that the bloodline of Jesus (Mary’s descent), recorded by Luke, also reaches back to David Son of God Both genealogies are careful to guard the truth of Jesus’ deity, because His birth was of supernatural conception by the Holy Spirit (see Matt 1:20) Joseph was Jesus’ legal father only Matthew says that Joseph was “the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus” (1:16) The phrase “of whom” is in the feminine form in Greek and refers only to Mary Note how, a few verses later (v 23), Matthew explicitly identi es Jesus as God The reading of Luke 3:23 also guards the truth that Jesus was conceived of the Holy Spirit, not of Joseph The verse literally reads “And Jesus … being (as was supposed, son of Joseph),2 of Heli.” Heli was Mary’s father, and thus Jesus’ grandfather So Luke’s list begins with the recognition of a supernatural virgin birth of the Son of God (Observe that Luke ends the list with a reference to the divine creation of the father of the human race, Adam, “of God” Luke 3:38.) It is interesting to observe that the other two gospels, Mark and John, identify Jesus as God in the very rst verses Mark 1:1 records the grand genealogical fact: “Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” John 1:1 says clearly, “The Word was God.” C JESUS THE GOD-MAN When Jesus walked this earth He could not have done what He did unless He was who He was In fact, He did what He did to show people who He really was When Jesus came to the peak and turning point of His preaching and sign-working ministry, the great question He asked was a question of identi cation: “Who people say that the Son of Man is?” (Matt 16:13) The words “Son of Man” refer to His human nature When Peter told Jesus who he believed Jesus to be, he recognized Jesus’ deity: “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matt 16:16) The gospels not present Jesus as two persons, that is, God and man He is always one Person, but with two natures He is of real and true divine nature, and He is of real and true human nature The two natures are indissolubly united in the one Person Jesus is no less God because of His humanity, and no less human because of His deity Each nature resides with the other, and both make up His true personality Jesus is not God and man: Jesus is God-man II SETTING OF JESUS’ EARTHLY LIFE The Palestinian setting of New Testament times has been discussed brie y in Chapter A few aspects of the setting as related to Jesus’ earthly career are noted below A CITIES AND VILLAGES The cities and villages named in the gospels were located mainly in the three provinces of Judea, Samaria, and Galilee Three surrounding areas were Perea, Decapolis, and Phoenicia Locate these sections on Map F, p 65 NEW TESTAMENT CITIES ... begins with the recognition of a supernatural virgin birth of the Son of God (Observe that Luke ends the list with a reference to the divine creation of the father of the human race, Adam, ? ?of God”... that the other two gospels, Mark and John, identify Jesus as God in the very rst verses Mark 1:1 records the grand genealogical fact: “Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” John 1:1 says clearly, ? ?The. .. turning point of His preaching and sign-working ministry, the great question He asked was a question of identi cation: “Who people say that the Son of Man is?” (Matt 16:13) The words “Son of Man” refer