1994 Issue 7 - Sermon on Luke 3:23-38 - The Genealogy of Jesus - Counsel of Chalcedon

8/12/2019 1994 Issue 7 - Sermon on Luke 3:23-38 - The Genealogy of Jesus - Counsel of Chalcedon

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THE REL TIONOF LUKE 3:23-38TO M TTHEW 1:1 17

The Nature oGenealogies in Israel

The Bible is full of genealogies, andeach has its distinctive purpose andfunction in the context o f the book inwhich it is locate


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before Christ. In the light of this fact,the Bible's chronology makesevolution, with its need for millionsand millions of years, an absurdconsideration.

The Purpose of the Genealogyof Matthew 1:1-17

IMatthew's genealogy ofjesus canbe divided into three parts withfOUlteennames in each, maybe [orthesake of easier memorization: The firstdivision, 1:1-6-The origin of theDavidic Kingdom; Thesecond division, 1: 7 Therise and decline of he DavidicKingdom; and The thirddivision,1:7-15-Theeclipseand fall of the DavidicKingdom. A quick study ofMatthew's genealogy revealsthe following:

jesus is the Son ofAbraham and David

As the son of Abraham,through Him all people willbe blessed; and as the son of David, byHim all people will be ruled. The trueGospel has two major themes:salvation by Christ and dominion byChrist. These two themes and realitiescannot be separated in reality. TheSon of Abraham always acts as the Sonof David and vice versa. The cross, bywhich salvation was accomplished,cannot be understood unless it isunderstood that the One on that crosswas the Son of Abraham and of David,I Cor. 2:8, Who lived and died andwas raised from the dead in order tofulfill the Covenant in the power ofHis KINGDOM.

jesus is the Son of udah

To say that Jesus is the Son ofJudah is to say that He is the gift ofGod's SOVEREIGN GRACE, Gen.49:8-10. Why a Son ofJudah? Whynot of one of the three older sons ofIsrael? Judah was chosen not because

of age or rnelit, but by the sovereign,electing will and grace of AlmightyGod, Rom. 9: 16. His grace is the basisof the whole plan. The phrase, "Hisbrothers," in connection with thisreference t Judah in Matthew'sgenealogy refers to the whole nationas the congregation of the Lord,separated from the world to be ablessing to the world, which is alwaysbrought into close relation with theMessiah Himself. It is His "body,"Exod. 19:3-6. Therefore the focus of

Biblical history is the kingly Christand His Church; and the possibility ofBiblical, Messianic history is thesovereignty of God.

jesus is the Son ofGood and Bad People

A part ofjesus' humiliation for oursalvation is His ancestry of evil, as wellas of good people. Some of the men inMatthew's genealogy were wickedbeyond belief, such as Joram, Ahaz,and Amon, II Kgs. 16:1; II Kgs. 2l:18f.Even the good ancestors were capableof terrible sins, e.g. David and

Bathsheba. We learn there that Christcame to IDENTIFYWITH SINNERS,and thereby to seek and to save thatwhich was lost. Christ HUMILIATEDHimselfbytaking upon Himself fallenhuman flesh and this ancestIyinorderto save us from our sins, Heb. 2;14f.Neither sin nor apostasy can interruptGod's redemptive purpose in Christ.

jesus is the Son ofWoman-Ancestors

This, of course, is obvious, exceptthat it is emphasized in Matthew'sgenealogy, ina time when genealogiesdid not ordinarily include the namesofwomen ancestors. Matthewincludesimmoral Tamar, Rahab, the convertedharlot and foreigner, Ruth, theforeigner, and immoral Bathsheba.Luke, with his emphasis on theuniversalism of he Gospel, makes the

same paint. Christ is theuniversal Savior, suited for allmen and women alike.

jesus is ot the DirectNatural Descendant of

jeconiah

Matthew's list includesjeconiah, who was cursed byGod for his Sin, so that nonatural-born descendant ofhis would ever sit on thethrone ofDavid,Je r. 22:30; IChron. 3:17,18; and yet

Matthewincludes himas a descendantofjesus, who did inherit the throne ofDavid. Howcanthis be? Since Matthewpresents us with jesus ancestrythrough oseph,] oseph could not havebeen the father of a Davidic MessianicKing Luke's genealogy is thatofJesusthrough His mother, Mary to David;therefore, Mary, who was of Davidicdescent, was the virgin mother of theMessiah. joseph had an impressivelineage, but it could not save himfrom his sins. Only his adopted Son,jesus Christ, could do that

jesus is the Son of Maryand Thereforethe Incarnate Son of God

Notice the great care of Mattthewwith which he describes the "begetting"of Jesus, so as to make it clear, thatJesus is "of Mary" but not "ofjoseph."Jesus is fully God and fully man in oneperson forever.

