" Although historically inaccurate, this "fourteen generation" rule in Matthew is used as further evidence that the birth of Jesus is the fulfillment of Jewish prophecy. Matthew blatantly portrays Jesus as the Jewish messiah in accordance with a divine plan (Ehrman 86).
The second half of the first chapter of Matthew describes Jesus" birth and events surrounding it as fulfillment of Jewish Scripture. In this section, Matthew makes a statement and then cites a passage of Scripture showing that Jesus fulfills prophecy in that citation. Matthew 1:23: "Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel," quotes from Isaiah 7:14: "Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel." However, this citation from Isaiah is questionable in the context that Matthew uses it. Matthew changes "young woman" to "virgin" which makes the citation more befitting as evidence that Jesus" birth was fulfillment of prophesy. Early Christians would have been free to cross-reference Matthew with Isaiah and other Scripture quoted in Matthew, and likely found discrepancies like the one I have stated above. Did this bother them? Probably not, after all, Matthew did make it into the canon of the New Testament. It appears to me that readers recognized Matthew as an inspired writer and respected his personal interpretation of Jewish Scripture. After all, Matthew is a gospel, or "good news," not a biography of Jesus. .
The book of Luke also tells the "good news" of Jesus. However, Luke uses a chronological Greco-Roman approach to his writing. Luke does not begin with a genealogy like Matthew does, but opens with a dedication to "most excellent Theophilus." Some scholars believe Theophilus is a Roman administrative official, whereas believe the literal Greek translation "lover of God" was used as code for early Christians.