Who Was Jesus’ Biological Father?
Examining the nativity stories in Matthew and Luke
Was Joseph Jesus’ biological father or adoptive father? Joseph is a major figure in the nativity stories in Matthew and Luke. Along with Mary, he is depicted at Jesus’ birth in this 16th-century painting by Lorenzo Lotto. Photo: Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC.
Was Joseph Jesus’ biological father? If not, who was Jesus’ biological father?
The annunciation stories in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke recount that Jesus was conceived without the participation of a human male. Ancient views on the biology of conception—based on Aristotelian theory—differed from our modern understanding of genetics and biology. For Jesus to have been considered fully human by our modern standards—and not a semi-divine or special being—he would have needed complete human DNA. While Mary would have supplied the X chromosome, who supplied the essential Y chromosome? God? Joseph?
Andrew Lincoln of the University of Gloucestershire tackles these questions in his article “How Babies Were Made in Jesus’ Time” in the November/December 2014 issue of BAR. Starting with the nativity stories in Matthew and Luke, he examines what early Christians thought about conception and explains how views about this subject have changed over time.
Who was Jesus’ biological father? As modern readers, we might wonder how the product of a virginal conception could truly be human—since the Y chromosome did not come from a human father. Andrew Lincoln explains that this issue would not have been troubling to an ancient audience or to the writers of the nativity stories in Matthew and Luke:
Their understanding of conception, shaped by a patriarchal culture, would have been some variation of the dominant Aristotelian theory. On this view, the male semen provides the formative principle for life. The female menstrual blood supplies the matter for the fetus, and the womb the medium for the semen’s nurture. The man’s seed transmits his logos (rational cause) and pneuma (vital heat/animating spirit), for which the woman’s body is the receptacle. In this way the male functions as the active, efficient cause of reproduction, and the female functions as the provider of the matter to which the male seed gives definition. In short, the bodily substance necessary for a human fetus comes from the mother, while the life force originates with the father.
Those who heard the nativity stories in Matthew and Luke would have considered Jesus to be fully human since his mother supplied all of his bodily substance. Lincoln clarifies: “In terms of ancient biology, even without a human father, Jesus would have been seen as fully human. His mother, Mary, provided his human substance, and in this case God, through the agency of the divine Spirit, supplied the animating principle instead of a human father.”
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According to the New Testament, was Joseph Jesus’ biological father or just his adoptive father?
The annunciation stories in Matthew and Luke claim that Jesus was conceived without a human father, but later in the Gospel of Luke, Joseph is listed as Jesus’ parent and father (Luke 2:27, 33, 48; 4:22). Indeed, through Joseph’s lineage, Jesus is shown to have descended from King David (Luke 3:23–38). Do these accounts contradict the annunciation stories?
The traditional way of reconciling these seemingly incongruous accounts is that Joseph was Jesus’ adoptive father.
In his article, Lincoln offers another way: He posits that knowing the genre of the Gospels helps make sense of this apparent contradiction. As a subset of ancient Greco-Roman biography, the Gospels can be compared to other Greco-Roman biographies, such as Plutarch’s biographies of Theseus, Romulus and Alexander the Great. In these examples, the central character is given two conception stories, one natural and the other supernatural.
Read “Did Jesus Exist? Searching for Evidence Beyond the Bible” by Lawrence Mykytiuk from the January/February 2015 issue of BAR >>
Dual conception stories for the same figure was not uncommon in Greco-Roman biographies, and Lincoln suggests that this was a way of assigning significance and worth to those “who were perceived to have achieved greatness in their later lives.” In this genre, those who accomplished great things in their adult lives deserved an equally great—even supernatural—conception story.
Lincoln’s approach is certainly intriguing—especially when applied to the nativity stories in Matthew and Luke. To read Lincoln’s entire treatment of the matter and learn more about what early Christians thought about conception, read the full article “How Babies Were Made in Jesus’ Time” by Andrew Lincoln in the November/December 2014 issue of BAR.
All-Access Subscribers: Read the full article “How Babies Were Made in Jesus’ Time” by Andrew Lincoln in the November/December 2014 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review.
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This Bible History Daily feature was originally published on November 3, 2014.
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I seem to recall reading that the word from the book of Isiah from which this text was drawn actually refers to “a young girl.” An entirely different word would have been used if it was to refer to a virgin. Hence we are not talking about a virgin birth at all.
