Today's domesticated horses, cattle, dogs, corn, wheat, and cotton differ greatly from their primitive, "wild" ancestors. These changes have been brought about by what is called 'selective breeding.' This selective breeding all started with the discoveries by an obscure Roman Catholic monk, Gregor Mendel, as he experimented with pea plants in his monastery garden. This was the dawn of modern genetics, but he could only answer how, not why. In 1910 Thomas Morgan discovered that genes are the hereditary factors in the chromosomes of cells. It was not until 1944 that Oswald Avery discovered that DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid), a complicated double-helix molecule of nucleotides, is the basic material of a cell and carries the genetic code.
Modern forensic medicine now had a powerful tool for the identification of individuals involved in a crime. No longer were they limited to fingerprints, ballistic evidence, samples of hair and clothing, and other gross evidence from a crime scene, but now they had available the DNA identification technique. This DNA can be obtained from minute amounts of body tissue or fluids, and the identification is unique for each person. Prisoners have been released from death row on DNA evidence. Conversely, fugitives have been convicted on DNA evidence.
DNA is the hereditary factor that determines our genetic makeup, hair color, skin color, eye color, our body shape, our intellectual capabilities, all the characteristics that make us what we are. These hereditary factors have been handed down from generation to generation, and they are what cause us to look like our parents. One of the favorite hobbies of some people is the tracing of one's ancestry. However, we don't need a genealogical chart of our family tree to know that we all are descendants of our original parents, Adam and Eve. We all carry a little bit of Adam and Eve in our genes. Paul says that all men are of one blood, but Jesus' blood was different, and no human on earth can claim to have any of Christ's DNA. That strain of DNA, a combination of human (Mary) and divine (Holy Spirit) was removed from the human gene pool on the cross. Jesus had no brothers or sisters, only step brothers by Mary's husband, Joseph.
Yet, we are told that we are of the body of Christ and that He lives in us by His Spirit, the same Spirit that fathered Jesus. How is this possible? Our text (1 Cor. 10:16) tells us that through partaking of the emblems of the bread and wine in the communion service we are spiritually infused with the genetic code of divine DNA.
