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Study Section 5: The Genealogies of Christ

5.1 Connect.

Have you ever traced back your genealogy? You would have to find out who your parents’
parents were and gather some information about them. Then find out who their parents
were, and so on, to as far back as you can go. Most people can trace their family line only to
a few generations. Matthew opens with describing the genealogy of Joseph back to
Abraham. That’s a long way back! But Luke traces the lineage of Mary all the way back to the
first man, Adam. With your family, that would be an impossible feat.

Do you ever wonder why all these names of the relatives of Mary and Joseph are written in the Bible?
Certainly, they are in the Bible because God thinks they are important for us to know. Today, let’s try to
understand their importance. Let’s get started….

5.2 Objectives.

1. The student should be able to explain that in both genealogies, one of Mary and one of
Joseph, their family lines intersect at King David.

2. The student should be able to explain why being a relative of King David is so very important
in Jesus’ life.

3. The student should be able to discuss an event in the boyhood of Christ that reveals why He came.

4. The student should be able to discuss the purpose of John the Baptist’s ministry in preparing the way
for the Lord.

5.3 The Genealogies of Jesus Christ (Matthew 1:1-17, Luke 3:23-28)

The genealogies of Jesus appear in both Matthew and Luke, but if you read through them,
they are quite different. For example, Matthew 1:16 indicates Jacob is Joseph’s father, while
Luke 3:23 tells us the Heli is the father of Joseph. Does the Bible have a contradiction in it?
What we discover as we look at the two genealogies is that Matthew traces the line of Joseph
back to David while Luke is tracing the genealogy of Mary. Both trace their roots back to King
David!

Matthew’s genealogy traces the line of Joseph, who was Jesus’ adoptive father, and whose rights and
possessions lawfully passed to Jesus, including the legal right to the throne of David, passed down
through Solomon.

The usual practice of a Jewish genealogy is to give the name of the father, then grandfather, and so on
of the person in view. Luke follows this pattern, but does not mention Mary, but only mentions the
name of the legal father. Luke adds that, in reality, Joseph is not the father of Jesus since Jesus was
virgin born (Luke 1: 34, 35). Luke traces the roots of Jesus through His mother, Mary, who was a

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