About this sermon
Matthew opens his Gospel with a genealogy that presents Jesus as the Messiah, the son of Abraham and the son of David. Matthew arranges the names in three groups of fourteen, and he traces the line through Joseph, Jesus’s legal father, to secure his claim to David’s throne. The list includes Tamar, Rahab, and Ruth, sinners and outsiders brought in by grace. God keeps his promises across the generations, and the Savior came for sinners of every kind.
Sermon transcript
Well, dear friends, let us rise for the reading of God’s Word. Again, we’re continuing to take a break during this Advent season from our consideration of the Gospel of Mark, and this morning we’re actually in the Gospel of Matthew. My sermon text today is Matthew chapter 1, verses 1 through 17. Matthew chapter 1. Verses 1 through 17. Dear friends, let us hear with reverence and awe the word of our God. Reading from the New American Standard Version. The record of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers. Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar. Perez was the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram.
Ram was the father of Aminadab. Aminadab the father of Nashon, and Nashon the father of Salmon. Salmon was the father of Boaz by Rahab. Boaz was the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse. Jesse was the father of David the king. David was the father of Solomon by Bathsheba, who had been the wife of Uriah. Solomon was the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asa. Asa was the father of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah. Uzziah was the father of Jotham, Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah. Hezekiah was the father of Manasseh, Manasseh the father of Ammon, and Ammon the father of Josiah. Josiah became the father of Jeconiah and his brothers at the time of the deportation to Babylon.
After the deportation to Babylon, Jeconiah became the father of Shealtiel, and Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel. Zerubbabel was the father of Abiud, Abiud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor. Azor was the father of Zadok, Zadok the father of Akim, and Akim the father of Eliud. Eliud was the father of Eleazar, Eleazar the father of Mathan, and Mathan the father of Jacob. Jacob was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, by whom Jesus was born, who is called the Messiah. So all the generations from Abraham to David, are 14 generations, from David to the deportation to Babylon, 14 generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to the Messiah, 14 generations. Dear ones, the grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of our God endures forever. Let’s pray for the Lord to bless our study of his word this morning.
Our gracious Lord God, Heavenly Father, we praise you that you are the God of history, that all of history is working out and falling out according to your sovereign and eternal plan. And we thank you that Christ is the center of all history, not only cosmic history, but our own personal history as well, as Christ is indeed our Savior and King. We ask that by your Holy Spirit, as we consider this portion of your word this morning, that you would open our minds and our hearts to behold wondrous things from your word, feed our souls through that which we consider today, and we ask that you would deepen and strengthen our faith, our hope, and our love. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen. You may be seated. The title of my sermon this morning is Genealogy of God’s Chosen King, and if you’re following along in your sermon outline, you’ll notice that there’s three words that you can be listening for if you find that helpful to follow along in the sermon, and those words are Messiah, covenant, and promise.
Well, my dear listeners, the Gospel of Matthew appears to have been written to Jewish Christians in the early church in order to confirm their faith in Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah that had been promised by God in the Old Testament scriptures. And though the gospel itself is technically anonymous, the united unanimous testimony of the early church affirms that this gospel was written by none other than the Apostle Matthew. And in spite of the fact that many critical and skeptical scholars have gone to great lengths to argue against Matthew’s authorship, there’s really no compelling reason not to accept the early church’s unified, united testimony to the Apostle Matthew as the author. of the gospel that bears his name. Now our passage for this Lord’s Day morning is Matthew’s introduction to his gospel account. And as I was reading this passage, I suspect that some of you might have been thinking to yourself, oh boy, this is gonna be a snoozer of a sermon.
We’re considering a genealogy. Well, how boring, right? You may wonder, why does Matthew begin his gospel with a genealogy of Jesus? I mean, usually if you’re writing a book or if you’re giving a speech, the common wisdom is, well, you want to start off your book or your speech or your lecture with a hook. You want to grab your audience’s attention and draw them in so that they pay attention to what you have to say. But is this really an effective hook, if you will? How is it that by beginning his gospel with a genealogy, Matthew expects to draw in his readers and keep their attention? Well, we need to understand that Matthew is addressing a different audience than a 21st century Christian audience. You see, for us 21st century Christians, reading the genealogical lists of the Bible is about as exciting and interesting as, say, reading a copy of the phone book, or perhaps reading a table of technical statistics.
