Question:
Dear Greg,
A
Muslim recently asked me why the genealogies in Matthew and Luke’s gospel are
different? I remember someone once
telling me that one is Joseph’s and one is Mary’s.
Can you shed some light on this question?
Mike
Answer: Dear Mike,
Some
who are unfamiliar with the Bible are puzzled about the four Gospel
accounts—why one author mentions one aspect of an event, or how one or more
will not mention an event at all.
The
Gospels are complementary. They are
four accounts written to four distinct audiences with differing purposes in
mind. Each will stress issues that
are of interest and sometimes critically important to their respective
audiences. This is the case with the
two separate accounts in Mathew and Luke to which you have reference.
Matthew
wrote to a primarily Jewish audience. They
were interested in Jesus’ legal pedigree, and that had to be through the
father. The Jewish audience would
have been interested in Jesus’ legal right to the throne of David.
Of course Joseph was not the birth father, but the legal pedigree
nonetheless would have been considered that of Joseph’s.
It begins with Abraham because of the primacy of Abraham in the Jewish
religion, as opposed to Adam. It is
in ascending order from Abraham, rather than descending as in the case of
Mary’s in Luke.
Luke
wrote to a predominately non-Jewish audience, and thus did not have the same
Jewish concerns. Jesus’ humanity
came from Mary, as Jesus was God in the flesh—so the pedigree Luke gave was
that of his human parentage.
There
are many other questions about the two genealogies, but this should suffice to
answer your friend.
In
Christ,