Luke 3:23-38

C. The genealogy of Jesus 3:23-38 (cf. Matthew 1:1-17)

Why did Luke place his genealogy of Jesus at this point in his Gospel? Probably he did so because this was the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry. Matthew recorded Jesus’ genealogy to show that He had a legitimate right by birth to occupy the Davidic throne. Consequently he placed his genealogy at the very beginning of his Gospel. Luke wanted to show the ancestry of Jesus, who now began His ministry, as the authenticated Son of God.

There are several other distinct differences between the two genealogies. They proceed in different directions, Matthew’s starting with Abraham and ending in Jesus and Luke’s beginning with Jesus and working back to Adam and God. Matthew’s list stressed Jesus’ place in the Jewish race by recording Jesus’ ancestry back to Abraham, the father of the Jews. Luke’s perspective is broader tracing Jesus all the way back to Adam and showing Him to be a member of the human race. Matthew grouped his names into three groups of 14 names each whereas Luke simply listed 78 ancestors. It is possible to divide Luke’s list into 11 groups of 7 names each plus God’s name. [Note: E.g., Marshall, The Gospel . . ., p. 160.] But Luke did not draw attention to his divisions as Matthew did. Matthew recorded Jesus’ descent from Joseph through Solomon, but Luke traced other ancestors from Joseph to David’s other son Nathan. Matthew apparently gives Jesus legal line of descent from David naming the heirs to his throne, but Luke gave another branch of David’s family tree that seems to be Joseph’s bloodline. [Note: Ibid., p. 158; Machen, pp. 202-9, 229-32.] Matthew mentioned several women in his genealogy, but Luke mentioned none. Finally Luke’s list is considerably longer than Matthew’s.

"That the genealogy is recorded at all shows Him to be a real man, not a demi-god like those in Greek and Roman mythology. That it goes back to David points to an essential element in His messianic qualifications. That it goes back to Adam brings out His kinship not only with Israel but with the whole human race. That it goes back to God relates Him to the Creator of all. He was the Son of God." [Note: Morris, p. 101.]