Luke 3:36, commentary and pictures

Luke 3:36 is one link in Luke's genealogy tracing Jesus backward through David and Abraham to Adam and to God, while Matthew traces forward from Abraham to Jesus. Luke gives His natural, fleshly, human descent through Mary, while Matthew gives His legal, royal descent through Joseph; by Jewish custom Mary herself is not named but her husband Joseph is named in her place and reckoned the son of her father Heli. In the verse Cainan is the son of Arphaxad, Arphaxad the son of Shem, Shem the son of Noah, and Noah the son of Lamech, carrying the father-to-son line from Christ back through Noah and Shem onward to Adam. The line proves Jesus was truly of man and of the human family, the Son of Man, the Son of Adam, the seed of the woman, and through Adam the Son of God. Because it runs to Adam the first man rather than stopping with Abraham, it shows His life was given for the whole human race and presents Him as Saviour of all nations and peoples. Together with Matthew, the genealogy doubly secures His identity as the Messiah, the promised Seed of Abraham and heir of the covenant renewed to David, of Jewish descent from David's family and the tribe of Judah.

The Human Lineage Recorded

Luke 3:36 stands in Luke's genealogy, which runs backward from Jesus through David and Abraham to Adam and on to God, while Matthew runs forward from Abraham to Jesus. Luke gives the fleshly, natural, human descent through Mary, and Matthew gives the legal, royal descent through Joseph, and the two do not contradict because Joseph was the legal father under Jewish law and Mary was the fleshly parent. By Hebrew custom ancestry was traced through men and not through women, so Mary herself is not named and her husband Joseph is named in her place. Joseph is reckoned as the son of Heli, who was in fact his father-in-law by marriage to Mary and the maternal grandfather of Jesus, Mary's father, so that Jesus called the supposed son of Joseph was in reality Heli's maternal grandson.

Within that arrangement Luke carries the Davidic descent through David's son Nathan, while Matthew carries the royal succession through Solomon, David's son and Nathan's brother. Thus Luke shows Jesus literally the Son of David according to the flesh and of David's royal family through Mary, and Matthew shows Him legally the Son of David and rightful King and heir to the throne by law through Joseph, to whom He also belonged legally by marriage. One line of teaching presents the same genealogy simply as tracing Jesus backward through Joseph to Adam, who is called the Son of God. In the verse itself Cainan is the son of Arphaxad, Arphaxad the son of Sem or Shem, Sem the son of Noe or Noah, and Noe the son of Lamech, carrying the father-to-son line from Christ back through Noah and Shem onward through Abraham, David and others to Adam.

That chosen human line continues onward through Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah, Jesse, David and Solomon to His own birth, with Luke tracing from Adam through Enoch and Noah and Matthew tracing from Abraham through David to Jesus. The genealogy from Adam to Christ is counted as seventy-five generations from Christ to Adam and as about seventy-six generations from Adam to Christ. It is also counted as seventy-four names between Adam and Christ, exclusive of both, showing the generations from Adam to Christ were far fewer than might be guessed. Luke's line through Mary contains more names than Matthew's line through Joseph.

What the Lineage Establishes

Luke's line is the mother's side to show Jesus was of man, of the human family, truly the Son of Man, with the husband of Mary named instead of Mary herself because it was not customary to trace genealogy through women. It traces His human ancestry in unbroken line backward through Cainan, Arphaxad, Sem or Shem, Noe or Noah, and Lamech to Adam the very first man and still back of Adam to God, so that He is the Son of Adam and through Adam the Son of God and the seed of the woman through the female portion of the race. Unlike Matthew's kingly genealogy through Joseph the legal father to show Him the rightful King and rightful Heir, Luke gives His descent from David through Mary and His royal succession is traced through Joseph. Because it runs not only to Abraham but to Adam, it shows His life was given for the whole human race and presents Him as Saviour of all nations and peoples, the true and perfect Son of man.

Together with Matthew it doubly secures His identity as the Messiah, the promised Seed of Abraham and heir of the everlasting covenant made with Abraham and renewed to David, uniting both lines in Abraham. It shows His Jewish descent, that His parents were of David's family and the tribe of Judah, and explains why He is called the Son of David, son meaning a descendant who may be many generations removed, born of the seed of David according to the flesh. The link through Lamech, Noah, Shem, Arphaxad and Cainan places Him in the chosen human line onward through Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah, Jesse, David and Solomon to His own birth, Luke tracing from Adam through Enoch and Noah and Matthew from Abraham through David to Jesus. That promised line through Judah, Jacob, Abraham, Noah and Shem was preserved despite efforts to destroy it so the Deliverer could come through the foretold family, and the genealogies of Judah the ruler and Levi the priest were kept while the other tribes were scattered and lost, so Judah was held together until Shiloh came and from that time Jesus Himself became the center of the gathering of God's people.

The named Cainan, Arphaxad, Shem, Noah and Lamech are literal, real progenitors and actual history, and Genesis supplies the record to verify the Gospel genealogy. The genealogy compresses the centuries between the Testaments into family history to establish His line. The distinct tracing from Adam shows Christ had a pedigree and entered this world by birth into the human family, both born and dying, in contrast to Melchizedek who as priest is presented with no pedigree, no beginning of days as an infant nor end of life, proving them distinct individuals of the same priestly order. His human ancestors shared the iniquities common to the human race, and He entered human flesh sharing humanity's inherited condition in order to conquer sin on humanity's behalf.

The long genealogy bears mighty witness to the truth of God's word and to the divinity of Christ, agreeing with God's witness through the ages and with the works Jesus did to prove the Father sent Him. With Genesis 11 and Matthew 1, the father-to-son count in Cainan son of Arphaxad son of Sem son of Noe son of Lamech supplies the rule for measuring a generation, showing fewer than two hundred such generations in six thousand years from creation, so that the thousand generations of commandment-keepers require more than twenty-four thousand years yet from 1868 and mean unlimited time from generation to generation, proving the ten commandments perpetual.