<p>1:1&nbsp;<em>The book of the generation</em>- &ldquo;Book&rdquo;, Gk.&nbsp;<em>biblos</em>, suggests a formal volume. It could be that Matthew refers only to the genealogy- but in this case,&nbsp;<em>biblos</em>&nbsp;hardly seems the appropriate word. The Gospels were transcripts of the Gospel message preached by e.g. Matthew, and as time went on and the Lord didn&rsquo;t return, under inspiration they wrote down their standard accounts of the good news. The Greek&nbsp;<em>genesis</em>&nbsp;translated &ldquo;generation&rdquo; is also translated &ldquo;nature&rdquo; in its&rsquo; other two occurrences (James 1:23; 3:6). If the &ldquo;book&rdquo; refers to the book of the Gospel of Matthew, the idea could be that this is a Gospel which focuses upon the nature of Jesus. Related words occur often in the genealogies- people &ldquo;begat&rdquo; [Gk.&nbsp;<em>gennao</em>] their descendants, until Jesus was&nbsp;<em>gennao</em>&nbsp;of Mary (Mt. 1:16). Jesus as a person had a &lsquo;genesis&rsquo;, He was &lsquo;generated&rsquo; by Mary as His ancestors had been &lsquo;generated&rsquo; by the &lsquo;generations&rsquo; of their ancestors- the whole chapter is a huge blow to the idea that Jesus pre-existed as a person before His birth. His &lsquo;generation&rsquo; is presented as being of the same nature as the &lsquo;generation&rsquo; of His human ancestors.</p>
<p><em>The son of David, the son of Abraham</em>- The Roman emperors and Greek heroes sometimes traced their pedigree back to a god- and therefore the genealogy of Jesus, whom the Gospels present as the ultimate Emperor, is quite radical in this regard. For it traces the pedigree of Jesus back to a man, Abraham. The greatness of Jesus was in his humanity.</p>