A correspondent from Kentucky writes thus: "For information I desire to ask you a question. In Matt. 16:13 the Savior said he was the Son of man. In the 16th verse Peter said He was the Son or God. In Rom. 1:3, 4 is declared the same thing. In Acts 2:30 God swore with an oath to David that of the fruit of his loins God would raise up Christ to sit on His throne. Now this scripture is true. If Jesus is not the descendant of David. He is not the promised Messiah. Now to the point: can you trace the lineage of Jesus to the loins of David, except only through Joseph, the husband of Mary? Now this is a plain question, but it takes a Christian with some fortitude to answer in the light of God's word."

      Has my correspondent missed the mark so far as to conclude that Jesus was the natural son of Joseph? It would be too bad if his search for truth had, landed him in a blind alley of error and his sincerity and fortitude were wasted in an effort to maintain so extreme a mistake. To answer briefly.

      (1) The word of God declares positively that Jesus was not Joseph's natural son. Matt. 1:18-25; Luke 1:26-35.

      (2) The word of God with equal clearness says that Jesus was David's descendant after the flesh. Both these declarations are absolutely true. Nor are they too difficult to reconcile. It simply follows that Jesus' mother was of the Davidic stock. Had she not been, seeing Jesus had no earthly father he could not have been "of the seed of David according to the flesh," and, as my correspondent correctly remarks, could not have been the promised Messiah.

R. H. B. [85]      

["How Then Is He David's Son??" Word and Work 9 (February 1916): 85.]

      The electronic version of R. H. Boll's "How Then Is He David's Son??" has been produced from microfilm of Word and Work for 1916.

      Inconsistencies in spelling, capitalization, punctuation, and typography have been retained

      Addenda and corrigenda are earnestly solicited.

Ernie Stefanik
Derry, PA

Created 4 February 2002.
Updated 22 June 2003.