THEOLOGICAL IMPLICATION OF GENEALOGY
The Gospel according to Matthew begins with a genealogy. The Evangelist locates Jesus in relation to God’s eschatological purpose of a new creation; the book of origin as the author called it, asserts the role of Jesus as the one who saves, his purpose is to prove that Jesus is the rightful Messiah to Jewish law by showing his descent from Abraham as such Matthew grounded Jesus in human history more particularly on the issue of faith in the salvation history. Functionally, by using Abraham, Jesus is portrayed not as Jesus of Israel alone, but Jesus of all nations. Hence he gives us all a root back to our father of faith including Jesus.
Thus, the object of this essay is to expose the theological implication of identifying Jesus in human history vis-Ã -vis our Soteriology; that is, the redemption of human race. We shall deploy the method of expository and paraphrasing that would help us among others, which includes elucidating, clarifying and even interpreting the various sources that pertain to our quest.
WHAT IS GENEALOGY?
Genealogy is the history of the descent of a family, often rendered in a tabular list (family tree) in the order of succession, with the earliest known ancestor placed at the head and later generations placed in lines of direct and collateral descent. However, genealogies in ancient biographies do much more than pass on historical biological information; they define the relationship of the main character to the past and shows something important of the present. According to Saint Jerome, the purpose of the genealogy of Jesus is to show that Jesus is the Messiah (1:1, 16). In Luke’s account – Matthan is the Son of David through which Jesus came. (Heli Father of Joseph) while in Matthew’s account – Solomon is the Son of David via which Jesus came. (Jacob father of Joseph). The question then is; is Matthan an alternative name for Solomon? Considering these differences as noted above, one would ask, which of the genealogy are we to accept? Either, one is correct or both are wrong logically. In dealing with genealogies, we are not dealing with strict chronological events and biographical representatives. As such we are not to take biblical genealogies literarily.
WHAT IS PARTICULAR ABOUT MATTHEW’S GENEALOGY OF JESUS?
In Matthew’s genealogy, four women were mentioned: Tamar; Rahab, Ruth and Uriah’s wife before Mary’s name. It is strange that Matthew included women. But the question is why did Matthew mention them? To this, Cater provides that it is to remind the audience of other un-named female figures like Sarah, Rebekah and Leah and their important role played in the history of Israel’s salvation history, it is intended that their inclusion forms a contrast with Jesus righteous line. It also answers charges about Mary’s alleged adultery, by showing other sexually sinful people in Gods purpose. Though this later part has been criticized because it shows no monopoly of women to sin, since male sinful personalities are also included in the genealogy. Is Mary guilty of the accusation? Capital No she is Immaculate before, during and after the conception of Jesus.
However, Mary played a very important role in the work of our salvation she is the direct channel through which Jesus christ came to us hence to mention her name is to show that she is also from the line of David.
and a fact that she is mother of Jesus who is both man and God. Since the humanity and the Divinity of Jesus are inseparable it implies that she is the mother of God.
Her maternal role in the supplication of wine at the wedding in Canaan proved to us That God cannot refuse her anything all you need to do is just ask her to intercede for you and you will be covered.
THE THEOLOGY OF GENEALOGY OF JESUS
The genealogy of Jesus has a theological agenda which identifies God’s purposes as paramount and locates Jesus in relation to God’s previous and ongoing salvific relationship with Israel; it is not a record of biological productivity but a demonstration of God’s providence. The main character is identified as Jesus. This Greek form of the Hebrew name Joshua means “God Saves”. G.B Caird in the Divine plan of God explores the plan of salvation. According to him, the Old Testament scripture foretold that God would one day come upon the stage of human history through His chosen people, ‘Israel’. The beautiful story of salvation started from the Old Testament with a divine promise. Matthew through his presentation of the genealogy of Jesus, allusions to biblical persons and events, and the explicit fulfillment passages, announces that the birth of Jesus is the climax of God’s long story with the people of Israel. For Matthew, Jesus is the perfect Jew; he perfectly fulfills the Torah. As such, he expects all who believe in Christ to do Gods will by observing the Torah according to what Jesus has commanded.
