What Does Matthew 1:16 Mean?
And Jacob brought forth Joseph, the husband of Mary, out of whom Jesus was brought forth, who is called the anointed one.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.THE KEY
The genealogy’s hinge is a birth traced from Mary and the title Christ, whose Greek root means “to anoint” and names the role carried by Jesus.
THE MEANING
The line places Jesus inside a human genealogy and names him with the title “the anointed one.” Joseph is identified as Mary’s husband, while the Greek wording “of whom” refers to Mary as the one from whom Jesus is born. The verse holds family lineage and a distinct role together.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the assumption that “Christ” is Jesus’s family name: the title names him as the anointed one.
THE ROOT
Χριστός
Christos
GROWS FROM
χρι-
To anoint; to mark or designate by applying oil.
“the anointed one” in this verse is Christos. The title grows from the verb χρίω, “to anoint,” so it names Jesus by an anointing role. The family line names descent; Christ names what he is designated to be.
ALSO GROWS
chriō: To anoint.
χρίω
This verb is the action carried in the title Christos.
chrisma: Anointing; ointment.
χρῖσμα
This noun shares χρι- and makes visible the anointing held within the title.
ἐγεννήθη
egennēthē
GROWS FROM
γενν-
To beget or give birth; to bring forth.
“brought forth; was brought forth” in this verse is egennēthē. The verse first uses the same γενν- family for Jacob “begat” Joseph, then for Jesus being born. The repeated root holds the generations together while the wording turns from Joseph’s begetting to Jesus’s birth from Mary.
ALSO GROWS
gennaō: To beget; to give birth.
γεννάω
This verb is the root family used for both “begat” and “was born” in the verse.
gennēsis: Birth; begetting.
γέννησις
This noun shares the γενν- stem and names the event around which the genealogy turns.
gennētos: Born; begotten.
γεννητός
This form shares the same stem and shows how the root describes one brought forth.
יֵשׁוּעַ
Yeshua
GROWS FROM
י־שׁ־ע
To deliver, bringing someone out of constriction into spaciousness.
“Jesus” in this verse is Yeshua. The Greek name Ἰησοῦς carries the Hebrew name Yeshua, from י־שׁ־ע, “deliver.” The verse joins that name’s nature with the title Christ: deliverance and anointing meet in the one being named.
ALSO GROWS
yasha: To deliver; to bring into safety and spaciousness.
יָשַׁע
This verb is the root from which the name Yeshua carries its meaning.
yeshuah: Deliverance.
יְשׁוּעָה
This noun shares the root consonants and expresses the movement contained in the name.
THE PATTERN
A biblical name or title can compress a person’s nature or vocation into the way that person is named.
No longer shall your name be called Abram, but Abraham, father of multitudes, for I have set you as a father of many nations.He first found his own brother Simon, and said to him, We have found the Anointed One.THE THREAD
How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Set-Apart Breath and with power, who went through, doing good and healing all who were pressed down by the Slanderer, for God was with him.Matthew names Jesus “the Christ,” from χριστός (christos), “the anointed one”; Acts uses the related Greek verb χρίω (chriō), “anointed.” The title in Matthew carries the same action Acts states directly.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us