Commentary on the Four Gospel Books
The Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ
G006 The Genealogy of the Christ – Part 2
Matthew 1:1–17; Luke 3:23–38

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All New Testament verses quoted in this article are from the English Majority Text Version, and Old Testament verses are from the King James Version, unless otherwise noted.

Matthew 1:1-17

1 The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham:

2 Abraham begot Isaac, Isaac begot Jacob, and Jacob begot Judah and his brothers.

3 Judah begot Perez and Zerah by Tamar, Perez begot Hezron, and Hezron begot Ram.

4 Ram begot Amminadab, Amminadab begot Nahshon, and Nahshon begot Salmon.

5 Salmon begot Boaz by Rahab, Boaz begot Obed by Ruth, Obed begot Jesse,

6 and Jesse begot David the king. David the king begot Solomon by her who had been the wife of Uriah.

7 Solomon begot Rehoboam, Rehoboam begot Abijah, and Abijah begot Asa.

8 Asa begot Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat begot Joram, and Joram begot Uzziah.

9 Uzziah begot Jotham, Jotham begot Ahaz, and Ahaz begot Hezekiah.

10 Hezekiah begot Manasseh, Manasseh begot Amon, and Amon begot Josiah.

11 Josiah begot Jeconiah and his brothers at the time of the captivity in Babylon.

12 And after the captivity in Babylon, Jeconiah begot Shealtiel, and Shealtiel.

13 Zerubbabel begot Abiud, Abiud begot Eliakim, and Eliakim begot Azor.

14 Azor begot Zadok, Zadok begot Achim, and Achim begot Eliud.

15 Eliud begot Eleazar, Eleazar begot Matthan, and Matthan begot Jacob.

16 And Jacob begot Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus who is called Christ.

17 So all the generations from Abraham till David were fourteen generations, from David until the captivity in Babylon were fourteen generations, and from the captivity in Babylon until the Christ were fourteen generations.

Luke 3:23-38

23 Now Jesus Himself began His ministry at about thirty years of age, being (as it was supposed) the son of Joseph, the son of Heli,

24 the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, the son of Melchi, the son of Janna, the son of Joseph,

25 the son of Mattathiah, the son of Amos, the son of Nahum, the son of Esli, the son of Naggai,

26 the son of Maath, the son of Mattathiah, the son of Semei, the son of Joseph, the son of Judah,

27 the son of Joannas, 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 Elmodam, the son of Er,

29 the son of Jose, 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 Jonan, the son of Eliakim,

31 the son of Melea, the son of Menan, the son of Mattathah, the son of Nathan, the son of David,

32 the son of Jesse, the son of Obed, the son of Boaz, the son of Salmon, the son of Nahshon,

33 the son of Amminadab, the son of Aram, the son of Joram, 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 Mahalalel, the son of Cainan,

38 the son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of *God.

In this article, we will explore the meaning of the Scripture verses in the two segments recording the genealogy of the Lord Jesus Christ.

We begin with Matthew 1:1-17.

1 The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham:

Matthew begins his book recording the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ with His genealogy. In other words, before speaking about Christ, Matthew wants to demonstrate that He is indeed the Christ, that is, the Messiah promised by God to the people of Israel through their ancestors. The title ″Christ″ in Greek is translated from the Hebrew title ″Messiah,″ meaning the one anointed by the God, granted an office to serve the God and minister to His people. This promise was made more than two thousand years ago and is recorded in the Old Testament Scriptures.

Through the God’s promises, we know that the Christ must be a descendant of:

• Abraham: ″And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.″ (Genesis 22:18)
• Isaac: ″And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him.″ (Genesis 17:19)
• Jacob: ″I shall see him, but not now: I shall behold him, but not nigh: there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheth.″ (Numbers 24:17)
• Jesse: ″And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots.″ (Isaiah 11:1)
• David: ″Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.″ (Jeremiah 23:5)

In addition to the promise, there are prophecies about the coming of the Christ more than 700 years before His birth. These prophecies tell us that:

• He will be born in the tribe of Judah: ″But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.″ (Micah 5:2)
• He will be born in the city of Bethlehem (Micah 5:2).
• He will be born of a virgin: ″Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.″ (Isaiah 7:14)
• Because of the birth of the Christ, children will be killed: ″Thus saith the LORD; A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rahel weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not.″ (Jeremiah 31:15)
• He will be taken by His parents into Egypt to escape danger: ″When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.″ (Hosea 11:1)

That is why Matthew began the genealogy of the Lord Jesus with the affirmation that He is a descendant of David and a descendant of Abraham. Then, step by step, he cited the prophecies to show that they were fulfilled in the Lord Jesus, proving that He is indeed the Christ.

