Some, realizing the New Testament claim that Jesus' body was of God (Hebrews 10:5), and that he was not of this world (John 8:23), claim that Jesus could not be the promised Messiah, since he did not have a biological link with David. Others claim that he was not born of a virgin, that he was born like everyone else, and thus, as the biological descendant of David, was the Messiah. If the latter were true, then there could actually have been no redemption from sin, for Jesus' flesh would have been under the condemnation of sin in Adam just everyone else. (Romans 5:12-19) As to his being born of a virgin, the New Testament, as well as the Old Testament, testify that Jesus had to be born of a virgin. -- Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:23; Luke 1:27,34,35.
We first wish to note that Jesus did have a paternal biological link to David, since he was "born of a woman", under the law. -- Galatians 4:4.
Nevertheless, Jesus' fleshly body was prepared, formed, by God through God's holy spirit. (Hebrews 10:5, Matthew 1:20) God's instrument for preparing that body was Mary's womb. The inheritance, however, is through the Father, not the one who gave birth to Jesus. The actual Father of Jesus is God Himself. (Mark 1:1; Luke 1:32,35; John 1:34) If this were not true, and if Jesus had the taint of the blood of sinful flesh, then he would have been born a sinner like all the rest of the world, and this would mean that he had nothing to give as a ransom for mankind.
Matthew 1:18 - Now the birth of Jesus Christ was like this; because when his mother, Mary, had been engaged to Joseph, before they came together, she was found pregnant by [Greek, ek, out of] the Holy Spirit.
Matthew 1:19 Joseph, her husband, being a righteous man, and not willing to make her a public example, intended to put her away secretly.
Matthew 1:20 But when he thought about these things, behold, an angel of [Yahweh] appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, don't be afraid to take to yourself Mary, your wife, for that which is conceived [begotten] in her is of the Holy Spirit.
Matthew 1:21 She shall bring forth a son. You shall call his name JESUS, for it is he who shall save his people from their sins."
Luke 1:35 - The angel answered her, "The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore also the holy one which is born from you will be called the Son of God.
Hebrews 10:5 - Therefore when he [Messiah] comes into the world, he says [to his God], "Sacrifice and offering you didn't desire, But a body did you prepare for me."
If Jesus had not come into this world in this special way, then he could not save his people from their sins, any more than one else could. The Psalmist declares of both the rich and the poor of mankind:
Psalm 49:7 None of them can by any means redeem his brother, Nor give God a ransom for him.
Psalm 49:8 For the redemption of their life is costly, No payment is ever enough,
Psalm 49:9 That he should live on forever, That he should not see corruption.
Why? Because "through the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners." (Romans 5:19, New American Standard) Thus, God "gave them [mankind] up to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not fitting." (Romans 1:28) So much so that Paul states: "Therefore you are without excuse, man, whoever you are who judge. For in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself. For you who judge practice the same things." (Romans 2:1) And then he says:
Romans 3:9: We previously charged both Jews and Greeks, that they are all under sin.
Romans 3:10 As it is written, "There is no one righteous. No, not one.
Romans 3:11 There is no one who understands. There is no one who seeks after God.
Romans 3:12 They have all turned aside. They have together become unprofitable. There is no one who does good, no, not, so much as one."
***
Romans 3:22 For there is no distinction,
Romans 3:23 for all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God.
Thus, by nature, due to Adam's sin (Romans 5:12-19), mankind had become sons of wrath, children of disobedience. -- Ephesians 2:2,3.
No one of this sinful flesh could provide a ransom for even one of his brothers, much less for all mankind. How could one of such stock be the means to make that which is crooked straight [justified - righteous]?
Ecclesiastes 7:13 - Consider the work of God, for who can make that straight, which he has made crooked?