But for the Jews of the first century who knew Old Testament history and who knew their scriptures, genealogies like this one would indeed serve as an appropriate hook for them. It would draw them into Matthew’s narrative, for it would bring to their minds important truths and events and personalities from their own scriptures, the Old Testament scriptures. You see, the purpose of the genealogies in the Bible is not merely to give factual information about family and tribal history and so forth, although the genealogies of scripture certainly do that. But we need to understand that biblical genealogies were also recorded for the purpose of teaching theological truths about God’s redemptive work in history. And what is true of biblical genealogies in general is also true here in Matthew’s gospel as he presents his readers with the genealogy of Jesus, God’s chosen king.
That’s what the term Messiah or Christ means, God’s anointed one, his anointed, chosen, spirit-endowed king. Now we need to, if we’re gonna appreciate and understand what the Holy Spirit through the Apostle Matthew is doing here in this passage, we first of all need to observe and understand the structure and significance of Christ’s genealogy. And children, if you’re following along in your sermon outline, that’s my first main point. Observe the structure and significance of Christ’s genealogy. Friends, as we will see, under the Spirit’s inspiration, the Apostle Matthew structured this genealogy of Jesus Christ in a way that strongly highlights and strongly underscores the messianic royalty and kingship of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. That is what this genealogy, if you will, shouts out at us. Jesus is The Royal Messiah. He is the Royal King promised by the Father.
And from the very first verse, it also emphasizes that the covenant promises which God had given to Abraham, the patriarch, and later on to King David in Old Testament times, that these promises are fulfilled in Jesus the Christ. Again, the Christ being God’s anointed, chosen king. Now in verse one, what we have here is the title and introduction of this genealogy. And let me just read this verse again. Matthew begins his gospel in verse one, the record of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham. This is, again, as I mentioned, this is intended as a title or introduction to the genealogy. Now, I read from the New American Standard Version. I prefer the ESV here, translation on this particular verse. That version reads, The Book of the Genealogy of Jesus Christ.
This is a caption, a title, a heading. But that leads Bible scholars to ask important questions. Namely, does this introductory statement here, this title, this heading or caption here in verse one, is it intended to introduce just this genealogy? Or is Matthew intending this verse and this genealogy to introduce the opening chapters of his gospel, such as chapters one and two? Or is it intended as an introduction to the whole gospel account? Well, scholars are divided on that particular question, but it seems at least, at the very least, to be introducing the opening passage here, if not the opening chapters of this gospel account. Now, how is Jesus spoken of here in this passage? Well, again, it is said, the record the record of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah or Jesus Christ. Both of those names are significant.
Children, what does the name Jesus mean? What does the name Jesus mean? It means the Lord is salvation. The name Jesus or Yeshua means the Lord is salvation. And what an appropriate name for the promised Messiah, the savior of the world. He is Jesus, the one who is by definition, the Lord, our salvation. But what about the term Christos or Christ, which is a Greek translation of the Hebrew term for Messiah? Well, that word Christ or Messiah was originally a title. But over time, because the name Jesus was closely associated with the title Christ, over time, Jesus and Christ were read together as if Christ was his last name. And here in this particular context, it appears that Christ, the term Christ, seems to have come to be used as a last name more than as a title.
But at the same time, the fact that Jesus of Nazareth, the one who is the Christ or anointed one, came to be called Jesus Christ, still underscores his royal messiahship. And what is surprising about this opening verse, this opening title, is Jesus’ lineage. His lineage is traced to David and ultimately to Abraham. The record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Now you may be scratching your head and thinking, well, wait a minute. Jesus was not the son of David. David lived centuries before the Lord Jesus came to this earth. And Abraham lived even further into ancient history. Well, by introducing our Lord’s genealogy and his whole gospel with these words, what Matthew is indicating is his intention to demonstrate in his gospel that Jesus of Nazareth is indeed the promised Messiah, the one in whom all of the covenant promises made to the patriarch Abraham and all of the covenant, the royal covenant promises made to King David.