Mary herself confirms that she had never been with a man (even a pragmatic Jew would agree, this would make her a virgin):
Luke 1:34 KJV
Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?
The book of Isaiah said that there will be a miraculous sign (the meaning of the Hebrew here in the context) of a young girl or woman giving birth. Other than a virgin birth by a young girl what else could be a miraculous sign of a young girl or woman giving birth? Young girls or women in the hundreds and thousands give birth every day.
This shows how those who do not believe in Adonai Elohim look at Him and His acts. I need not the opinions of an unbeliever. Simply… Who gave the human DNA to Adam and Eve at Creation? Could the same God give human DNA to Yeshua without the intervention of a “human” father? Those who do not believe the Bible and the God of the Bible always try to discredit it.
Jose we do not discredit the Bible but rather the interpretation taken from the bible. It never ceases to amaze me how people can read the same words and get a different understanding. Yet this should allow for discussion so that we can learn and understand words can project different meanings and with discussion we all learn. The Devil is given too much knowledge. I don’t think He is always that smart to confuse our words so we disagree. Sometimes I believe we do it to ourselves and then the Devil sits back and says that was easy I just had to get it started and man can mess things up himself.
OK, I’m not sure if Dr. Lincoln and others who have been promoted to the ivory towers are aware of this, but the Bible is an interesting book in which the Creator of the universe not only has created the universe but even the very laws of both traditional physics and quantum physics (he even knows the theory of everything). The Bible is not bashful about the Creator God even overruling the very laws of nature that He enacted and does what is beyond the natural realm-we call it “supernatural”! It’s not too difficult to see it in the Bible; it doesn’t hide these things.
So, this God who created man the first time in coming up with the idea of an X and a Y chromosome, He (as the original Creator) was able to again create a fully human X chromosome to go with Mary’s Y chromosome. Wow! Thus, Jesus was (as the Bible is not shy to present) fully human and born of a virgin woman. Amazing.
Is it possible to get this information up to the ivory towers? Probably not as the inhabitants therein had to pass through many a small passageway to get up there and left such things as reasonable faith behind. Kind of a sad place to abide.
Is your mission to seek Biblical authority and truth, or is your mission to undermine and discredit all Biblical authority and truth? Humanist critical theory is alive and well at the Biblical Archeology Society. Science and archeology confirm Biblical truth. Why do your contributors labor so hard to create a naturalist narrative? Of course that is what critical theory in all of its Satanic forms is all about; false narratives straight from the father of lies himself.
Yet sometimes people make themselves judge and Jury and those who oppose them liable their information as satanic because it differs from theirs. Like for example Catholics and a good percentage of protestants get their creation stories and some laws from your Old Testament and this speaks of the first covenant and only one considered by Jews. But those who follow God and His son Jesus abide now by the 2nd Covenant brought to the World through Jesus. The Jews question his DNA because Old Testament along with the New Testament speak of a woman being conceived through the Holy Spirit as an Angel who tells the story. For this His DNA is considered questionable. Yet Jews speak of God creating man out of clay and blowing the Pneuma into him and no one questions Adams DNA as fully human and you tell us he is truly man and our ancestor. I know that God did that and I yet don’t question his DNA because I take it on faith and God has given me the graces to view the story as best I can as a human being. But I am sorry I don’t see why it is so hard for the Jews to see that in your Old Testament much was predicted by your own Prophets. We use your Bible and see the connection to Jesus in the New Testament. Perhaps this is why your Temple is not rebuilt. You miss a big part of God’s puzzle. We are meant to be Holy, but we are also meant to be one family under God. I know many Rabbis whom I have spoken with over the years, and a few say, “Who knows, I might become Catholic” some day. John the Baptist did not die just because he had an outspoken cousin. He was silenced. Many of our early apostles and disciples were Jewish. It’s not a bad place to start. Even Jesus did. He was born a Jew raised and lived as a Jew crucified as a Jew by world sin Died. He didn’t hate Judaism. He came to replace Adam who got lost. But when He rose, He was a Christian and the apostles told His story. I am not saying we are greater or anything like that. I just don’t see why you guys don’t see the connection. I love your Passover Seder it points out the Real Presence that Jesus tried to tell everyone on earth at his time. I will continue to read your information. I know you don’t have much history written during the time of the destruction of the Temple. But I am sure if you seek out the fathers of the church and the apostles of that time period they could fill in some of the blanks. Jesus being raised Jewish would have taken His father’s orders very serious and would not have called his last meal a Passover Seder if He didn’t actually do that. I believe some of the Pharisee’s at that time may have not liked him challenging them because some of them were not following the laws in the way they should because they liked the authority their position gave them. Jesus said he didn’t come to change the laws. Which to me says he was trying to reform those who were out of line. And if this is the case then the people of today should not let pride interfere with our coming together. We have so much to share. We have wasted almost 2000 years.
