John 1:1-18 | Mark 1:1 | Luke 1:1-4, 3:23-38 | Matthew 1:1-17

These passages mark the beginnings of the gospel of Jesus Christ, which includes three genealogies of Jesus.  John 1:1 provides the first, and earliest genealogy of Jesus, stating that He was in the beginning with God, and He was God, so that all that was created was made through Him.

Matthew 1:1-17 gives us the genealogy of Jesus through His (step) father Joseph, which proves that he was descended from the line of king David, and eligible to be king in Israel.  The genealogy of Luke 3:23-38 is through mother Mary, who was also a blood descendant of David, thereby proving that Jesus fulfilled OT prophecies stating that He would be a son of David.

Mark 1:1 and Luke 1:1-4 also declare the writer’s intentions of telling the history and story of Jesus Christ.

As background, the 1st four books of the New Testament are called The Gospels, which relate the story of Jesus Christ’s birth, life, ministry, death, and resurrection from the dead.  The first 3 gospels are called “synoptic”, which means that they cover much of the same history and stories of Jesus, and focus the majority of their witness on the Lord’s ministry in Galilee.  John’s gospel was written several decades after the synoptic gospels, and tells the story of Jesus to specifically prove that He is the Son of God, so that the reader might be saved.  Much of John’s gospel includes stories and details not included in the synoptic gospels, and focuses much of the narrative in Jerusalem, and during the final week before He is crucified.