THE THEOLOGICAL IMPLICATION
Professor Akinwale in an attempt to explain Anslem’s Cur Deus Homo teaches that to sin is to steal God’s honor. Man sinned, thereby he stole God’s honor which is infinite. If God over looked man’s sin it will be unjust, and God is a Just God. Therefore, Man must pay, but he cannot pay because God’s honor is infinite, and man is finite, for that reason, out of divine love God became man to pay for the sin of man. It is to this that Matthew provides an explicit account of Jesus in Human history. The Messiah was to be a “son of David” indicating that a ‘man’ must save ‘man’ and the term son of Abraham was applied to Jewish people in general; as such Matthew reminds us that Jesus is a Jew whose linage is traced back to the origins. To buttress this, Athanasius in his work, ‘On the Incarnate Word’ holds that the word through whom the universe was made became flesh to re-create everything, so as to bring the corruptible to incorruption, He offered himself for humanity so that death will have no power over human beings. Again in his Oration against the Arians, he opines that the Logos assumed human nature to liberate humanity completely, to do this effectively, he was clothed in human flesh in its totality with all the passions proper to it. Hence humanity has been “Logified” by his Incarnation. Being connected to him by way of his flesh, we are divinized by the Logos; therefore we have become heirs of eternal life. Our redemption, according to Lonergan, is not just a story of the second person of the Trinity’s incarnation to save man from damnation of sin, it goes beyond that, it’s an expression of God to man, a communication between the creature and the creator, a divine gift to man, by which man come to know God. Through the fact of the incarnation and the act of redemption God in Christ reconciled man and the entire universe to himself. By a genealogy which, in having the descent of Jesus through David and Abraham to Adam, indicates that he is to fulfill not only the purposes of God for Israel and its royal line, but the destiny of the human race.
Why is it supremely important that Christ is truly and fully human with all our limitations, including death?
Collins in response to the above question says:
As one of us he can experience and love us. Second, he can represent us before / to God because he belongs to us by completely sharing our condition in life and death. Could someone appropriately represent us as human beings while being an alien who does not authentically share as an insider in our condition? Third, by being truly and fully one of us, Christ can communicate very concretely and show us how to live, act, suffer, and pray - in short show us what a human life before God should really be.
According to him the pastoral case is strong and obvious for recognizing the importance of Christ being truly and fully human, he continued:
The fact that Christ has genuinely shared our experience from the inside can persuade us that God personally understand us and loves us. Thus we can be convinced that we are uniquely worthwhile and lovable… Fifth, we can lovingly identify with and follow Christ in faith and hope because we know he shares our human condition. Sixth, if his genuine humanity means effective revelation, it indicates something crucial as well about our redemption.
All these point to the fact that God heals us from inside and not from outside. Put differently, we can say that our Saviour is one of us.
CONCLUSION
The theological outlook of Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus has the motif of God’s abiding presence with his people in the person of Jesus. He assures his community of the presence of God even in the face of expulsion from the temple and persecutions from the society.In summation, Matthew genealogy of Jesus present to us our savior in human flesh as Son of Abraham, Son of David. What man lost in Adam was restored in the new Adam (Jesus).
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Anthony Ehwerido, “Christology in Matthew” class discussion, Dominican Institute Ibadan, unpublished, 15th may 2014.
Anthony,Akinwale, Soteriology and Grace class discussion, Dominican Institute Ibadan, unpublished February 26, 2014
Athanasius, Orations against Arians in Richard Norris, The Christological Controversy .Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1980.
Bernard Lonergan, “The Redemption” in Collected Works of Bernard Lonergan, Vol.6, ch.1.
Collins Gerald, Christology A Biblical,Historical,and Systematic study of Jesus. United States: Oxford University Press Inc,1995.
Craig S. Keener, The VIP Bible Background Commentary. U.S.A: InterVarsity Press, 1993.
Dominican Institute, Department of Theology, personal discussion with Fr. Clement Dioka, May 27,2014
Edward R. Hardy, Christology of the later fathers, ed., The library of Christian classics: Lehthus Edition (Philadelphia: Westminster John knox Press, 1954).
Filby, P. William. "Genealogy." Microsoft® Encarta® 2009 [DVD]. Redmond, WA: Microsoft Corporation, 2008.
G. B. Caird, New Testament Theology England: Oxford University Press, 1995.
Matthew, Text Exegesis and Exposition in The interpreter’s bible New York: Abingdon Press vol II
Warren Carter, Matter and the Margins Bloomsbury: Academic, 2005.
‘The New Testament and Topical Articles’ in The Jerome Biblical Commentary edited by Joseph A. Fitzmyer & Ramond E. Brown. USA: Prentice Hall, Inc, 1968.
Second Vatican Council, Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation Dei Verbum,In Vatican Council II: The Concilliar and Post Conciliar Documents Vol. I, edited by Austin Flannery.New Delhi St Pauls publications, 1975.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church, Nairobi, Pauline Publications Africa, 1994.
