The Bible is wrong?! Jesus' genealogies are different?

Advent Reflection:

Pray for the Holy Spirit to focus your attention and teach you... 
(Note this is 1 of 5 Advent devotionals I'm sending out.  Sign up to receive them via email.  This is the only one posted on my site.)
                  
Consider... how deep are your convictions in the infallibility of God's Word?

Gallup's survey in 2022 found that a majority of Americans (49%) now think it is "inspired", i.e. inspired by God, but not to be taken as the literal Word of God.  The next highest percentage was 29% of Americans who say the Bible is a combination of history, fable, and moral precepts recorded by man.  The lowest percentage (20%), are Americans who believe the Bible is infallible.  It is slightly higher (25%) when asking American Christians.

Which category are you?

It takes focused intent, along with the help of the Spirit, to look very closely at the Word.  Once you do this, you will be in awe at the perfection of the Word!  It grounds your faith in amazing ways to trust in God's Word as infallible!

Some argue that differences in Jesus' genealogies by Matthew and Luke prove the Bible has mistakes.  

Why are there 2 different genealogies for Christ's lineage?

Matthew has his in chapter 1.  Luke has his in chapter 3, and it doesn't match Matthew's.  Why?

Let's compare how the Spirit inspired Matthew and Luke to record detail differently, but still accurately- 
Matthew 1:16- and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, and Mary was the mother of Jesus who is called the Messiah.

Luke 3:23- Now Jesus himself was about thirty years old when he began his ministry. He was the son, so it was thought, of Joseph,   the son of Heli,

So Matthew says that Joseph's father was Jacob?  Luke says it was Heli?  That's confusing?!

It's not if you focus very closely on the language and intent of each.  

Let's look at a few clues... 

Both Matthew and Luke make the case that Joseph was NOT who fathered Jesus.  They say it in different ways for different purposes.

Matthew's audience would have mainly been Jews.  Matthew traced Joseph's lineage DOWN FROM Abrahamic covenant promises and Davidic lineage for kingship.  Matthew shows legal (Covenant Law & Promises) in the lineage of Joseph as father.  And in so doing, Jesus was proven to be the legal and RIGHTFUL HEIR to the throne of David.  Pay attention also that Joseph's lineage starts with the MIRACULOUS birth of Isaac.  

Matthew 1:1- This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham: 2 Abraham was the father of Isaac,...

Matthew also uses "father of" language throughout the entire lineage, but STOPS from saying Joseph is the "father of" Jesus.  

Matthew 1:16- and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, and Mary was the mother of Jesus who is called the Messiah.

Matthew instead says that Joseph was the husband of Mary; and that Mary was the mother of Jesus.  The rest of Matthew chapter 1 is Matthew telling us that Joseph was visited by an angel of the LORD.  He is finishing the lineage of Jesus; that is, God being the father of Jesus.  Open your bible and read Matthew 1:18-25 to observe what Matthew is showing you.

Now turning to Luke, his language and approach is different.  He says Jesus was the son "so it was thought"... Then he says "Joseph, the son of Heli,..."

Luke repeatedly says "son of" in his lineage for Jesus.  Luke also starts the lineage with Joseph and GOES BACK to the beginning of time, to Adam, "the son of" God.  

Luke 1:38- 38 the son of Enosh,
the son of Seth, the son of Adam,
the son of God.

Even thought Luke goes all the way back to the beginning of humanity, it still doesn't reconcile why  there are different names between Matthew and Luke?  Let's look more closely at Luke before we look at his genealogy for Jesus.

Different than Matthew, Luke's audience is strongly believed to be a Roman (Gentile) audience.  Luke writes both the Book of Luke and the Book of Acts.  In both, he starts chapter 1 addressing his writings to a Roman authority named Theophilus, Luke 1:3 & Acts 1:1.  

He names names on purpose.  In Luke 2:1, he references the worldwide census of Caesar Augustus which meant Theophilus could check that Jesus was recorded by name in that census.  Roman law required that once newborns reached 8 days old, they had to be registered.  So Jesus was registered in the first worldwide census!  

Did you know that?

Luke 2:21- When the eight days before His circumcision had passed, He was named Jesus, the name the angel had given Him before He was conceived.

Then in Luke 3:1, Luke references Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate, and Herod.  Luke is carefully mentioning Roman leadership so his work can be checked and verified.  He is also believed to be a Gentile believer, so probably had natural ties to those Roman leaders.  Maybe he was their doctor/ since Luke was a doctor (Colossians 4:14)?  He ministered with Paul, and was part of the inner circle of Apostles & disciples.  This meant he probably interviewed Mary.

Let's look how Mary is in Luke's genealogy through his using "son of" language for Joseph.  
  
In Luke 3, he repetitively uses the phrase “son of”.  It does not mean “fathered” like Matthew’s use of the term “begot”.  “Son of” has a much wider use, which includes son-in-law!

So Heli was not Joseph's father, but Mary's!  

Women were rarely if ever named in ancient genealogies.  Culture was patriarchal. Men had absolute power over wife and children.  Rome was ruling the Jews at the time, and as already mentioned, Luke wrote his account to a Roman leader name Theophilus, Luke 1:3.  
 
In his assigning Joseph as stand-in for Mary's name, Luke was conforming to patriarchal authority.  And this writing style would have been known to first readers of Luke.  They would have known that according to marriage, Joseph was a son of Heli, as his son-in-law!
  
Where is another example in scripture where a son-in-law is called a son?  
  
We can look at 1 Samuel 18:27-
David took his men with him and went out and killed two hundred Philistines and brought back their foreskins. They counted out the full number to the king so that David might become the king’s son-in-law. Then Saul gave him his daughter Michal in marriage.
  
 In that passage, David is referenced as a son-in-law to Saul.
  
 Now we read forward to 1 Samuel 24:16-
When David finished saying this, Saul asked, “Is that your voice, David my son?” And he wept aloud.
  
 In that passage, Saul calls David his son, when in fact we know he was his son-in-law. 

So do you see how both Matthew's genealogy and Luke's genealogy are accurate, even though different?

⁉️ What are 3 things you learned from above?  Can you repeat them to someone else?  Try it so that you retain what you've learned about the veracity of scripture.

⁉️ How does this background challenge your knowledge of the scriptures?  Do you realize you need to go deeper to carefully study the Word?  

​🙏. What doubts do you have about the Bible?  In 2026, what commitment will you make to inquire of God, and settle doubts you have about the Bible?  Confess to God any doubts you have.

🙏. Pray right now and ask God to show you how His Word is infallible, to overcome your arguments, to pull down strongholds, and all the high things (self-knowledge and opinion) that exalt themselves over the knowledge of Christ.
 
As a final help, notice how the genealogies of Matthew and Luke both trace back to King David, but to different sons of David.  The Bible is not contradictory!  It can be verified through the treasure of scripture, with the help of the Holy Spirit!  Do not read the Bible without the help of the Holy Spirit!