One of the most commonly used verses for the defense of the Roman Catholic virgin-birth belief is Luke 3:23. They make the claim that this verse refers to Joseph's genealogy through another line which is a totally incorrect self-interpretation -- a deliberate distortion -- or they are ignorant of what the scriptures say about the Messiah's father, Joseph. We need to first review who the Messiah really is -- not in relation to his ministry but in regard to his ancestry. Before we continue on with this subject, the following is the verse we are talking about from Luke 3:23:

"And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, which was the son of Heli."

This verse certainly makes it appear that Joseph was the son of Heli (or Eli) and that the Messiah was only the "supposed" son of Joseph. But if we take close notice, we see that in the Old Testament -- and the gospel of Matthew -- that the Chosen One of YEHOVAH God would come from the lineage of the Davidic kingship. Luke's genealogy is certainly NOT the succession line of kings from David, regardless of all the weak explanations put forward to try and justify the ideology of the virgin-birth belief. Matthew's lineage IS of the Davidic kingship -- but Luke's is not.

We will now return to that question of who the Messiah was descended from. When the wise men came seeking the person of the star they had seen, they went to Jerusalem and appeared before Herod seeking this person. We read the account in Matthew 2:1, 2:

"Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east and are come to worship him."

The wise men may not have known the exact location where to find the infant, however, they were not in doubt as to the role of this child in regards to his lineage: "Where is he that is born King of the Jews?" Not only did they know this child would be a king, but they referred to the title that would be given to him on the tablet which described the crime the Messiah would be crucified for by the Jewish authorities: "King of the Jews." Turning to Matthew 27:11, we read:

"And Jesus stood before the governor: and the governor asked him, saying, Art thou the King of the Jews? And Jesus said unto him, Thou sayest."

In the same chapter, the Roman soldiers mocked the Messiah as royalty in verses 28 and 29:

"And they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe. And when they had plaited a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head and a reed in his right hand: and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail King of the Jews!"

Further on, in verse 37, where the Edomite Jewish leaders crucified the Messiah, Pilate ordered a tablet set up over his head on which was written, in three languages, a description of his crime: "And set up over his head his accusation written, THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS." As the Messiah hung upon the tree suffering, he was continually mocked (verses 41, 42):

"Likewise also the chief priests mocking him, with the scribes and elders said he saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him."

Now turn back to chapter 21, verses 4, 5, and 9:

"All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet saying, Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold thy King cometh unto thee, meek and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass...And the multitudes that went before, and that followed cried saying, Hosanna to the son of David. Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the LORD. Hosanna in the highest." (See Zechariah 9:9; John 12:15; Mark 15:1 to 32; Luke 23:1 to 3, 37, 38; John 18:33, 37, 39 and 19:3, 12, 14, 15, 19).

What was the purpose of mentioning all these verses relating to the Messiah as being the "King of the Jews"? Because it is very important that we establish his ancestral line of kingship (and it is NOT done through the genealogy of Luke since it is not the succession line of the Davidic kingship). Regardless of all the unsound explanations made by those opposed to the truth of Joseph being the legitimate father of the Messiah, the fact remains that scriptures teach that the Chosen One of YEHOVAH God (the Messiah) would be of the seed of the line of David:

Acts 2:30: "Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne." 

Men make a liar of YEHOVAH God, because YEHOVAH did NOT say that the line would run through the ovum (egg) of a woman, but through the seed of man, and all these previous verses tell us that the seed would descend through the Davidic line. Though Mary may have been connected with David through his son Nathan, she was NOT connected through the succession of kings. Mary was a cousin to Elisabeth (Luke 1:36) who was from the lineage of the priesthood -- thus making Mary's father or mother a sister or brother to one of Elizabeth's parents. Now return to Luke 3:23 and the words which read, "...Joseph, which was the son of Heli." Joseph cannot be the son of both Jacob and Heli therefore -- since Luke's genealogy is not a continuous line of the king's line -- Joseph then is the son-in-law of Heli, because Luke's genealogy does not fill Joseph's lineage as does Matthew's. Read Luke 2:4:

"And Joseph also went up from Galilee; out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)"

Joseph was not only of the house of David, but he was also of the direct lineage of David. Therefore the Messiah, through Joseph was, by the seed of man, a direct descendant of David and, therefore, heir to the throne.

