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Solution:
Matthew records Jesus' genealogy through Joseph while the gospel of
Luke records Jesus' genealogy through Mary's father or His grandfather.
The length of the genealogies are different because many generations
are selectively skipped. It was common for genealogies to skip
many generations. The gospel of Matthew is a great example since
it starts with the genealogy of Jesus saying, "Jesus Christ,
the son of David, the son of Abraham." (Matt 1:1). Now clearly,
Jesus was born into this world many, many, many generations after
King David and Abraham. Yet He is said to be their son.
Now the question we are addressing is, "Does
the original Greek indeed mean son-in-law?"
The answer is, "Yes, the Greek word for son can refer back many
generations to a former father in the family tree. As we have seen,
Matthew jumped many generations and so does the gospel of Luke. Mary's
genealogy starts in Luke 3:23. Luke starts Jesus' family tree with
his grandfather - Heli - Mary's father." The original Greek of
this passage has two important commas. These commas appear around
the phrase "being supposedly the son of Joseph." A better
translation of the Greek could go something like this,
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"And
Jesus Himself was beginning about thirty years of age
being the son (as was supposed of Joseph) of Eli." Luke
3:23
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The original Greek does not say Jesus was the son of Joseph. In fact
if we delete the parenthesis, the passage would read like this,
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"And
Jesus Himself was beginning about thirty years of age
being the son of Eli." |
The parenthesis is like a clarification for the reader's understanding.
And our God has not left us to wonder about this. The Jewish Talmud
tells us that Mary, the mother of Jesus, is said to be "the daughter
of Heli." Now that is amazing!
The apostle Luke's genealogy is the genealogy
of Mary. Matthew shows how Jesus can claim to be Messiah by being
a descendent back to King David through a male, i.e. Joseph. Luke
shows us how Jesus is a flesh and blood descendent of King David through
Mary.
Conclusion: Matthew
and Luke both tell us that Joseph was not the physical father of Jesus
(Matt. 1:16 and Luke 3:23). Both Matthew and Luke tell us the Holy
Spirit caused the birth of Jesus (Matt. 1:20 and Luke 1:34-35). Matthew
1-2 is more focused on Joseph and Luke 1-3 is more focused on Mary.
Jesus was virgin born. Jesus is the legal and physical descendent
of King David as the prophecies foretold. Jesus is the Messiah. He
is the Savior of the World. Praise God! |
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