son of Jared, the son of Mahalaleel, the son of Cainan, 38 the son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God” (Luke 3:23 – 38 ESV).

There is another difficulty we will briefly look at as we conclude this lesson. In Matthew, Joseph was mentioned as the son of Jacob, while in Luke he is mentioned as the son of Heli. So why the difference? It is possible that Joseph was the legal son of one person, but the physical son of the other. There are other suggestions, but we will not consider them here. Although the genealogies differ, both of them emphasize that Jesus was the “son of David” (Matthew 1:6 and Luke 3:31).

Prayer

Father, thank you for the record of Jesus earthly line, especially showing his relationship to both Abraham and David and that he was from the tribe of Judah. Thank you for the suggestion that Jesus was virgin born by the phrase “being the son (as was supposed) of Joseph. Thank you that we will study further accounts to verify the virgin birth. Father, now that we have covered the genealogies, we look forward to getting closer to the birth of Jesus.