Matthew highlighted the fact that the Lord Jesus is a descendant of David to affirm His right to rule on David’s throne. He is the eternal king of Israel, as the prophecies foretold. But He also holds the title ″King of Kings and Lord of Lords,″ making Him the eternal king over all nations.

Being a descendant of David naturally means being a descendant of Abraham, since David is Abraham’s descendant. Yet Matthew specifically emphasized that the Lord Jesus is a descendant of Abraham to remind Israel that He is the One through whom all nations will be blessed—the promise and prophecy that the Self-Existing and Eternal One gave to Abraham (Genesis 22:18).

2 Abraham begot Isaac, Isaac begot Jacob, and Jacob begot Judah and his brothers.

In the genealogy, Matthew twice uses the phrase ″and his brothers.″ The first instance here implies a reference to the origin of the twelve tribes of Israel. Although the Lord Jesus belongs to the tribe of Judah, He is connected to all twelve tribes of Israel because He will be the eternal king ruling over Israel. It was Jacob’s blessing and prophecy that revealed that the right to rule Israel would forever belong to the tribe of Judah:

″Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise: thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies; thy father’s children shall bow down before thee. Judah is a lion’s whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up? The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.″ (Genesis 49:8-10)

″Shiloh″ means: the One to whom all things belong, referring to the Christ.

The ″scepter″ is a staff symbolizing kingship, that is, the authority of a king to rule.

″A lawgiver″ refers to the enactment of law under the authority represented by the scepter. We can imagine a king sitting on his throne, holding the scepter between his legs, to issue commands.

The genealogy begins with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to emphasize that God’s promise began with Abraham and was reaffirmed through Isaac and Jacob. When the Israelites referred to their ancestry, they often said: ″the ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.″

The Bible uses the expression: ″the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob″ or ″the Lord God of Abraham, the Lord God of Isaac, the Lord God of Jacob″ to remind the Israelites that He is the God of their three generations of forefathers, even before the twelve heads of the twelve tribes of Israel were born. Not only is He their God, but He also maintains a close relationship with each of their forefathers. He made promises to their ancestors and will fulfill those promises through them, provided they have faith in Him and obey Him.

3 Judah begot Perez and Zerah by Tamar, Perez begot Hezron, and Hezron begot Ram.

Tamar was Judah’s daughter-in-law. Judah had three sons: Er, Onan, and Shelah. Judah married Tamar to Er, but Er was wicked, and the Lord put him to death. Judah then told Onan to take Tamar as his wife to produce offspring for his brother. However, Onan deliberately prevented Tamar from conceiving, so the Lord also put him to death. Judah then told Tamar to return to her father’s house as a widow and wait until Shelah grew up. But Judah’s hidden intention was that he did not want Shelah to marry Tamar, fearing that Shelah might die like his two older brothers.

Time passed, and Judah’s wife died. One day, Judah went to visit the shepherds working for his flocks. When Tamar learned of Judah’s journey, she disguised herself by covering her face and dressed as a prostitute, sitting by a city gate along Judah’s path. Judah, thinking she was a prostitute, offered to sleep with her. She asked what he would give her as a pledge, and Judah said he would send her a young goat. Tamar demanded that he give something as a sign of his promise. Judah handed over his seal, cord, and staff that he was carrying. He then had sexual relations with Tamar. Afterwards, Judah sent his friend to bring the goat as payment, but his friend could not find the woman he thought was a prostitute. The locals also told Judah’s friend that no prostitute lived in their area.

About three months later, Judah was informed that his daughter-in-law Tamar, because she had been acting as a prostitute, was pregnant. Judah demanded that she be brought out to be burned. As the people were taking Tamar to execute the sentence, she asked them to bring the items Judah had given her as a pledge and told him that she had conceived by the owner of those items. When Judah saw the items, he realized that Tamar had outwitted him. Judah did not have sexual relations with Tamar again. When the time came, Tamar gave birth to twins, naming them Perez and Zerah (Genesis 38).

