What order do genealogies in the Bible follow?
The genealogies in the Bible follow the order of the natural first, then the spiritual. Paul writes that the spiritual was not first, but the natural came first, and afterward the spiritual. Adam, the first man, is earthy; Christ, the second man, is the Lord from heaven.
Les explains that every genealogy in the Bible, whether Old Testament or New, always begins with the natural and then the genealogy of the spiritual. Paul makes the point in verse 46 that the spiritual was not first, but the natural came first, and afterward the spiritual. The first man, Adam, is of the earth, earthy, made from the dust; the second man is the Lord from heaven. Adam is the federal head of the human race in Genesis, and Christ is the response to that federal head because Adam fell. When Adam fell, there had to be a way of restoring it, and the second Adam, Christ, would restore.