The Anchor Bible Dictionary Vol. 2, Edited by David Noel Freedman. New York: Doubleday, 1992.
Good News Bible 4th ed. (New York: American bible society, 1976)
Thus, the object of this essay is to expose the theological implication of identifying Jesus in human history vis-Ã -vis our Soteriology; that is, the redemption of human race. We shall deploy the method of expository and paraphrasing that would help us among others, which includes elucidating, clarifying and even interpreting the various sources that pertain to our quest.
WHAT IS GENEALOGY?
Genealogy is the history of the descent of a family, often rendered in a tabular list (family tree) in the order of succession, with the earliest known ancestor placed at the head and later generations placed in lines of direct and collateral descent. However, genealogies in ancient biographies do much more than pass on historical biological information; they define the relationship of the main character to the past and shows something important of the present. According to Saint Jerome, the purpose of the genealogy of Jesus is to show that Jesus is the Messiah (1:1, 16). In Luke’s account – Matthan is the Son of David through which Jesus came. (Heli Father of Joseph) while in Matthew’s account – Solomon is the Son of David via which Jesus came. (Jacob father of Joseph). The question then is; is Matthan an alternative name for Solomon? Considering these differences as noted above, one would ask, which of the genealogy are we to accept? Either, one is correct or both are wrong logically. In dealing with genealogies, we are not dealing with strict chronological events and biographical representatives. As such we are not to take biblical genealogies literarily.
WHAT IS PARTICULAR ABOUT MATTHEW’S GENEALOGY OF JESUS?
In Matthew’s genealogy, four women were mentioned: Tamar; Rahab, Ruth and Uriah’s wife before Mary’s name. It is strange that Matthew included women. But the question is why did Matthew mention them? To this, Cater provides that it is to remind the audience of other un-named female figures like Sarah, Rebekah and Leah and their important role played in the history of Israel’s salvation history, it is intended that their inclusion forms a contrast with Jesus righteous line. It also answers charges about Mary’s alleged adultery, by showing other sexually sinful people in Gods purpose. Though this later part has been criticized because it shows no monopoly of women to sin, since male sinful personalities are also included in the genealogy. Is Mary guilty of the accusation? Capital No she is Immaculate before, during and after the conception of Jesus.
However, Mary played a very important role in the work of our salvation she is the direct channel through which Jesus christ came to us hence to mention her name is to show that she is also from the line of David.
and a fact that she is mother of Jesus who is both man and God. Since the humanity and the Divinity of Jesus are inseparable it implies that she is the mother of God.
Her maternal role in the supplication of wine at the wedding in Canaan proved to us That God cannot refuse her anything all you need to do is just ask her to intercede for you and you will be covered.
THE THEOLOGY OF GENEALOGY OF JESUS
The genealogy of Jesus has a theological agenda which identifies God’s purposes as paramount and locates Jesus in relation to God’s previous and ongoing salvific relationship with Israel; it is not a record of biological productivity but a demonstration of God’s providence. The main character is identified as Jesus. This Greek form of the Hebrew name Joshua means “God Saves”. G.B Caird in the Divine plan of God explores the plan of salvation. According to him, the Old Testament scripture foretold that God would one day come upon the stage of human history through His chosen people, ‘Israel’. The beautiful story of salvation started from the Old Testament with a divine promise. Matthew through his presentation of the genealogy of Jesus, allusions to biblical persons and events, and the explicit fulfillment passages, announces that the birth of Jesus is the climax of God’s long story with the people of Israel. For Matthew, Jesus is the perfect Jew; he perfectly fulfills the Torah. As such, he expects all who believe in Christ to do Gods will by observing the Torah according to what Jesus has commanded.
