Matthew 1:1 Commentary and Bible Study

The Gospel of Matthew opens with a phrase reminiscent of the words used repeatedly in Genesis to divide the book into its various sections, such as in Genesis 5:1: ‘This is the book of the generations of Adam’. These sections do not just include genealogies, but record the history of various lives. So, here, this phrase may be taken as the title, not just of the genealogy at the start, but of the whole of the Gospel of Matthew. Matthew, who knew the Old Testament so well and quoted from it so extensively, was certainly aware of this parallel. Here then is the most important book of generation in the whole of Scripture, because here is the most important person in all of history, the one for whose sake the world exists, and who redeems all things so that God’s purpose are fulfilled and man is not created in vain. This is the generation of Jesus Christ, Jesus the Saviour of the world, and the Christ, the Messiah, the anointed one, who is anointed by God to be Prophet, Priest, and King. He was sent into the world to fulfil the terms of the covenant of grace and to redeem a people from sin and death and hell, and to bring them body and soul into heaven for all eternity. He is anointed with the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, and he is given the Spirit without measure (John 3:34). Jesus Christ performed his miracles by the power of the Father (5:20); he performed them by the power of the Spirit (Matthew 12:28); and he performed them by his own power (John 10:18).The Lord Jesus Christ came into the world according to prophecy, and prophecy had said that he would be both the son of David, and going back further, the son of Abraham. These prophecies are both deeply significant indications of his work, and not simply means of identification. Matthew is concerned to demonstrate to Jewish readers the fulfilment of Old Testament prophecy. Who was David? He was the king of Israel, the one who was a man after God’s own heart (1 Sam 13:14), and the subject of prophecy. He was spoken of in prophecy in terms which ascribe to him blessings which could not belong to any mere mortal. He notes this himself, and he says, ‘Who am I, O Lord GOD? and what is my house, that thou hast brought me hitherto? And this was yet a small thing in thy sight, O Lord GOD; but thou hast spoken also of thy servant’s house for a great while to come. And is this the manner of man, O Lord GOD?’ (2 Samuel 7:18-19). The promises that he had been given could only be accomplished in one who was far greater than he was, one whom he only represented as a type. On the Day of Pentecost Peter in his first sermon reasons in a similar way, and shows that David spoke in language that went far beyond himself. He said, ‘thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption’, and Peter points out that David was speaking as a prophet, because he could not have been speaking of himself, since his grave was present in Jerusalem for all to see. David was not just an individual who appeared somewhere in the ancestry of Christ, but he was the subject of prophecy that could only be fulfilled if the Messiah came from his descendants.Abraham also was profoundly linked to the Messiah. God referred to Abraham as his friend, and called him out of Ur giving him wonderful and precious promises, and not to him only but also to his descendants, both physical and spiritual. All these promises are sure and certain because of the Lord Jesus Christ. Only because of the incarnation of the Son of God and the work which he did as the Mediator of the new covenant, could these things come to pass. He is the seed that was promised to Abraham: ‘In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed’ (Genesis 22:18). He is the one who ratifies the covenant made with Abraham, which is based on his atoning work. Therefore Scripture records the fulfilment of God’s promises the fact that the Christ was descended from Abraham.