Luke 3 recounts the famous story of Jesus's baptism by John. The sky opens, and the Holy Spirit descends upon Jesus, with whom the Father is pleased.
22. and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”
‒ Luke 3:22 NRSV
But did you know our earliest manuscripts often instead read:
22. and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, today I have begotten you.”
‒ Luke 3:22 NRSV
“Today I have begotten you” has quite a different theological valence! Perhaps it shouldn't be surprising that Adoptionism, the view Jesus became God during a key event in his ministry, was so common in the early church. Indeed, recent scholarship has been growing in Academia that Marcion — which skips the nativity story entirely — was an earlier version of Luke.
Mark, our earliest canonical Gospel, omits the nativity story too. Both begin with the adult Jesus, and in Mark right after his baptism by John.
1. In the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, Jesus descended out of heaven into Capernaum, a city in Galilee, and was teaching in the synagogue on the Sabbath days.
‒ Marcion 1:1
14. Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the good news of God 15. and saying,
‒ Mark 1:14-15 NRSV
Recall too the bewilderment of his family, who think he's gone mad after his ministry ramps up.
20. Then he went home, and the crowd came together again, so that they could not even eat. 21. When his family heard it, they went out to restrain him, for people were saying, “He has gone out of his mind.”
‒ Mark 3:20-21 NRSV
This comports with the idea that Luke's nativity story was added later. Many of the scholarly arguments for this require being able to read ancient Greek, so we won't do that here, but as a taste: consider that Luke's genealogy of Jesus comes in Chapter 3. This is a very strange place to put it, since in the ancient world genealogies are placed at the beginning to introduce the primary character.
Speaking of genealogies, let's look at the one in Matthew.
2. Abraham begot Isaac. Isaac begot Jacob. Jacob begot Judah and his brothers. 3. Judah begot Perez and Zerah by Tamar. Perez begot Hezron. Hezron begot Ram. 4. Ram begot Amminadab. Amminadab begot Nahshon. Nahshon begot Salmon. 5. Salmon begot Boaz by Rahab. Boaz begot Obed by Ruth. Obed begot Jesse. 6. Jesse begot King David. David the king† begot Solomon by her who had been Uriah’s wife. 7. Solomon begot Rehoboam. Rehoboam begot Abijah. Abijah begot Asa. 8. Asa begot Jehoshaphat. Jehoshaphat begot Joram. Joram begot Uzziah. 9. Uzziah begot Jotham. Jotham begot Ahaz. Ahaz begot Hezekiah. 10. Hezekiah begot Manasseh. Manasseh begot Amon. Amon begot Josiah. 11. Josiah begot Jechoniah and his brothers at the time of the exile to Babylon. 12. After the exile to Babylon, Jechoniah begot Shealtiel. Shealtiel begot Zerubbabel. 13. Zerubbabel begot Abiud. Abiud begot Eliakim. Eliakim begot Azor. 14. Azor begot Zadok. Zadok begot Achim. Achim begot Eliud. 15. Eliud begot Eleazar. Eleazar begot Matthan. Matthan begot Jacob. 16. Jacob begot Joseph, the husband of Mary, from whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.
‒ Matthew 1:2-16
Unlike in Luke, Matthew's genealogy mentions a few women, specifically ones who had to overcome social stigma and controversy.
| Tamar | Pretended to be a prostitute to seduce Judah (Genesis 38) |
| Rahab | Canaanite prostitute who hid Israelite spies in Jericho (Joshua 2) |
| Ruth | Moabite widow who approaches Boaz at night (Ruth) |
| Wife of Uriah | Bathsheba, who has an affair with King David (2 Samuel 11) |
| Mary | Virginity called into question (Matthew 1) |
If this genealogy is a splice, as happens elsewhere in the Bible (see Genesis, 1 Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehemiah), an intriguing picture emerges. Each of these women has her own redemption story, overcoming the social stigma of sexual and/or racial deviance. Perhaps this was to defend Mary: a woman who was not a virgin but who still begot the man who became God. One could see it as a beautiful story of redemption if we're open-minded.
To tie up some loose ends, let's revisit that phrase, “Today I have begotten you.” This is a callback to Psalm 2, wherein YHWH appoints King David.
7. I will tell of the decree of the Lord: He said to me, “You are my son; today I have begotten you.
‒ Psalm 2:7 NRSV
Indeed, the New Testament authors offer commentary on Christ's fulfillment of this very prophecy. This shows its importance within early Christological debates.
32. And we bring you the good news that what God promised to our ancestors 33. he has fulfilled for us, their children, by raising Jesus; as also it is written in the second psalm, ‘You are my Son; today I have begotten you.’
‒ Acts 13:32-33 NRSV
5. For to which of the angels did God ever say, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you”?
‒ Hebrews 1:5 NRSV
4. And one does not presume to take this honor but takes it only when called by God, just as Aaron was. 5. So also Christ did not glorify himself in becoming a high priest but was appointed by the one who said to him, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you”;
‒ Hebrews 5:4-5 NRSV
So, should you believe in Adoptionism? That's a personal matter of faith, but the above should help clarify that "heresies" existed for a reason in antiquity. Christians need to move on from the view that orthodoxy was the only game in town. The heretics weren't fringe, nor were they bad people trying to distort the truth. Adoptionists were Christians like any other who just happened to have a different understanding of Christ's divinity.
Notably, we haven't yet mentioned the Gnostic scriptures, wherein the Christ Aeon is its own theological concept. In these communities the man Jesus is sometimes thought to receive the Christ Aeon, becoming Jesus Christ. We'll explore Gnostic Christologies another time, since they're quite involved.
This article was written by Rachel Bousfield. Opinions are hers alone.
Want to talk about it? Join us on our Discord server! There you'll find a community of heretics, mystics, and other spiritual wayfarers interested in discussing ancient texts.
Translating ancient texts is expensive! Join us on Patreon to support our mission.