Yes, it would have to be a miracle from God to accomplish the justification -- the making straight -- of anyone. And, at the same time, it would have to vindicate God as just in all his works. Thus, the Mighty Logos was made flesh by means of divine power. Jesus' body was not brought forth from Adamic stock, for if it had been, he would have been just as sinful as all the sinful flesh around him. It was God who prepared the body of flesh for Jesus to offer in sacrifice. (Hebrews 10:5,10) As such, Jesus' body was the same as Adam's body was before Adam sinned. In the sense of being flesh, his body was just like everyone else, except that Jesus was not made a sinner due to Adam's sin. Receiving a body with such a difference from sinful mankind, Jesus was seen in the flesh, a little lower than the angels, crowned with the glory of a perfect, sinless man. (Hebrews 2:9) Jesus, although he was in the form, not simply a servant of God, as many would assume it to mean, but of a bondservant, suffering as though a sinner, in the likeness of man of sinful flesh, he actually did not receive the sin of mankind from Adam, nor its penalty death, as you and I have. (Romans 5:12-19; 6:23; 8:3; Philippians 2:7) While he was suffering in the likeness of sinful flesh (Romans 8:3), his flesh was not sinful, and unlike Adam, Jesus never sinned. Thus, as long as he didn't sin, he had the purchase price to buy back what Adam lost. How happy we can be that Jesus is the Amen, the faithful and true witness, that he was indeed faithful to God who anointed and appointed him. -- Isaiah 61:1; Hebrews 3:2; Revelation 1:5.
Of course, Jesus did physically come out of the womb of Mary, a descendant of David, and thus was "out of the loins" of David, in the royal descent. As such, Mary was his birth mother. Thus, Jesus is spoken of in the scriptures -- that which has been revealed by the holy spirit -- as the seed or son of Abraham, Judah and David. (Matthew 1:1; 22:42; Hebrews 7:1; Matthew 2:6; Romans 1:3; Galatians 3:16; 2 Timothy 2:8; Revelation 5:5; 22:16) Usually, when we think of a person being the son or descendant of someone, we think of them as being the literal blood descendant of that person. But does this mean that in order to fulfill the scriptures, Jesus had to be a literal descendant of these three men by genes? By comparison of scriptures "spiritual with spiritual", we come to the conclusion: no he did not. As pointed out before, if he had been a literal genetic descendant of these, he would have the taint of sinful flesh, and could not have been either Israel's or man's redeemer. "None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him". (Psalms 49:7) If Jesus had literally genetic fleshly ancestors dying in Adam (1 Corinthians 15:21,22) he would fall in this same category, as a descendant of Adam, and thus he would have been under that same condemnation of death. (Romans 5:12-19) But he was not genetically descended from Adam. He was the Logos, the Son of God. His body of flesh was prepared by his God, from which we can understand that his body was not from the genes of either Joseph or Mary, and yet, biologically, he is a descendant of Mary, having been born from the womb of Mary.
The lineage and heritage is counted, as though it were (Luke 3:23; Romans 4:17), through Joseph, who was also a descendant of David (Matthew 1:1,6), as well as Adam. (Luke 3:38) Jesus could be referred to as the son of Joseph even as Moses was referred to as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. (Exodus 2:10; Acts 7:21; Hebrews 11:24) Moses, if he had so claimed such, could have become of royal descent in Egypt; but he did not seek such temporal "treasures of Egypt", but he looked for a more lasting reward. -- Hebrews 11:26.
To understand the matter of Jesus' birth as son of the man David, we need to get matters from Jehovah's standpoint, for he calls things that are not as though they were. (Romans 4:17) He can make one as descendant who is not literally so by gene, and make those who are literally so by gene as though they are not. Thus, Jesus said to the Jewish leaders:
"If you were Abraham's children, you would do the works of Abraham." (John 8:39) By literal descent, these leaders were indeed Abraham's children, but Jesus indicates that because of their works, they were not his children. In the same manner, John the Baptizer stated to the Pharisees and Sadducees:
"You offspring [seed, offspring] of vipers,... Don't think to yourselves, 'We have Abraham for our father,' for I tell you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones." (Matthew 3:7-9) Additionally, Paul says: "They are not all Israel, that are of Israel." (Romans 9:6) To the general mind, this might sound self-contradictory; but Paul is speaking of things from God's standpoint, for God calls things that are not, as though they were. -- Romans 4:17.
In God's sight, the members of the Church are all children, or seed, or Abraham, although all are not such by literal genetic descent from Abraham. "If you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed and heirs according to promise." (Galatians 3:29) It is quite immaterial whether one is literally genetically of Abraham or not. If one belongs to Christ, God grafts such a person into the covenant as a seed of Abraham no matter what the person's physical lineage by genes.
From the above scriptures, we can see that to be a son of Abraham in God's sight one does not have to be a literal descendant of Abraham. Nevertheless, Jesus himself is the primary seed of Abraham (and Isaac, Jacob and David) in a different way, as Joseph's foster son, just as an adopted baby takes the name and relations of his foster parents. Additionally, being born from the womb of Mary, he shares the descendancy through Mary's lineage. However, as the Son of God, who was to satisfy the justice of God, so that God could still be just and yet the justifier of the sinner (Romans 3:26), Jesus could not have Abraham, David or anyone else as a literal fleshly ancestor by physical genes, since this would have made him a sharer in the condemnation in Adam. -- Romans 5:12-19.
Some might ask: "how could Jesus be sinless and perfect if his human mother was dying in Adam of sinful flesh?" As pointed out above, Jesus is not descended literally genetically from anyone on earth, so that, by blood, Abraham, Judah and David are not his genetic blood relations. But 50% of the genes in a normal birth come from the mother. In view of this would not Jesus indeed be a blood relation of these patriarchs through Mary?
Many Bible Students do believe that Jesus received the genes of Mary (but not the genes of Joseph). According to their reasoning, it is through the Father lineage that the condemnation is carried, and the genes from the mother do not supply that condemnation. While we do not exclude that in the realm of possibilities, this could be so, but we believe it is highly unlikely. It would imply that God, through his spirit in some way impregnated Mary's ovum. The begettal of Jesus in the womb of Mary could have been by producing a totally new zygote in the womb of Mary, similar to the way an embryo can be implanted in the womb of a woman, or it could have been done by impregnating an ovum in the womb of Mary. If this latter were so, then, it would have to be reckoned that the genes from Mary's ovum did not count as bringing Adam's condemnation upon the conception. Nevertheless, we go back to the point that it was God who prepared the body of Jesus, that it could be offering. (Hebrews 10:10) We conclude that it is more likely that none of Jesus' genes were actually of either human parent -- since his flesh was not condemned in Adam, thus that which was begotten of the holy spirit in the womb of Mary was wholly from God, and not just an impregnation of Mary's ovum.
Some claim that the blood of the mother mingles with a baby's blood during gestation. Generally, this is not true; while the mother's blood supplies the nourishment to the embryo, and the mother's blood receives elements of waste from the embryo, through a separation called the placenta; the actual blood itself is usually kept separate. We can safely assume, however, that the entire preparation of Jesus' body by God included the gestation period before his birth. Both Joseph and Mary were made the lineage parents of Jesus by God, by God's appointment.
If we are correct, then Mary was certainly his mother in the sense that she bore him, but not in the fullest sense, not by true genetic blood relation. Today, we find examples of women who bear a son that are not of any blood relation at all to the woman who carries that baby. In some cases, the sperm from the father and an egg from the mother are combined in a test tube, and after two or three days when the tiny life has started to grow the embryo is implanted in the mother's womb. If things go well, in due time a baby results. In such cases, the genetical father and mother are the true genetical parents, but it would still be also true that the mother who gave birth to the baby would also be biologically the mother although not connected genetically. Additionally, an embryo may be implanted in a woman unrelated by genes, in which case the baby born to the woman may not be genetically related either to herself or her husband. If the woman who bore the child had hereditary weaknesses or defective genes, it would not matter in the least, since none of her hereditary patterns would be passed onto the child. All she provides are the nutrients from her bloodstream to nurture the tiny babe in her womb for nine months, and the function of child-birth. Thus the child could be said to be from her womb, her loins, but none of her genes are passed to the child.
This modern procedure can help one to understand how Jesus could be born of a woman, counted as a member of a human lineage, and yet still be sinless and perfect. In this case, the child born to Mary had but one true parent, his Heavenly Father, who was the actual provider of his body of flesh. (Hebrews 10:5) Since his body was prepared by God himself, even as was Adam's body (Genesis 2:7; See Romans 5:14), Jesus possessed no imperfections, blemishes, or sickness, just as Adam's body. We need to look at all that the holy spirit has revealed on this. The scriptures reveal that it was God who prepared Jesus' body (Hebrews 10:5), and we believe that this is important. Thus we conclude that God probably conceived, begot. brought forth into being, a zygote in Mary's womb, a tiny complete life in itself, that did not involve an egg from Mary, nor any of the genes from Mary. Thus the child inherited none of Mary's weaknesses or blemishes by means of genes, and yet is from the womb, the loins, of Mary, and thus by heritage, of the loins of David.
Bear in mind that we do not believe that God was producing the first beginning of life for the Logos at the point of the conception in Mary's womb, since the scripture does present Jesus as the firstborn creature. (Colossians 1:15) Thus, we believe that God made the pre-human Logos into flesh, a little lower than the angels. (John 1:14; Hebrews 2:9; 10:5) Jesus was with his God and Father before coming to the earth. (John 1:1,2; 17:1,3,5) Jesus said he was to return to where he was before. (John 6:62) Jesus, having learned from this God and Father before descending, is the only one who has descended from heaven and therefore the only one who can tell of heavenly things. -- John 12:12,13,31,32.
