Introduction
The word "genealogy" is found twice in the
New Testament, 1 Timothy 1:4; and Titus 3:9, where Paul
warned young preachers of the first century to beware of endless and
useless arguments about such matters. This probably had reference to the
Jewish Christians trying to trace their ancestry to prove their tribal
origins which was a useless exercise after the death of Christ and the
establishment of his church (Gal. 3:26-28), hence was not worth
arguing about, and would "gender strife."
Another word with the same connotation is
"generation," and it is the word used in Matthew 1 to introduce the
genealogy of Christ. It "denotes an origin, a lineage, or birth" (Vine).
Thus, a study of the genealogy of Christ is a study of his lineage. A
thorough study of his lineage is a faith-building exercise and
establishes his qualification and identity as God's promised Messiah and
Savior of the world.
I. Christ's Genealogy in Two
Phases
1. In the mind of God in eternity. A
thorough study of the genealogy of Christ must begin with God the Father
in eternity. The concept of Deity's visiting this planet in a human body
was conceived in the unfathomable recesses of the infinite mind of God
before the world was created. The incarnation of Divinity was made
necessary by God's foreknowledge that man, when created, would exercise
his free-moral agency, sin, and, there-fore, need a redeemer.
While this is beyond the ability of the
finite mind to comprehend, it is revealed in God's word and must be
accepted by faith. The Scriptures repeatedly affirm it, and all Bible
believers accept it. Look with me at a few passages of Scripture:
Christ was "slain from the foundation of the
world" (Rev. 13:8).
God's "works were finished from the
foundation of the world" (Heb. 4:3).
Christ was "foreordained before the
foundation of the world" (1 Pet. 1:20).
Christ was delivered "By the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God" (Acts 2:23).
Christians are called ". . . according to
God's own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before
the world began" (2 Tim. 1:9).
Christians were promised "eternal life . . .
before the world began" (Tit. 1:2).
The saved are "Elect according to the
foreknowledge of God ..." (1 Pet. 1:2).
Christ uttered "things which have been kept
secret from the foundation of the world" (Matt. 13:35).
"The preaching of Jesus Christ" was
and is "according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept
secret since the world began" (Rom. 16:25).
The church was established "According to the
eternal purpose which He (God) purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord"
(Eph. 3:11).
2. On earth in the Garden of Eden in the
first promise of a redeemer. The earthly genealogy of Christ Jesus
begins in the Garden of Eden when God said to mother Eve, "And I will
put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her
seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel" (Gen.
3:15). Three significant things are revealed in this pregnant
passage: (a) It is the first promise of a redeemer: The seed of woman,
Christ, would bruise the head of the serpent, that is, it would sup-ply
the means by which men could reverse the work done by Satan in leading
Eve to sin and thus subject all her progeny to a world ruled by Satan
and filled with sin; (b) It is also a revelation regarding the lineage
of the Redeemer: He would be the seed of woman; that is, a male human
would have no part in the begettal of the Messiah, and (c) thus it was
also a prophecy of his virgin birth. When Jesus was conceived in the
womb of the virgin Mary, Joseph, her espoused husband, was told by an
angel of God to "fear not . . . for that which is conceived in her is of
the Holy Ghost" (Matt. 1:20). The virgin birth of the Messiah was
also the subject of prophecy. Isaiah prophesied the birth of a son by a
virgin which would be a sign from God, and his name should be called
Immanuel, which means "God with us" (Isaiah 7:14). This was
specifically identified as fulfilled in the birth of Jesus Christ
(Matt. 1:21,22).
The word "seed" in this passage is
exceedingly significant in tracing the lineage of the Messiah. Tracing
the seed promise through the pages of the Old Testament will bring us
directly to Christ Jesus.
The Messiah was to be the seed of woman
(Gen. 3:15).
When Cain slew Abel, the seed, Eve said at
the birth of Seth, "God hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel
..." (Gen. 4:25).
Following the Flood God said to Noah, "And
I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after
you" (Gen. 9:9).
When God called Abraham, he said, "... and
in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed" (Gen. 12:3).
When God changed Abram's name to Abraham, he
said, ". . . I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy
seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be
a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee" (Gen. 17:7).