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The Purpose of the Genealogyof Matthew 1:1-7

The New Testament begins withthe Gospel according to Matthew,which begins with these words, Thebook of the genealogy of esus Christ,the son of David, the son of

Abraham ... The New Testament,then, is the stbryof the outcome of helife and work ofjesus Christ, Who is

the son of David and the son ofAbraham, and the Son of God.Identifying Jesus with these twophrases at the beginning ofthe N.T.sets forth two majorO.T. motifs whichare fulfilled in the life and

focus is on Jesus Christ as thefulfillment of the O.T. covenantpromises, most particularly as thepromised King of he lineage ofDavid.Jesus is David's Son and David's Lord,Mat. 22:41-46. Matthew will tell hisaudience that Jesus Christ is the

Messiah and King who will exerciseHis royal rule and saving power, (Le.,His kingdom), so as to fulfill all thecovenant promises of God in the livesof all God's people . Therefore,beginning his Gospel was wise in thatit firmly and undeniably establishesthe descent of Joseph, (Jesus' legal

answer is to be fOllnd in the purpose,theme, and overall plan of the Gospelof Luke.

Luke addresses a broaderaudiencethan Matthew, for he addresses theGentile, i.e., non-Jewish, world. Hisconcern is to convince his readers

Christ truly belongs in the humanrace, is one of us, and is truly God,truly incarnate. Jesus is the divinehuman Savior of the world ofhumanity. s Matthew is draWingJewish attention to the fact that Jesuswas the legal heir of David's thronethrough Joseph, Luke is establishing

Jesus' real and historicalministry of Jesus: TheAbraharnic Covenant,

Genesis 12-17, and TheDavidic Covenant, IISamuel 7. Therefore tounderstand the message ofthe New Testament, it isessential to understand thepromises and demands ofthose covenants, and howthey are fulfilled in JesusChrist.

ere is a powerful incen-

tive for world missions:

solidarity with the humanrace. In Luke's genealogy

of Jesus, beginning withJesus and going all the wayback to Adam, the son ofGod, we are able to seeChrist's unity With thehuman race. Here is apowerful incentive forworld missions: JesusChrist, the Savior belongs

Jesus Christ; the aviorbelongs not t a single na-tion or group o nations,or t a privileged class,e belongs t the world.

Butje sus' genealogy n Matthew's

Gospel does not end with Abraham; itrecords Jesus' line


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than Luke's. Matthew appears to skipmore generations than does Luke. Forexample, between David andShealtiel,Matthew lists 16 different names, andLuke lists 22. Between Shealtiel andjesus, Matthew mentions 13 namesand Luke again lists 22. Matthew

presents his genealogy in threedivisions of fourteen names each,whereas Luke doesnotuse this pattern.Matthewgoes fromfatheno son, whileLuke goes from son to father. Does allthis mean that there are after alldiscrepancies in these lists, andtherefore errors in the Bible, so thatour doctrine of inerrancy fall to theground? Not at all

Attempts to find errors in the Biblebased on the differences in the twogenealogies ofjesus fail to understandthe major, deliberate differencesbetween the two: Matthew presentsus with the genealogyofjesus throughjoseph, and hence of the LEGALHEIRS to David's throne, while Lukepresents us with the genealogy ofJesusthrough Mary, and thus of theGENETIC DESCENDANTS of KingDavid, and beyond David of theACTUAL DESCENDANTS of Adam,the first man.

