Why did Luke include the entire genealogy of Jesus?
I immediately recognized a difference in the two genealogies given of Jesus from the books of Matthew and of Luke. Luke gives a complete genealogy while Matthew seems to stop at Abraham. The author of Matthew must have known Jesus’ entire genealogy while writing his book because the Old Testament was already known to the public. I questioned the two authors’ purposes of writing. All writers are different and can write the same story in two separate ways depending on what parts of the story they emphasize. This is obviously the case through all four of the gospels, but I find it interesting that one author could find more importance in completing the genealogy of Jesus than the other. Jesus is the protagonist of both Matthew and of Luke. I would think that both authors would want to include exactly where this man that they were writing about came from.
My first thoughts of the answer to this question was simply that author of Luke found the genealogy more important than the author of Matthew. More information shows more knowledge; at least that is what I have always been taught. Did Luke just find it more necessary to research into the Old Testament than Matthew had when writing their books? Luke could be putting a larger emphasis on who Jesus was and where he came from than Matthew. The emphasis Matthew’s author wanted could have been more on the life of Jesus than whose son he was.
Researching this question brought me to an article on Christianity.about.com where Mary Fairchild gave reasoning for Matthew partial genealogy. She thought that this was done to show the “historical progression.” Matthew’s genealogy was to show how Jesus’ family gained power and then lost that power for Jesus to have a “humble birth.” She also explains how the genealogy in Luke begins with Jesus and works backwards to place a greater emphasis on Jesus. In another article on carn.org, this author states that one genealogy is for Joseph while the other genealogy is for Mary. The reasoning behind this could be because of the man in Joseph’s genealogy that had been cursed by God. This man, Jeconiah, was told that none of his descendant’s would ever sit on the throne. But, because Jesus is the adopted child of Joseph, the curse does not apply to Jesus. A third answer is given by Tony Garland on spiritandtruth.org that states are written with two different viewpoints. The genealogy of Matthew is written in the perceptive of a Jewish view point. This shows the “pedigree” of Jesus and shows the right that Jesus had to become the promised Messiah. On the other hand, the genealogy of Luke is showing the lineage of Jesus back to Adam to show that Jesus is the one foretold to take back the sin of Adam and Eve.
http://christianity.about.com/od/biblefactsandlists/a/jesusgenealogy.htm
http://carm.org/bible-difficulties/matthew-mark/why-are-there-different-genealogies-jesus-matthew-1-and-luke-3
http://www.spiritandtruth.org/questions/132.htm?x=x
My first thoughts of the answer to this question was simply that author of Luke found the genealogy more important than the author of Matthew. More information shows more knowledge; at least that is what I have always been taught. Did Luke just find it more necessary to research into the Old Testament than Matthew had when writing their books? Luke could be putting a larger emphasis on who Jesus was and where he came from than Matthew. The emphasis Matthew’s author wanted could have been more on the life of Jesus than whose son he was.
Researching this question brought me to an article on Christianity.about.com where Mary Fairchild gave reasoning for Matthew partial genealogy. She thought that this was done to show the “historical progression.” Matthew’s genealogy was to show how Jesus’ family gained power and then lost that power for Jesus to have a “humble birth.” She also explains how the genealogy in Luke begins with Jesus and works backwards to place a greater emphasis on Jesus. In another article on carn.org, this author states that one genealogy is for Joseph while the other genealogy is for Mary. The reasoning behind this could be because of the man in Joseph’s genealogy that had been cursed by God. This man, Jeconiah, was told that none of his descendant’s would ever sit on the throne. But, because Jesus is the adopted child of Joseph, the curse does not apply to Jesus. A third answer is given by Tony Garland on spiritandtruth.org that states are written with two different viewpoints. The genealogy of Matthew is written in the perceptive of a Jewish view point. This shows the “pedigree” of Jesus and shows the right that Jesus had to become the promised Messiah. On the other hand, the genealogy of Luke is showing the lineage of Jesus back to Adam to show that Jesus is the one foretold to take back the sin of Adam and Eve.
http://christianity.about.com/od/biblefactsandlists/a/jesusgenealogy.htm
http://carm.org/bible-difficulties/matthew-mark/why-are-there-different-genealogies-jesus-matthew-1-and-luke-3
http://www.spiritandtruth.org/questions/132.htm?x=x