The genealogical records of his birth (Matthew 1:1-16; Luke 3:23-38) both showed that Jesus was Israel’s Messiah, but looked at his unique position from two different perspectives. First, Matthew established that Jesus was the legal heir to David’s throne and therefore, he had the right to identify himself as the king of the Jews. Luke traced Jesus’ ancestry all the way back to the original man, Adam. In his account, Luke did not specifically stated that Jesus was the son of Joseph, but said he was “being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph” (Luke 3:23). Luke’s comment was intended to show that Jesus could inherit his father’s estate, even though he was not his biological relative. His position as the first born son of Joseph’s family entitled Jesus to certain rights and privileges. What Luke was most likely getting at by linking Jesus to Adam, the first man whom God created, was that Jesus inherited not only the blessing that God bestowed on Adam as his “son” (Luke 3:38), but also the sin nature or curse that was passed on from generation to generation after Adam sinned in the garden of Eden. The importance of Jesus’ humanity and identification with the sin nature of man was stressed by Luke in his gospel because he wanted to make it clear that Jesus was a member of the fallen human race.

Jesus held a dual position from God’s perspective, he was both a member of the human race and a member of the three-person trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. As the Son of God, Jesus also had certain rights and privileges. God said after Jesus was baptized, “Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased” (Luke3:22). This statement clearly identified Jesus as God’s biological offspring. Mary was told before Jesus was conceived that he would be “called the Son of God” (Luke 1:35). The implication being that Jesus would not be called or recognized as the biological offspring of Joseph. As his human offspring, Jesus was well pleasing to God because he was the result of God’s long and arduous attempt to save mankind. Thousands of years had transpired since Adam’s sin in the garden of Eden, but Jesus’ birth essentially brought to a conclusion God’s plan of salvation and marked the beginning of a new era; one in which God’s relationship to man would be restored and his spiritual offspring would finally come into existence. At the onset of his ministry, Jesus acknowledged that he was destined for a single mission, to establish the kingdom of God on earth (Mark 1:15). In order to do that, Jesus had to overcome the constraints of his humanity and enter into the realm of the spirit where man and God become one.