As we have already seen, Matthewpresents his birth narratives fromjoseph's perspective, and Lukepresents h is from that o f Mary. Thisappears also to be true of theirgenealogies. Luke, probably obtainedthe genealogical table of Mary's father,Heli, from Mary herself, or from oneclosely connected to her. However,because it was not customary among

jews or Romans to insert the name ofa woman in a lineage list, Luke addedthe words, being supposedly the sonof joseph. Luke "was not afraid thathis readers would get the impressionthat the genealogical tree was that ofjoseph and not that of Mary, for inLuke 1 and 2 he had pointed outexpressly that esuswassolely the Son

of Mary and not ofjoseph and Mary.Why should he then reproduce thelong family tree ofjoseph which endswith these words, 'which was the sonof Adam, which was the son of God:if he has already informed his readersthat jesus is in fact not joseph's Son

but that uninformed people only'supposed so'? In the case of Matthewmatters are entirely different. Therehe expressly reproduces the familytree ofjoseph himself ... He does sobecause jesus was in the eye of thejewish law the legitimate descendantofjoseph, manied to His mother andthis established the legal relationship.- Since Luke writes for Romans andGreeks with whom the Davidic originof Jesus was no matter of topicalinterest, it was unnecessary for him toreproduce the genealogical table ofjoseph.

Above all, he wanted to show thatJesus, as regards His actual humandescent, is through David, Abraham,and finally Adam, the son of God. Forthis purpose the genealogical table ofjoseph would have been of no use tohim. For he specifically desires toprove the solidarity ofjesus with the

humanrace, and of what benefit wouldit be to him to give the family tree ofone who is not actually the father ofj e sus . -

"A conclusive proof that Mary wasindeed of Davidic origin is the factthat the jewish opponents ofChristianity in the first centuries neverdenied the Davidic origin of jesus.Since they knew the Christian claimthat He was only the son of Mary they

would certainly have attacked HisMessiahship on that ground, if theyknew or even surmised that He wasnot a descendant of David. Geldenhuys

It is noteworthy that Luke has no'TOU' (00, before 'Joseph as he hasbefore every other name in hisgenealogy ofJesus. By this omission,

he shows us that joseph' s name isnotreally part of this genealogy. joseph'sname is not an actual part of thisgenealo gical chain tha t leads fromAdam to jesus, recorded by Luke.234

Moreover, how could Luke thinkof including a genealogy of joseph

after saying that jesus was supposedlythe son of] osep h ? The case is entirelydifferent in Matthew where joseph isdescribed as the husband of MalY ofwhom was bomjesus, Le.,joseph isthe legal, but not biological father ofjesus.

XPOSITION O LUK 3:23 38

The Beginning of esusMinistry at bout Thir ty Years

of AgeLuke, the physician, is the only one

of the Gospel writers who tells at whatage]esus began His public ministry ofthe Word-when He was about thirtyyears old. This does not mean that Hewas inactive with no ministry to peoplefor the first thiny years of His life. Onthe contrary, He was alreadyministering to people before Hereached thirty, according to Luke 2: 52.

II . The Maternalncestors of esus

3:23-31) The ncestors fromjesus to David

The list o f ancestors from jesus toDavid in Luke's account is differentthan the list of Matthew, as one wouldexpect, if Luke's account is of jesus'maternal ancestors and Matthew's isHis paternal ancestors.' Two namesare the same, however, in this sectionof each genealogy, those of Shealtiel,Mat. 1; 12, Lk. 3:27, and Zerubbabel,Mat. 1:12,13, Lk. 3:27. For possibleexplanation forthis, see footnote three.

3:32-34) The ncestors fromDavid to Abraham

The list of jesus ' ancestors fromDavid to Abraham is generally the

September, 1994 m COUNSEL of Chalcedon 7


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same with a few differences. (1).Matthewaddshelpfulside-comments,which Luke does not. For example,see Mat.l:2,3,S,6. (2). InMat.l:3weare told that Hezron begat Ram, orAram in Greek, who begatAmminadab, but in Luke 3:33, (in the

NASV), we are told that, while Ram,(ArniinGreek), was the son ofHezron,Amminadab, was the son of Admin,who was the son of Ram, (Ami). Howdo we explain these differences? Onething to bearinmind is that the Gospelwriters are writing in Greek theHebrew names, which

We know nothing about Hezronand Ram, except that they are ancestorsofjesus. To us these are merelynames.We do not even know whether theywere men of untarnished or of spottedreputation. To God, however, theywere important for the historical

accomplishment of His plan to bringthe Messiah into the world for man'sredemption. - Hendriksen,MATTHEW. Remember that it was atthe age of thirty that Levites were firstpermitted to do priestly work in theTabernacle, Numbers 4:3.

