July 26, 2019
READING TIME: 1-2 MINUTES
Dave, could you please help me reconcile the genealogies of Jesus in Matthew 1:1-17 and Luke 3:23-38?
There are several differences between Jesus’s two genealogies in Matthew 1:17 and Luke 3:23-38. A plausible solution is to recognize that Matthew is giving us Joseph’s family line, but Luke is tracing the genealogy of Mary. The reason that Mary is not mentioned in Luke 3 is probably that she has already been designated the mother of Jesus in several instances.
The usual practice of Jewish genealogy is to give the name of the father, grandfather, and so on, of the person in view. Luke follows this pattern and does not mention the name of Mary, but the name of the legal father.
Luke is no doubt tracing the roots of Jesus through his mother, Mary, who was a descendant of Heli, and so on. Joseph’s name is mentioned, according to the common practice, but he is portrayed as the supposed father of Jesus, and God as the actual father.
Additionally, the reason two genealogies are even given could be that one (Luke’s) demonstrates Jesus’s connection to all humanity since it traces his roots to Adam. And the other (Matthew’s) shows he is the rightful heir to King David’s throne and is the continuing fulfillment of God’s promises to Abraham. This emphasizes Jesus as both the Messiah to the Jews and the Savior of the entire human race.
Source Used
McDowell, Josh; McDowell, Sean. The Bible Handbook of Difficult Verses (The McDowell Apologetics Library). Harvest House Publishers.