Science and Archeology are not the only path to seeking truth . Infact there are times there are areas you cannot prove but this does not mean the facts aren’t true. Only God can fully speak the whole truth about everything and I don’t think He has done that completely yet. But it doesn’t make us earthlings satanic worshippers because we form opionions on the subject. Some of us form Holy and educated opinions that might surprise you or cause reason to ponder more deeply and form reasons to research deeper. We are a lot more knowledgeable now then we were prior to WWII and we will all continue to grow and learn because God loves our curiosity.
Octavius is the biological father of Jesus according to historians. But Octavius was not only a Roman general, he was later known as Augustus, the Roman emperor. He fathered John the Baptist and Jesus via Elizabeth and Mary. A book by a Catholic nun, entitled “Mary Magdalene,” made the case quite clear. Jesus was a man like all other men; he had a father and a mother. Jesus called himself the Son of God. And one of the earlier Popes removed this truth from the Holy Scriptures as well as King James l of England. Of course, this does not distract from the fact, that Jesus was also a descendant of King David of Israel via Mary. That is true. Other people made him the Messiah.
Perhaps you could use the following to find Truth. Step 1: Myth or Reality. 2. The teaching of the Christ about the healing of the Blind Man.
Myth: any concept supported by Belief and Faith without tangible Proof.
Reality: anything that has tangible Proof. Example: A rock. A clump of minerals. Anywhere I find a clomp of minerals, I can say “This is a Rock, even on the Moon.
A Myth: Genesis (Note) Myths may contain some elements of Reality. Check out the Epic of Gilgamesh. Genesis wasn’t written until after the exile to Persia. Much was used from these Pagan religious texts to create a origin story to unify the diverse Jewish groups. Gilgamesh is the texts Known.
The concept of Myth is tricky. Under the definition of Myth is God since there is no definitive proof of God. You can’t use the Christ until you can verify God as a a reality. Likewise you atheists out there don’t start your high fives because the same thing applies to the concept of no God. Show me your proof. This is no Pair of Docs (Couldn’t resist the pun.). Any Myth can be a Reality when a tangible Proof comes along. We’re all awaiting Proof.
The major problem with any translation of the Bible is original texts were written in languages without vowels. The actual meaning of a text needed to be heard and repeated to the writer by the messenger delivering it so there would be no misunderstandings. The worst case scenario happened with the sack of Jerusalem by the Persians. The Jewish priests were all killed. Only they knew the vowels of the Holy texts. For example the name of God “YHWH”, notice no vowels! We don’t know how to pronounce it. Jewish mystics (usually Rabbis) are still looking for the missing vowels. That and the fact that the vowels may not be pronounce the same as in ancient Hebrew. There’s a lot more, but I( won’t bore you. Have a nice and productive day. Peace be with you
Hi
I am was very interested in this opinion and would like to know who this Catholic nun is and where I can find her book.
I too came to the conclusion Octavian fathered Jesus Christ while Antipater II was in Rome with his wife, a daughter of king Antigonus and his daughter Mariamne V in about 5 BC.
This was the year of the supernova event that blazed in the skies for 6 months and was apparent in Shanghai as well as on the Korean Peninsula.
It is entirely possible that Elizabeth who I believe was a daughter of Simon son of Boethrus, the high priest, was also on this visit.
There was a plot to assassinate king Herod at this time that went horribly wrong in Jerusalem and which resulted in Herod excecuting his eldest son Antipater who Octavian had ear marked for Herods heir.
I also think Octavian may have fathered Marianne V ( the Virgin Mary ) on a previous visit of Antipater II and his wife around 20BC when Herod sent his children for education to Rome.
I was wondering if this Catholic nun you mention is Karen Armstrong.
Hi Anonymous 🙂
I have an additional comment regarding Mary Magdalene.
All these people of interest including Jesus Christ the Virgin Mary and Saulus/Paul “the Apostle” have or are entitled to Roman Citizenship through the house of Herod.