In confirming his covenant with Isaac, the
seed of Abraham, 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 ever-lasting covenant, [and] with his seed
after him" (Gen. 17:19).
The seed promise passed through Isaac to
Jacob, who begot the twelve patriarchs (1 Chron. 16:17; Acts 7:8).
When Jacob was dying he called his sons to
his bed-side, and gave the Messianic blessing to Judah, saying, "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" (Gen. 49:8-10). This identification of the Messiah
is continued all the way through the Book of Revelation, "And one of the
elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda,
the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the
seven seals thereof" (Rev. 5:5).
The seed promise passed from Judah to David,
who became known as "God's anointed" and God promised "to show mercy to
his anointed, unto David, and to his seed for evermore" (2 Sam. 22:5).
One of the most significant prophesies in the genealogy of Christ was
given to Nathan the prophet in the time of Samuel, "And when thy days be
fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed
after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish
his kingdom. He shall build an house for my name, and I will establish
the throne of his kingdom for ever. I will be his father, and he shall
be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of
men, and with the stripes of the children of men: But my mercy shall not
depart away from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before
thee. And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever
before thee: thy throne shall be established for ever. According to all
these words, and according to all this vision, so did Nathan speak unto
David" (2 Sam. 7:12-17).
The Jews of Jesus' time knew full well the
origin of the promised Messiah. While his coming from Nazareth confused
them, they said, Hath not the scripture said, That Christ cometh of the
seed of David, and out of the town of Bethlehem, where David was?"
(John 7:42). They obviously were ignorant of the fact that he was
born in Bethlehem, or else were ignoring the fact.
Among the Jews there was an air of anxious
expectation for the fulfillment of the seed promise. It has been said
that every Jewish mother longed to give birth to the promised Messiah.
All the events that occurred under the Law of Moses pointed to the
fulfillment of the seed promise: "Wherefore then serveth the law? It was
added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the
promise was made" (Gal. 3:19).
Throughout the prophecies of the coming
Messiah and their fulfillment Jesus is identified as the promised seed.
He is called: (a) The seed of woman (Gen. 3:15). (b) The seed of
David (Rom. 1:3; 2 Tim. 2:8), and (c) The seed of Abraham
(Heb. 2:16).
Jesus being the seed of woman speaks of his
virgin birth. His being the seed of David speaks of his royalty. His
being the seed of Abraham speaks of his ethnic origin, thus his
humanity. "Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and
blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through
death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the
devil. . . . For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he
took on him the seed of Abraham" (Heb. 2:14, 16).
It is amazing how inspiration so
consistently follows the seed promise. Paul shows how important it was
to do so when he says in Galatians 3:16, "Now to Abraham and his
seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but
as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ." If all the recordings of
the seed promises had originated with man, surely somebody would have
goofed up and made the word "seed" plural. To have done so would have
destroyed consistency, and sullied the whole story of the scheme of
redemption. It is impressive that inspiration here turns on whether a
word is plural or singular, thus upon just one little letter "s". Talk
about verbal inspiration, this is letter inspiration!
All the preaching in the Book of Acts has as
its theme that Jesus of Nazareth is the long-promised Messiah. This
message was gladly received by thousands in the first century, but
rejected by many more thousands, especially among the Jewish population.
This occurred because the teachers among the Jews developed their own
idea of what the Messiah should be. They had distorted the image God had
painted through the Old Testament prophets, and since he did not fit
this image, they rejected him as an imposter and a fraud. They looked
for an apocalyptic Messiah who would re-establish the throne of David
and deliver them from all their enemies and make them a world power as
they had been in the past.
Saul of Tarsus became their national leader
in opposition to Christ as the promised Messiah. He "breathed out
threatening and slaughter against the disciples" (Acts 9:1) to
the point that the church at Jerusalem was scattered. He then traveled
to foreign countries to bring back to Jerusalem for trial on charges of
blasphemy those who had called upon the name Christ.
One of the most significant events in
history, however, was his own conversion on one of his trips to
Damascus. Over night he went from national hero to public enemy number
one because he "preached the faith he once destroyed" (Gal. 1:23).
He spent the rest of his life trying to persuade one and all that Jesus
Christ was the long-promised Messiah and Saviour of the world. The
powers among the Jews never forgave him for his defection from their
cause. They pursued him like a wild animal and heaped upon him bitter
and hateful persecution. The conversion of Saul of Tarsus to Christ
remains, even today, one of the strongest arguments for his Messiahship.
