I have a question that I'm ashamed to ask, because I've had a relationship with the Lord for more than 40 years. Someone asked me this question & I didn't have an answer.

The bible calls Jesus the son of David & Abraham. (Matt 1:1 - Matt 1:16) How does that make Jesus part of the geneology if he was conceived by the Holy Spirit?

Thank you for considering my question, and please forgive my ignorance.

Pat- if I may say so, your question is anything but ignorant. If fact it is an extremely perceptive question for which apologists have no good answer. That's not to say they don't have ANY answers, just none that are very good.
The answer is that the when the later Gospels were written (Matthew and Luke)- the virgin birth story had become a standard part of the traditional stories told about Jesus. Only problem was that in order to be the prophesied Messiah, Jesus also had to be a descendant of King David. Uh Oh. Big trouble. Apologists do all kinds of fancy footwork in order to explain this glaring contradiction but their arguments fail to convice anyone
who is not already convinced.
Please don't take my word for it though. Check it out for yourself. Yours is a very good question.

Pat

In my study, I found that Jesus was legally adopted by Joseph. Which makes him a descendant of David. Also Mary was a descendant of David. The Gospel by Matthew records Jacob as the father of Joseph. In the Gospel of Luke you have to really research Luke 3:23 to understand the meaning of the genealogy being unfolded.
If Eli is Joseph’s father in the Gospel by Luke, then why does Matt. 1:15 say that Jacob is Joseph’s father? A hint to the answer is found in a Jewish document called the Hieros Chagiagah 77.4. It states that Mary’s father was Heli. Since genealogies were very important to the Jews, this fact should not be ignored. If this is true, this means that the Holy Spirit is giving us Mary’s genealogy in this passage and therefore we should read the passage as follows, . . . Jesus Himself was about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed the son of Joseph) the son of Eli . . .

I hope I have answered your question. The Bible is 100% accurate.

Pat, actually, your question is quite simple to answer. Jesus' Lineage comes through His earthly Mother Mary. The Jewish tradition goes by the Mother's Lineage...but both Mary and Joseph were of the House of David, and you can be "Adopted" into the Tribe of Judah, so either way, Our Saviour Jesus Christ, is of the House of David, who's throne is intact and will be occupied again by the Saviour upon His Second Coming. Hopefully Erik will find the Lord by then. Blessed Be.

Jesus is the decendent of Abraham And David thru the bloodline of Mary. He had no blood of Joseph because he was his Step- Father. If you follow the geneology of Mary in the Bible you will find this is true. It is not anything that apologists try to sidestep, the problem is just some people try look at too many things in the bible with their mind when what we need to do is pray and ask God to direct our studies and then He will reveal these things to us. Keep praying and study His word and God will bless you with more knowledge in His time.

Pat - obviously a person born of the Holy Spirit has no literal geneology as we understand genetics today. The field of genetics is a scientific field that did not exist 2,000 yrs ago. Joseph was a desendent of David and therefore Abraham as well. God intended Joseph to be Jesus's earthly father - hence the "geneology" of David. Isaiah stated that Messiah would be both a decendent of David and born of a virgin. The only way that could possibly happen is for the child to be the product of the Holy Spirit and have a father from the line of David. And as you know - that is exactly what happened.

And satan rears his ugly head once again. Pat, the Bible says that ALL scripture is inspired by God, from beginning to end, including 1 John 5:7(from a previous devotional). That means that God supernaturally enabled the authors to record exactly what He wanted recorded. There are some things in the Bible that we are not going to understand. It is ok to question and seek answers through Gods word, prayer and other believers. Erik is none of these; so I would disregard his answer other than the part that says don’t take his word for it.

If you seek answers because you truly love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul and mind and want to know more about Him, He will reveal to you things that you need to know. The rest is where faith comes in. We are saved by grace through faith. If there is no faith, there is no grace. This is what is unfortunate for Erik.

I like it that Erik continues to be a thorn in our side because it reminds us that satan knows the Bible very well and we must be diligent in our study of it to show ourselves approved. So don’t take my word for it either. Take God’s word for it. We should not blindly accept someone else’s word but we should faithfully accept God’s word.

God created everything out of nothing just by speaking it. He came to earth in the form of a man, via a virgin, died, rose from the dead and ascended back to heaven. I don’t think making sure the Bible was written correctly, and translated correctly, was much of an effort for Him.

There will always be Erik’s in the world, don’t let them sway you. Saul had this same attitude toward Jesus and God changed him. Perhaps as Erik continues to seek out Christians and persecute them and our Lord, God will shine His light upon him and let him see the truth. We can all pray for that. I am positive that someone was praying that for Saul and look how he turned out.

"Christmas, without the virgin birth, is just an empty shell" is so true. It is also much ado about nothing for the unbelievers in our culture. So many parties, so many feasts, so much decorating and gift giving without any mention of Jesus. Even most of the Christmas cards I receive make no mention of Jesus. Jesus definitely would not be who He is without the virgin birth. He is the gift extraordinaire from God that so many do not take the time to open. Have you found the gift God wrapped especially for you? For the first time or for the umpteenth time... seek and ye shall find...again as I have found...Merry Christmas wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.

Pat=I have been a Christian for over 35 years and I am sometimes asks questions I have not the answer for, but that is what is so great, it makes us seek and find the answers or makes us grow more in our faith. I would encourage you to stay strong,seek the answer through prayer, the Word, and fellow believers certainly not in Erik. He needs our prayers, and I to am praying that just like Saul, God will send a light to blind him enough to find the Lord. I am amazed at how much he knows and how little how he knows at the same time. Stay strong my brother and keep seeking answers to those questions, for that is the only way we grow. Merry CHRISTmas