γένεσις in Matthew 1:1, 1:18

[Jonathan Robie]

I have been reading a bunch of Genesis lately, and in the Septuagint, γένεσις often translates the Hebrew תוֹלְד֧וֹת, e.g. אֵ֣לֶּה תוֹלְד֧וֹת הַשָּׁמַ֛יִם וְהָאָ֖רֶץ בְּהִבָּֽרְאָ֑ם בְּי֗וֹם עֲשׂ֛וֹת יְהוָ֥ה אֱלֹהִ֖ים אֶ֥רֶץ וְשָׁמָֽיִם׃. In Hebrew, this is a discourse marker that identifies major sections of the text.

So when I was reading Matthew, I was a little surprised to see that translations generally translate γένεσις differently in Matthew 1:1 and Matthew 1:18:

Βίβλος γενέσεως Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ υἱοῦ Δαυὶδ υἱοῦ Ἀβραάμ.

Τοῦ δὲ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ ἡ γένεσις οὕτως ἦν. μνηστευθείσης τῆς μητρὸς αὐτοῦ Μαρίας τῷ Ἰωσήφ, πρὶν ἢ συνελθεῖν αὐτοὺς εὑρέθη ἐν γαστρὶ ἔχουσα ἐκ πνεύματος ἁγίου.

OK, so maybe I'm overthinking this. How likely is it that γένεσις is used in the sense of תוֹלְד֧וֹת in both places? If it is, there's not much to give it away in most translations, no reason to even think about the question.

③ an account of someone’s life, history, life. The expr. βίβλος γενέσεως Mt 1:1 is fr. the OT: Gen 2:4; 5:1; in the former of these two pass. it = history of the origin (cp. Diod S 1, 10, 3 ἡ γ. τῶν ἀνθρώπων; schol. on Apollon. Rhod. 3, 1–5a … δύο ἱστοροῦνται γενέσεις Μουσῶν=there are two accounts given of the origin of the Muses), which some consider a fitting heading for Mt 1; Zahn ad loc. regards the expr. as constituting the superscription of the whole gospel: Book of the History. But if the phrase applies to vv. 1–17, the term γ. refers to
④ persons of successive generations forming an ancestral line, lineage, family line, which describes the contents of Mt 1:1–17.—JLindblom: Teologiska Studier for EStave 1922, 102–9; OEissfeldt, ‘Toledot’, in Studien zum NT u. zur Patristik ’61, 1–8.—DELG s.v. γίγνομαι p. 223. M-M. TW. Sv.

Arndt, W., Danker, F. W., Bauer, W., & Gingrich, F. W. (2000). A Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament and other early Christian literature (3rd ed., pp. 192–193). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

[Stephen Carlson]

Resolving this generally involves figuring out what you think the structure/introduction of Matthew is doing. Dale Allison and now Chris Keith take Matt 1:1 Βίβλος γενέσεως as “The Book of Genesis”.