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*See the studies:
With What Body Will We Be Raised?
The Manner of the Resurrection
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*See the studies:
With What Body Will We Be Raised?
The Manner of the Resurrection
We believe that he who was rich in heavenly glory, left that heavenly glory to become poor on our behalf, a perfect, sinless example of humanity, with the crown of human glory intact. (2 Corinthians 8:9; John 17:5; Hebrews 2:9; Psalm 8:5) Thus the pre-human life properties of the LOGOS were condensed into a tiny embryo, resulting in a human life -- a living human soul -- totally free from any sinful traits. In this, he left, emptied himself of, the glory that he had before he came to earth. -- Philippians 2:7.
Of course, it is not a matter we can prove directly from any one scripture, or any clear statement in the Bible to the effect that Jesus did not have any of the genes from either Mary or Joseph. It is a case we can reason out, however, by comparing spiritual revealing with spiritual revealing (1 Corinthians 2:10,13), and through such a comparison, we can come to the above conclusion. Of course, we should still not rule out that we could be wrong in our conclusion. Regardless of our conclusion, we should have a desire to accept whatever manner that God used, whether our conclusion on the matter is correct or not. Nevertheless, we can see from the scriptures that it was God who prepared Jesus' body, for the special purpose of sacrifice, and combined with the entire testimony of Paul, Peter and the rest of the spiritual revealing in the scriptures, we arrive at the above conclusion.
Addendum
One, in an effort to prove that Jesus' birth was just as all others, has claimed that it was the seed of the woman AFTER the fall who was going to bruise the serpent's head. Evidently, the thought is that Jesus is the seed of the woman, Eve, and thus this proves that Jesus' birth was not of a virgin, but that Jesus was indeed the actual son of Joseph and Mary, and that he became the son of God by means of obeying the law.
I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will bruise your head, and you will bruise his heel." -- Genesis 3:15.
If Jesus was by nature, a child of wrath, a son of disobedience (Ephesians 2:2,3), having been made a sinner in Adam (Romans 5:19), being made crooked that cannot be made straight (Ecclesiastes 1:14,15), under the bondage of corruption that is in this crooked world (Acts 2:40; 2 Peter 1:4), then Jesus could not justify (make straight, not crooked) himself (no man is justified by the law -- Galatians 3:11), and certainly Jesus, if he had been under such bondage, would have had nothing to offer in sacrifice by which to buy back what Adam lost.
I don't believe that we should think that God was speaking of a literal woman in Genesis 3:15. As regarding a "seed" of that woman, God was certainly not speaking of the crooked generation (Acts 2:40; Philippians 2:15) that has come through Eve, which actually corresponds to the seed of the serpent in Genesis 3:15. That crooked generation cannot be made straight. (Ecclesiastes 1:14,15) God was foretelling a birth of a new creation -- a seed that is not of the seed of the serpent -- that would put an end to the serpent (representing Satan the Devil -- Revelation 12:9). The serpent's "promise" to Eve produced a corrupt seed -- a crooked and perverse generation; God's "promise" is that a new, incorrupt, seed would be given. The symbol of "woman" is used to represent a promise, a covenant. The covenant, the promise, of the seed is first given in Genesis 3:15. The seed of the woman is the seed of the promise given, which promise was later made to Abraham. -- Romans 9:8; Galatians 3:26,17,19; 4:23,24.
On the other hand, there is lineage of the seed that is traced back to Adam. (Luke 3:23-28) Does this mean that all of this lineage had to be without sin? No, but it does trace a lineage that produced some who had faith in the promise of the seed. Adam is not directly stated to have had faith in that seed, but we do find that it is recorded of Eve that she possibily had some kind of faith in the promise as can be seen by her words:
It was not, however, until Abraham that the promise and the lineage of that seed was actually made apparent, and it was Abraham's faith that led to the choosing of that lineage. Abraham was just as condemned as all around him, but due to his faith, God counted him as being righteous. *** More to be added later, God willing.
God hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel; for Cain slew him. -- Genesis 4:25, American Standard Version.
Ronald R. Day, Sr.
1 Timothy 2:5,6 – Did Jesus Have to Be Both God and Man?
Jesus Died a Human Being - Raised a Spirit Being
The Man Jesus - Still A Man?
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