The Opening Declaration (Matthew 1:1).
‘The book of the generation of Jesus Messiah (Christ), the son of David, the son of Abraham.'
This may be seen as the heading of the whole book, or as the heading of the genealogical introduction, or indeed as the heading of both. Compare for this Mark 1:1 where there is a similar opening. Its emphasis is on Jesus Christ, on where He came from, and on Who and What He is. As the son of Abraham He is a pure bred Jew and heir to the promises given to Abraham (Genesis 12:2-3 and often), as the son of David He is the Expected Coming One (2 Samuel 7:12-13; 2 Samuel 7:16; Isaiah 9:6-7; Isaiah 11:1-4; Ezekiel 37:24-28; Daniel 7:13-14), as the Messiah He is the fulfilment of both, with the expectation therefore of being a blessing to the world (Genesis 12:3), and of bringing about deliverance for His own people resulting in worldwide rule (Isaiah 9:7; Isaiah 11:1-4; Psalms 2:8-10; Daniel 7:14). Both these terms, ‘son of Abraham' and ‘son of David', are used Messianically in other Jewish literature, but not on a regular basis.
‘The book of the generation of Jesus Messiah (Christ).' Almost the exact phrase, apart from the name, can be found in Genesis 2:4; Genesis 5:1, ‘the book of the generation of --' (although LXX translates with the definite article, while Matthew does not have the article). There, in the case of Genesis 5:1, it could indicate either the ‘family history' of Adam which has preceded it, as a tailpiece or colophon to it, or it could signify the following genealogy. Which Matthew read it as we do not know.
The Hebrew for ‘generations' (Hebrew - toledoth; Greek - geneseows) can mean simply ‘family history' (see Genesis 37:2). Thus here in Matthew also ‘geneseows' may refer to the whole Gospel as signifying the ‘historical record' of Jesus Christ, or it may specifically have in mind the genealogy. Some, however, see ‘geneseows' here as signifying ‘origin' or ‘birth' (as with ‘genesis' in Matthew 1:18), thus seeing it as describing the book of the origins, or birth and subsequent life, of Jesus Christ, and thus as indicating the new Genesis.
Alternately relating the use of the phrase here with Genesis 2:4 it might be seen as indicating that in Jesus Christ a new creation was seen as beginning (Galatians 6:15; 2 Corinthians 2:17), replacing the old. This would fit in with John the Baptist's cry that God (as Creator) is able from the stones to raise up children to Abraham, and with the fact that the result of Jesus' coming is to be a ‘regeneration' (palin-genesia - Matthew 19:28). There may also be a deliberate contrast of ‘the beginnings (geneseows)' here in Matthew 1:1 with the coming of ‘the end' (sunteleias) in Matthew 28:20.
Another possibility is that the connection of the phrase with Adam in Genesis 5:1 might indicate that Jesus is to be seen as ‘the last Adam', the ‘second Man' (compare Romans 5:12; Romans 5:17-19; 1 Corinthians 15:45-49), which would again link with the idea of a new creation, or ‘beginning'. But this idea appears nowhere else in Matthew and must therefore probably be discounted. Matthew's concentration is on Jesus' royalty, not on His relationship with Adam. As the Son of Abraham (the progenitor of royalty) He is the final ‘King Who will come from him' (Genesis 17:6 compare Genesis 35:11) and as the Son of David He is the promised Davidic King (2 Samuel 7:13; 2 Samuel 7:16; Psalms 2; Isaiah 9:6-7; Isaiah 11:1-4 and often).
(Luke in his introductory Chapter s also looks back to Abraham and the promises related to him (Luke 1:55; Luke 1:73; Luke 3:8; Luke 3:34), and even more to the Davidic Kingship (Luke 1:27; Luke 1:32-33; Luke 1:69; Luke 2:4; Luke 2:11), and he sees the source of Jesus' coming as firmly rooted in Israel. But in Luke the mention of Abraham is secondary to the great project from Adam as the source of mankind (Luke 3:38). To him Jesus is connected with the source of all men. Mark's Gospel emphasises His coming as being directly from God. John takes us even further back into eternity. It is these emphases which reveal why we needed four Gospels revealing Jesus as the Son of Abraham, the Son of Adam, the Son of God, and the eternal Word).