In Christ, those covenant promises are ultimately fulfilled. Now, again, as I pointed out, there were multiple generations between King David and Jesus, and even more generations between the patriarch Abraham and Jesus. Yet Matthew tells us that Jesus is the son of David and the son of Abraham. Is Matthew in error here? Is Matthew being deceptive? Is he using the term son in some kind of a deceptive way? Well, no. Friends, this is just one of numerous instances in scripture which shows us that genealogies in the Bible are sometimes, and often, in fact, intentionally selective, and they may contain generational gaps, sometimes even large gaps, such as verse one. Now, Matthew goes on to fill in those gaps a little bit when he gives the further genealogical information, but there are gaps in this genealogy from the standpoint of verse one.
It’s important to understand, friends, that in the Bible, the term son of can sometimes mean, more broadly, descendant of, just as the term father of can sometimes mean ancestor of. And that is how the term son is being used here. Jesus, the Messiah, the Christ, he is the son of David in the sense that he’s descended from David and ultimately descended from Abraham. I don’t think in verse one Matthew’s intending to say that David was a son of Abraham, although David certainly was, but it is Jesus who is described as son of David and son of Abraham. There are a number of kings and perhaps some other individuals that Matthew also chose to exclude from his genealogical list here in chapter one. Again, not because Matthew was mistaken or uninformed or being deceptive, but because he had a purpose behind his intentional selectivity.
We need to understand, friends, that this was regarded as a perfectly acceptable literary practice in Bible times. And Matthew was selective because he wanted to structure his genealogy to include three groups of 14 ancestors for symbolic and theologically significant purposes. And we’re going to take a look at that. Now we’re not going to go through all these names, don’t worry, we’d be here a very long time if we considered all of these names and the significance of all of these names, but I want to have us look at the symbolic structuring of this genealogy. Matthew explains at the end of this genealogical list in verse 17, he explains the symbolism that he’s getting at by structuring his genealogy in this way. As it says in verse 17, so all the generations from Abraham to David are 14 generations Notice, by the way, that 14 is, you know, seven times two is 14.
The number seven is very significant as a symbolic number in scripture. The generations from Abraham to David are 14 generations. From David to the deportation to Babylon, 14 generations. And from the deportation to Babylon to the Messiah, how many generations? 14 generations. Now, this was probably done to emphasize the royal messianic kingship of Jesus as the son of David. Well, what are you talking about, pastor? Well, in the Hebrew language, names could have a numerical significance. And as Dr. D.A. Carson explains in his commentary, the simplest explanation, the one that best fits the context, observes that the numerical value of the name David in Hebrew is 14. By this symbolism, Matthew points out that the promised son of David, referred to in verse 1, the Messiah, has come. And if the third set of 14 is short one member, perhaps it will suggest to some readers that just as God cuts short the time of distress for the sake of his elect, as our Lord Jesus will explain in his Olivet Discourse in chapter 24, verse 22.
So also he mercifully shortens the period from the exile to Jesus the Messiah. Now let’s focus in on the three major eras of redemptive history that are covered by Matthew in this genealogy. The first set of 14 ancestors that are recorded in verses 2 through the first part of verse 6, these ancestors cover the history of God’s covenant people from the time of the patriarch Abraham up until the time of King David. And so this first set of 14 ancestors traces the rise of the Davidic monarchy. The second set of 14 ancestors recorded from verse 6 through verse 11, this covers the history of God’s covenant people during the era of the kings, beginning with King David, and ending with the tragedy of Judah’s deportation into exile in the land, the pagan land of Babylon, which was a judgment of God upon his people for their covenant breaking, their unfaithfulness.
