Luke 3:21-38

The Holy Spirit Comes on Jesus As The One Who Is The Son of David, The Son of Adam, and the Son of God (3:21-38).

With this incident Luke turns his concentration to Jesus and His ministry. While what now happens does so through John's ministry John is not mentioned, nor is Jesus' actual baptism. We have another typical Lucan silence. John's ministry is now to be put behind us, and we move on to the Greater than he. In this passage we see the Holy Spirit descending on Jesus with words that reveal Him to be both God's beloved Son and His beloved Servant, and this is followed by a genealogy which connects Him not only with David, but with Abraham, with Adam and with God. He is the Son of David, He is the fulfilment of the promises to Abraham, He is the last Adam, He is the Son of God.

This is one of two occasions in Luke when God attests Him from heaven, the other is the Transfiguration (Luke 9:35) where the voice says, ‘this is My Son, My Chosen, listen to Him'. These occur at crucial points in His life, here at the commencement of His ministry, the Transfiguration at the time when the course of His ministry changes and He sets His face towards Jerusalem knowing that He will die there. We can compare the appearance of Jesus to Paul in Acts. John tells us of another example of a voice from heaven in John 12:28 when Jesus was facing the anguish of what lay ahead.

Many gain the impression that Jesus was baptised privately by John but we view this as unlikely, especially as a baptism in the Jordan by a famous prophet probably meant that privacy was impossible. Part of the significance of John's baptism was an open testimony to participation in the coming pouring out of the Spirit, and if by His baptism Jesus was expressing His oneness with God's believing people it required public recognition. What is more possible is that only He and John saw the likeness to the dove and heard the voice (Matthew 3:16; John 1:32), or at least appreciated its full significance.

It would be difficult to overemphasise the importance of this moment. It is the moment when the work of salvation for the world first began to unfold as the Holy Spirit descended on the One Who would be responsible for bringing that salvation into fruition, sending Him out on His way to reveal God openly to men, and finally to die on a cross and rise again to His glorious throne.

The passage can be analysed briefly as follows, selecting out the important points which are not obvious from the text itself:

a Jesus is the King and Servant Who is anointed by the Holy Spirit for His ministry (Luke 3:21).

b The genealogy of Jesus from Joseph to David. Jesus is the Son of David, God's chosen King (Luke 3:23 b).

b The genealogy of Jesus from Jesse to Abraham. Jesus is the son of Abraham, God's chosen Servant (Luke 3:32 b).

b The genealogy of Jesus from Terah to Adam. Jesus is the Son of Adam with whom God was not well pleased (34c-38b).

a Jesus is the Son of God (Luke 3:38 b).

In this case it is recognised that the central divisions may appear somewhat arbitrarily determined. We will seek to justify them shortly. Theologically, and in the light of the voice at His baptism, they would appear to be justified. Our purpose in presenting the analysis here is simply in order to help to bring out in seed form what the significance of the genealogy might be.