Both Perez and Zerah are mentioned here, although the Lord Jesus came from the line of Perez. This is because, when Tamar was giving birth, Zerah extended his hand first, and the midwife tied a scarlet thread on his wrist, but Zerah drew his hand back, and Perez was born first. This implies that God had chosen Perez.

The reason Matthew noted Tamar’s name in this case is that it was an unusual circumstance when the ancestress of the Lord Jesus was a woman not from Israel. Tamar was a Canaanite.

4 Ram begot Amminadab, Amminadab begot Nahshon, and Nahshon begot Salmon.

5 Salmon begot Boaz by Rahab, Boaz begot Obed by Ruth, Obed begot Jesse,

We skip verse 4, just as we skipped the latter part of verse 3, because it only lists names of generations without any special detail.

In verse 5, however, Matthew notes that Salmon’s wife was Rahab and Boaz’s wife was Ruth. The reason is also that Rahab and Ruth were two women who did not belong to the people of Israel. Rahab belonged to the Canaanites, and Ruth to the Moabites.

Joshua chapter 2 speaks about Rahab. When the people of Israel were preparing to attack the city of Jericho, Joshua sent two spies into the city to gather information. The two spies entered the city and hid in the house of a prostitute named Rahab. When the soldiers sent by the king of Jericho came to Rahab’s house to search for the spies, Rahab hid them on the roof and told the soldiers that they had already left the city.

The reason Rahab betrayed her king and lied to the soldiers was because she recognized that God had given Jericho into the hand of the people of Israel. She asked the two spies to promise her that when the people of Israel took the city, they would spare her family’s lives. Joshua, in accordance with the spies’ promise, spared the lives of Rahab’s entire family.

Later, the Bible reveals that Rahab did this by faith and that she was declared righteous by her action of saving the two spies.

″By faith the prositute Rahab did not perish with those who did not believe, when she had received the spies with peace.″ (Hê-bơ-rơ 11:31)

″Listen, my beloved brothers. Did God not choose the poor of the world to be rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those that love Him?″ (James 2:25)

Salmon, the husband of Rahab, was probably one of the two spies. Thus, Rahab was the second woman who was not an Israelite to become one of the foremothers of the Lord Jesus.

The Book of Ruth records the story of an Israelite family during the time of the Judges, who, because of famine, moved from Bethlehem to the land of Moab. Later, the husband died, leaving his wife and two sons. The wife, named Naomi, took two Moabite women as wives for her two sons. After about ten years, both sons died, leaving Naomi with her two daughters-in-law. When Naomi heard that the famine had ended in her homeland, she wanted to return to Bethlehem. Both daughters-in-law wished to go with her. However, Naomi urged them to return to their parents and remarry, for she no longer had any sons for them to marry. Nevertheless, Ruth, one of the two daughters-in-law, was determined to go with her. Ruth said to Naomi:

″And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the LORD do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me.″ (Ruth 1:16-17).

Naomi allowed Ruth to go with her. After they returned to her homeland, a close relative of Naomi’s family named Boaz, who had the right to redeem the family’s inheritance according to the law, stepped forward to redeem the inheritance for her family and took Ruth as his wife to raise up offspring for Naomi’s husband’s family line. Thus, Ruth, a Moabite woman, became the grandmother of King David. She was the third woman who was not an Israelite to become one of the foremothers of the Lord Jesus.

6 and Jesse begot David the king. David the king begot Solomon by her who had been the wife of Uriah.

Let us pay attention to this detail: in the second list of the genealogy according to Matthew, all 14 people named were kings of the kingdom of Judah. But Matthew added the royal title only to David’s name. This implies that Matthew wanted to emphasize that David’s throne was different from the thrones of the other kings. David’s throne was promised by the God Himself to remain forever. Matthew meant to say that the Lord Jesus is the One who will inherit David’s throne. Therefore, he needed to add the royal title to David’s name.

Also in this verse, for the fourth time, Matthew noted one of the foremothers of the Lord Jesus. That was Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite, who later became the wife of King David and the biological mother of Solomon and Nathan. This time, it was not because Bathsheba was a woman who did not belong to the people of Israel. Although Bathsheba married a Hittite man, she belonged to the people of Israel.

