As a rule, the Churches of God misidentify which of the New Testament genealogies pertains to Christ, and which pertains to His stepfather Joseph.

 

Understanding the genealogy of Jesus Christ is a classic example of Pr 25:2 in action. This verse states, "It is the glory of God to conceal things, but the glory of kings is to search things out" (RSV).

 

The first clear giveaway is the placement of the books in which these genealogies are found, i.e. Matthew and Luke. As Matthew is the gospel that was originally written for the Jews, in Hebrew, it serves as a connection between the Hebrew Old Testament and the Greek New Testament Scriptures and is therefore rightfully placed as the first book of the New Testament.

​​​

The last words recorded in the OT are those of the edict of Cyrus, found at the very end of Chronicles. This edict begins the fulfilment of the 70 Week Prophecy of Dan 9:24-27, which predicts the timing of the first coming of Christ. The NT commences at the 69 "week" stage of this prophecy, i.e. with the begettal and birth of Christ, which is why His genealogy is recorded at the very beginning of Matthew's gospel.

​​

In Matthew's genealogy, the words translated "husband of Mary" literally read "man of Mary" and should be understood as "father of Mary", her father and her husband both having the same name, Joseph. Mary's husband therefore is not mentioned in this genealogy, only her father, whose name was Joseph. There are two known Hebrew manuscripts of Matthew dating from the 16th century that read "father of Mary" in this place. One of these is located in the digital library of the Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford, and can be viewed online. 

​​

Matthew 1:18 gives added weight to this interpretation. This verse states that there are three sets of 14 patriarchs in Christ's genealogy. However, when we add up the generations, we soon see that this is not the case in our current Bible translations. If, on the other hand, we identify Joseph as Mary's father rather than her husband, we see that the numbers in Matt 1:2-16 add up perfectly, giving us 14 generations from Abraham until David, 14 generations from Solomon until Jehoiachin, and 14 generations from Shealtiel until Christ.

​​

Some may object to there being a woman in this list of male ancestors. In the case of Jesus Christ, however, there is no alternative because He had no human father. In addition, the presence of a woman in Christ's genealogy is foreshadowed in Gen 3:15, where God, after Satan has deceived Eve, tells Satan "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel".

​

Note also that the genealogy recorded by Matthew was meant to convince Jewish readers that Christ was a direct descendant of David. If, however, this genealogy is that of Christ's stepfather Joseph, as is commonly taught, it would not prove Christ's ancestral link to David.

​​​​​​​

On the other hand, Luke clearly states in Lk 3:23 that his genealogy is that of Christ's stepfather Joseph. As Matthew and Luke's genealogies vary significantly, they cannot both be Joseph's. The COG's commonly say that Luke's genealogy is that of Mary, but Mary is not even mentioned in his list, only in that of Matthew.

​​​

Additionally, in I Chron 22:9-10 God tells David that He will establish his son Solomon's throne "forever". It is not surprising therefore to read in Lk 1:32-33 that Christ will reign from David's throne "forever", as it is Christ who fulfils this role in perpetuity. Only Matthew's genealogy contains Solomon's name, so it must be the bloodline to Christ. Luke's genealogy runs through a different son of David, namely Nathan.

​​​

Some point to Jer 22:24-30 which says of King Jehoiachin, the grandson of King Josiah, "For none of his descendants shall prosper, sitting on the throne of David, and ruling anymore in Judah", and for this reason deny that Christ is a descendant of Jehoiachin, as found in Matthew's genealogy. Jehoiachin was taken captive to Babylon and indeed none of his offspring ruled as kings over Judah. Jeremiah 22:24 figuratively describes the removal of Jehoiachin's descendants from the kingly line of Judah as the removal of the signet ring from God's right hand.

 

However, in Hag 2:23 God says to Zerubbabel, Jehoiachin's grandson and governor of Judah, "I will take you, Zerubbabel My servant, the son of Shealtiel, says the Lord, and will make you like a signet ring; for I have chosen you, says the Lord of hosts". God hereby indicates the restoration of Jehoiachin's line to the land of Judah as the continuation of the bloodline to Christ, upon Zerubbabel's return to the Holy Land from Babylon. His descendants continued to live there until the time that Mary gave birth to Christ.

 

Christ’s bloodline differs from the kingly line. In Matthew’s account these two lines are seen to be the same up until Josiah’s descendants at the time of the fall of the Kingdom of Judah. From there God separates the two; the bloodline continues through Jehoiachin, whereas the kingly line continues through Zedekiah, the last king of Judah.

​​​

As explained by the “British Israel” theory, the kingly line from David through Solomon was preserved through one of Zedekiah’s daughters (Jer 43:6), and transplanted to Ireland, Scotland and finally England. The British Royal House continues this line today, and it is this throne that Christ will accede to upon His return (Lk 1:32).​​​

 

​​The claim that Matthew’s genealogy is that of Christ is further strengthened by the total number of generations it contains. As can be determined from Gen 5 and 11, and as seen on the chart on the “HOME” page, there are 19 generations from Adam until Terah, Abraham’s father.

​

If we then add the 41 generations from Abraham to Mary, listed in Matt 1, we see that there are exactly 60 generations leading to Christ. This corresponds with Solomon’s Temple (a type of Christ and the firstfruits of salvation) being completed and dedicated in the year 3000AM, the 60th Jubilee year from Creation.​​

​

From all the evidence presented here we see that there is ample proof for identifying Matthew's genealogy as that of Jesus Christ.

​

​​​​​​​