Mary Magdalene is often mixed up with the Virgin Mary in the search for who she is and where she came from.
I think she is Mariamne III in the Herod Household but I know Cleta Flynn who has been researching this all her life feels this is the Virgin Mary.
I think it is possible that Mariamne III was one of the vestal virgins that were abused as part of a court scandal involving Herods sister Salome.
Salome was very jealous of the Hasmonean princesses and her agenda was always about pushing her own Herodian “Jewish” ancestry.
While Antipater had his own agenda to remove/assassinate his own father he chose to distance himself physically by securing an invitation to Rome in the year 6 BC.
From there he was able to protect his Wife ( the unnamed daughter of King Antigonus ) and possibly use her for his consul as well as his daughter Mariamne V from any of ” the abuse of vestal virgins” which was major affair designed to upset the heirs to the throne.
Antipater whilst in Rome could keep an eye on the progress in Jerusalem by communicating through Mariamne II ( Herods wife )who was implicated in the same plot and who may have been in comms through her sister Elizabeth ( John The Baptists mother ) if Antipater had taken her along.
Antipater also maintained communications with Salome Herod’s sister via Acme who was his wife Livia’s slave.
Livia and Salome were in regular communication and it is believed that it was via this route that Antipater sourced the poison that he sent to Salome and the King’s Brother Phaesal to be used on Herod in his absence.
Unfortunately for Antipater it all went wrong when Phaesal poisoned himself instead by mistake and Salome was quick to defend herself by accusing Antipater of the crime which resulted in Acme being put to death in Rome.
This all along is happening while there is a new very bright star in the skies over Israel due to the supernova event as previously described and recorded in the far east from Dec 5 BC onwards lasting about three recorded months probably more like six months in reality as the weather turns very wet in China around that time..
This is when I believe it is possible for Octavian to have had the opportunity to ‘ biologically father ” Jesus Christ even if his “logos” is only being used by the “Holy Spirit” perhaps as an “antichrist template”.
It might be useful to do this for several reasons not least of which is the fact that Octavian is noted for being the original founder of the Holy Roman Empire and the great great grandfather of Nero at the same time ( the man with the number 666 ).
Mariamne III the Hashmonian princess and grand daughter of the beautiful Mariamne I is b more likely to be Mary Magdalene because she was too young to be the mother of Jesus in Dec 5 BC/ 4 BC.
Not to young to have been abused as a child however and have her virtue ruined for life as a result.
Only recently has it been acknowledged that it is very unlikely that she was a prostitute and Jesus would have known the story and loved her for who she was.
The unnamed Daughter of King Antigonus who was executed in 37 BC is clearly a woman of importance ( she was present at Antipater’s trial when he was found guilty of his involvement in the plot to kill King Herod )) She is none other that Anna (Hanna ) The Virgin Mary’s Mother in my opinion.
I think it is possible the Angel Gabriel who I regard as my favourite contester for the Holy Spirit and third person position in the Holy Trinity used Octavian to ” father both Jesus Christ and John The Baptist” .
In the case of the former this would have been done as a two stage process to select Octavians X chromosome first for the conception of Mariamne V/Virgin Mary in about 20BC on a previous visit to Rome and then the Y chromosome in 5 BC.
That way one has an X and a Y that can be recombined and trashed on the cross.
The blood is always saved or wasted depending on your view as this holds the Mitochondrial DNA of the mother.
We are saved through the Blood Of Christ.
And the virgin Mary becomes the Mitochondrial eve we have all been looking as it it her Son whose Logos/DNA that will be used for our creation.
Mitochondrial Eve in my opinion will never be found as I think she disappeared long ago in reality along with Homo Sapiens Neanderthalis.
All Human beings interestingly have now been shown to carry some of the Neanderthal genome.
Amen 🙂
You do know that there are different types of NUNS/ Sisters. The Catholic Church is not the only religion to have Nuns. Just like we are not the only religion to have Monks. I met a Lutheran Nun in Arizona who prayed for the Jews from Germany. Their order grew out of the need for those in Auchweitz.
