To All Who Believe

A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham…Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab…and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ. (Matthew 1:1, 5, 16, NIV 1984).

My Musings – “Then Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two spies from Shittim. ‘Go, look over the land,’ he said, ‘especially Jericho.’ So, they went and entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there…Joshua commanded the people, Shout! For the Lord has given you the city! The city and all that is in it are to be devoted to the Lord. Only Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house shall be spared, because she hid the spies we sent.'” (Joshua 2:1, 6:16–17, NIV 1984).

If you wanted to make Jesus into something He was not (“who is called the Christ“), you would want a clean background check and publicist without a questionable reputation. Jesus’ lineage, His background, includes a prostitute (Rahab). His biographer, His publicist, was a hated tax collector. If your goal was to “make friends and influence enemies,” these opening verses would be a non-starter. These should be sufficient to conclude that the biography is not a fabrication. In a myth or legend, the author would likely be anonymous, and the tawdry details would be redacted.

My Advice – Under the Law, “the righteousness of the righteous man will be credited to him, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against him.” (Ezekiel 18:19–20, NIV 1984). The problem is that “no one will be declared righteous in [God’s] sight by observing the law.” (Romans 3:20, NIV 1984). That’s why the one “who is called Christ” had to come. So, that His righteousness could be credited to the wicked, under grace.

“But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.” (Romans 3:21–25, NIV 1984). No one who applies for this credit will ever be denied, even though they will fail the background check.