Matthew did not mention the name of Bathsheba but wrote ″the wife of Uriah″ because King David had taken Bathsheba from Uriah, one of his very loyal soldiers. The story of David taking another man’s wife and having her husband killed is recorded in detail in 2 Samuel 11. Matthew wanted to point out the sin of King David but also implied the mercy of God, who is willing to forgive those who truly repent of their sins. Psalm 51 is one of the Psalms composed by David and is the Psalm expressing his deep repentance after he had sinned and the prophet of the Lord came to point out his sin.

Thus, in the genealogy of the Lord Jesus, there were three women who were not Israelites and yet became His ancestresses. There was also a woman whom King David had taken who also became His ancestress.

7 Solomon begot Rehoboam, Rehoboam begot Abijah, and Abijah begot Asa.

8 Asa begot Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat begot Joram, and Joram begot Uzziah.

We will skip verse 7 because there is no special detail. Verse 8 contains a detail that needs to be explained. From Joram to Uzziah, there were three consecutive kings that Matthew omitted. They were: Ahaziah, Joash, and Amaziah (1 Chronicles 3:11–12). As we studied in the previous lesson, the omission of the names of these three kings was because of the wickedness of Queen Athaliah, the mother of Ahaziah, the grandmother of Joash, and the great-grandmother of Amaziah. King Uzziah was the fourth-generation descendant of Athaliah.

In the original Hebrew and Greek of the Bible, the verb ″begot″ is often used to refer both to the begetting of a son and to the begetting of descendants many generations later. For example, one may say: ″Abraham begot Isaac″ with the meaning that Isaac was the son of Abraham. But one may also say: ″Abraham begot Isaac, Jacob, and Judah…″ with the meaning that Abraham begot Isaac, Isaac begot Jacob, and Jacob begot Judah…

An example in the Bible of the use of the noun ″son″ to refer generally to all the descendants of a person:

″The sons of Judah; Pharez, Hezron, and Carmi, and Hur, and Shobal.″ (1 Chronicles 4:1)

In fact, Perez was the son of Judah; Hezron was the son of Perez; Carmi was the son of Hezron; Hur was the son of Carmi, and Shobal was the son of Hur.

9 Uzziah begot Jotham, Jotham begot Ahaz, and Ahaz begot Hezekiah.

10 Hezekiah begot Manasseh, Manasseh begot Amon, and Amon begot Josiah.

11 Josiah begot Jeconiah and his brothers at the time of the captivity in Babylon.

We skip verses 9 and 10, as they are merely a list of generations without any special details.

In verse 11, there is a suspicion of a scribal error in which the name Jehoiakim was mistakenly written as Jeconiah in Greek New Testament manuscripts. As presented in the previous article, Jeconiah, also called Jehoiachin, was the son of Jehoiakim, and Jehoiakim was the son of Josiah. Therefore, verse 11 should be read as follows:

″Josiah begot Jehoiakim and his brothers, at the time of the captivity in Babylon.″ [2 Kings 24:6]

If the name of Jehoiakim is omitted, the third section of the genealogy would not have the full 14 names. Moreover, there is no reason to omit Jehoiakim’s name, since Jehoiakim reigned for eleven years while Jeconiah reigned for only three months.

12 And after the captivity in Babylon, Jeconiah begot Shealtiel, and Shealtiel.

1 Chronicles 3:16–19 records as follows:

16 And the sons of Jehoiakim: Jeconiah his son, Zedekiah his son.

17 And the sons of Jeconiah; Assir, Salathiel his son,

18 Malchiram also, and Pedaiah, and Shenazar, Jecamiah, Hoshama, and Nedabiah.

19 And the sons of Pedaiah were, Zerubbabel, and Shimei: and the sons of Zerubbabel; Meshullam, and Hananiah, and Shelomith their sister.

It means: Phedadiah was the brother of Shealtiel; Zerubbabel was the son of Phedadiah and the grandson of Shealtiel.

