Who was the son of Enos, who was the son of Seth, who was the son of Adam, who was the son of God.
Read Chapter 3
Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
Which was the son of God—as handiwork, not as son; for God, even as a potter, formed and fashioned Adam the first man out of the earth. And hence the Arabic version renders "who was from God," whereas, in other cases, it renders, for "who was," "son." S. Luke , then, brings the genealogy of Christ up to Adam, but S. Matthew only to Abraham—the father of the faithful, and founder of the Synagogue.
Why does S. Luke make this addition?
1. S. Athanasius (Discourse on "All things are given unto Me by My Father") says, " Luke , beginning with the Son of God, went back up to Adam, to show that the body which Jesus assumed had its origin from Adam, who was formed by God."
2. S. Irenus (book iii. ch. xxxiii.) says, "So was Christ made the beginning of the living, since Adam was made the beginning of the dead; for this cause also S. Luke , beginning the commencement of the generation with the Lord, brings it back to Adam, signifying that they did not regenerate, Him, but He them, into the Gos...
What could be more beautiful, than that this holy race should begin from the Son of God, and be continued up to the Son of God; that the creature might go before in figure, and the Son of God might follow after in reality; that he who was made after the image of God, might first appear, that the true image of his eternal Father may descend from his glory. Thus did St. Luke mean to refer the origin of Christ to God, of whom he was the true and eternal Son. To show this still more evidently, the evangelist had before introduced the Almighty speaking from heaven: This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. (St. Ambrose)
