Why does the first book in the New Testament begin with a genealogy?
Several days ago, I finished reading through the Old Testament for 2020 and began my way through the New Testament. As I made the jump from 2 Chronicles (following the historic Jewish order of the OT) to Matthew, I was at first a little disappointed with the transition from Old to New. I was excited getting to Matthew. I had made my way through the Old Testament reading and being carried along by the amazing story told in those 39 books. The story of God making the universe and making people, calling Abraham to himself, establishing his people, working with them in their wandering and disobedience, God’s patience with that disobedient people, the arrival in the Promised Land, Israel’s rise and fall through judges and kings, how the prophets called people back to their God (the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob), the wisdom found in the great wisdom literature (Psalms, Job, Proverbs, etc.), the prophesied New Covenant, and the hope of the inclusion of the Gentiles.
And then there it was, the continuation of that hope with the Gospel of Matthew, and how does Matthew begin? With a genealogy.
Now, I knew that’s how Matthew began. I wasn’t surprised to find that Matthew 1 contained a genealogy. I had read it before, so it’s not as if I was hoping for something different just to find the genealogy again. However, there was something about this particular jump from the Old Testament to the New Testament where I wanted the New Testament to explode onto the scene. I wanted it to really sound and feel new. But, as he always does, Matthew begins with a genealogy.
As I was reading through the genealogy and dealing with my felt disappointment (and working through how I probably shouldn’t be feeling that way because this is the Bible after all) I was reminded that the way Matthew begins his gospel is one of the main reasons for why we can trust it. Matthew is determined to show how his gospel story about Jesus is intimately connected with the story that had begun in the Old Testament. This is what makes the so-called apocryphal gospels (the Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Mary, etc.) so different from the canonical gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. The apocryphal gospels aren’t at all concerned with any connection to the Old Testament story. They are really trying to start something “new.” However, this “new” thing they’re starting is not a fulfillment of what’s come before; instead, it’s an aberration—it does not belong mainly because they don’t want it to belong.
Back to Matthew.
So, how does Matthew show that his gospel is connected to the story that had begun in the Old Testament? With a genealogy. The genealogy is not there because Matthew thinks that all the people listed are so important that he must get their names in his gospel (even though they are important). They’re there because Matthew is retelling the story of the Old Testament through his list of people. I think Matthew’s hope was that as people read the genealogy they would be reminded of and refreshed on the story whose roots go all the way back to Genesis. And then as they read through those names, they would essentially have a quick run-through of what God had already been doing for thousands of years right up to and continuing through the story of Jesus. This was Matthew’s way of saying, “This good news about Jesus is the fulfillment of what God had promised long ago!”
And Matthew is not alone in this. When you have a moment, take a look at how Mark, Luke, and John each begin their gospels. Spoiler alert—they all begin by tying their story to the story already being told.
Matthew is telling the true story about Jesus coming into the world as the Christ—the Messiah—from Abraham. And he does that by beginning with a genealogy.