Luke 3:34, commentary and pictures

This verse belongs to Christ's genealogy in Luke 3, which traces His human lineage through Mary back to Adam and to God, presenting Him as Son of Man and Son of the human family. It names Jacob, Isaac, Abraham, Thara or Terah, and Nachor or Nahor as successive father-to-son links carrying the line back through Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and on toward Adam. Luke gives the mother's, human side through Mary, while Matthew gives the legal, kingly, royal pedigree through Joseph to show Jesus is rightful King and Heir of Abraham. By running beyond Abraham to Adam the very first man and beyond Adam to the Son of God, it proves the Son of God was truly Son of Man, entering this world by birth into the human family, and presents Him as Saviour of all nations for the whole human race. Tracing Mary's ancestry through Jacob and Isaac to Abraham establishes Jesus as the promised Messiah, the promised Seed of Abraham, and heir of the everlasting covenant made with Abraham and renewed to David.

Luke's Genealogical Setting

Luke 3:34 stands in the genealogy of Christ in Luke 3, which traces His human lineage through Mary back to Adam the very first man and beyond Adam to the Son of God, proving the Son of God was truly Son of Man and Son of the human family. That human line runs back toward Adam and God to present Him as Son of Man, connects His ancestry to the seed of Abraham and the royal family of David, and shows His life was given for the whole human race. Luke places this genealogy in chapter 3 after the account of Jesus' birth to support his presentation of Christ as Son of Man and emphasize His humanity. It traces Jesus' human descent in unbroken line back to Adam who is called the son of God, naming Jacob, Isaac, Abraham, Thara and Nachor among His ancestors.

Luke's genealogy is distinct from Matthew's: Luke gives the mother's, human side through Mary to show Jesus was of man, while Matthew gives the legal, kingly, royal pedigree through Joseph as legal father to show Jesus is rightful King and rightful Heir of Abraham. Read together, Luke gives His line through Adam and Enoch and Noah and Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and onward, while Matthew takes up the royal pedigree from Abraham and traces it down through David and Solomon to the birth of Jesus. Luke's line serves as a parallel line on Mary's side that fortifies Matthew's complete forty-two-generation record from Abraham through David and Solomon to Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus who is called Christ, a record establishing His Messiahship. One may trace Christ's descent through Mary and the other through Joseph without contradiction, since Joseph was Jesus' legal father under Jewish law while His fleshly descent came through Mary, and because Mary was Joseph's wife Joseph was reckoned as the son of her father and Jesus as Joseph's son.

Within David's family the two lines divide, Luke running through David's son Nathan, Solomon's brother, on Mary's side, while Matthew runs through Solomon to Joseph, Jesus' legal father. Joseph is named next to Christ in both accounts because heirship and kingship pass through the father, while Christ's humanity comes through His mother, and the two lines cross or meet in the course of time. Luke traces Christ's literal blood line through Mary but names Joseph because genealogies customarily listed males, as inheritance passed through them. Heli is Mary's father, and Joseph is listed as Heli's son because he was Heli's son-in-law by marriage to Mary, Heli becoming the legal father of Joseph by that marriage. Jesus is therefore called the supposed son of Joseph but is in reality the maternal grandson of Heli, His literal fleshly descent reckoned through men with Joseph named because all reckoning is through the male and genealogy was not customarily traced through women. Those who held the alternative explanation taught that Heli may have been another name for Joseph himself.

Only male names are listed, with Joseph named in place of Mary and as husband of Mary instead of Mary herself, because genealogy was customarily traced through the male line and not through women. Luke traces the genealogy backward from Jesus to Adam in father-to-son order, inverting Matthew's forward order from Abraham downward. The list compresses the centuries between the Testaments into a few verses, giving six verses to the period, with Luke 3:34 naming Jacob, Isaac, Abraham, Thara and Nachor in that lineage step by step from father to son. Unlike Matthew's genealogy, which goes back only to Abraham and presents Christ as the perfect Jew and chiefly as Abraham's and David's royal heir, Luke's traces Him not chiefly as heir but as true and perfect Son of Man back through Adam to Adam the son of God. Luke's Gospel was written by Luke the beloved physician, a Gentile, to most excellent Theophilus, tracing the course of all things accurately from the first, presenting Christ as Saviour of men of every nation and giving greater prominence to His real humanity as Son of Man, written before the destruction of Jerusalem, probably at Rome. Counted father to son, the genealogy numbers seventy-five generations from Christ to Adam, with seventy-four recorded names between Adam and Christ.

