ed and the story of the ministry of Jesus is about to begin. The
genealogy is thus an artistic interlude, or an important introduction. It
suggests the real purpose of the writer and marks the transition from the
ministry which called men to repentance to the saving work which secures
salvation from sin. The gospel is not good advice but good news. We are
not followers of John but of Jesus.

2. Then again, the genealogy in Matthew follows the order of descent; Luke
ascends the family line from son to father. The former is the order of an
official record; individuals are registered only as they are born; the
latter is that of a private document compiled from the public records with
a view to fixing the attention upon the particular person whose name
stands at the head of the list. This is quite in accord with the literary
art of Luke, who desires at this point in the narrative to center the
thought upon the supreme importance of Jesus, the Saviour, of whose
redeeming work he is now to write.

3. In the third place, while the names given by Luke, from Abraham to
David, correspond with those given by Matthew, the names from David to
Jesus differ. Some have attempted to explain the differences on the ground
that Matthew gives the genealogy of Joseph, while Luke gives that of Mary.
It is probably wiser to conclude that both give the genealogy of Joseph,
but Matthew traces the line of royal succession showing Jesus to be the
heir of David; while Luke gives the line of actual descent. This surely
accords with the purpose of Matthew who ever depicts Christ as the King,
and also with the purpose of Luke who is painting for us Christ as the
true, the ideal Man.

4. Then, too, the genealogy in Matthew begins with Abraham, while Luke
traces the line back to Adam. The former proves Jesus to be a Jew, the
true son of Abraham, in whom the covenant was fulfilled. The latter
reminds us that Jesus belongs to the whole human race. It makes us look
beyond all national lines and remember that this ideal Man on whom Luke is
fixing our thoughts is the Saviour of mankind.

5. When the genealogy closes with the statement that Adam was "the son of
God," it does indicate that Jesus was reckoned as one in the great
brotherhood of man, and like all his brothers, owed his origin to God; but
it does not mean to deny that he also sustained to God a relationship that
is absolutely unique. The genealogy opens with the statement that Jesus
was the rep