Understanding Jesus Christ’s Lineage: Part II:Christ’s Biological Lineage

        Have you ever examined your own genealogy? If you notice, you have two distinct lines. One comes from your father and the other from your mother. Jesus also had a mother and a father. We discovered in our study of Christ’s genealogy in Matthew chapter 1 that even though Jesus was biologically the son of God, Joseph had adopted him as his son and therefore Jesus had a legal claim to the throne of David through his son Solomon. Click this link to read part one: Christ’s Legal Lineage.

Today we will look at Jesus Christ’s lineage through Mary. We find this lineage in Luke 3:23-38. In viewing this lineage, we need to first recognize that Luke’s perspective was different from Matthew’s. While Matthew’s viewpoint was to prove that Jesus Christ was the Messiah of the Jews, Luke’s viewpoint was to prove that Jesus Christ was “the son of man.” or was a descendant of Adam.

Even though Mary’s name is not mentioned in this passage, this must be her genealogy. Since Jesus was not the biological son of Joseph, he had to have some sort of biological connection to humans so that he could be qualified to become the Savior of mankind. This had to come through Mary. Therefore, this genealogy gives proof that Jesus was indeed a human being because he was descended from Adam.

As you’ll notice as you read this genealogy, you will notice that King Solomon was not in this genealogy. The genealogy instead of coming through him, goes through another son of David–Nathan. The reason for this occurred when God cursed Solomon’s royal descendent–Jechoniah– in that his  line would not give birth to the Messiah.

Another significance of this genealogy, besides the fact that it comes through Mary, is that the genealogy does not stop at Abraham as Joseph’s genealogy in Matthew did, but it goes all the way back to Adam. Adam was the only other man who God created directly. All others were born of men. Though it is true that God spoke of forming Jeremiah, it should be understood that in the case of Jesus, he used both the physical reproduction through Mary along with the direct creation through God. Both attributes were required if Jesus were to become the salvation of humankind.

As you compare the genealogies in Matthew and Luke closely, you will however discover another amazing discovery. In Luke 3:27 we discover that Solomon and Nathan unite in Zurubbabel by the marriage of  Salathial to the Neri’s daughter in Nathan’s line. Neri no doubt died without a male heir and the two branches of David were united under Zerubbabel. Jesus Christ therefore became heir to the blood rights and privileges of the whole house of David.

These often overlooked genealogies indeed contained some very valuable information about our Lord.