This era underscores the tragic event of the loss of the royal throne to the House of David. We don’t seem to really get today just what an impact that made upon the Jews at that time, around the time of the Babylonian exile. To see their beloved city sacked and their temple, the great Temple of Solomon, destroyed and to be dragged off away from God’s presence. which was represented by the temple and so forth, to be dragged away into a foreign land, the land of Babylon, to see the end of the Davidic king reigning on the throne in Jerusalem was a tragedy. But the third set of 14 ancestors is the answer to that tragedy. That’s recorded, this third set of 14 ancestors, which is recorded in verses 12 through 16. This covers the history of God’s covenant people from the tragedy of their exile in Babylon through post-exilic times, when the people were able to return from Babylon and rebuild the temple, the second temple, up until the birth of Jesus Christ.
And so the point here in this structuring is, again, to underscore the fact that in Christ, the one who is the son of David and the son of Abraham, in Christ the royal throne of David is restored, at least spiritually speaking. For Jesus Christ, as we like to say, Jesus Christ is great David’s greater son. David in the Old Testament was a type, a picture of the future Messiah who would come and not only reign over his covenant people, but would reign over all of creation for the sake of his people. Jesus Christ, great David’s greater son, he is the ultimate fulfillment of the royal Davidic line, for he is the Messiah, God’s chosen divine king. But you may have picked up on an interesting feature of this genealogy as we read in verse 16.
Notice that Matthew gives the genealogy of Jesus through his legal father, Joseph. Matthew is not giving the genealogy from Mary, he’s giving the genealogy that leads to our Lord’s legal father, Joseph. As it says in verse 16, Jacob was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, by whom Jesus was born, who is called the Messiah. What’s the significance of that? Why does Matthew do that? Well, this is an important detail because Jesus could only be counted or regarded as a son of David and therefore as an heir to the messianic promises if his legal father was a descendant of King David. That’s what the prophecies of the Old Testament predicted that the Messiah would be of the house and lineage of David. Now, does that mean that Matthew is denying the virginal conception of Christ?
Well, no, because later on in this very chapter, Matthew records the events of the conception and birth, the supernatural conception and birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so Matthew’s not denying the virgin birth. Matthew makes it clear here and in the verses that follow that Jesus was indeed conceived by the Holy Spirit and therefore that Joseph was not our Lord’s natural biological father but Joseph was Jesus’s legal father and it was necessary for Jesus’s legal father to be a descendant of David in order for the messianic promises regarding the Messiah being a son of David to apply to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now that we’ve considered the basic structure and significance of this genealogy of our Lord Jesus Christ, let’s consider some of the other truths that we can learn from this important passage of God’s Word.
And we could spend a lot of time in this passage. There’s many lessons that we could learn from this passage. But I want us to focus in especially, I want us to consider next, how this genealogy answers some of the Jewish slanders that have been raised against the origin of our Lord Jesus. This is my second main point in your outline. Consider how this genealogy answers some of the Jewish slanders that have been raised against the origin of our Lord Jesus. If you were to talk to a committed Orthodox Jew and ask such a religious Jew what they believe about Jesus of Nazareth, well, you would probably get an answer like this. Well, Jesus was a false prophet. He was a sorcerer. And not only that, he was an illegitimate child of Mary. He was a bastard child.
He was illegitimately conceived, conceived out of wedlock. Now it’s interesting that Matthew’s gospel lists in its genealogy, this genealogy here that Matthew presents, lists a number of women. And given the culture of the time and given the practice of that time, it was a patriarchal culture. It was not common to list female names in genealogies unless, and when a woman was listed in the genealogical lists, it was because that woman had a very special or particular historic significance within the history of the genealogy. Again, many commentators have noticed that Matthew’s genealogy includes a number of Old Testament women who were ancestors of our Lord. Why does Matthew do this? Let me just, again, review some of the verses. Look at verse three. It says, Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar. And then skip down to verse five.
