We know the answer because it has been provided for us in the scriptures. The first book of the New Testament (some say it was Hebrews) was written maybe 15 to 20 years after the cross and the others came up to about 30 years later. Though Joseph made no secret of the circumstances of the birth of Jesus, the vast majority of Jews were not privy to the information. Several times the Jews remind one another that the Messiah was prophesied to come from Bethlehem, the town of David, but Jesus, they said, was from Nazareth. Jesus never enlightened them on the place of His birth nor did the Jews ever ask the question, "Where were you born?" They all assumed that He was born in Galilee and that Joseph was His natural father.

There are differences in the genealogies in Luke and Matthew. In Matthew, it says that Joseph (the father of Jesus) was the son of Jacob. In Luke, some suppose that the scriptures are saying that Joseph was the son of Heli, but that is not what it says. The genealogy in Matthew is of the line of Joseph and goes from oldest to newest, starting at Abraham and going to Jesus. The genealogy in Luke is the line of Mary, the mother of Jesus, and starts at the most recent and goes back in time all the way to Adam. The genealogy in Luke is the genealogy of Mary, the mother of Jesus. Both Mary and Joseph are descendents of King David, but Joseph through Solomon and David through a son named Nathan.

Jesus had the natural bloodline connection back to the beginning, but he did not share in the blood of Adam. In a normal human fetus, there is no exchange of blood between the mother and child. Nutrients go through the cord and pass through a filter, but the mother’s blood never comes in contact with the baby. The unfertilized female egg contains blood DNA markers but it does not contain blood. There are blood components in Human male sperm. An example is the chicken egg. There is no blood in that egg, but within moments of fertilization, a high-powered microscope reveals blood streaks forming in that egg.

The same holds true for the human. Adam contracted “blood poisoning” when he sinned, and he passed it on through the blood in his semen to all his progeny including you and me. The little bodies of your children have your blood, not the blood of your wife. All people die, even a little baby who may not live more than a few hours, but because it has that contaminated blood, it is subject to death.

Mary was “artificially inseminated” through the work of the Holy Spirit. Jesus was a descendent of Adam through His mother, but He did not have Adam’s blood. Thus, He did not have gray hair or wrinkles and would not have been subject to old age, infirmity, or disease unto death. He could get a cold, have a toothache or experience pain, but would have no fear of dying from any of these things. He said no man could take His life, but it was His to surrender.