Luke 3 - Jesus's Baptism and Genealogy

Jesus's Baptism and Genealogy

See also: Baptism of Jesus and Nativity of Jesus

Luke then tells us then Jesus was one of the many that John baptized. The Holy Spirit appears to him as a dove and tells him "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased." which happens in all the gospels.

Luke says that "...Jesus himself was about thirty years old when he began his ministry." (23). Luke does not state how many years John baptised for but this is when most date the start of Jesus's ministry, 29 or 30. He had to be more than thirty years old, as he most probably was born in 4 BC.

Luke then gives us, like Matthew 1, a genealogy of Jesus, starting with his legal father Joseph and lists 73 people between Joseph and Adam who Luke says is "...the Son of God" (38) thus having 75 people between God and Jesus. It is longer and different from Matthew's list. It lists Joseph's father and thus Jesus's grandfather as Heli where Matthew says his name was Jacob. They then say that Jesus's great grandfather was named Matthat or Matthan, who could be the same person or, as first suggested by Julius Africanus, brothers. The lists then diverge from there, coming together again at David.