DID YOU KNOW?
The answer
Luke 3 traces the line beyond Abraham, through Noah, to "Adam, son of God" — some seventy generations. Matthew starts his list at Abraham, the father of Israel; Luke — who elsewhere follows the story out to the nations — runs the tree to the first human.
Why it’s interesting
The two genealogies even point in different directions on the page: Matthew's descends toward Jesus, Luke's ascends away from him. Where a family tree begins and ends is part of what it says.
Scholarly consensus
You can know the Bible.
Not just the stories, but the history, authorship, and scholarship behind it.