MATTHEW 1
1.1 This is the record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
Abraham was the father of Isaac,
Isaac the father of Jacob,
Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers,
Judah the father of Perez and Zerah (by Tamar),
Perez the father of Hezron,
Hezron the father of Ram,
Ram the father of Amminadab,
Amminadab the father of Nahshon,
Nahshon the father of Salmon,
Salmon the father of Boaz (by Rahab),
Boaz the father of Obed (by Ruth),
Obed the father of Jesse,
and Jesse the father of David the king.
David was the father of Solomon (by the wife of Uriah),
Solomon the father of Rehoboam,
Rehoboam the father of Abijah,
Abijah the father of Asa,
Asa the father of Jehoshaphat,
Jehoshaphat the father of Joram,
Joram the father of Uzziah,
Uzziah the father of Jotham,
Jotham the father of Ahaz,
Ahaz the father of Hezekiah,
Hezekiah the father of Manasseh,
Manasseh the father of Amon,
Amon the father of Josiah,
and Josiah the father of Jeconiah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon.
After the deportation to Babylon,
Jeconiah became the father of Shealtiel,
Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel,
Zerubbabel the father of Abiud,
Abiud the father of Eliakim,
Eliakim the father of Azor,
Azor the father of Zadok,
Zadok the father of Achim,
Achim the father of Eliud,
Eliud the father of Eleazar,
Eleazar the father of Matthan,
Matthan the father of Jacob,
and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, by whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ.
So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations,
and from David to the deportation to Babylon, fourteen generations,
and from the deportation to Babylon to Christ, fourteen generations.
1.2 The Birth of Jesus Christ
Now the birth of Jesus Christ happened this way.
While his mother Mary was engaged to Joseph,
but before they came together,
she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit.
Because Joseph, her husband to be, was a righteous man,
and because he did not want to disgrace her,
he intended to divorce her privately.
When he had contemplated this,
an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said,
“Joseph, son of David,
do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife
because the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.
She will give birth to a son and you will name him Jesus
because he will save his people from their sins.”
This all happened so that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet would be fulfilled:
“Look! The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will name him Emmanuel,”
which means “God with us.”
When Joseph awoke from sleep he did what the angel of the Lord told him.
He took his wife, but did not have marital relations with her
until she gave birth to a son, whom he named Jesus.
- New English Translation
https://netbible.org/bible/Matthew+1
Commentary:
[Verse numbers intentionally removed for greater readability.]
Even though Jesus was born through the Holy Spirit, and not via his father Joseph, we are given what appears to be Joseph's human genealogy. It's a very simple, direct way to show Jesus' connection to various OT characters, and especially King David himself.
Much like ourselves, Jesus was both a product of "the earth" in that he was a human being born of a woman, like all of us, but unlike us, the cause of his birth was the Holy Spirit. Hence, he was born of a virgin who had never had sex with a man up to that point.
Since the participation of Joseph in the birth of Jesus is obviously excluded by the text, is it possible that God used one of Mary's own eggs to begin the process of Jesus' human development? The text does not tell us. We have no information at all about the biological process that God used, other than the exclusion of a human father, and the inclusion of the Holy Spirit. But it is very obvious that Mary's womb was necessary, and perhaps, by association, one of her eggs was used as well to begin the natural, normal process of human birth.
This passage from Romans 3, may be the most instructive passage in the Bible in regards to our sinful nature:
Romans 3:19-26
Now we know that whatever the law says,
it says to those who are under the law,
so that every mouth may be silenced
and the whole world may be held accountable to God.
For no one is declared righteous before him by the works of the law,
for through the law comes the knowledge of sin.
But now apart from the law the righteousness of God
(although it is attested by the law and the prophets)
has been disclosed—
namely, the righteousness of God through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ for all who believe.
For there is no distinction,
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
But they are justified freely by his grace
through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
God publicly displayed him at his death as the mercy seat accessible through faith.
This was to demonstrate his righteousness
because God in his forbearance had passed over the sins previously committed.
This was also to demonstrate his righteousness in the present time,
so that he would be just and the justifier of the one who lives because of Jesus’ faithfulness.
Psalm 14:1-4
For the music director, by David.
Fools say to themselves, “There is no God.”
They sin and commit evil deeds;
none of them does what is right.
The Lord looks down from heaven at the human race,
to see if there is anyone who is wise and seeks God.
Everyone rejects God;
they are all morally corrupt.
None of them does what is right,
not even one.
All those who behave wickedly do not understand—
those who devour my people as if they were eating bread
and do not call out to the Lord.
So Romans 3 and Pslams 14 both seem to agree that we humans are all sinful, and it seems to be an accidental trait of our existence, whether or not we wish to admit it. Hence, there does seem to be some sort of physical transmission of this sinful nature, even though we cannot be absolutely sure of the means of transmission. However, the virgin birth of Jesus seems to indicate that there needs to be a physical interuption in the process of sex and birth in order to stop the contagion of sin. We are also assuming that Jesus was free from sin, as the Bible often claims.
A bigger and more fundamental issue is this: can we, as humans, be found "guilty" of a sin that we inherited that we ourselves are not responsible for? In other words, we did not consciously choose rebellion ourselves, but instead found it somehow wrapped up into our DNA? To put it into the simplest possible form: Can someone be held responsible for a "crime" committed generations ago by an ancestor who greatly proceeded your birth, and is it moral or legal to be held responsible for the effects of that ancient crime? It certainly seems to be the case that we are being held responsible, but God also goes above and beyond to free us from that bondage.
But the important thing is this: God sent Jesus to be the sacrifice for our sinfulness. One single sacrifice, for all time. No need for to repeat the sacrifice, but there is need to repeat the message of what He did.
Our greatest work, our most important deed, must be our acceptance of Christ's death and resurrection as payment for our sins. By simply believing that was done, we can be rendered reconciled in the sight of God.
- Pseudo Boethius