The ttitude of he HumbleChristian Toward Difficult

Places in the BibleThere are several aspects of Jesus'

genealogies that are difficult to explainand reconcile; and much tinie has beenspent by genuine scholars who believe

in the inerrancy of the Bible in tryingto deal honestly and thoroughly withthese difficult places. It has not everbeen shown successfully that there areeITorsin the Bible. However, we shouldkeep this in mind: It is humblysuggested that a few difficulties of this

would explain for someof the differences. Forinstance, Ram in Hebrewis Aram in Greek. Also, itwas not common forpeople t have twonames. Forexample Ram,or Aram, also is calledAmi; and Jehoiakim isalso called eitherJeconiah, or Coniah.

'As dam is the genetic

and covenantal heado

the fallen human race,Jesus is the incarnate,

covenantal and spiritual

c1assmay have been allowedto find place in HolyScripture, in order toexercise the faith of personswho, while they feel suchintellectual trials keenly, arebut little affected by thosewhich imperil the salvationof the ordinary c l s ~ofmankind. -BurgoninJohnRyle on LUKE.

The book of Ruthcontains a genealogy

head o the regeneratehuman race.

The Significance ofCalling Adam, the Son

of God

which agrees with Matthew, but notwith Luke-Perez, Hezron, Ram,Amminadab, Nashon, (Ruth 4: 18-22;Mat. 1 :3 S. Luke adds thatAmminadab was the son of Admin,who was the son of Ram. Luke mayhave had genealogical informationthat Matthew did not have, (suchwritten and oral lists were plenty).However, Matthew did not make amistake, for he had a specific patt ernhe wanted to follow, and small gaps ingenealogies were not uncommon orunexpected, (compare Ezra 7:3 and IChron. 6:7-11 , and apparentlyMatthew had to leave out some namesin order to be faithful to his scheme offourteens. Futhermore, the word,son, is used in more than one sense

in bothgenealogies.l nsome instancesson should be translated grandson

or even great-grandson.

(3:34-36) The Ancestorsfrom Abraham to Adam,

the Son of God

The Insertion of Cainan inVerse 36

Only Luke gives us the genealogyofjesus from Abraham to Adam. Thereis one difficult name in this section,that of Cain an in verse 36. The Hebrewversion of Genesis 11: 12 does notinclude this name, although it is foundin the Septuagint, i.e., the Greekversionof the O.T. Why did Luke add thename? He obviously had manydocuments to work with in writing hisbook and in putting together Jesus'genealogy, Lk. 1:1-4. Perhaps, headded the name to his genealogy so asnot to confuse those who only knewthe Septuagint, i.e., the Greek speaking,non-Jewish people to whom his bookis addressed.

8 ~ THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon ~ September, 1994

Luke carries Jesus' falilily-tree allthe way back to Adam, the first man,whom Luke calls, the son of God.This insertion fits in perfectly with thetheme and spirit of Luke's Gospel, forthroughout he focuses on the universaland comprehensive impact of he lifeand ministry of Jesus Christ. Christ,the Last Adam, is related to the wholehuman race, because He is an actualdescendant of the First Adam. Christ,the Last Adam and the eternal Son ofGod, came to earth to accomplish whatthe first Adam, who was the son ofGod by virtue of the fact that h cameinto existence by a direct creation ofGod in the image of God, failed toaccomplish-secu re eternal life underGod's blessing for the human race.When in the image of God failed, Godin the image of man came to the rescue.Christ not only came to give us whatAdam lost, He came to giveus far more


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than we ever lost in Adam, "for wheresin abounds, grace abounds all themore." As Adam is the genetiC andcovenantal head of the Fallen humanrace,Jesus s the incarnate, covenantaland spiritual head of the regeneratehuman race, Rom. 5:12f.

The statement that Adam is the"son of God" "disposes of the pagenmyths about the origin of man andshows that God is the Creator of thewhole human race, Father of all menin that sense . No more animal originof man is in harmony with thisconception . "-Lenski.

However , it must be pointed outthat Adam is "the son of God " in adifferent sense than Jesus is "the Son

of God." Adam is God's son in that hewas directly created by Him and inHis image. Chlist is the Son of God inthat He is the incarnate Messiah, inHis humanity being in the image ofGod, and in that He is God incarnate,the Second Person of the TIinity, inhuman flesh . Christ is God the Son.

