The following "Question" was asked by a member of the congregation at Grace Community Church in Panorama City, California, and "Answered" by their pastor, John MacArthur Jr. It was transcribed from the tape, GC 70-2, titled "Bible Questions and Answers."  A copy of the tape can be obtained by writing, Word of Grace, P.O. Box 4000, Panorama City, CA 91412 or by dialing toll free 1-800-55-GRACE.  Copyright John MacArthur Jr., All Rights Reserved.

Question

In the genealogies of  Matthew and Luke, on the surface there appears to be some difficulties. In Luke chapter 1, how can we be assured that Luke is tracing the genealogy of Jesus through Mary’s decent? And also can you recommend a book that deals indepth with the genealogies of Matthew and Luke and attempts to harmonize them?

Answer

Matthew gives a genealogy in chapter one. Luke gives it in chapter 3. We believe that Matthew gives the genealogy of the Lord, through the line of Joseph. And that the best explanation of the line of the genealogy of chapter 3 of Luke is that it is the genealogy of Mary. Now, the key thing is that you have to study those in detail. There are many, many good sources. I would suggest to you that if you are looking for a good source, William Hendriksen’s commentary on Luke is excellent. He has an excellent section on that particular genealogy. 

The real problem with it--it’s different than the genealogy of Matthew 1. It’s different. There are different names, so we know that we know that it takes a different turn. You have to realize this, Joseph is in the line of David and so is Mary. But Joseph came down through a different family. In other words, you have David here and off of David, children, and off of them children, so you’ve got a lot of ways you could still be a son of David or a child of David or in the Davidic line. Joseph comes through one of those channels. Mary comes through another. We know that because the names in the genealogy are different. So they’re coming down through different lines. The reason we assume that the Matthew genealogy is indeed the genealogy of Joseph is because that’s exactly what it says in verse 16. Jacob begot Joseph. So it tells us it’s down to Joseph. 

Now when you come to Luke, what is most interesting is that the genealogy of Matthew starts with David and goes to Joseph. The genealogy of Luke starts with Mary and goes backwards, tracing it the other way. But what is intriguing is that it never says Mary and that’s where the confusion comes. It says in verse 23 of Luke 3, “And Jesus, Himself, began to be about 30 years of age, being as was supposed, the son of Joseph, who was of Heli, who was of Matthat, and then it starts going backwards. Now, what you have to recognize there is genealogies, for the most part, do not incorporate the name of the woman. The reason that Joseph’s name appears here is because it is normal to place him in the line through His father. Mary is not mentioned because this was not normal to trace that through the woman, but what is stated here is very unique, because it says, “Jesus, Himself, began to be about 30 years of age, being as it was supposed, the son of Joseph.” So this genealogy does not trace it through Joseph, it says he was only supposedly the son of Joseph. And so we believe that such a statement is a statement that is attempting to be consistent with a male genealogy and yet demonstrate that in fact it is not Joseph that is the issue here, but Mary, and she, though unnamed is there in the implication of the fact that He was only “supposedly” the son of Joseph.

And the difference in the two fathers--you have Jacob begetting Joseph in Matthew and you have a Heli begetting…the one who begets Jesus. So you have two different fathers. So we are sure that this is the genealogy of Mary. And what’s marvelous about it is that Jesus Christ is the One who should rule every way you look at it. He comes through the Davidic line by His father. He comes through the Davidic line by His mother. You say, “Is that important?” It’s extremely important in Jesus case and I’ll tell you why. Because you’ve got your right to rule through what member of you parents? What parent? Your father. Your father gave you the right to rule. I mean that’s the way it is. And so Jesus, then had to be the son of Joseph legally, but He could not be the son of Joseph physically, because Joseph was in a part of the Davidic line that came through a man named Jeconiah, and Jeconiah had been cursed and it was said that no son of Jeconiah would ever reign. And so He had to be in that line, but He couldn’t be of that line. In other words He couldn’t be born of the heritage of Jeconiah but He had to be in that line to receive the right to rule. So Joseph gave Him the legal right to rule, without giving Him the polluted line of Jeconiah. So He got His genetic right to rule through Mary, who was also of David and His legal right through Joseph. So every element of those genealogies is essential to Christ’s right to the throne.