Dear Explorer,
Most of the time, in this study, I will ask you to dig deeply and read carefully and slowly so that you can see the details. Today, I'm going to ask you to just scan two passages. Read them over quickly and then we'll talk about them.
Scan Matthew 1:1-17
And
Scan Luke 3:23-38
This is sorta' getting ahead of the story – since I haven't told you about Jesus birth. But we'll look at that soon. Trust me – He does come to earth as a human being!
We have 2 genealogies or records of Jesus' earthly ancestors. Now, you need to know that in that time, it did not matter whether the son was adopted or blood line. If he was raised as the first born – then he was considered to be the first born. Jesus was listed as the first-born son of a man named Joseph because He was raised by Joseph.
Now, I've been taught that Matthew listed Jesus' genealogy through his earthly Dad, Joseph and that Luke listed Jesus' genealogy through His mother, Mary. Luke might have done this because he knew that Joseph was not his biological father. But that doesn't explain why Luke, who is so detailed and structured in all his other writing, didn't tell us that this was Mary's genealogy and in fact states that it is Joseph's.
Some scholars say that both lists are through his earthly dad, Joseph. Their thinking is that Matthew listed only the first-borns (who would have ascended to the throne if Israel had remained an independent nation) while Luke listed the actual and more accurate lineage. That makes more sense to me than any other explanation since Matthew was more interested in proving that He was Messiah and was the rightful King. And Luke was more interested in facts and numbers and details.
What I can state absolutely is that the genealogy of Jesus listed in Matthew is not the same as the one listed in Luke. I don't know why and neither does anyone else living today as far as I know.
There is also the question about the number of generations listed back to Adam in the Luke genealogy. I know that scholars want to argue that the world is much older than the generations listed. They say that people have forgotten or got confused. Luke doesn't mention any such confusion, he simply states “this is the record.”
Luke and Matthew both list a genealogy that was believed to be accurate in their day. So, apparently, there's something that we just don't understand. And as I've stated before, some of the people listed in the genealogy were still alive and could have corrected it if it was wrong according to their knowledge.
You don't have to argue about God's Word. You also don't have to fret about it or defend it. God will teach You everything that You need to know to follow Him.
I realize that this discussion is running ahead of the story, but it is recorded here and you will soon discover that Jesus was God's Son and not of earthly lineage anyway -- so, it is moot – and certainly not worth arguing over!
In His service, dale
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