Biography
Matthew opens by naming Jesus Christ as son of David and son of Abraham, and Luke carries His line back to Adam . Matthew traces the royal line through David and Solomon to Joseph, while Luke traces another branch from David through Nathan, and this site keeps the details in the disputes apparatus instead of flattening the two witnesses .
Joseph is named as Mary's husband and as the legal father in the genealogy, but Jesus is conceived in Mary by the Holy Spirit, so Joseph is not His biological father . He belongs to Judah, since Hebrews says our Lord sprang from Judah, and the legal line through Joseph remains part of the public genealogy .
The New Testament proclaims His true humanity: born of a woman, the Word became flesh, sharing flesh and blood with His brothers, made like them in every way, growing in wisdom and stature, resting in weariness, weeping at the tomb, tempted without sin, and dying .
The same witness declares His full deity: the Word was with God and was God, before Abraham was, I am, the Father and the Son are one, all things were created in Him and through Him, the fullness of deity dwells bodily in Him, the Son existed in the form of God, shines as the radiance of God's glory, bears the name Immanuel, and receives Thomas's confession as my Lord and my God .
The genealogy gives His real human descent through Adam, Abraham, and David, and this same Jesus is God the Son from eternity, so in Him the line of Adam meets the God who made Adam . He is one person, fully God and fully man, the eternal Son become flesh . How this line was the plan from the beginning, from the promise in the garden to the cross, is the narrative the bible is meant to tell.
Depicted in Doré
In Scripture
Place in the Line
Ancestors are above; the line toward Jesus is below.