Matthew 1 Overview

In this chapter, the Gospel of Matthew opens with the genealogy of Jesus Christ, tracing his lineage, and describes the circumstances of his birth through the perspective of Joseph.

• Genealogy of Jesus (vv. 1-17): The chapter presents a detailed family tree of Jesus, starting from Abraham through David to Joseph, highlighting key figures including several notable women and symbolically divided into three sets of fourteen generations, emphasizing Jesus as the Messiah in fulfillment of Old Testament promises.
• Announcement to Joseph (vv. 18-23): Joseph discovers Mary is pregnant before their marriage and plans to divorce her quietly, but an angel appears in a dream, explaining the child is conceived by the Holy Spirit, to be named Jesus as he will save his people from their sins, fulfilling the prophecy of a virgin bearing a son called Immanuel.
• Joseph’s Response and Jesus’ Birth (vv. 24-25): Joseph obeys the angel’s command, takes Mary as his wife but does not consummate the marriage before the birth, and names the son Jesus.