It is a problem for Jews and other unbelievers, and shall remain so.
II. The Genealogies of Christ by Matthew and
Luke
It seems inappropriate to close this
discussion without some reference to the table genealogies of Christ as
given by Matthew and Luke. These genealogies have given rise to much
controversy and the difficulties attendant upon them a source of false
accusation with skeptics who try to use them to discredit Jesus as the
promised Messiah.
It is obvious that the two genealogies of
Christ in Matthew 1 and Luke 3 have different purposes. In
studying them carefully it seems that one is able to discern those
purposes, at least to some degree. Several observations need to be made
in reference to the differences in these genealogies.
a. First one should note that in these
genealogies the word "son" is used in a very general way. For instance,
in Matthew 1:1, David is called "the son of Abraham." Thus, the
word "son" simply means descendant. This, then, must pre-vent one from
trying always to lay the names given in the genealogies end-on-end, as
it were. Whole generations are passed over to suit the purposes of the
genealogist.
b. It is impossible for us to understand all
the intricacies of these genealogies since we are not told their
specific purpose(s). Certain purposes seem evident from a careful study
of the lists, but we cannot be certain of these and we should exercise
caution here.
c. Luke traces the genealogy of Jesus from
David through Nathan not Solomon as does Matthew, because his purpose
seems to be to prove Christ's descent from David through his mother, and
thus establish him as the "son" of David, thus heir to David's throne.
This would be necessary because he is said to be "the son of David
according to the flesh" (Rom. 1:3; 2 Tim. 2:8). Bible students
know that Joseph was not Christ's biological father, but rather his
legal father by adoption.
d. Matthew's purpose seems to be to trace
the genealogy of "Joseph, the husband of Mary" (Matt. 1:16). He
traces the genealogy back to David through Joseph, Jesus' adoptive
father. (See Matt. 1:20.) Thus, Jesus is established as the son
of David both from a legal and a natural point of view (Adopted children
are legal heirs).
e. Luke traces Jesus' genealogy through his
fleshly mother all the way back to Adam, seemingly, to prove that he is
the "son of man" as well as the "son of God" (Luke 1:32).
f. It should be noted that these two lists
match perfectly from Abraham to David, from whom they take differing
directions, which demonstrates different purposes.
g. Any seeming difficulties are caused by
our lack of knowledge of the purposes of the compilers. For instance
Joseph, the husband of Mary, is said to be the son of Jacob in
Matthew 1:15,16, but the son of Heli in Luke 3:23. As stated
earlier, we must observe the broad use of the word "son." It is more
likely that Joseph was the son-in-law of Heli, who was the father of
Mary, his wife, for, as stated earlier, Luke traces the genealogy of
Mary rather than Joseph. One must keep in mind the broad use of the word
"son."
Much is made by some of the fact that the
four women mentioned in this genealogy were connected with scandal.
Rahab, the harlot of Jericho (Matt. 1:5); Thamar the
daughter-in-law of Judah who played the harlot with him as an act of
vengeance because he did not give her his next son to wed at the death
of her husband (Matt. 1:3); Ruth, who spent the night at Boaz'
feet on the threshing floor (Matt. 1:5); and Bathsheba, who was
David's partner in adultery (Matt. 1:6). It's a bit strange why
so much is made of the shortcomings of these four women, and nothing is
said about the shortcomings of some of the men in the genealogy. After
all, Adam sinned, Abraham and Isaac lied about their wives, Jacob was a
supplanter, David was an adulterer and a murderer, and Solomon was a
polygamist and an idol worshipper. I could go on and on, but what's the
use? More men in the genealogy of Christ were connected with "scandal"
than women. All this demonstrates that if God must have sinless people
in order to work out his eternal plan, his plan never would have gotten
worked out. David sought and received forgiveness, and so far as we
know, and it is safe to assume, that the others did too. It is
comforting to know that God can use us in the out-working of his divine
plan in spite of our weaknesses. Not for a moment does this mean that
God sanctions our shortcomings, but he has a plan for their remedy. He
holds out an ideal toward which we must ever strive, but never fully
reach.