Names and Wording

Luke 3:34 belongs to the genealogy that traces Jesus' descent through Mary's family line, with Heli as Mary's father and Joseph listed as Heli's son because he was Heli's son-in-law. In that line the verse carries the ancestry back through Jacob, Isaac, Abraham, Thara or Terah, and Nachor or Nahor as successive father-to-son links toward Adam. It is part of the unbroken human descent in Luke 3:23-38 running back to Adam, who is called the son of God. By naming real progenitors it connects Jesus with the patriarchs and presents the patriarchal history as literal history. The list compresses the centuries between the Old and New Testaments into a few verses, with six verses given to that period, presenting the family line as the record establishing Jesus' descent.

A generation here is counted from father to son, and reckoned that way together with Genesis 11 and Matthew 1, six thousand years from creation gives fewer than two hundred generations. On that counting the thousand generations of those who love God and keep His commandments must reach at least twenty-four thousand years beyond 1868 and in fact continue without limit from generation to generation, proving the commanded covenant of the ten commandments is perpetual. On the more widely accepted view the genealogy is Mary's, so that Jesus is naturally descended from David through Mary and legally included in David's royal line through her marriage to Joseph, while on the other view it is Joseph's private genealogy.

The word son is commonly used in Scripture for a descendant removed by many generations, which is why Christ is called Son of David as born of the seed of David according to the flesh. The genealogy in Luke 3 shows that descent from David through links including Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Thara and Nachor. It is part of the genealogy showing Jesus' parents were Jews, of the tribe of Judah and the family of David.

Christ's Humanity and Saviourhood

Luke's line carries the descent through Jacob, Isaac, Abraham, Thara and Nachor onward back to Adam the very first man and beyond Adam to the Son of God, proving the Son of God was truly the Son of Man. It is the mother's side, giving Jesus' human ancestry through the human family, distinct from Matthew's kingly side through Joseph as legal father to show Him rightful King and rightful Heir of Abraham. The male names are listed instead of the women because genealogy was not customarily traced through women, with Joseph listed in place of Mary as her husband, as Heli's legal son though in fact his son-in-law. That chain proves Christ had a real pedigree and entered this world by birth into the human family, connecting His ancestry also to the seed of Abraham and the royal family of David. His human birth and the death He died prove He and the Melchizedek of Genesis were two distinct individuals, since Melchizedek has no pedigree, did not enter the world by birth as an infant with beginning of days and did not depart it with end of life, yet both are priests after the same Melchizedek order. He entered the human family through a real line of descent, including ancestors whose lives contained both wickedness and faithfulness, and His descent meant He shared humanity's inherited liability to sin and its temptations.

Because the ancestry is traced through Mary's family back to Adam, His life was given for the whole human race. It is presented from the standpoint of Jesus as Saviour of all nations and Saviour for all the world, traced back to Adam. Luke's Gospel, written by Luke the beloved physician, a Gentile, to most excellent Theophilus, tracing the course of all things accurately from the first, presents Christ as Saviour of men of every nation and gives greater prominence to His real humanity as Son of Man, written before the destruction of Jerusalem, probably at Rome.

The genealogy in Luke 3 is traced backward to Adam the son of God through the female portion of the race, showing Jesus is the seed of the woman. It carries the pedigree back to the promise of the seed of the woman in the beginning, while following the custom of reckoning genealogy through males and naming Jacob, Isaac, Abraham, Terah and Nahor as male ancestors. It belongs to Mary's genealogy, given through her father Heli, who is listed as Joseph's father because Joseph was his son-in-law and Heli was Jesus' grandfather. Read together with Matthew 1, Luke gives His line through Adam and Enoch and Noah and Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and onward, while Matthew takes up the royal pedigree from Abraham and traces it down through David and Solomon to the birth of Jesus.

Messiahship and Covenant Promise

The ancestral link through Jacob and Isaac to Abraham places Jesus in Mary's line back to Abraham and establishes Him as the promised Messiah, the promised Seed of Abraham. The same tracing proves Him heir of the everlasting covenant made with Abraham and renewed to David. Luke inverts Matthew's order, giving the fleshly ancestry through Heli, Mary's father, so that Christ is called the supposed son of Joseph but is in reality the maternal grandson of Heli. This Lukan line on the mother's side stands as a parallel that fortifies Matthew's complete forty-two-generation record from Abraham through David and Solomon to Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus who is called Christ, a record establishing His Messiahship. Since Matthew's genealogy through Joseph unites with Luke's in Abraham, that descent is made doubly sure.

