At church yesterday, the sermon was on Matthew 1 and focused on the calling and role of Joseph. Overall, I appreciated the sermon. Joseph is often a quiet figure in the Christmas story, and the sermon did a good job bringing out his righteousness, obedience, and the real cost he bore in trusting God.
Joseph’s Role in God’s Plan
The preacher walked through Joseph’s predicament. Joseph discovers that Mary is pregnant during their betrothal, before they have come together. From his point of view, the situation looks morally and legally disastrous. The preacher mentioned how serious betrothal was in first-century Judaism. It was legally binding, requiring divorce to break, and potentially carrying severe consequences for Mary.
The preacher highlighted Joseph’s character. Matthew describes him as a “just” or “righteous” man (Matt. 1:19). He does not want to proceed with the marriage under false assumptions, but neither does he want to expose Mary to public shame or danger. His decision to divorce her quietly was borne about from serious moral consideration and compassion.
When the angel appears in the dream and addresses him as “Joseph, son of David,” the preacher highlighted that this is one of the rare moments where someone other than Jesus is explicitly called “son of David” in the New Testament. The preacher says that this underscores Joseph’s place in God’s plan - Joseph, ‘a son of David’ entrusted with raising Jesus, ‘the Son of David’.
The preacher emphasizes Joseph’s obedience after the dream. He took Mary as his wife, refrained from marital relations until Jesus’ birth, and later protected and provided for the child. Joseph does not speak in the Gospels, but his actions speak loudly.
Point for Pause - Jesus cannot be from the ‘seed of Adam’?
The preacher stated that the Messiah had to be born of a woman to be truly human, but could not be from the seed of Adam, otherwise He would inherit Adam’s sinful nature. This, it was said, is why the virgin birth was necessary.
I found myself wondering whether this way of speaking about the Jesus as not being from “seed of Adam” is actually accurate according to the Bible. I asked another pastor about this later, and he said there was nothing wrong with saying this because ‘seed of Adam’ here refers to conception by natural means. According to that pastor, Jesus could not be conceived from natural means because he would then inherit sinful nature.
“Seed” as referring to lineage rather than method of conception
In ordinary language and in my view - “seed” usually refers to lineage or descent, not the biological mechanism of conception. When Paul speaks of Christ as the seed of Abraham (Gal. 3:16) or when the New Testament speaks of Jesus as the seed of David (Rom. 1:3), the point is about ancestry and fulfillment of promise, not about whether conception occurred in an ordinary or extraordinary way.
That is why Luke’s genealogy caught my attention. Luke traces Jesus’ lineage all the way back to Adam, ending with “the son of Adam, the son of God” (Luke 3:38). What is striking is that Luke does this after already affirming the virgin birth earlier in his Gospel (Luke 1:35). Luke does not seem to think that Jesus’ miraculous conception prevents Him from truly belonging to Adam’s human family.
This makes me wonder whether it is quite right to say that Jesus cannot be from the seed of Adam. Luke appears to go out of his way to say that Jesus is descended from Adam - while still being conceived by the Holy Spirit.
A Related Question - Only male line transmits sinful nature?
Another question naturally followed for me. If inheriting sinful nature depends on “seed” being understood as natural conception through a man, does that mean sin is transmitted only through the male line? Does Joseph’s line transmit sinful nature, but Mary’s line does not?
Scripture usually speaks more broadly than that. Paul says that sin came into the world through one man, Adam, and spread to all humanity (Rom. 5:12). Acts 17:26 says that God made all nations from one man. The Bible seems to place humanity’s shared fallenness in Adam, not in a particular biological pathway.
Holding the Mystery Together
The preacher rightly emphasized the mystery of the incarnation: Jesus is fully God and fully man, conceived by the Holy Spirit, and perfectly sinless. I affirm all of that without hesitation.
My question is simply whether Scripture itself requires us to say that Jesus is not from Adam’s line - or whether it teaches something more subtle and profound: that the Son of God truly descend from Adam’s line, yet without Adam’s sinful nature.
I’m grateful for sermons that make me think more deeply about Scripture. This reflection is offered in that same spirit.
