Genealogy of Jesus
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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The genealogy of Jesus is described in two passages of the Gospels: Luke 3:23–38 and Matthew 1:1–17.
- Luke's genealogy goes back to Adam, through a minor son of David, Nathan and apparently again to Joseph.
- Matthew's genealogy commences with Abraham and then from King David's son Solomon follows the legal line of the kings through Jeconiah, the king whose descendants were cursed, to Joseph, legal father of Jesus.
Both gospels state that Jesus was begotten not by Joseph, but by God, being born to Mary through a virgin birth. These lists are identical between Abraham and David, but they differ radically from that point onward.
The Catholic Encyclopedia (1913) states that aside from a general implication of her Davidic origin, there is no explicit Biblical record of Mary’s genealogy, but a number of extra-biblical sources, some relatively early, claim to provide her immediate ancestry, as well as an explanation for the divergence between Matthew and Luke. The contradiction of the two gospel genealogies has aroused controversy since ancient times. Although modern scholars see the genealogies as theological craftsmanship rather than historical fact, several explanations have been suggested. There are early claims that Joseph did in fact have two fathers, in a sense, one being a legal father. Others hold that one of the gospels actually records the genealogy of Mary.
See also
- Genealogies of Genesis
- Tree of Jesse — Christ’s ancestry in art
- Timeline of the Bible