It says, Salmon was the father of Boaz by Rahab. And skip down to verses six and seven. David was the father of Solomon by Bathsheba, who had been the wife of Uriah. And then verse seven, Solomon was the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Ubiah, and so forth. Why the mention of these particular women? Well, again, one suggestion that I find persuasive is that Matthew here is apparently subtly seeking to answer the Jewish slander against Jesus, the slander that said that he was illegitimately born, that he was born of fornication, by mentioning these women. The mention of women like Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba were likely included by Matthew to counteract the allegation that Jesus was conceived out of wedlock. Well, how is that, pastor? Well, think about it. Let’s go through and consider some of these women. and consider the grace of God in the lives of these women, in spite of the circumstances that we will consider.
Back in the book of Genesis, we learn that Tamar had conceived Perez and Zerah through an incestuous union with Judah, her father-in-law. Judah was a rather seedy character as one of the patriarchs. He was not a good fellow. He was there when Joseph was sold into slavery. Judah was all in favor of that. And we read of Judah moving out of Canaan or moving out of the house of his father, marrying a Canaanite woman. He gave birth to his first two sons were Ur and Onan. And God slew, God killed those sons of Judah because of their wickedness. And Tamar, who had been the husband of these, I’m sorry, the wife of these two sons of Judah, Tamar was left alone as Shella, the third son of Judah, had not been given to her in marriage.
And she’s thinking, what can I do? You know, when you were a woman back then, you needed a man for support. There weren’t many options for, outside of prostitution, for a woman to survive unless she was connected with a household. And so she dresses herself up, covers her face as a prostitute. Judah goes into her and she conceives Perez and Zerah by them. And so, pretty, pretty, seedy account of what goes on there. Or think of Rahab. Who was Rahab? Well, she was a Canaanite woman. And before coming to faith in the true and living God, the God of Israel, she had been a prostitute. But she welcomed the spies, and she was embraced in God’s covenant people in spite of her background. What about Ruth? Well, Ruth was a Moabitess. And while the scriptures speak highly of Ruth’s character, she was a descendant of Lot, and therefore, one whose ancestor had been conceived through an incestuous union.
You can read about that in Genesis 19, verses 30 to 38. That passage indicates that after the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Lot’s daughters had gotten their father drunk so that they could conceive children by him. And one of those children, Moab, was Ruth’s ancestor. And, of course, we read of Bathsheba. This was the wife of Uriah the Hittite. She’s mentioned in verse 6. This woman, Bathsheba, was the woman with whom David famously had committed adultery. And so you might say, well, pastor, this isn’t really edifying stuff. Well, yeah, I got some news from you. I got some news for you. If you read the Bible, not every, you know, reading the Bible is not like reading chicken soup for your soul. The Bible, not everything in the Bible is edifying. in the sense of, you know, uplifting.
The Bible is very honest and forthright about human sin and wickedness. And so in connection with these women in Israel’s history, there was a lot of sin, a lot of wickedness. And yet the Lord Jesus was regarded as a descendant of them, legally speaking. Now again, why would Matthew mention all of these Old Testament women with their sordid histories? Why would he mention these women in his genealogy of Jesus? Well, I think Lenski, Dr. Lenski is correct when he suggests that Matthew brings up these stains from Israel’s history as a way of responding to Jewish slanders against the Lord Jesus. Again, to quote from Dr. Lenski, he says this, let them occupy themselves with these real stains attested in the Old Testament history itself and not slander the pure maiden whom God chose to be the mother of his son.
So again, remember, Matthew’s writing to a Jewish context, to a context of Jewish Christians who would be familiar with all of these names, all of these personalities, and the sordid history connected with them, and they would understand, oh yeah, our Jewish neighbors who reject Jesus as the Messiah, they claim, well, he’s just, you know, he was illegitimately conceived, illegitimately born, he’s a bastard child. Well, remember your own history. Okay? And obviously, Matthew goes on to record the real story behind Jesus’s birth, namely his miraculous conception by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary. And by the way, I’ll be preaching on the vital doctrine of the virgin birth this evening, for our service this evening, as we consider the virgin birth as an essential doctrine of our holy Christian faith. Well, in closing, dear friends, what are some takeaways that we can get from all of this?
