Questions on the Nativity-Ascent and Descent in the Genealogies
Questions on the Nativity
Ascent and Descent in the Genealogies
Question:
There are three differences in the genealogy between what the Evangelist Matthew recorded and what the Evangelist Luke recorded, which we wish to ask about now. They are:
1- There is a discrepancy between the names mentioned by each of the two Gospels.
2- Saint Matthew begins the life of the Lord Christ with the genealogy. But Saint Luke does not present it until after he recounts the story of the Baptism.
3- Saint Matthew narrates the genealogy descending from the first fathers down to the sons. Whereas Saint Luke ascends in the genealogy from the Lord Jesus up to Adam, to God.
Is there an explanation for all these differences?
Answer
1- The discrepancy in the names:
In fact, the Evangelist Matthew presented the natural lineage of the Lord Christ, while Luke presented the legal or official lineage. To explain this, we say the following:
The Law of Moses stipulated that if a man died without offspring, his brother should enter to his brother’s widow and raise up offspring for his deceased brother from her. That is, the son whom he begets becomes legally an official son of his deceased brother, though he is considered naturally the son of the brother who begot him from his own loins.
Thus, such a son would have two fathers: a natural father who begot him, and a legal father who is his uncle who died without offspring.
This is what is mentioned in the Book of Deuteronomy concerning this matter:
“If brethren dwell together, and one of them die, and have no child, the wife of the dead shall not marry without unto a stranger: her husband’s brother shall go in unto her, and take her to him to wife, and perform the duty of an husband’s brother unto her. And it shall be, that the firstborn which she beareth shall succeed in the name of his brother which is dead, that his name be not put out of Israel” (Deut. 25:5–6).
If it happened that the deceased without children had no brother, then the nearest of his kin would take his wife to raise up offspring for him, because the son who is born would be attributed to that deceased according to the Law. And if the nearest kinsman did not wish to take the deceased’s wife as commanded, then the next kinsman in relation must accept this marriage, for the Law was keen to establish offspring for the deceased who had no sons.
This type of marriage is called “levirate,” and it has a clear example in the Book of Ruth in her story with Boaz.
In detailing this, Saint Severus, Patriarch of Antioch, says:
“In this manner, Joseph, the betrothed of the Virgin Saint Mary, is in reality attributed to two fathers. For since Heli took a wife and died without begetting sons, Jacob—who was the nearest kinsman to him—married his wife in order to raise up offspring for him according to what the Law commanded. When he begot Joseph from her, this Joseph became a legal son to Heli who had died, and at the same time a natural son to Jacob. Therefore Matthew, on his part, said that Joseph was the son of Jacob. And Luke, on the other side, said that he was the son of Heli. One recorded the natural lineage, and the other recorded the legal lineage.
Matthew, on his part, mentioned the natural fathers of Joseph, and Luke, on the other side, mentioned the legal fathers. Luke traced the legal lineage of Christ up to Nathan the son of David, while Matthew traced the natural lineage up to Solomon the son of David, and the two met at David… Between Matthew and Luke, the course would sometimes resemble each other, then divide diversely, then unite again, then separate…
Thus, whether from the natural or the legal perspective, the lineage of Christ is established, in that He is the Son of David, the Son of Abraham, and the Son of Adam.”
2- The difference in ascent and descent, and its relation to the Baptism:
Matthew began his Gospel by saying, “The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham…” Immediately after this, he explained the genealogy, saying, “Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob.” After mentioning those who were begotten through unions in which there were faults, he came at the end to the numbering of the generations. Then he said directly, “Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise…”
Thus, after explaining the corruption and death through which all those generations passed, he arrived at the holy birth of the Lord Christ, which was from the Holy Spirit and from the Virgin Mary.
As for Luke, he recounted the Annunciation, the birth of John the Baptist, and the birth of Christ, and proceeded until he reached the Baptism of the Lord at the age of thirty. Here he mentioned the legal genealogies.
Saint Severus, Patriarch of Antioch, explains this matter by saying:
Luke explained the legal genealogies, which remind us of one who died without offspring, then whose name was raised after his death by a son attributed to him, in a manner that bears an example of adoption and resurrection.
He mentioned those genealogies after recounting the story of the Baptism, because Baptism grants true heavenly adoption, in manifesting us as children of God. Therefore, he mentioned the legal genealogies which give adoption, to show that this example has been fulfilled in truth.
And that the diseased condition of humanity has been restored to health by grace.
For this reason, he ascended with the genealogy from below upward and brought it to God, to show that the grace which comes through Baptism lifts us up and raises us to the divine lineage, where it makes us children of God.
Just as the union of marriage which occurred after Adam and Eve broke the commandment, and the begetting of children that resulted from that, caused us to descend downward. To complete this image, Matthew descended with the natural genealogies downward.
Saint Augustine also says:
Matthew descends with the genealogy, pointing to our Lord Jesus Christ descending to bear our sins. For in the seed of Abraham all the nations shall be blessed (Gen. 12:3). Thus, he did not begin from Adam.
An article by His Holiness Pope Shenouda III – in El-Keraza Magazine – Year Seven (Issue Two) – 9-1-1976
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