Luke 3:34-38

From Abraham to Adam. Peculiar to Lk., taken from Genesis 11:12-26; Genesis 5:7-32, as given in the Sept [41], whence Canaan in Luke 3:36 (instead of חלַשָׁ in Genesis 11:12, in Heb.). It is probable that this part of the genealogy has been added by Lk., and that his interest in it is twofold: (1) universalistic : revealed by running back the genealogy of Jesus to Adam, the father of the human race; (2) the desire to give emphasis to the Divine origin of Jesus, revealed by the final link in the chain: Adam (son) of God. Adam's sonship is conceived of as something unique, inasmuch as, like Jesus, he owed his being, not to a human parent, but to the immediate causality of God. By this extension of the genealogy beyond Abraham, and even beyond Adam up to God, the evangelist has deprived it of all vital significance for the original purpose of such tables: to vindicate the Messianic claims of Jesus by showing Him to be the son of David. The Davidic sonship, it is true, remains, but it cannot be vital to the Messiahship of One who is, in the sense of the Gospel, Son of God. It becomes like the moon when the sun is shining. Lk. was probably aware of this.

[41] Septuagint.

This genealogy contains none of those features (references to women, etc. which lend ethical interest to Mt.'s.