You might be thinking, well, this is, I have never looked at a genealogy this way before. I’ve never understood why these details were here in this particular genealogy, but what is, how does this connect to me? How does this connect to the church today? Well, I think many things could be said, but I think a couple of important things need to be highlighted. And so this is my final point, some lessons for personal application from this passage. What we learn in this genealogy, brothers and sisters, is that God is faithful to keep his promises against all odds. God is faithful to keep his promises against all odds. This genealogy emphasizes that the coming of Jesus the Messiah, the advent of Jesus the Messiah took place through an historical process that was guided by God’s special providence.
A process that whereby God shows victory even over a sin in the life of his people. Now there were times in that history of God’s people, there were times when it looked like God’s promises would fail. Times such as the loss of the Davidic throne at the time of the exile to Babylon. But in the fullness of time, God sent his son, Jesus Christ, to be born of a woman, to be born of Mary, whose husband was Joseph, Jesus’s legal father. And therefore God’s promises proved to be true after all. And what that means for you and for me, brother and sister in Christ and dear listener, what that means is that God’s promises are true, even if they don’t seem to be true. even if they don’t seem to us, even if we wonder, well, how’s God gonna, you know, how’s God gonna work out His will in this situation?
Oh, God is faithful. He is faithful to His warnings, where He warns of wrath against sin, and do not let God’s patience and forbearance fool you. His patience, his long-suffering is intended to lead us to repentance. God is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and covenant faithfulness. And so, as we’re told in 2 Peter, the Lord is not slow, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wanting any to perish, but willing that all should come to repentance, all of his people should. He is patient that all of his people should be called to himself by grace. But God is also faithful to his promises of salvation. Because God has shown his faithfulness to keep his promises throughout redemptive history, you can be sure that his promises of grace in the gospel are certain, and you can bank your eternity on them.
John 3.16. John 3 16 is sure and certain for God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him might not perish but have everlasting life. Are you, dear listener, trusting in God’s promises of forgiveness and grace and salvation that are offered to you in the gospel of Jesus Christ? God’s word is true. He keeps his promises. And if you come to Christ, if through sovereign grace God opens your eyes to see your sin and to see Christ as your only hope of salvation, Jesus says, come to me all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest. Come to Jesus Christ. and find rest for your soul. Take the burden, the weight of your sin and dump that at the foot of the cross.
Jesus Christ died on the cross for sinners just like you and me and he rose from the dead so that whoever believes in him, trusts in him and him alone for salvation from sin might not perish but have everlasting life. This passage of scripture, because it shows that God is faithful to keep his promises, to bring about the coming of the Messiah, it underscores the truth that he is faithful to keep all of his promises. His word is trustworthy, trust in his word. I think another lesson, another takeaway from this passage is that the great variety of individuals that are mentioned in our Lord’s genealogy, both the good and the evil, both the moral and the immoral, These individuals highlight the amazing grace and humiliation of our Savior. And it shows that he came to save all kinds of people, even people like Rahab the prostitute, even people like a covenant outsider, like Ruth the Moabitess, who by grace became part of and was enfolded in God’s people.
And so, dear listener, this highlights that our Savior is indeed a Savior of sinners. Sinners like me, sinners like you. And oh, what amazing grace. Oh, what amazing condescension our Lord showed in coming to this earth to redeem us from our sins. Dear friends, let us take these truths to heart, and by the grace of God, may the implications of these truths be worked out practically in our lives. For the glory and honor and praise of Jesus Christ, the promised Messiah, the royal, anointed, divine King, our Lord. Amen. Let us pray. Our Lord and Father in heaven, sovereign and eternal God, we thank you that you sent your son Jesus to be our savior. We thank you, Lord, that you are faithful to keep your covenant promises. We thank you, Lord, that your word is indeed trustworthy.
We ask, Lord, that you would strengthen our faith through what we’ve considered today, and may your Holy Spirit draw forth from us praise in response to what we’ve heard today. We ask these things in Jesus’ name, and all of God’s people said, amen. Dear friends, as we close our time together, we’ll rise and sing as our hymn of response, number 303, all praise to you, eternal Lord.
The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.