Explain the genealogy of Christ please! - In Ask Dr. Newman

QUESTION:

Hi Dr. Newman,

My question is: in both scriptures regarding to Jesus’ genealogy in the book of Luke and Matthew – where does it indicate that one of from His mother’s side, and one is from His father’s side. Can you help me?

Rebecca

ANSWER:

Rebecca:

This gets a little complicated, but here goes.

1. Matthew’s list clearly goes through Joseph, “and to Jacob was born Joseph the husband of Mary, by whom was born Jesus” (Matthew 1:16). Another important point to note is that Matthew’s list goes through Solomn to his father, David (Matthew 1:6, 7). This gave Jesus the legal right to rule on David’s eternal through as Messiah (cf. 2 Samuel 7:8-17). This was the inherited “legal” line of royalty. 

One problem with this is that of the curse placed on Jeconiah in Matthew 1:11. That curse determined that none of Jeconiah’s descendants would be able to sit on the eternal throne of David (Jeremiah 22:24, 28; 37:1). Matthew’s emphasis was to establish Christ’s right to rule as Messiah on the throne of David.

2. Now we come to Luke. The first hint that this list is not back through Joseph is this, “Jesus Himself was about thirty years of age, being supposedly the son of Joseph” (Luke 3:21). The wording, “supposedly” hints that Jesus wasn’t his son, and the only other explanation would be that Jesus was the son of Mary. Technically, Jesus’ physical birth was only from Mary and through the Holy Spirit, and not Joseph (Luke 1:35). The clincher is that Luke’s list goes back to David not through Solomon, but through Solomon’s brother, Nathan (Luke 3:31). Luke places the emphasis on Jesus’ physical line in contrast to Matthew.

3. Now we can resolve the problem of Jeconiah’s curse. Christ received His legal right to rule on the eternal throne of David through his legal stepfather, Joseph, back through King Solomon to King David. However, Jesus’ actual physical birth was through his mother back through Nathan to King David. This bypassed the curse placed on Jeconiah’s line.

4. Another way to look at it is that since Matthew’s list is clearly stated as being from Jesus’ stepfather, Joseph, then Luke’s different line had to be from Mary. She is the only one left.

Hope this helps. All the best, and God bless.

Dr. Newman