In the Bible’s New Testament, the first four books are Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, traditionally known as the four Gospels.

Gospel literally means ‘good news’. Christians hold that there is ultimately only one gospel —the gospel of Jesus Christ that the four Gospels present from four different perspectives.

Matthew presents Jesus as the long-awaited Messiah, or Christ. Jesus Christ is the long-awaited, long-expected and long-predicted King of the Jews who has finally come to take his throne.

The promises are now finally fulfilled in Christ. If Matthew traces Jesus’ royal and legal line, Luke traces Jesus’ human and natural line.

Luke is more interested in presenting Jesus as a true and full human being, who comes to save not just the Jews, but entire humanity. And that is why Luke traces the ancestry of Jesus not to Abraham, but to Adam, the first human being.

For Mark, Jesus is not just a perfect human being or royal ruler; he is the suffering servant who comes to us, not to be served but to serve, and to pour out his life in the service of the world. That is why Mark gives no genealogy of Jesus. No one, after all, is interested in the genealogies of servants.

John begins with the words, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1).

For John, Jesus is the eternal consciousness, will, purpose, expression and communication of God — God Himself — ultimately revealed to us in this one human being, Jesus. That is why John gives no genealogy of Jesus. God has no genealogy.