Tracing the Genealogy of Jesus
At first glance, the beginning of Matthew is a less-than-exciting literary starting point of the New Testament. It is a list of "begats" tracing Jesus' lineage back to Abraham.
What this beginning lacks in literary punch it makes up for in theological significance. Among other things, the genealogical tables of the New Testament place the gospel squarely on the plane of history. Jesus was born "in the fullness of time"—His ministry is defined and interpreted against the background of Old Testament history.
The New Testament provides two genealogical tables for Jesus, one by Matthew and one by Luke. These tables differ at significant points. Matthew was writing for a Jewish audience and Luke for a Gentile audience. Matthew was concerned to show that Jesus legally descended from David and was therefore a descendant of Judah to whom the messianic kingship was promised. Matthew treats the legal descent of Jesus and limits the lists to three groupings of fourteen generations, allowing himself to make omissions.
Luke follows the natural descent with greater detail. He takes the list back to Adam, as it was a central theme in his Gospel to set forth the universality of the gospel. Jesus is indeed the Son of Abraham and the Son of David, but He is also the new Adam who comes to redeem not only Israel but men and women from every tribe and nation.
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For Further Study
Matthew 1:16: "And Jacob begot Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus who is called Christ."
Galatians 4:4: "But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a women, born under the law."
Ephesians 1:10: ". . . that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him."
The mission, passion and purpose of Ligonier Ministries and Dr. R.C. Sproul is to help people grow in their knowledge of God and His holiness. For more information, please visit www.ligonier.org or call them at 800-435-4343.
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The June 2013 issue of Tabletalk features articles examining faith and repentance. The words “faith” and “repentance” are misunderstood by many people, including a large number of professing Christians. Skeptics caricature faith as the opposite of reason. Richard Dawkins, for example, has defined faith as “belief in spite of, even perhaps because of, the lack of evidence.” Repentance is sometimes seen by Christians as optional. Because faith is central to the message of the Bible, and because faith and repentance are demanded of all who hear the message of Christ, it is necessary that we come to a true understanding of the meaning of these words—not in order to increase our vocabulary, but in order that we might trust and obey the living God.
Contributors include R.C. Sproul along with Guy Richard, Sinclair Ferguson, Joel Beeke, Keith Mathison, R.C.Sproul Jr., Trip Lee, Douglas J. Moo, Cal Thomas and Abdul Saleeb.
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