Genealogy of Jesus
“The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.”
Definition
The genealogy of Jesus is recorded twice in the New Testament, in Matthew 1:1-17 and Luke 3:23-38, tracing Christ’s ancestry through two different lines. Matthew’s genealogy runs forward from Abraham to Jesus in three sets of fourteen generations; Luke’s runs backward from Jesus all the way to Adam. The two lists differ from each other after David, and scholars have proposed various explanations (including that one traces the line through Joseph and the other through Mary), though the exact reconciliation is not settled by any single passage of Scripture.
Biblical Basis
Matthew opens his Gospel with the genealogy for a specific theological purpose, not merely as a record: “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham” (Matt. 1:1). Kruger reads this opening against the pattern of Old Testament books that likewise open or close on a genealogy centered on David (e.g., 1 Chronicles), arguing that Matthew’s placement is deliberate: “in doing so, Matthew makes clear that Jesus represents the restoration of that dynasty and therefore the history of Israel and the history of salvation. Thus, Jesus continues the biblical narrative.”1 Where Matthew’s genealogy emphasizes Jesus’s legal standing as heir to David’s throne and Abraham’s covenant promise, Luke’s genealogy runs in the opposite direction and further back, all the way to “Adam, the son of God” (Luke 3:38), placing Jesus in relation to the whole human race rather than to Israel specifically.
Related Doctrines
References
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Michael J. Kruger, Canon Revisited: Establishing the Origins and Authority of the New Testament Books (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2012), chap. 4, “The Divine Qualities of the Canon.” ↩