Recently there has appeared in some of the
liberal papers an article by Andre Resner entitled "Christmas at
Matthew's house" (an absurd title to begin with) which approaches the
genealogy found in Matthew from a modernistic, faith-destroying point of
view. This article even insinuates that the story of Mary's pregnancy
was morally questionable, and that Joseph sought to cover it up by
telling of a dream he had. While space forbids quoting the complete
irreverent article, I shall quote one of the more absurd paragraphs from
it:
Though we're still quite surprised by
Matthew's covert statement "she was found to be with child from the Holy
Spirit," Matthew has set us up for it (by using the four women of
questionable moral character previously jpn) . It's a sort of "Here we
go again, folks..." Another sexually questionable woman. And what about
Joseph's faith in the face of Mary's story? For it was he, who after a
single dream, went ahead and married her. A dream that was real, yes,
but still a dream. Could it have been a message from God? Or, could it
have been his own imagination, his wanting to believe her so much that
his subconscious produced a nocturnal justification for marrying her,
even in the face of such outlandish excuse? But there's Joseph, crawling
into bed with her every night the rest of his life, relying on a dream,
believing in her word, that she really hadn't slept with another man and
used him to cover her shame. If we've paid attention to the women of
Matthew's genealogy we're not entirely surprised by Mary's (Joseph's?!)
predicament. If God used those of the Messiah's family tree thus, why
wouldn't the Messiah himself come from a similar situation? (Wineskins,
Nov. 92).
In the first sentence of his article, Resner
says, "Matthew is sneaky." It goes down hill from there! After his
article aroused some controversy, as one might imagine, Resner wrote
another article in which he sought to blunt the impact of his first
article and proclaim his deep belief "in the divinity and virgin birth
of Jesus in his death, burial and resurrection and in the inspiration
and authority of the Scriptures . . . I wrote the article because of my
deep love for the Lord and his church, not to show a disrespect for
either." Sure had me "fooled"! We never would have gathered this from
his article! But this is in the genuine tradition of a gospel preacher
turned modernistic. They have to spend more time and effort covering
their tracks than it takes to make them. It seems they are always
misunderstood. The problem is that they are understood but hope they
won't be. In this way they can play out their true role as "wolves in
sheep's clothing" (Matt. 7:15).
He also claimed that he wrote the article
for young people! Yeah, for the purpose of destroying their faith. It is
a warped sense of need and propriety to think this is the kind of
commentary on the genealogy of our blessed Saviour that our young people
need! Lord, save our young people from such "benefactors"!
It is also interesting that a retired "Dr.
Holbert Rideout, Professor Emeritus of Christian Education at Abilene
Christian University," wrote an article commending Resner's piece, and
says, "My wife and I have been helped in our own faith by this
challenging piece." Why is it that I don't find this surprising? It
probably would be more appropriate to say that the article helped his
lack of faith.
When understood, a careful study of the
genealogy of Jesus invalidates the absurd claims of skeptics that the
genealogy of Jesus is a hodgepodge of monumental confusion to the point
of rendering it absurd. Admittedly, the genealogy is not simple, but
neither is it without organization, and a sense of purpose. Most of its
difficulties arise from our inability to know for sure what were God's
purposes in giving it in two versions.
The reader will find helpful discussions on
this matter in Clark's Commentary, the ISBE, and Biblical Analysis by C.
H. Woodroof and Arvil Weilbaker, pp. 145-150.
Conclusion
An overview of the genealogy of Christ finds
him descended from the great heroes of faith in all generations since
the beginning of time. To be sure, they were not sinlessly perfect
individuals, but they were of a character commensurate with God's divine
purpose to bring a savior into the world and "overcome the works of the
devil" (1 Jn. 3:8) wrought in the Garden of Eden. His coming was
prophesied, his scheme of redemption was typified, and his Father
glorified. In the words of Paul, "without controversy great is the
mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the
Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the
world, received up into glory" (1 Tim. 3:16).
The pure-hearted student of the genealogy of
our Lord cannot avoid the impact of his fulfillment of the many
prophecies of his coming, and his being the consummation of God's
eternal purpose (Eph. 3:10, 21), and being thankful to God for
his marvelous love and grace that expressed itself in giving his only
begotten Son to die for us.
Guardian of Truth -- January 4, 1996