THE THEOLOGICAL IMPLICATION
Professor Akinwale in an attempt to explain Anslem’s Cur Deus Homo teaches that to sin is to steal God’s honor. Man sinned, thereby he stole God’s honor which is infinite. If God over looked man’s sin it will be unjust, and God is a Just God. Therefore, Man must pay, but he cannot pay because God’s honor is infinite, and man is finite, for that reason, out of divine love God became man to pay for the sin of man. It is to this that Matthew provides an explicit account of Jesus in Human history. The Messiah was to be a “son of David” indicating that a ‘man’ must save ‘man’ and the term son of Abraham was applied to Jewish people in general; as such Matthew reminds us that Jesus is a Jew whose linage is traced back to the origins. To buttress this, Athanasius in his work, ‘On the Incarnate Word’ holds that the word through whom the universe was made became flesh to re-create everything, so as to bring the corruptible to incorruption, He offered himself for humanity so that death will have no power over human beings. Again in his Oration against the Arians, he opines that the Logos assumed human nature to liberate humanity completely, to do this effectively, he was clothed in human flesh in its totality with all the passions proper to it. Hence humanity has been “Logified” by his Incarnation. Being connected to him by way of his flesh, we are divinized by the Logos; therefore we have become heirs of eternal life. Our redemption, according to Lonergan, is not just a story of the second person of the Trinity’s incarnation to save man from damnation of sin, it goes beyond that, it’s an expression of God to man, a communication between the creature and the creator, a divine gift to man, by which man come to know God. Through the fact of the incarnation and the act of redemption God in Christ reconciled man and the entire universe to himself. By a genealogy which, in having the descent of Jesus through David and Abraham to Adam, indicates that he is to fulfill not only the purposes of God for Israel and its royal line, but the destiny of the human race.
Why is it supremely important that Christ is truly and fully human with all our limitations, including death?
Collins in response to the above question says:
As one of us he can experience and love us. Second, he can represent us before / to God because he belongs to us by completely sharing our condition in life and death. Could someone appropriately represent us as human beings while being an alien who does not authentically share as an insider in our condition? Third, by being truly and fully one of us, Christ can communicate very concretely and show us how to live, act, suffer, and pray - in short show us what a human life before God should really be.
According to him the pastoral case is strong and obvious for recognizing the importance of Christ being truly and fully human, he continued:
The fact that Christ has genuinely shared our experience from the inside can persuade us that God personally understand us and loves us. Thus we can be convinced that we are uniquely worthwhile and lovable… Fifth, we can lovingly identify with and follow Christ in faith and hope because we know he shares our human condition. Sixth, if his genuine humanity means effective revelation, it indicates something crucial as well about our redemption.
All these point to the fact that God heals us from inside and not from outside. Put differently, we can say that our Saviour is one of us.
CONCLUSION
The theological outlook of Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus has the motif of God’s abiding presence with his people in the person of Jesus. He assures his community of the presence of God even in the face of expulsion from the temple and persecutions from the society.In summation, Matthew genealogy of Jesus present to us our savior in human flesh as Son of Abraham, Son of David. What man lost in Adam was restored in the new Adam (Jesus).
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Anthony Ehwerido, “Christology in Matthew” class discussion, Dominican Institute Ibadan, unpublished, 15th may 2014.
Anthony,Akinwale, Soteriology and Grace class discussion, Dominican Institute Ibadan, unpublished February 26, 2014
Athanasius, Orations against Arians in Richard Norris, The Christological Controversy .Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1980.
Bernard Lonergan, “The Redemption” in Collected Works of Bernard Lonergan, Vol.6, ch.1.
Collins Gerald, Christology A Biblical,Historical,and Systematic study of Jesus. United States: Oxford University Press Inc,1995.
Craig S. Keener, The VIP Bible Background Commentary. U.S.A: InterVarsity Press, 1993.
Dominican Institute, Department of Theology, personal discussion with Fr. Clement Dioka, May 27,2014
Edward R. Hardy, Christology of the later fathers, ed., The library of Christian classics: Lehthus Edition (Philadelphia: Westminster John knox Press, 1954).
Filby, P. William. "Genealogy." Microsoft® Encarta® 2009 [DVD]. Redmond, WA: Microsoft Corporation, 2008.
G. B. Caird, New Testament Theology England: Oxford University Press, 1995.
Matthew, Text Exegesis and Exposition in The interpreter’s bible New York: Abingdon Press vol II
Warren Carter, Matter and the Margins Bloomsbury: Academic, 2005.
‘The New Testament and Topical Articles’ in The Jerome Biblical Commentary edited by Joseph A. Fitzmyer & Ramond E. Brown. USA: Prentice Hall, Inc, 1968.
Second Vatican Council, Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation Dei Verbum,In Vatican Council II: The Concilliar and Post Conciliar Documents Vol. I, edited by Austin Flannery.New Delhi St Pauls publications, 1975.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church, Nairobi, Pauline Publications Africa, 1994.
The Anchor Bible Dictionary Vol. 2, Edited by David Noel Freedman. New York: Doubleday, 1992.
Good News Bible 4th ed. (New York: American bible society, 1976)
Thank you Father for the beautiful explanation. I have just been educated by you.
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