However, in Ezra 3:2, 8; 5:2; Nehemiah 12:1; Haggai 1:1, 12, 14; 2:2, 23, it is clearly recorded that Zerubbabel was the son of Shealtiel. Therefore, we can understand that because Shealtiel had no children to continue his line, he legally adopted the son of Phedadiah, his brother, as his heir. Or perhaps Shealtiel passed away without a child, and Phedadiah took Shealtiel’s widow to bear a child to continue Shealtiel’s line. Zerubbabel was the biological son of Phedadiah but the legal son of Shealtiel.

13 Zerubbabel begot Abiud, Abiud begot Eliakim, and Eliakim begot Azor.

In this verse, Matthew records the son of Zerubbabel as Abiud.

According to 1 Chronicles 3:19, Zerubbabel had two sons, Meshullam and Hananiah, and one daughter, Shelomith. Additionally, according to 1 Chronicles 3:20, Zerubbabel had five more children, probably with another wife: Hashubah, Ohel, Berechiah, Hasadiah, and Jushab-Hesed. In the list of Zerubbabel’s children in 1 Chronicles, there is no mention of a child named Abiud. It is very likely that Abiud is another name for either Meshullam or Hananiah. Since the time of the exile, it was common in Israel for a person to have two or more names—partly due to changing circumstances leading them to adopt a new name, and partly because those who took them as captives would assign them different names.

There are two individuals named Eliakim mentioned in the Old Testament. One was the son of the high priest Hilkiah, of the tribe of Levi (2 Kings 18:18; 22:4). The other was the son of King Josiah, whom the Pharaoh of Egypt appointed as king of Judah and renamed Jehoiakim. Neither of these two could be Abiud’s father.

The name Achim also does not appear in the Old Testament.

14 Azor begot Zadok, Zadok begot Achim, and Achim begot Eliud.

15 Eliud begot Eleazar, Eleazar begot Matthan, and Matthan begot Jacob.

The names from Zadok to Eliud also do not appear in the Old Testament.

There are several individuals named Eleazar in the Old Testament, but all were born hundreds of years before Eliud.

The name Matthan is also not found in the Old Testament.

Aside from Jacob, recorded in the Old Testament as the patriarch of the twelve tribes of Israel, no other person named Jacob is mentioned.

We can understand that, from the time of Zerubbabel to the Lord Jesus, Matthew recorded the genealogy according to the family records that the descendants of King David registered with the Court of Record, which were then copied and preserved by that Court.

16 And Jacob begot Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus who is called Christ.

″Christ″ means ″one is anointed,″ symbolizing a person filled with holy spirit (the power of God), that is, one whom the God has endowed with office, authority, and power to accomplish the God’s will.

This verse identifies Joseph’s biological father as Jacob, not Heli, contrary to some interpretations of Luke 3:23. The verse also does not say that Joseph ″fathered″ the Lord Jesus but affirms that Jesus was born from Mary, Joseph’s wife. Matthew will provide further details when recording the events of the Lord Jesus’ conception and birth.

17 So all the generations from Abraham till David were fourteen generations, from David until the captivity in Babylon were fourteen generations, and from the captivity in Babylon until the Christ were fourteen generations.

Many believe that Matthew intentionally arranged the genealogy of the Lord Jesus into three equal sections, each containing 14 generations. However, as we explained previously, Matthew simply recorded the historical data; the first and third sections of the genealogy naturally contain 14 generations. The second section actually has 17 generations, but Matthew, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, omitted three kings descended from Queen Athaliah, an evil queen punished by God through three generations of her descendants. Therefore, the arrangement of Matthew’s genealogy into 14 generations was divinely ordained by God.

Next, we will explore the meaning of the two verses in Luke 3:23-38: the opening verse and the concluding verse of the genealogy, since the verses in between merely list the ancestors of the Lord Jesus.

23 Now Jesus Himself began His ministry at about thirty years of age, being (as it was supposed) the son of Joseph, the son of Heli,

″Jesus Himself began His ministry at about thirty years of age″ refers to the time when the Lord began His ministry. He entered His ministry through baptism, taking upon Himself the punishment for the sins of humanity, as recorded in verses 21 and 22.

