Matthew · chapter 1 of 28
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Matthew 1 opens the New Testament with the genealogy of Jesus Christ, descended from Abraham and David, and with the story of his birth. Mary, engaged to Joseph, is expecting a child through the Holy Spirit; an angel tells Joseph in a dream that the child will be named Jesus because he will save his people from their sins, and Joseph takes Mary as his wife.
Matthew writes his Gospel especially for readers who knew the Scriptures of Israel, which is why he begins with a genealogy that connects the Old Testament story to Jesus. This chapter introduces the promised Messiah, son of David and son of Abraham, and explains who he is and why his coming is good news for Israel and for the nations.
The chapter begins with the book of the origin of Jesus Christ, son of David, son of Abraham. The genealogy runs through the patriarchs, the kings of Judah and David's descendants after the exile in Babylon until it reaches Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called the Christ. Matthew arranges it in three groups of fourteen generations: Abraham to David, David to the exile, and the exile to Christ. Four women appear among the names, Tamar, Rahab, Ruth and the wife of Uriah, a reminder that God also works through foreigners and complicated stories.
Then Matthew tells the birth of Jesus. Mary was engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. Joseph, a righteous man who did not want to expose her to public shame, planned to divorce her quietly. While he considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, called him son of David and told him not to be afraid to take Mary as his wife, because what was conceived in her was from the Holy Spirit.
The angel told him the child would be named Jesus, because he would save his people from their sins. Matthew explains that all this fulfills what the prophet Isaiah said: the virgin will conceive and bear a son who will be called Immanuel, which means God with us. Joseph woke up, did as the angel commanded, took Mary as his wife and, when she gave birth to her son, named him Jesus.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
Matthew introduces Jesus as the Christ, son of David and son of Abraham. With those two labels he recalls the promise of an eternal king and the promise of blessing for all the families of the earth, and he announces that both are fulfilled in one person.
The angel says Mary's son will be named Jesus, a name meaning the Lord saves, because he will save his people from their sins. From the first page of the New Testament, the mission of Jesus is rescue from sin, not merely a better life.
Matthew quotes Isaiah to say the child will be called Immanuel, which means God with us. He is affirming that in Jesus God himself has come to live among his people, a promise that returns at the very end of the Gospel.
On waking, Joseph does exactly what the angel commanded: he takes Mary into his home and names the child Jesus. His quiet obedience shows a faith that trusts God even when it does not understand everything.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: The son of David and the son of Abraham. — Matthew 1:1
Answer: Three groups of fourteen generations: Abraham to David, David to the exile in Babylon, and the exile to Christ. — Matthew 1:17
Answer: She was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. — Matthew 1:18
Answer: Matthew calls him a righteous man; unwilling to put Mary to shame, he planned to divorce her quietly. — Matthew 1:19
Answer: Because he will save his people from their sins. — Matthew 1:21
Answer: God with us. — Matthew 1:23
The genealogy can look like a dull list, but it teaches that God keeps his promises across generations and is not ashamed of broken stories. Jesus' ancestors include foreigners, serious sins and mediocre kings. In a small group or Sunday school class, this passage helps people who feel disqualified by their past or their family: God keeps writing his story with real people.
Joseph also challenges us. Facing a situation he could not understand, he chose justice joined with mercy and then obedience. Ask where you need to trust God's word even though the road looks confusing, and what concrete step of obedience is yours to take this week.
Matthew 1 presents Jesus as the promised Messiah, the Savior of his people and God with us, born into David's family. In chapter 2 we see how the world reacts to that birth: wise men from the east seek him in order to worship, and King Herod seeks him in order to destroy him.
Mentioning women in a genealogy was uncommon. Matthew includes Tamar, Rahab, Ruth and the wife of Uriah, several of them foreigners or women with difficult stories. Many scholars see a message of grace: the Messiah comes through a line that includes sinners and people from outside Israel, and he came to save both.
Matthew follows the royal line from Abraham to Joseph, while Luke goes back as far as Adam. There are several explanations: that one follows Joseph's legal line and the other Mary's, or that they differ in how they count marriages and inheritances. The text does not settle the question, but both affirm that Jesus descends from David.
It means that Jesus' birth had no human father but was the work of God himself in Mary. Matthew presents it as the fulfillment of the prophecy in Isaiah 7:14. Christians have long understood this to affirm that Jesus is truly God and truly human.