Naturally Jesus is descended from David through Mary and is literally Son of David according to the flesh. By Mary's marriage to Joseph He is legally included in David's royal line, while by Matthew's royal descent through David and Joseph He inherits the kingdom as His legal father's heir according to law, so that legally He is Son of David and heir to the kingdom. The reckoning names Joseph because all reckoning is through the male, with Heli the father of Mary becoming the legal father of Joseph by marriage to Mary. Those who held the other view understood Luke's list as Joseph's private genealogy rather than Mary's. Through Jacob and Abraham the lineage stands in the line of promise, belonging to the promised family which God preserved despite efforts to destroy the line from which the Deliverer would come.

The link through Jacob, Isaac, Abraham, Terah and Nahor shows part of the preserved genealogy of Judah, by which the lineage of Jesus could be traced on both His mother's side and His father's side. While the other tribes were scattered and their genealogies lost, the genealogies of Judah the ruler and Levi the priest were preserved. The tribe of Judah was held together until Jesus came, proving He came through Judah in fulfillment of the rulership promised to Judah. From His coming He became the center of the gathering of God's people. Genesis identifies Abraham and records the everlasting covenant made with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, which explains the promise connected with being Abraham's seed and heirs through Christ, and the Gospel genealogies trace their lines through Genesis to the beginning and cannot be verified without its record.

Scriptural Proof and Doctrine

Luke's genealogy and Matthew's do not contradict each other, for one traces descent through Mary and the other through Joseph, while it is also taught that Heli may have been another name for Joseph himself. Joseph was legal father under Jewish law, and fleshly descent came through Mary as his wife, so Joseph was reckoned son of her father and Jesus reckoned son of Joseph. The differences between the two genealogies of Christ have been seen as difficult to harmonize.

The long, exactly kept list of chosen names through Jacob, Isaac, Abraham, Thara and Nachor records the human family through whom the Messiah was to come, and its exact keeping bears mighty witness to the divinity of Scripture. Read with Matthew 1, Luke gives the line through Adam and Enoch and Noah and Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and onward, while Matthew takes up the royal pedigree from Abraham and traces it down through David and Solomon to the birth of Jesus, with Luke tracing backward to Adam the son of God through the female portion of the race to show Jesus is the seed of the woman. By tracing the lineage back through real progenitors in the line of Jacob, Isaac and Abraham and on through Thara to Nachor, the genealogy connects Jesus with the patriarchs and presents patriarchal history as literal history. The Gospel genealogies trace their lines through Genesis to the beginning and cannot be verified without its record, and Genesis identifies Abraham and records the everlasting covenant made with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, which explains the promise connected with being Abraham's seed and heirs through Christ.

The recorded names between Adam and Christ number seventy-four, showing the generations since Adam are far fewer than commonly guessed and supporting that humanity's history began from a small stock and spread gradually. A generation is counted from father to son, as shown by Jacob, Isaac, Abraham, Thara and Nachor as successive father-to-son links, and counted that way with Genesis 11 and Matthew 1 six thousand years from creation gives fewer than two hundred generations. Therefore the thousand generations of those who love God and keep His commandments must reach at least twenty-four thousand years beyond 1868 and in fact continue without limit from generation to generation, proving the commanded covenant of ten commandments is perpetual.

Christ's human ancestors shared the iniquities common to humanity, including ancestors whose lives contained both wickedness and faithfulness, and His descent in the human line through Abraham, Isaac and Jacob meant He shared humanity's inherited liability to sin and its temptations. He entered human flesh in that real line of descent to conquer sin for humanity. That He had a pedigree and entered this world by birth into the human family in a chain distinctly traced from Adam through Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, together with the death He died, proves Christ and the Melchizedek of Genesis were two distinct individuals. For Melchizedek has no pedigree, did not enter the world by birth as an infant with beginning of days and did not depart it with end of life, yet both are priests after the same Melchizedek order.

Unlike Matthew's genealogy, which goes back only to Abraham and presents Christ as the perfect Jew and chiefly as Abraham's and David's royal heir, Luke's genealogy traces Him not chiefly as heir but as Son of Man, as the true and perfect Son of Man, back through Adam to Adam the son of God. Joseph is included as the male member of the family and is counted as Heli's son because he was Mary's husband, so the genealogy is understood as tracing Jesus' lineage through Mary.