As Lenski h s Wlitten: "It would beunwarranted to think that Luke meantthat only through this line of human

ancestors was Jesus 'a son of God; forall of these ancestors would then besons of God in the same sense; inother words, Jesus would sink to thelevel of ordinary men. It is true, that,in carrying the ancestrybacktoAdam'screation by God, Luke pTesents Jesusas the Saviour of he race (universality),and that this is the chief import of thisgenealogy. He is the Saviour of all bybeing the Seed of Abraham and theHeir of David, the two great names inthis list. To stress the fact alone thatJesus is here made 't he son of David'fails to give due weight to the rest ofthe list; and to thinkJesus calls Himself'the Son of man' because of this descentas recorded in Luke forgets the realorigin and meaning of that Messianictitle and in the list itself overlooks thefinal name: 'of God ...

onclusion

FIRST, "We see, lastly, in theseverses, WHAT A FRAIL AND DYINGCREATURE IS MAN. We read at theend of the chapter a long list ofnames,containing the genealo gy of he familyin which our Lord was born, tracedup through David and Abraham toAdam. How little we know o f many ofthe seventy-five persons, whose namesare here recorded They all had theirjoys and sorrows, their hopes andfears, their cares and troubles, theirschemes and plans, like any ofourselves. But they have all passedaway from the earth, and gone to theirown place . And so will it be with us.We to are passing away, and shall

soon be gone ."Forever let us bless God, that in a

dying world we are able to tum to aliving Saviour.- Let our main carebe, to be one with Christ and Christwith us. Joined to the Lord Jesus byfaith we shall rise again to live forevermore . -Bishop J e Ryle,

xpOSitoryThoughts onWe pg. 104f.

SECOND, ifany generation of menand women had the talent and the

resources to accomplish salvation formankind and his culture, this list ofpeople should have-but they totallyfailed. ANEWBEGINNINGwascalledfor Man in the image of God becameimpotent by sin. A God-man Restorerwas needed. He came as the son ofAbraham, David and M a l y - theSaviour of the world. Receive Himtodayas your Redeemer and Recreator.Bow before Him in submission andobedience as your God. Make all yourdays, especially your weekly sabbaths,to be continual celebrations of theglorious salvation we have throughfaith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

2If Luke is recording Jesus'genealogy to make the point thatJesus does in fact belong to the humanrace, and if that genealogy is that of

Joseph.Jesus' ADOPTED father, thenLuke falls to make his case. But, ifLuke's g enealogy of Jesus is that ofMary, who was Jesus' birth-mother,Luke does make his point. Jesus wasvirgin born, but He was born. He isfully human. He is one with us in our

humanity.JIn Luke 1 32, 69, Luke includes

material in his Gospel in which Mary'sdescent from David is clearly implied.Moreover, if both Luke and Matthewpresent Jesus' genealogy throughJoseph then Joseph would have twofathers Jacob according to Matthew1;16and Heliaccordingto Luke 3:23.For more on this argument, readHendriksen on Luke pages 222-225.


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"Matthew's genealogy of Jesusconsists of three groups of fourteen.In the first we ate given the ORIGINof David 's dynasty; in the second, theRISE AND DECLINE of David'sdynasty; andin the third, the ECLIPSEof his dynasty. Therfore, according toMatthew, Jesus is the climax of thethree fourteens, which are obviouslysymbolic .According to Hendriksen,"seven" in the Bible indicates thetotality of things created by God."Fourteen" also brings out this idea.T h ~ e e timeS fourteen is forty-two."This number is equal to six sevens,and i=ed ia t e ly introduces theseventh seven, reduplicatedcompleteness, perfection. Since, inthe genealogy as offered by Matthew,Jesus Christ is mentioned at the closeof the entire list of three fourteens orsix sevens, and since the evangelistdoes not stOP there but continues thebeautiful story of this Savior, wecannot be far wrong when we saythat he piCtures Him as the One whonot only completes or fulfills the old,but also definitely ushers in thenew . J n Him the old and the newmeet. He is the Alpha and the Omega ,the beginning and the end, the heartand center of all. Apart from Himthere is no salvation. Heis the Messiah, .David's true Antitype. And in thecourse of redemptive history, as heresymbolized in its three great stages,God's plan from eternity was beingperfectly realized." - Hendriksen,MATTHEW, pg. no. n

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1994 Issue 7 - Sermon on Luke 3:23-38 - The Genealogy of Jesus - Counsel of Chalcedon