The Genealogies of Our Lord Are Set Forth

Matthew 1:1-17; These genealogical records of Matthew and Luke purport to give the lineage of Jesus, tracing it back from Joseph his foster father. Several discrepancies are apparent, but as Elder James E. Talmage points out, "such have been satisfactorily reconciled by the research of specialists in Jewish genealogy." Then he summarizes the known facts in this field in these words: "The concensus of judgment on the part of investigators is that Matthew's account is that of the royal lineage, establishing the order of sequence among the legal successors to the throne of David, while the account given by Luke is a personal pedigree, demonstrating descent from David without adherence to the line of legal succession to the throne through primogeniture or nearness of kin. Luke's record is regarded by many, however, as the pedigree of Mary, while Matthew's is accepted as that of Joseph. The all important fact to be remembered is that the Child promised by Gabriel to Mary, the virginal bride of Joseph, would be born in the royal line. A personal genealogy of Joseph was essentially that of Mary also, for they were cousins. Joseph is named as son of Jacob by Matthew, and as son of Heli by Luke; but Jacob and Heli were brothers, and it appears that one of the two was the father of Joseph and the other the father of Mary and therefore father-in-law to Joseph. That Mary was of Davidic descent is plainly set forth in many scriptures; for since Jesus was to be born of Mary, yet was not begotten by Joseph, who was the reputed, and, according to the law of the Jews, the legal, father, the blood of David's posterity was given to the body of Jesus through Mary alone." (Talmage, pp. 83-87, 89-90.)

Matthew 1:1. Book of the generation] That is, table of the genealogy; it has reference not to the whole gospel account of Matthew, but to the first seventeen verses in which the royal line age of Jesus is shown. Compare Genesis 5:1.

Matthew 1:1; The son of David, the son of Abraham] Writing particularly for Jewish converts, Matthew traces our Lord's lineage from Abraham and David, both of whom received promises that the Messiah would be among their seed. (Genesis 12:3; Psalms 132; Isa. 11; Jeremiah 23:5; Galatians 3:16; D&C 113:1.) Luke, on the other hand, writing for Gentile readers, traces the descent from Adam, the first man.

Luke 3:38. Adam, which was the son of God] This statement, found also in Moses 6:22, has a deep and profound significance and also means what it says. Father Adam came, as indicated, to this sphere, gaining an immortal body, because death had not yet entered the world. (2 Nephi 2:22.) Jesus, on the other hand, was the Only Begotten in the flesh, meaning into a world of mortality where death already reigned.

I. V. Luke 3:45. The first man upon the earth] There were no so-called pre-Adamites. When Deity "formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life," that noble personage, thereafter to be named Adam, "became a living soul, the first flesh upon the earth, the first man also." (Moses 3:7; 1:34; 6:45; Abraham 1:3; D&C 84:16; 1 Nephi 5:11; 1 Corinthians 15:45.) Adam was the first man from the standpoint of ancestry, lineage, pre-eminence, power, and position; he was the first flesh meaning the first mortal flesh. All things were first created in immortality, in a state devoid of death; then after Adam fell, the effects of his transgression passed upon the earth and all life thereon. (Mormon Doctrine, pp. 249-250, 262.)