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Transcript 111B — "Endless Genealogies" Explained [1 Tim 1:4]
HC: Good evening. Welcome to Open Forum.
CALLER: In I Timothy 1:4 it talks about "endless genealogies." What does that mean?
HC: In I Timothy 1 we have this statement where Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit is charging certain persons not to teach any different doctrine, "nor to occupy themselves with myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the divine training that is in faith."
I'm not really certain what these genealogies have to do with, except that I know this: genealogy has to do with the line that I come from. Now in the Old Testament, you will find that God names various families that come out of each son of Jacob. There are, for example, the sons of Levi, Kohath and Amram, and so on. And then there are the families that come under this, so that in the Old Testament for quite a while a Jewish person could know his genealogical line. He could trace back his blood line all the way to Abraham and know just exactly whether he was of the tribe of Levi or the tribe of Ruben, or whatever it is.
But now 1500 years have passed, and we find that the genealogical descent is no longer important. The fact is, God has emphasized in Romans 4 that Abraham is the father of all believers, not only of the circumcised but of the uncircumcised. But God also has indicated that not all Israel is Israel. In other words, blood descent from Abraham is no longer important. The important question is, "Am I born again? Am I a child of Christ?" As we read in Galatians 3, those who believe in Christ are the true seed of Abraham, are the heirs of the promise that was given to Abraham.
And so in Jesus' day, and afterwards, there were many Jews who were still arguing about their blood descent from Abraham, and would try to work through their genealogical descent, of how they came from Abraham. And God is saying, "Nonsense. Forget it. It's not important." These things profit nothing at all. Who your forebears were doesn't mean a thing.
Isn't that wonderful? Isn't that really wonderful? You don't have to worry ultimately who your father or mother was, or who your great grandfather or great grandmother were. You don't have to worry about whether there were some important people in your blood line, or whether you come from a pure seed, or whatever people want to call their line. None of these things are important. When we come to the Lord Jesus Christ, we stand as an individual before God just as we are. God has created us, and now He has saved us. Praise Him for what He has done.
Thank you for that question.