Christian Theology Question: If Joseph wasn't Jesus's father......?

Question

This is a question I've been considering for a while and I'm wondering if anyone can explain this to me.

The Gospel According to Matthew begins with "The family tree of Jesus Christ, David's son, Abraham's son: Abraham had Isaac, Issac had Jacob.........Matthan had Jacob, Jacob had Joseph, Mary's husband, the Mary who gave birth to Jesus, the Jesus who was called Christ." (excerpt from The Message)

So, my question is, if Jesus was not Joseph's son, then how is this Jesus Christ's family tree? What is the purpose of listing Joseph's family history? What does it matter that he was Abraham's decendent? Wouldn't that be irrelavant, since Jesus was the product of Mary concieving as a Virgin? If a family tree/history mattered, wouldn't it be Mary's that would be of some relevance?

I've always been curious about this, any answers would be greatly appreciated.

Great Answers! This has always facinated me. Where is Mary's lineage in the New Testiment?

I think perhaps the connection to the line of David would have played a role. It's just interesting in that Joseph really didn't play a large role in the New Testiment, but 1-17 in Matthew focuses on Josephs family history.

Answer 1

Mary's is included. It is unusual for a woman's genealogy to be listed but in Mary's case, since Joseph was the adoptive Father, her's was listed also.

Answer 2

If you say he is not Divine, you have no choice but to use the lineage of Joseph, which would solidly tie him to the nation of Israel through David. There are three divisions of fourteen generations each which point to the occurence of great events.
Have you noticed the names in the linneage of Mary? (Levi? Joshua?) Jesus has claim to not only Kingship but is rightly our High Priest.
All of this was for the fulfillment of prohesy. Had Joseph actually been his physical father, there would be room for far too much doubt concerning his Divinity.

In Matthew, Jacob is directly called the father of Joseph. In Luke the father is Heli. Both can not be the father of Joseph. The Jewish tradition of importance placed upon genealogy rules out there being anything underhanded going on in this accounting. I accept the genealogy in Luke as being that of Mary. Bear in mind that there are some who attribute the line to Joseph through a different set of related people.

Answer 3

Matthew's gospel contains the family line of Joseph, the covenant head of the family. Even though Jesus Christ was not the physical offspring of Joseph, Joseph was His earthly covenant head of household. Mary was Jesus' flesh and blood on earth, and her genealogical line can be found in Luke.

The purpose of this is to fulfill the prophecy that the Messiah would be from the root of Jesse, or of the Davidic line. We see both covenantal lineage through Joseph and physical blood line through Mary.

Ath

Answer 4

Good question! It says in the Bible that Jesus was born of a virgin, like you said, Mary. And she became pregnent through the Holy Spirit, not Joseph. But before this happened, Joseph and Mary already had a relationship going on and Joseph was already planning on marrying her. When Joseph found out that his soon-to-be wife was pregnent, he was going to completely forget the whole relationship, because having a child before you were married was and is a big no no according to the Bible. But, God helped him decide to stay with Mary and they went ahead and got married. So, Joseph was viewed as Jesus' earthly father, because he had a relationship with Mary. Now, switching to your question about the importance of Joseph's geneology. For one, it supports the statement that the Bible is completely accurate, because in the Old Testament it was prophesised that Jesus (1) would be born to a virgin (2) where he'll be born and (3) that he would be in David's line of descendants! Those prophesies were made YEARS before Jesus was around or even Mary and Jospeh for that matter. So reviewing: Jospeh was viewed as Jesus' earthly father even though he had no physical part in geting Mary pregnent. He was, however, planning on marrying her. And the geneology shows the Bible's complete accuracy, plus, that was something people were proud of back then, and so it was customary to know your geneology. I hope that answers your question! :)

Answer 5

There are two genealogies listed in the new testament. One was a "legal" genealogy, as would be the case for adopted children. The other is the biological genealogy. Note there is another lineage in Luke 3:21

I forget which ione was legal and which is biological, I believe that Mathew is the biological because Mary is the only woman named.

Answer 6

The purpose of the Genealogy of Christ in Matthews Gospel
is to witness that Jesus was the Messiah of Old Testsment
promise and that His messianic mission was to bring the Kingdom of God to men.[ Romans 16:25-26]

The message to learn here is this, that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and that He came to earth in human form.

Answer 7

There are 2 lineages of Jesus given in the bible - one is his biological lineage given in Luke and the other is his legal lineage given in Matthew.

In Jewish culture the legal inheritance rights passed down through the father's side. Jesus was "adopted" by Joseph, so legally, he was in the line of Joseph - even though biologically he was in the line of Mary only.

Answer 8

Jesus was born in a society where men played a bigger role in economy and politics than women. I think the family tree thing was a tradition among the ancient people in that region.

Answer 9

Joseph was Jesus' legal father. Secondly Mary was also a descendant of David. For more see http://www.bcbsr.com/survey/sgosp1.html
http://www.bcbsr.com/survey/sgosp2.html

Answer 10

Because it shows both Mary and Joseph came from the linage of David.