{"id":11146,"date":"2023-09-21T00:00:18","date_gmt":"2023-09-20T16:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/?p=11146"},"modified":"2023-09-21T08:07:43","modified_gmt":"2023-09-21T00:07:43","slug":"a-universal-identity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/2023\/09\/21\/a-universal-identity\/","title":{"rendered":"A Universal Identity"},"content":{"rendered":"

Luke 3:23-38 23<\/sup>And when he began his ministry, Jesus himself was about thirty years of age, being the son (as was considered) of Joseph, <\/em>of Heli, 24<\/sup>of Matthat, of Levi, of Melchi, of Jannai, of Joseph, 25<\/sup>of Mattathias, of Amos, of Nahum, of Esli, of Naggai, 26<\/sup>of Maath, of Mattathias, of Semein, of Josech, of Joda, 27<\/sup>of Joanan, of Rhesa, of Zerubbabel, of Shealtiel, of Neri, 28<\/sup>of Melchi, of Addi, of Cosam, of Elmadam, of Er, 29<\/sup>of Joshua, of Eliezer, of Jorim, of Matthat, of Levi, 30<\/sup>of Simeon, of Judah, of Joseph, of Jonam, of Eliakim, 31<\/sup>of Melea, of Menna, of Mattatha, of Nathan, of David, 32<\/sup>of Jesse, of Obed, of Boaz, of Sala, of Nahshon, 33<\/sup>of Amminadab, of Admin, of Arni, of Hezron, of Perez, of Judah, 34<\/sup>of Jacob, of Isaac, of Abraham, of Terah, of Nahor, 35<\/sup>of Serug, of Reu, of Peleg, of Eber, of Shelah, 36<\/sup>of Cainan, of Arphaxad, of Shem, of Noah, of Lamech, 37<\/sup>of Methuselah, of Enoch, of Jared, of Mahalaleel, of Cainan, 38<\/sup>of Enos, of Seth, of Adam, of God.<\/em><\/p>\n

Matthew begins his Gospel with Jesus\u2019 genealogy, but Luke inserts his list after Jesus\u2019 baptism. Luke\u2019s purpose seems to be to add further proof to the claims of the heavenly voice. The genealogy shows three important identities of Jesus. One is his divine origin through the human lineage, fulfilling the messianic expectations of the Jews that Jesus would come from the line of David. A second is that he came through Abraham and fulfilled God\u2019s promise of universal blessing to all people through Abraham\u2019s offspring. A third is the connection to Adam, the father of all people, which would make Jesus meet the needs of Gentiles. The list gives seventy-seven names. The pattern is unclear but can be organized into sections: Jesus to exile (3 \u00d7 7 generations); exile to David (3 \u00d7 7 generations); David to Abraham (2 \u00d7 7 generations); Abraham to Adam (3 \u00d7 7 generations). One noticeable difference between Matthew\u2019s list and Luke\u2019s is the stopping place. Matthew seems to appeal to the Jews by stopping at Abraham, but Luke broadens his list to be inclusive of all humanity. Also, thirty-eight names are different between Matthew and Luke.<\/p>\n

Luke begins his list by noting that Jesus was about thirty years old. The word about<\/em> (h\u014dsei<\/em>) implies that Luke was not concerned about being precise. The calendar we use today is off by several years because Herod the Great died in 4 \u201cBefore Christ.\u201d Jesus had to have been born before this, even up to 6 B.C. Dating was not precise at that time. The number thirty is symbolic in the Bible. David was about thirty when he became king (2 Samuel 5:4). Joseph was thirty when he started his work for Pharoah (Genesis 41:46). The sons of Korah who worked in the tabernacle began at age thirty (Numbers 4:3). The reference to Jesus being supposedly the son of Joseph clues the readers in to remember the special way Jesus was conceived. He was not the son of Joseph through human conception but only through adoption. People saw him as the son of Joseph, but as readers, we know his true identity. Luke also heard Paul\u2019s preaching and may have understood his interpretation of Jesus as the Second Adam. Adam before his sin is the archetype for Jesus and what Jesus came to restore for all people. Ending the list with the reference son of God<\/em> adds further confirmation to Jesus\u2019 divine identity.<\/p>\n

For older posts, click\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Luke 3:23-38 23And when he began his ministry, Jesus himself was about thirty years of age, being the son (as was considered) of Joseph, of Heli, 24of Matthat, of Levi, of Melchi, of Jannai, of Joseph, 25of Mattathias, of Amos, of Nahum, of Esli, of Naggai, 26of Maath, of Mattathias, of Semein, of Josech, of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11146","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotions","post-preview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11146","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11146"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11146\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11169,"href":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11146\/revisions\/11169"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}