BAPTISM AND ANCESTRY OF JESUS Luke 3:21-38

This post discusses the meaning of both Jesus’ baptism and His ancestry.

Luke describes Jesus’ baptism and ancestry in Luke 3:21-38. The surprising part came after His baptism in a flashback to the time before the imprisonment of John the Baptist, Luke 3:21-22: “Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heavens were opened, and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”

Note that the heavens opened and the two other parts of the Trinity appeared. The Holy Spirit approved by descending like a dove on Jesus while the Father spoke of His pleasure in His beloved Son.

The beginning of Jesus’ public ministry shows Jesus approved by God and the Holy Spirit.

Luke also tells us that the work of Jesus began when He was thirty-years old.

Since God had authenticated Jesus as His Son, Luke then traces His ancestry to show Jesus as a physical descendant of God.

Jesus’ ancestry in Luke has a major difference from that of Matthew. Matthew’s genealogy provides Joseph, the husband of Mary, to be the son of Jacob, Matthew 1:16. But Luke’s account seems to show Joseph as the son of Heli. Extending the parenthesis to include Joseph makes Heli Mary’s father. Also, Greek scholars point out that all the other men in Luke’s account have the words ‘the son of’ before their names. But Joseph’s name does not. This makes Heli in “the son of Heli” in v. 23 as Mary’s father and Jesus’ grandfather. Thus, Matthew gives the ancestry of Joseph back to King David, and Luke provides the genealogy of Mary back to God.

Matthew and Luke provide an interesting contrast between the genealogies. Matthew stresses the kings in the lineage. Luke contains only two kings, Zerubbabel and David. Although Luke’s account includes Abraham and Noah, God, the ultimate ancestor of all of people, becomes the emphasis. This links with the interest of Jesus to the salvation of all people.

What does this post cover?

1.The Trinity includes Jesus.

2.Jesus’ ancestry goes back to God.

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