You don’t even know that you crossed family ties to create a false story. You can’t be Roman and be a Decendant of David. It was a Catholic Pope who declared this and He may have declared that Augustus was falsely stated as the Father of Jesus. England did not accept the teachings of the Catholic Church when Henry the 8th was in power because he was rejected for his adulterous ways. I think you need to reread your church history. You are into heresy my dear friend. Other people did not make him the Messiah He came from God as the Messiah. There were false Messiah’s running around Jerusalem but Jesus was not one of them. He knew his mission when he entered the proper adult time on earth. Then he began preaching his mission. John the Baptist had been preaching repentance before the Messiah came and during a baptism in galilee he announced the Messiah to the crowd. God hovered over Jesus and said this is my beloved son. etc.
I am sure my Christian friends in the comments will be happy to hear that the Qur’an also affirms the Virgin Birth of Jesus. And Islam also sees Jesus as fully human at the same time, thus negating the assumptions of this article. As the Qur’an says, Jesus is like Adam, who had no father (or mother for that matter.). In both cases, God simply said “Be” and they came into existence. No chromosomes needed.
True. Qur’an 3 v. 59 – 63 ( Suratul Aali Imuran ) affirms the birth of Jesus like Adam from Allah ‘ s Word ” Be ” and the two as humans came to ‘ Be’. In fact in the same Qur’an chapter and verse 47 – 50 Mar’yam : the mother of Jesus was in doubt ” Oh my Lord how shall I have a Son when no man has touched me “. But Allah creates whatever He likes with no one capable of frustrating Him. So , Jesus is from all reliable accounts a Human being regarded with reverence as a Messenger of Allah by Muslims everywhere sent to the ” lost people of Israel” (Ezekiel 18 v. 30 and St Mathew 10 v. 5 – 7) and never anything close to what the Christians attribute to Him as God.
Amen hallelujah!!!! But this only makes sense to those of faith. A gift given by God.
And you guys truly believe that? That a full on human was created out of thin air? I’m genuinely curious because as I grow old I ask more questions about religions and what seems real or not. Do people just believe Jesus’ birth to be a miracle and that’s the explanation?
Yes many of us walk by Faith . Yet if you will begin to notice Science has started finding archeological digs and things to begin to support small issues over the years to supper my belief and I can see that some of us can rest in knowing we believed before the evidence was present. That doesn’t make us any better then you or anyone else but it makes me smile to know God lets me know I am on the right track and it feels nice to have that affirmed even in small ways.
Just a thought: Some small percentage of the human population experiences the genetic abnormality of an extra X and/or Y chromosome. It is not totally out of the realm of possibility that Mary could have been carrying an XXY, or even XXYY, complement of chromosomes. This hypothesis might at least provide an answer for where the Y chromosome derived.
As for human parthenogenesis, this is unknown to science. It is not unknown in some other species, however. There might actually be some raw materials here for God to work with that still require a miracle, but not quite so much of a flat-out violation of all known natural laws.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20452130/ this was hypothesized in this journal article. It is, of course, only a hypothetical discussion and had not yet been verifiably shown among humans (but plants, fish and one rabbit).
Not everything God does is understandable by Science and or human knowledge. Even Scientists have a thing called the God Factor. Scientist can’t truly define Love yet almost every creature on earth may experience a form of it sometimes in their life. Miracles happen more than the everyday human knows or sees.
2304 who was Jesus bio-dad`
lets see, some generations earlier, God murdered every Hebrew male to ensure that the Davidic [human] line would – could only descend through female heirs… settling the matter of a human male being cutout of the divine conception story… hummm,
I guess you either accept the story as it is`written; or, like every Humanist, you just make up your own versions and see if you can sell them among your peer review articles, then write your book and look for your payday.
which is consistent with reading the`line “a young girl gives birth” making the noted birth indistinct from the 1,000’s of other young girl births across the Rome Empire -`barbarian lands – Asia and Africa… or, you mention such birth by a`young girl because it was`a unique event in the emerging story of the Divine process of the salvation of mankind… of course, you can’t sell many books about such Divinely inconvenient truths.
Emmanuel was the son of Mary and Joseph. Christ existed and he was the creator of heavens and earth. Christ would always manifest into Emmanuel during his time on earth. When Christ started his fathers work when Emmanuel was at the age of 30, his name changed to Jesus since it was now a combination of the human Emmanuel and the heavenly Christ. When Emmanuel was crucified, his flesh, his soul and Christ became one and now seats on the throne as Jesus Christ and they are now inseparable. The godly part of Jesus Christ have taken over everything and they is no way we are going to say Jesus Christ was the son of Joseph.
Sounds like an ancient heresy.