By comparing the Biblical details with historical records, we know:

• The Lord Jesus was baptized shortly before the Passover of the year 25, the same Passover when He entered Jerusalem and cleansed the Temple for the first time, as mentioned in John 2:13.
• The Lord Jesus performed the miracle of feeding more than 5,000 people with loaves and fishes before the Passover of the year 26, as mentioned in John 6:4.
• The Lord Jesus entered Jerusalem and cleansed the Temple for the second time before the Passover of the year 27, as mentioned in John 13:1. After that, He was crucified on the Passover, which corresponds to April 9, 27, in the Julian Calendar [1].

Thus, shortly before the Passover of the year 25, the Lord Jesus was about thirty years old. The Passover falls on the 14th of Nisan according to the Biblical Calendar, corresponding to the Hebrew Calendar, roughly between mid-March and mid-April in the Julian Calendar.

The Lord Jesus was born in late autumn, possibly on the first day of the Feast of Tabernacles, the 10th of Tishrei according to the Biblical Calendar, approximately between late September and late October in the Julian Calendar [2].

This means that around October of the year 24, the Lord Jesus had just turned thirty. Therefore, Jesus was born around October of 7 BCE. There is no year 0 between 1 BCE and 1 CE; thus, from 7 BCE to 24 CE is exactly thirty years.

The clause ″being (as it was supposed) the son of Joseph″ is a note affirming that Jesus was not the biological son of Joseph and did not inherit Joseph’s lineage. Therefore, He carried the lineage of Mary, whose name should be understood implicitly in the genealogy.

At the time the Lord Jesus was baptized (verses 21–22), He was about thirty years old. He belonged to the lineage of Heli through His mother, Mary, although according to custom He was the son of Joseph. He also belonged to the lineage of Mattathah, Levi, Melchi, Jannai, etc. (verses 24–38).

Luke presents the genealogy of the Lord Jesus to demonstrate that He was fully human, coming from the lineage of mankind, yet through a female line.

38 the son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of *God.

The phrase ″the son of *God″ is ″the of God″ (the one belonging to the God) in Greek, refering both to the origin of humanity from God and implying that Adam is God’s child in terms of creation. All humanity, being descended from Adam, are likewise God’s children in the sense of creation. The physical body of Jesus is also God’s child in terms of creation, since it comes from Mary. Yet the body of Jesus is also God’s child in terms of being born, for He was born by God in the virgin Mary’s womb. Therefore, the Scriptures call Him the Only Son of God and, later, the Firstborn, when God has reborn many into the position of His sons and daughters.

The two genealogies of Jesus Christ complement each other, giving us a complete view of the fact that Jesus was truly human, descended from Abraham and David, and is the Savior of humanity promised by God more than two thousand years before He entered this world. He is also the One who, after approximately two thousand years, died on the cross to accomplish humanity’s redemptionand will return to bring His Church, the collective of those who genuinely repent of their sins, believe in His salvation, and live according to His Word, into heaven with Him before the Great Tribulation begins. About seven years later, He and the Church, together with the angels, will descend to earth to bring the Great Tribulation to an end and establish the Millennial Kingdom.

We thank the Lord that the name of each of us has been written in the Book of Life and that our names will also be recorded in the genealogy of Jesus Christ on the day our physical bodies are reborn into the family of God.

May the Holy Spirit guide us into all the truths of God’s Word (John 16:13). May the Word of God sanctify us (John 17:17). May the Faithful *God of Peace Himself sanctify our spirit, soul, and body entirely, without blame (1 Thessalonians 5:23), at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, our Beloved Savior. Amen!

Timothy Christian Huynh
Priscilla Christian Huynh
09/17/2022

Notes:

[1] https://preachingfromthebible.net/the-day-of-the-lords-death-and-the-day-of-the-lords-resurrection/

[2] https://preachingfromthebible.net/the-birth-date-of-the-lord-jesus/

About Using “*God”, “the God” and “holy spirit”

Wherever the Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts of the Bible use a definite article with a noun to denote GOD, we translate it into English as *God or “the God” to refer to God the Father. We understand that “God,” without a definite article, was used as a collective noun for all and any of the three Persons of the Godhead. And “God,” with a definite article, was used to refer to God the Father.

In the Greek manuscripts of the New Testament, the term “holy spirit” (πνευματι αγιω) without the definite article “the” (το) is used to denote the power of God, which is given by God the Holy Spirit. “The Holy Spirit” (το πνευματι το αγιω) is God, and “holy spirit” (πνευματι αγιω) is the power that comes from God.