However, this was not through Luke's genealogy because, after David, Luke's version of the lineage detours in a different direction away from the kingly succession with David's son, Nathan. Mary's body would not carry the biological seed of the male organ, although we do not deny that she was blessed among women since she had the privilege of being the wife of a man who DID carry the biological seed down from David that would result in her giving birth to the Promised One of YEHOVAH God. To end this portion of the discussion, Joseph was the son of Jacob and the son-in-law to Heli. Mary was related to a priestly family through her family's kinship with Elisabeth's family.

Now read Matthew 1:16:

"And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ"

There is no doubt that Matthew, in his phrasing of "Jacob begat Joseph", leaves no question as to whose son Joseph was, and likewise there is NO DOUBT as to the expression of words in "Joseph, the husband of Mary." Where Luke's genealogy says of Joseph being "the son of Heli", Matthew uses a more stronger quote in "Jacob begat Joseph." Matthew adds in his genealogy showing who Joseph was -- and shows it by his affirmative writing.

Turn to Luke 2:33:

"And Joseph and his mother marveled at those things which were spoken of him."

Because of the phrasing of this verse, the skeptic may say "it does not say 'Joseph, his father.'" True, but there are plenty of other verses saying Joseph was the Messiah's father. His father and his mother marveled together of the things that were spoken of him. The following verse (Luke 4:22) should eliminate any doubt from the skeptic's mind as to whose son the Messiah was:

"And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said Is not this Joseph's son?"

When the Messiah came to his home city of Nazareth, he read to the congregation in the synagogue from Isaiah 61:1 and added "This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears." Yeshua had told the people that he was the Messiah, but they found it hard to believe. Did they not know Yeshua? Was he not the son of a common man named Joseph? There was no question among those who knew him in childhood that he was the son of Joseph. It was because of this knowledge that they wondered at his words, him being the son of a common man!

Matthew, in chapter 13, verses 54 to 56, writes,

"And when he was come into his own country, he taught them in their synagogue insomuch that they were astonished and said Whence hath this man this wisdom, and these mighty works? Is not this the carpenter's son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas? And his sisters, are they not all with us? Whence then hath this man all these things?"

Again, we have another question because of Joseph's common background: Being a mere carpenter and not a priest or a scribe, where did the Messiah gain all the wisdom that proceeded out his mouth? It appears that these Jews did not remember their scriptures very well. The spirit of the LORD would have to be upon one to speak as he did. The scriptures had said that he -- the Chosen One -- would not only be humble and meek, but so would the home environment around him be common. Joseph was a commoner, but blessed as was also his wife, Mary, for they had a large family of five sons as well as daughters. But let us not deter from the proof that his neighbors in Nazareth had NO doubt as to who the Messiah's father was -- and there was no question that he, Joseph, was the Messiah's legitimate father.

John 6:42: "And they said Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? how is it then that he saith, I came down from heaven?"  

The Messiah referred to himself as the bread which came down from heaven prior to the Jews making the previous comment. The bread of life spoken of in this chapter is the Word of YEHOVAH God -- the manna from heaven. The children of Israel were given manna from heaven to save them when they hungered, but they died because they continued not in YEHOVAH God's commandments -- even after YEHOVAH supplied the manna and quail. But our salvation is of that bread which is in the Messiah, Yeshua. He, Yeshua, became the bread (or Word) of life from heaven, his bodily shell receiving the spirit not partially but fully. The Jews did not understand what the Messiah was saying, but they did know where he physically came from. They knew his father and his mother, that is, they knew he was the son of a carpenter by the name of Joseph. In the last verse quoted, the Jews were saying they knew the Messiah's father and mother whom he had come from by the flesh.

In the following verse of John 1:45, Philip states, without any expression of doubt, that the Messiah was Joseph's biological son:

"Philip findeth Nathanael and saith unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph."

When Philip said "we have found him," he spoke of the promised Messiah, King and Prophet of YEHOVAH God -- who came from the city of Nazareth. He was of the seed of David through Joseph. From the book of Moses, in Deuteronomy 18:18,19, we read,

"I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him."

The last verse we will quote on Joseph's legitimacy as being the Messiah's father is from Matthew 1:20: