Luke 1:26

ANNUNCIATION OF CHRIST. (Luk 1:26-38)

sixth month--of Elisabeth's time.

Joseph, of the house of David--(See on Mat 1:16).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Luk_1:26-30

And the virgins name was Mary

The Annunciation

1.

The messenger sent from heaven to publish the news of the conception of the Son of Gad--an angel. An evil angel was the first author of our ruin; a good angel could not be the author of our restoration, but is the joyful reporter of it.

2. The angels name--Gabriel, the power of God.

3. The place the angel is sent to--Nazareth. An obscure place, little taken notice of; yea, a city in Galilee, out of which arises no prophet: even there the God of prophets condescends to be conceived. No blind corner of Nazareth can hide the blessed virgin from the angel. The favours of God will find out His children wherever they are withdrawn.

4. The person to whom the angel is sent--a virgin espoused. For the honour of virginity Christ chose a virgin for His mother; for the honour of marriage, a virgin espoused to a husband.

5. The message itself. The angel salutes the virgin as a saint; he does not pray to her as a goddess. Full of grace she was then, full of glory she is now.

6. The effect which the sight and salutation of the angel had upon Mary--she was afraid. But in her case, as in all, the fears of holy persons end in comfort.

7. The character which the angel gives of Him who should be born of her--Great … Son of the Highest. Great in respect of

(1) His person,

(2) offices,

(3) kingdom. (W. Burkitt, M. A.)

Marys home-life

We have very little to guide us in our conception of the scene. Scripture never quite withdraws the veil which protects, quite as much as it conceals, the life of the mother of our Lord; but we venture reverently to arrange and draw together some side-lights which it is permitted us to catch. There is quiet Nazareth itself, nestling (as only villages in Palestine do) high up in a circlet of protecting hills, like one of those flower-baskets, with creepers hanging over the sides, which we see sometimes caught up between projecting points in a rockery garden.

Nazareth, so still, so shut in from the world around, that it is not once mentioned in connection- with any single event in the whole of the Old Testament; not once in the Talmud, where names of obscure places occur in plenty; fist once even in the pages of garrulous Josephus, who enumerates no less than 204 towns and cities in Galilee. Verily, Thou art a God that hidest Thyself, we feel constrained to say, as we contemplate the future home of Jesus; and we ask for notching better than to enter into the tranquil spirit of the hush of the little mountain town as we venture now to look more closely at her whose home it was. Mary was a virgin betrothed; that is all, as yet, that we know about her. To us she is literally without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days nor end of life. We have absolutely no clue at all to the interior or the surroundings of her village home. Was she spinning at her wheel, or grinding at the mill, or reading some roll of the prophets? Or was she just then sitting and musing over the great event of the last few days-her betrothal? The last we fancy most likely; for angels visits, like dreams that are hallowed, argue a preoccupation of the mind in some direction kindred to their holy purpose. So Mary may have been looking back and looking forward: back on the past even, uneventful life, over which now there has moved a spirit of change, and which she can scarcely believe, perhaps does not even wish, ever to be quite the same again: and forward to she hardly knows what; only she is vaguely conscious of new aspirations, timid forecastings, undefined fears. And then, as all faithful Jewish women rightfully might, she would allow herself in some dim dreams of motherhood, and it might even be up for coming events cast their shadows before--that the unbidden thought would just creep across her mind that her betrothed husband and herself were both of the tribe of Judah; and was she to blame for taking to herself the sacred hope which was the heritage of every mother who belonged to the tribe that Jacob had blessed? Then came the angel, familiar to us now in name and mission, but none the less a sign and a wonder at his actual appearance. What form did the angel take? In what voice did he speak? How was he known to be an angel at all? are questions which rush into our minds at once. They will never be answered; we know no more than is written, and the inspired narrative lays upon us the responsibility of unquestioning faith. One point is left to our imagination--the angels look. We fancy that his kind, steady, searching gaze must have been more eloquent almost than his prefatory words: Hail, Accepted, the Lord be with thee; blessed thou among women. (E. T. Marshall, M. A.)

Angelic visitations

Their airy and gentle coming may well be compared to the glory of colours flung by the sun upon the morning clouds, that seem to be born just where they appear. Like a beam of light striking through some orifice, they shine upon Zacharias in the Temple. As the morning light finds the flowers, so they found the mother of Jesus; and their message fell on her pure as dewdrops on the lily. To the shepherds eyes they filled the midnight arch like auroral beams of light; but not as silently, for they sang more marvellously than when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy. They communed with the Saviour in His glory of transfiguration, sustained Him in the anguish of the garden, watched Him at the tomb; and as they had thronged the earth at His coming, so they seem to have hovered in the air in multitudes at the hour of His ascension. The occasions of their appearing are grand, the reasons weighty, and their demeanour suggests and befits the highest conception of superior beings. Their very coming and going is not with earthly movement. They are suddenly seen in the air, as one sees white clouds round out from the blue sky on a summers day, that melt back even while one looks upon them. (H. W. Beecher.)

The mother of Jesus--a womans sermon to worn

All we know about Mary should appeal very forcibly to the heart and the imagination. The Child, and not the mother, is the chief theme of our talk and our thought, it is true; but no woman, and certainly no mother, can talk of the wonderful events of Bethlehem without thinking with tenderness as well as awe of Mary the mother of Jesus. From first to last she holds our eyes and moves our hearts, presenting us, as she does, with a perfect delineation of womanhood and motherhood; and our lives would probably be more full of love and helpful ministries if we gave more time to the study of her character. It may be asked, Why, when every pious Hebrew matron would have been thankful for the high and unique honour of being the mother of the Messiah, a poor, unknown, and retired virgin should have been chosen. A very little thought will suffice to show the suitability of Mary, and will also direct the mind to the womanly qualities which God honours.

1. Humility. It was this which made Mary great. Never did she obtrude herself upon the world, or try to get to herself the least share of her Sons glory. The part given her, she was content to perform with absolute self-abnegation and obedience. Lowly she was when the angel made his wonderful announcement to her; and meek and lowly of heart she remained to the end.

2. Submission. She accepted her lot, whatever it might be, without any complaint, or any attempt to have things otherwise.

3. Quietness. She was always more ready to be silent than to speak. From how many mistakes must she thus have been saved.

4. Fidelity. Not only at first, but to the very last, she rose to the tasks imposed upon her, and fulfilled the commands of God. Not what I wish, but what I ought to do, was the rule she followed.

(Marianne Farningham.)

Mary to be held in honour

Probably there was never any created being of-all the created worlds, put in such honour as this woman, chosen to be the Lords mother i all the more truly our mother, that from her begins the new-born human race. To her it is given, even to grow the germ-life of the Divine Man, Son of the Father, in its spring. And her behaviour is beautiful enough to even meet an occasion so high. That grace of bearing, that sweet, devout modesty, such as became the motherhood of everlasting innocence; that watching of her miraculous Boy, that could so easily be telling His wonders, with a weak mothers fondness, in the street, but which still she was treasuring in her heart; that wondrous propriety of silence at the cross, allowing her no wail of outcry in that hour, lest she might be making herself a part of the scene. O ye lilies and other white harbingers of spring, culled so often by art to be symbols of her unspotted motherhood, what can ye show of silent flowering in the white of purity, which she does not much better show herself? We seem just now, in these modern times, to be assuming that Mary is gone by, and the honours paid her ended; and if we choose to let our hearts be barbarized in the coarse, unappreciating prejudices that have been, so far, our bitter element, there certainly are finer moulded ages to come. Is it too soon even now to admit some feeling of rational shame, that we have been weak enough to let our eyes be so long plastered with this clay? Doubtless it must be the first thing with us, after we have entered the great world before us, to get cleared, and assured, and at home in our relations to the Son of Man Himself. After that our next thing, as I think, will be to know our mother, the mother of Jesus; for no other of the kingdom, save the King Himself, has a name that signifies more. And I make no question that, when the great hierarchs and princes of other worlds and ages, who are challenged to pay their hosannas in the highest, throng in to meet us, they will ask, first of all, for the woman by whom, under Gods quickening overshadow, Christ the Eternal Son of God, obtained His life-connection with the race, and His birth into practical brotherhood with it. As the sages of the East, guided by the star, brought out their tribute to the Child at her knee, so these ancients of God will come in with us, wanting above all to know the woman herself, at whose royal motherhood, and by it, Immanuel the King broke into the world and set up His kingdom. And higher still is she raised by the recognition of her Son Himself; for as she is yearning always fondly after Him, so will He never disallow His old time filial feeling towards her, but will ever clothe her with such honours, really Divine, as fitly crown the part she bore in His wonderful story. (Horace Bushnell, D. D.)

Marys true place in Christian esteem

It is impossible to worship the Virgin, because the very exquisiteness of her character stands in her being a perfect type of human nature, pure and simple; her native womanly grace and innocence are her chief charm. Deify her, and, besides other things, you wrong the whole human race; you depose her from her rightful place at the head of Christian women; you cheat Christs sisters of their sweet queen, and say, in effect, that you can do nothing with a pure life and a humble spirit but make an idol of it. Give us back the mother of our Lord; we want her here with us on earth, that our maidens and our matrons, feeling her to be one of themselves, may learn from her, in each event of life, how to receive Gods will about themselves. It is a presumptuous interference with Gods own ordering of the Incarnation, to take the mother of Jesus out of the category of earthly women, and to set her already on a throne in heaven. Was Christ born of a woman or was He not? If He was, let us accept the mystery with all its consequences, reverently limiting our thoughts and fancies by the extent to which God has thrown back the veil … It should be equally impossible to tolerate unscriptural legends about Mary. Men do not gild gold, or paint white frames for snow-wreaths; and do they not see what violence they do to the most retiring character in the world by dragging it to the front, and setting it on a throne, and making it an arbiter of the destinies of men? It is because we feel so strongly that Mary is just as God would have her in herself that we resent all apocryphal accounts of her doings, and deplore all unauthorized additions to her life; these fancied embellishments of the loveliest of womankind, only serve to hide from us what she really and genuinely was from God. We can forgive the false taste of a worship which professes to be sensuous; but we feel bound to protest against the tampering, in faith and doctrine, with the character and very being of her who is the cherished heritage of every Christian soul. (E. T. Marshall, M. A.)

The blessed among women

1. Poor, yet rich.

2. Troubled, yet meditative.

3. Proud, as a virgin, yet obedient as a wife.

4. First doubtful, then believing. (Van Oosterzee.)

Blessed of God

The angels salutation of Mary may be applied to Christians in all the holy seasons of life, such as baptism, confirmation, the time of chastening, the day of death. (Wallin.)

Encouragement to the humble

It ought to be highly encouraging to those whose lot is cast in the quiet walks of life--who occupy quiet, private, and unobtrusive stations--to observe how great honour was put on one humble as themselves; and how, in the faithful discharge of simple duties, and the making use of the appointed means, such piety has been attained as has never been surpassed, and perhaps rarely equalled. Mary had undoubtedly poverty to struggle with, and she was not placed in any conspicuous part, where great things were to be done and endured for God. Up to the time of the visit from the angel she had probably lived in the unaffected life which presents daily the same duties--perhaps daily the same hardships--the life of that great mass of human beings of whom the world never hears--who, some with more, others with less, of external pressure, rise in the morning to begin a round of humble occupations, of which, if night brings the close, the morrow will bring the repetition. Yet, living such a life as this, performing the daily duties which devolve on members of low, and perhaps straitened, families--duties on which there is nothing to throw splendour, and which may seem little favourable to deep spirituality--did Mary grow so rich with the graces of piety, as to be the fittest for the high honour which God had in store for woman. After this, let no one repine at not being called to eminent station, as though it were necessary to be great in office in order to being great in the virtues or rewards of religion. It has been well said that no man is to complain of want of power or opportunity for religious perfection. The devout woman in her closet, praying, with much zeal and affection, for the conversion of souls, is in the same order of arrangement, as to grace in general, as he who, by excellent doctrines, put it into a more forward position to be actually performed. (H. Melvill, B. D.)

Blessed among women

Next to the blessed Child, the Virgin Mother is the central figure of the Nativity. She is one of the noblest and loveliest characters in the Bible.

I. The saddest page in the worlds history, is THE STORY OF WOMANS WRONGS. The law of strength has been always the worlds rule of conduct, the weaker has had to go to the wall. Woman, because of her more delicate physical organization, has been the victim of mans superior strength, the prey of his basest passions, the slave of his injustice and tyranny. To justify himself in his oppression he has represented her as worthy only of contempt. Hesiod calls women an accursed brood, chief scourge of the human race. AEschylus speaks of her as, the direst evil of State and home. Socrates thanked God daily that he had been born a human being and not an animal; free and not a slave; a man and not a woman. Slacken the rein, said Cato, and you will afterward strive in vain to check the mad career of that unreasoning animal. Seneca calls her, an imprudent, wild creature, incapable of self-control. The Romans habitually spoke of the majesty of man, the imbecility, weakness, and frivolity of women. Better that a thousand women should perish, than that one man should cease to see the light. But with Christianity new ideas of the dignity and glory of womanhood came into life. The Son of God was born of a woman. Christ, says Augustine, was born of a woman, that neither sex might despair. By its reverence for the Virgin Mother the Christian Church wove into its deepest thought a new conception of womanhood, and did much to cancel the contempt thrown upon her in the person of Eve. If woman was guilty of the worlds first sin, on her breast its Redeemer was nourished; and Bethlehem atoned for Eden. Eve was withdrawn as the representative of woman, and the mother of Jesus replaced her. Hence among the early Christians the position of woman was greatly changed. She shared with man the responsibilities of religion, the sufferings of persecution, the love of God, the hope of Heaven.

II. But this is not all that the worship of the Virgin meant. Before Christ came, IT WAS THE QUALITIES ESPECIALLY CHARACTERISTIC OF THE MALE SEX WHICH WERE WORSHIPPED AS DIVINE. Force, strength, courage, mental concentration--these were the qualities regarded as of highest worth. But Christ proclaimed the Divine nature of qualities quite the opposite of these--meekness, gentleness, patience, purity, obedience, love. It is the peculiar feature of Christianity, that it exalts, not strength, intellect, courage, but gentleness, lovingness, helpfulness, purity. But these are especially womanly virtues--qualities of character in which women usually surpass men. So this worship of the virgin grew up in a world wearied by violence and passion and selfish strength, of masculine ambitions and grasping resolves, sighing for some form of strength and glory which should be consistent with tenderness, and gentleness, and sweet affection. In a world trodden by armies, corrupted by lust, dominated by ambition, this worship of the Virgin was a strong and living protest against force and war and sensuality; a silent assertion of the glory of purity, goodness, and love. When the attributes of God and Christ were lost from view, that sweet and beautiful idea of womanhood shed gentle lustre amid dungeons and scaffolds and battlefields, and did something at least to mitigate their cruelties. It hung upon the walls of the churches, it looked down from chamber and from hall, it pleaded at the corners of the street, and it melted through the imagination of cruel and sensual men, as a heavenly vision pleading for humanity. Mrs. Jameson, in her Legends of the Madonna, says: In the perpetual repetition of that beautiful image of the Woman highly favoured, there, where others saw only pictures or statues, I have seen this great hope standing like a spirit beside the visible form--in the fervent worship once given to that gracious presence I have beheld an acknowledgment of a higher as well as a gentler power than that of the strong hand, and the might which makes right; and in every earnest votary one who, as he knelt, was in this sense pious beyond the reach of his thought, and devout beyond the meaning of his will. And woman greatly encourages his error when she accepts his estimate of worth rather than Christs, and bestows her admiration upon the lower and more masculine attributes, instead of recognizing the higher glory of her own womanhood. Gail Hamiltons sarcasm, Come girls, let us be men, finds an echo in much of the life of to-day, when it ought to carry its own refutation. The Bible gives woman a glory of her own. Let her take up and wield the spiritual sovereignty that is her everlasting birthright. Let man learn to be grateful to woman for this undoubted achievement of her sex--that she, often in despite of him, has kept Christendom from lapsing into barbarism, has kept mercy and love from being overborne by those two greedy monsters, money and war. Let him remember that almost every great soul, which has led forward and lifted up the race, has been inspired by some noble woman. A man discovered America, but a woman equipped him for the voyage. The noblest qualities of both are blended in Jesus Christ. In Him is the womans heart and the mans brain; womanly gentleness, manly strength. We do not worship Christ and Mary, for in Christ we find all that was sought in Mary.

III. There is still another truth striving for utterance in this worship of the Virgin, and this is, THE NEED WHICH THE HUMAN HEART FEELS OF A HUMAN AS WELL AS DIVINE SAVIOUR. (J. H. McIlvaine, D. D.)

The Annunciation

In the introduction of Jesus Christ to the world it would seem as if all laws of nature were to be suspended, that He Himself might be the crowning miracle of the universe. Even in the birth of His forerunner, God took the case into His own hand in a manner which excited the surprise and provoked the unbelief of servants who were walking in all His own ordinances and commandments blameless. In the birth of Christ law was not only suspended, but treated as if it had never had any existence, showing how easy it would have been for the Almighty to have founded society upon a totally new basis. The value of these miracles is seen as to their scope or purpose most vividly in the life of Jesus Christ. From the very beginning, in itself and in its surroundings it was to be a life distinct from all other existence. The manner in which both Elisabeth and Mary received the communications is precisely that in which the heart receives the tidings of the great salvation. The idea of salvation overpowers all who apprehend it with any distinctness. It would seem as if every soul had to undergo a period of questioning and doubt and wondering before it realizes the ineffable peace and cloudless radiance of perfect trust. The reply which the angel made to Marys question, How shall this be? shows distinctly that there are questions arising out of spiritual revelation which may be put with out violating the Divine purpose of secrecy. Marys point of rest must be ours; wonder was not allayed, nor was difficulty removed, yet the heart was given up to the possession of the Almighty. The gospel is to be received in the same way. Its doctrines will excite surprise and provoke inquiries, and it is possible that the answers to human questioning may but carry the mind to some higher plane of mystery. There it must rest, not in knowledge, but in faith, and the eyes of the heart must be opened when the vision of the understanding is unequal to the light. The whole incident may be used as teaching--

1. That human life is accessible to angelic ministry.

2. That the great surprises of life should be held in check by religious faith, lest they unbalance the mind, and unfit it for ordinary occupations.

3. That the omnipotence of God should be regarded as the solution of all mystery and the guarantee of all safety. (Dr. Parker.)

Mary, the mother of Jesus

1. There has been a large recoil of unbelief from these first chapters of Matthew and Luke. How comes it, many ask, if this be any proper history of facts, that it is made up so largely of poetic material?

(1) First, we must observe, there is a great facility of verse in the Hebrew and Syriac tongues, so that minds but a very little excited almost naturally break into the couplet form of utterance.

(2) Next, the Incarnation itself is an event so conspicuous and glorious, that everybody knowing it ought to be taken by some great mental commotion, lifted by some unwonted inspiration.

(3) Furthermore, I will even dare to aver that the manner of this Incarnation-story is natural, and is cast in a form of the strongest possible self-affirmation. It comes to pass in just the only way conceivable or credible.

2. At this point my subject, which is Mary, the mother of Jesus, takes a most remarkable turn. Suddenly she drops out of improvising, out of song and singing joy, into a very nearly total and dumb silence; giving us to hear no spoken word again, save in a very few syllables, and but twice in her whole after-life. Not by the poverty of her nature that she is silent. Self-retention is the almost infallible token of a strong, deep character.

3. Jesus, a Man of thirty years old, goes to a wedding. And there we are let into a new chapter, at the very hinge of His public life, and the new relation He is to have to His mother. No reprimand, however, in His words to her (Woman, what have I to do with thee?) save under the English idiom.

4. Look now for a moment at the home-basis Mary has provided for Jesus in the prosecution of His ministry. We see His mothers family all engaged for Him and with Him, and even if they do not believe in Him, they will stick fast by Him, we can see, in divinest and most faithful love.

5. Marys behaviour at the cross fitly ends her story. She stood--a word of strong composure. Doubtless she remembers the word of Simeon--Yea, a sword shall pierce through thine own soul also. But there shestands, in the beloved disciples company, holding fast the decencies of sorrow, as if the proprieties of the worlds were upon her. How long after this she lived we do not know. But we could most easily believe that when her mind was opened at the Pentecost, to the meaning of her Sons great mission, she was at once so astounded and exalted by the awful height of her relationship, that her soul took wing in the uplift of her felt affinity with the Highest, and was gone! But we have no such traditions.

6. Her disappearing from us, however, does not bring her story to an end; it only prepares our final appearing to her, on a higher plane of life, where she will most assuredly be the centre of a higher feeling than some of us may have imagined. Probably there was never any created being of all the created worlds put in such honour as this woman, chosen to be the Lords mother; all the more truly our mother, that, from her begins the new-born human race. Hail, thou highly favoured! Blessed art thou among women. (Horace Bushnell, D. D.)

Thou hast found favour,

Mary is not a dispenser of favour, but a recipient of it, with and for the rest of us; the type and germ of the Church. (Rudolf Stier.)

Mary a typical Jewess

Being of royal lineage, Mary undoubtedly cherished in her bosom the traditions of her house with that secret fervour which belongs to enthusiastic natures. Like all Judean women, we are to suppose her intensely national in her feelings. She identified herself with her countrys destiny, lived its life, suffered its sufferings, and waited and prayed for its deliverance and glories. This was a time of her nations deep humiliation. The throne and sceptre had passed from Judah. Conquered, trodden down, and oppressed, the sacred land was under the rule of Pagan Rome; and Herod, the appointed sovereign, was a blaspheming, brutal tyrant, using all his power to humiliate and oppress; and we may imagine Mary as one of the small company of silent mourners, like Simeon, and Anna the prophetess, who pondered the Scriptures and looked for salvation in Israel. (Harriet B. Stowe.)

Mary the flower of a selected race

In part, our conception of the character of Mary may receive light from her nationality. A fine human being is never the product of one generation, but rather the outcome of a growth of ages. Mary was the offspring and flower of a race selected, centuries before, from the finest physical stock of the world; watched, trained, and cultured, by Divine oversight, in accordance with every physical and mental law for the production of sound and vigorous mental and bodily conditions. Her blood came to her in a channel of descent over which the laws of Moses had established such a watchful care--a race where marriage had been made sacred, family life a vital point, and motherhood invested by Divine command with an especial sanctity. As Mary was, in a certain sense, a product of the institutes of Moses, so it is an interesting coincidence that she bore the name of his sister, the first and most honoured of the line of Hebrew prophetesses--Mary being the Latin version of the Hebrew Miriam. She had also, as we read, a sister, the wife of Cleopas, who bore the same name, a custom not infrequent in Jewish families. It is suggested that Miriam, being a sacred name, and held in high traditionary honour, mothers gave it to their daughters, as now in Spain they call them after the Madonna as a sign of good omen. (Harriet B. Stowe.)

Gods presence with His people

How important to have God with us everywhere! The late John Wesley, after a long life of labour and usefulness, concluded his course in perfect peace and holy triumph. A short time before his departure, when a person came into his room he tried to speak to him, but could not. Finding his friend could not understand him; he paused a little, and then with all his remaining strength he cried out, The best of all is, God is with us. And then raising his feeble voice, and lifting up his dying arm in token of victory, he again repeated, The best of all is, God is with us. Paul, when a prisoner, had the presence of God. Turn to 2Ti_4:16-17 : At my first answer no man stood with me, but all men forsook me: I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge. Notwithstanding, the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me. It was a noble saying of his (Rom_8:31): If God be for us, who can be against us? (Henry R. Burton.)

The glory of Mary

No woman that ever lived on the face of the earth has been an object of such wonder, admiration, and worship, as Mary, the mother of our Lord. Around her, poetry, painting, and music have raised clouds of ever-shifting colours, splendid as those around the setting sun. Exalted above earth, she has been shown to us as a goddess, yet a goddess of a type wholly new. She is not Venus, not Minerva, not Ceres, nor Vesta. No goddess of classic antiquity, or of any other mythology, at all resembles that ideal being whom Christian art and poetry presents to us in Mary. Neither is she like all of them united. She differs from them as Christian art differs from classical, wholly and entirely. Other goddesses have been worshipped for beauty, for grace, for wisdom, for power. Mary has been the goddess of poverty and sorrow, of pity and mercy, and as suffering is about the only certain thing in human destiny, she has numbered her adorers in every land, and climate, and nation. In Mary, womanhood, in its highest and tenderest development of the mother, is the object of worship. Motherhood, with large capacities of sorrow, with the memory of bitter sufferings, with sympathies large enough to embrace every anguish of humanity! Such an object of veneration has inconceivable power. (Harriet B. Stowe.)

Calmness of Mary

We see in all this that serious, calm, and balanced nature which was characteristic of Mary. Habitually living in the contemplation of that spirit-world revealed in the Scriptures, it was no very startling thing to her to see an angel standing by her; her thoughts had walked among the angels too long for that, but his enthusiastic words of promise and blessing agitated her soul. (Harriet B. Stowe.)

Absence of self-consciousness

One morning, according to the old legend, as she went to draw water from the spring or well in the green open space at the north-west extremity of the town, the Angel met her with the Salutation. And Mary was troubled at the tidings and the praise. It was the trouble of a beautiful unconsciousness. She had never thought of herself, never asked herself whether she were pure or lovely, did not care what people thought of her, made no effort to appear to the little world of Nazareth other than she was A rare excellence in man or woman, this fair unconsciousness!--rarer than ever now. Our miscalled education, which looks chiefly to this, how a young girl may make a good figure in society, destroys often from the earliest years the beauty of unconsciousness of self. There are many who have never had a real childhood, never been unconscious, who possess already the thoughts and airs of womanhood, and who are applauded as objects to admire, instead of being pitied as victims of an unnatural training. Their manners, conversation, attitudes, are the result of art. Already they tremble, as we do, for the verdict of the world. They grow up and enter into society, and there is either a violent reaction against conventionality, or a paralyzing sensitiveness to opinion, or a dull repose of character all but equivalent to stagnation. We see many who are afraid of saying openly what they think or feel, if it be in opposition to the accredited opinions of the world; we see others who rejoice in shocking opinion for the sake of making themselves remarkable--perhaps the basest form of social vanity, for it gives pain, and does notspring from conviction. Both forms arise from the education which makes the child self-conscious. It is miserable to see how we actually take pains to root out of our children the beauty of the Virgins early life, the beauty of a more Divine life in Christ--the beauty of unconsciousness of self. (Stopford A. Brooke, M. A.)

Marys piety

The Angel does not say, observe, that the favour of God has found her, but that she has found favour with Him, The expression, it is true, may be used in either way, to indicate what God has undertaken to do for her, or what she has obtained by the suit of her gentle, sweet-minded prayers. It is most naturally taken in this latter way; giving us to see how she has been waiting before Him, from her tender girlhood onward, asking of Him grace for a good life, and questioning His oracle as to what she is to do, or to be. She has read the prophets too, as we may judge, and her feeling, like all the religious feeling of her nation, is leavened in this manner, by infinite yearnings for the coming of that wonderful unknown Being called Messiah. And so her opening womanly nature has been stretching itself Messiahward, and configuring itself inwardly to what the unknown Great One is to be. Sighing after Him thus, in the sweet longings of her prayers, she is winning such favour, and becoming inwardly akin to Him in such degree, as elects her to bear the promised Child of the skies, and be set in a properly Divine motherhood before the worlds! Ah, yes, Mary, canst thou believe it? That which the prophets of so many ages drew you into praying for; that which angels in Gods highest and most ancient realms have been peering from above to look into, that for which the fulness of time has now come--that special thing of Gods counsel, supereminent favour, His greatest miracle, His unmatched wonder, His one thing absolute, which lets nothing ever come to pass that can be put into class with it-even that thou hast gotten a call from God to mediate for tim world, bearing it as thy Holy Thing, the fruit of thy sweet and maidenly prayers. (Horace Bushnell, D. D.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Luk 1:26-27. In the sixth month — Namely, after Elisabeth had conceived; the angel Gabriel — The same angel who had been the messenger of such good news to Zacharias; was sent from God unto a city of Galilee — A country which lay “in the most northern part of Palestine, and was bounded on the north by Lebanon and Syria, on the west by Phœnicia, on the south by Samaria, and on the east by Jordan and the sea of Tiberias. Yet, from the gospels it appears, that a part of the country north of the sea and eastward of Jordan was reckoned Galilee: which, therefore, comprehended the possessions of the tribes of Issachar, Zebulon, Naphtali, and Asher. It was divided into Upper and Lower Galilee, whereof the former was called Galilee of the Gentiles, Mat 4:15, because it bordered upon the Gentile nations, and was partly inhabited by them. Of the populousness and fertility of this country see notes on Mat 15:16. Named Nazareth — A small city in the tribe of Zebulon, now reduced to a very low and contemptible condition, Mat 2:23. To a virgin espoused — It was customary among the Jews, for persons that married to contract before witnesses some time before. And as Christ was to be born of a pure virgin, so the wisdom of God ordered it to be of one espoused, that to prevent reproach he might have a reputed father, according to the flesh. To Joseph, of the house of David — Joseph was a descendant of King David, though now in low circumstances. It is of the greatest importance to prove that Christ was lineally descended from David, this being one of the characteristics of the Messiah; but certainly this cannot be inferred from the genealogy of Joseph, because he was only the reputed father of Christ: nor is it necessary to understand the evangelist here as speaking of Joseph’s being of the house of David. His words may be understood differently, as indeed they are read by Dr. Whitby and many others, thus: to a virgin of the house of David, (espoused to a man whose name was Joseph,) and the virgin’s name was Mary. What strengthens this interpretation is, that this and the preceding verse refer wholly to the virgin, who is described by the place of her residence, Nazareth; by her relation to Joseph, being espoused to him; by her lineage and descent, of the house of David; and by her name, Mary.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

§ 4.—SALUTATION OF MARY, Luk_1:26-38.

As the approaching birth of the harbinger before Messiah’s face has been announced, so now follows the full annunciation of the coming Messiah himself. As birth is one of the wonders of nature, so these two births are more wonderful than nature. The first of the two is by an exaltation of nature above nature; the last is a direct over-passing of nature’s laws.

26. In the sixth month—After the annunciation to Zacharias.

Galilee—See note on Mat_4:12.

Named Nazareth—See note on Mat_2:23.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

CRITICAL NOTES

Luk_1:26. The sixth month.—I.e. not of the year: the reference is to the time indicated in Luk_1:24. Nazareth—St. Luke alone informs us that this village was the place of Mary’s residence before the birth of Jesus; from St. Matthew’s narrative we might have inferred that it was Bethlehem. The two Gospels are thus shown to be independent of each other, though there is no contradiction between them. Nazareth was an obscure village; it is not mentioned in the Old Testament, the Talmud, or the writings of Josephus. “This is important in its bearing on the originality of our Lord’s teaching. In Nazareth the only instruction He would receive would be in His own family and in the synagogue; there He would not be under the influence of Grecian culture, nor that of Rabbinical teachers, with whose whole spirit and system His own was most strongly contrasted” (Speaker’s Commentary).

Luk_1:27. Espoused.—Rather, “betrothed,” “contracted”: a ceremony which among many nations has always preceded marriage, and to which great importance has been attached. House of David.—Mary’s own descent from David is nowhere asserted, though it seems to be taken for granted in Luk_1:32; Luk_1:69. The two genealogies are those of Joseph; it is most probable that Joseph and Mary were first cousins, so that her genealogy would be involved in his. Mary.—The same name as Miriam.

Luk_1:28. Highly favoured.—One on whom grace or favour has been conferred. The Lord is with thee.—Perhaps should be, “The Lord be with thee”: a frequent form of salutation in the Old Testament. Blessed art thou among women.—Omitted in the best critical editions; probably taken from Luk_1:42.

Luk_1:31. Jesus.—This is the Greek form of the name Joshua, which means “the salvation of Jehovah,” or “Jehovah the Saviour.” In two passages of the New Testament the name Jesus occurs when the reference is to Joshua: Act_7:45; Heb_4:8.

Luk_1:32. Shall be called.—Shall be publicly recognised as what He really is, the Son of God (2Sa_7:14; Psa_2:7; Psa_89:27). The throne of His father David.—A clear revelation of His Messiahship. The prophecy of the physical descent of the Messiah from David is found in Psa_132:11.

Luk_1:33. There shall be no end.—A universal and supernatural kingdom. Cf. Isa_9:7; Dan_7:14.

Luk_1:34. How.—“The question of Mary expresses, not unbelief, or even doubt, but innocent surprise” (Speaker’s Commentary).

Luk_1:36. Thy cousin Elisabeth.—Rather, “kinswoman”; the exact nature of the relationship is unknown. It does not follow from this that Mary was also of the tribe of Levi; as intermarriage between members of different tribes was allowed, except in the case of heiresses. Reference is made to the pregnancy of Elisabeth as an example of the power of God’s creative word.

Luk_1:37. Nothing.—Rather, “no word.” R.V. “no word of God shall be devoid of power.”

Luk_1:38. Be it unto me.—The words reveal not only obedient submission, but patient, longing expectation.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Luk_1:26-38

A Chosen Vessel and an Angelic Declaration.

I. The chosen vessel of the Divine purpose.—A village maiden, of whose previous history we know almost nothing, has the quiet tenor of her life in the little belated village of Nazareth strangely broken by the appearance of the angel Gabriel. Of the maiden’s birth, parentage, and breeding we are told nothing. An ancient and constant tradition asserts that she was one of the many descendants of David who had sunk into obscurity and penury; and the tradition must be true, if we are to read the title “Son of David,” often given to Jesus, in a literal sense. But we may infer from what we are afterwards told of her that she was

(1) a devout student of the prophetic scriptures, giving to “hiding” and “pondering in her heart” any Divine word of hidden significance, since her Magnificat is a chain of citations from, and allusions to, the Old Testament writings;

(2) that she specially pondered the Messianic prophecies, as if she cherished the hope, in common with all Jewish women, that Jehovah might “condescend to her low estate,” and make her to be mother of the “Son of the Highest,” since she turns all the texts she cites to a Messianic use; and

(3) that she was not simply “just” or “righteous” in the Jewish sense, but one of those pure and saintly souls who are utterly devoted to a Divine life and service. There must have been eminent spiritual preparedness in this “graced” flower of Israel and humanity. For

(4) when she understands the angelic errand and message, and is conscious of all the pain and shame it will bring upon her, even to the loss of her maiden name and honour, she meekly submits herself to the Divine will, saying, “Be it unto me according to Thy word.” Mary asks no sign, like Zacharias. Her question is one of maidenly simplicity. And “supernatural faith, never so taxed in any earth-born one before or after, is rewarded with the promise of the overshadowing Spirit and power of the Highest.”

“Yes, and to her, the beautiful and lowly,

Mary, a maiden, separate from men,

Camest Thou nigh, and didst possess her wholly,

Close to Thy saints, but Thou wast closer then.”

II. The angelic declaration.—The angelic declaration gives the sum of Divine revelation and the Church’s doctrine concerning the person and government of the Redeemer.

1. His pure and perfect humanity is proclaimed. Jesus, the Saviour of men, was to be conceived and born of a human mother, and therefore possessed of every essential element of our nature, including its subjection to infirmity and the possibility of death. He entered into the world a true man.

2. But He—the same Jesus—was to be the “Son of the Highest,” having no father, but God, through the power of the Holy Ghost. “The altar of the Virgin’s womb was touched with fire from heaven.” “Conceived of the Holy Ghost” is an article of faith on a level with “born of the Virgin Mary.” In His eternal generation Son of God, in His human birth Son of man, both names are for ever to belong inseparably to His one person, to be used interchangeably in His own Divine majesty. “He shall be great”; not, like His forerunner, “in the sight of God”—“great” as God’s equal, and head of humanity.

3. The angel adds the substance of Messianic prediction concerning the “increase of His government.” Gabriel’s words are a text waiting for illustration and expansion by a higher than angelic interpreter.

(1) He is the Messiah, seated on the throne of “His father David.” These words descend from heaven to earth—from the “Son of God,” a revealed truth beyond Jewish expectation, to the “Son of David,” the current Messianic hope when Jesus appeared.

(2) He is the Messianic King of an eternal kingdom. The angel does not burden the Virgin’s soul with any announcement of the via dolorosa by which her Son would reach His Messianic throne. He is predicted to rule over the “house of Jacob,” the true spiritual Israel, in a dominion which, unlike the kingdom of visible Israel, is to “have no end.” Beyond this the angel’s commission does not extend. In due time angels will again take up the theme, and fill the world with its echoes.

III. The response of faith.—To such an undreamt-of, sudden, overwhelming call—a call to such a glorious destination, and to such a pinnacle of unearthly and unique greatness—the greatest summons ever sent from heaven to a mortal creature—there is the prompt response of profound and humble obedience: “Be it unto me according to Thy word.” What tides of shame and wonder, fear and rapture, swept through the pure heart of this gentle maiden we cannot even conceive. Betrothed, and standing on the verge of her new life with Joseph, there is in the angel’s presence neither dejection nor exultation. The humble Virgin, after his departure, remains in her sweet humility the same. With perfect readiness of trust she receives her Divine commission, and surrenders herself in lowly meekness to the Divine will.—Cox; Pope.

SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON Luk_1:26-38

Luk_1:26. “A city of Galilee.”—Very different are the circumstances of the two visits of the angel Gabriel to announce the birth of John the Baptist and of Jesus. The first is paid to the priest engaged in sacred duties in the Temple at Jerusalem, the second to an obscure maiden in a humble dwelling in Nazareth. Nazareth, as we know, was held in ill repute by the Jews, and indeed the whole province of Galilee was regarded by them as semi-heathen; yet here it was that one was found whose piety and faith were surpassed by none of whom we read in Holy Scripture—who was counted worthy to be the mother of the Saviour. “This message announced the exaltation of man’s nature above angels (Heb_2:5; Heb_2:9; Heb_2:16); yet an archangel joyfully brings it, and angels celebrate the event (Luk_2:13). There is no envy in heaven” (Wordsworth).

Luk_1:27. “House of David.”—The royal house of Israel, with which were associated the memories of the past glory of the nation, and the hopes of its future greatness, was now in very humble circumstances. Its representative was now a village carpenter; while the throne was occupied by Herod, who was regarded by the majority of the people as an Edomite and a usurper. The contrast between the two illustrates the saying of Solomon, “I have seen servants upon horses, and princes walking as servants upon the earth” (Ecc_10:7). It is interesting to notice that the mother of John the Baptist, and his mother of Jesus, bore names associated with the first high priest of Israel: Elisabeth is the same with Elisheba, the wife of Aaron; Mary the same with Miriam, the sister of Aaron.

Luk_1:28. “The angel came in.”—There seems to have been less to startle Mary in the appearance of the angel to her than in the case of Zacharias. He comes into the house in a natural way; while Zacharias sees him suddenly appear in the sacred precincts of the Temple, from which all were debarred but the priests in the exercise of their office. She seems to have felt more perplexity at the strange salutation that fell on her ears than fear at the presence of the heavenly visitant. There is nothing in the salutation uttered by the angel to justify the offering of anything like worship to the blessed Virgin: she is addressed as one who has received a special blessing from God, which distinguishes her above all ordinary women. The Vulgate rendering, gratiâ plena, is ambiguous; it should rather be gratiâ cumulata. She is not the fountain of grace, but one who has received grace, from God. Doubtless Mary’s daily prayer had been that she might enjoy the favour of God; and now this prayer she learns is fully granted, and, in addition to it, an honour she would never have hoped to possess is bestowed upon her.

Luk_1:29. “She was troubled.”—In her countenance her astonishment and perplexity are expressed. But she remains silent. “She would rather not answer the angel than speak thoughtlessly of what she could not understand” (Bernhardt.)

Luk_1:30. “Fear not.”—So vast is the distance between us as creatures from our Creator, so deep the gulf that sin has dug between us and Him, that not even the holiest men or women can fail to be affected with fear, whenever the feeblest ray of the Divine glory bursts upon them. Yet the purpose of God in the revelation of His mercy through Christ is to abolish this fear. Hence the apostle says, “For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father” (Rom_8:15).

“Found favour.”—It is the condescension and favour of God, and not any merits of her own, which give Mary her distinction. “By these words the angel witnesses that she is on the same level with all other saints. He does not praise her for her piety, but simply because of the great grace of God by which she is chosen to be the mother of His own Son” (Luther).

Luk_1:31. “Thou shalt conceive.”—Now was the prophecy in Isa_7:14 to be fulfilled. And the angel foretells that those other statements given to Israel by messengers from God of Messiah’s universal and unending rule will in like manner find accomplishment. The mind of Mary seems to have been imbued with the scriptures of the Old Testament, as is abundantly indicated by the free use she makes of them in her song of praise. To her knowledge of them the angel now appeals, and her firm faith that God would fulfil all the promises He had made to His people must have strengthened her to believe what was now promised to herself personally.

“Jesus.”—The reason for this name being given is noted in St. Matthew’s Gospel—“for He shall save His people from their sins” (Luk_1:21). It is not a name given by men to Him, after the manner in which grateful nations have bestowed titles of honour upon their deliverers and benefactors, but is given to Him by God. He is our Saviour, not merely because we regard Him as such, but because God has appointed Him to this office: our faith is built not on an earthly but on a heavenly foundation.

Luk_1:32. “He shall be great.”—In these words Gabriel bows before the majesty and power of Jesus—renders to Him that homage which He is to receive from all in heaven and earth. “At the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth” (Php_2:10). He was great in heaven, where all obeyed His will; but He is to acquire additional glory by His life on earth, where He endures the contradiction of sinners against Himself. His humility and shame, His immeasurable patience and love, His submission to sufferings and death, win for Him an even deeper adoration than was rendered to Him before. Not that He really became greater than He was; but that His inherent greatness became more fully manifested by His condescension and love.

“Throne of His father David.”—Jesus is head over all things to His Church. He establishes His gentle sway over the hearts of His people, subduing them to Himself, ruling and defending them, and restraining and conquering all His own and all their enemies.—Foote.

Luk_1:33. “Reign over the house of Jacob.”—But His kingdom is not to be confined to one people. Israel is indeed the centre of His kingdom, but all nations are to become subject to Him. The covenant being made with Abraham and his seed, it was becoming that Christ should belong to the chosen people. But all who manifest the faith of Abraham become his spiritual children, and therefore subjects of Messiah’s kingdom. In this way the barrier that divides Jew from Gentile is virtually broken down, and those who had been afar off are brought nigh. Nor is the prophecy annulled by so many of the Jews having rejected Jesus as the Christ; for their history as a nation is not yet concluded, and there is reason to hope that by repentance and faith they will yet submit themselves to the Saviour (see Rom_9:25).

“For ever.”—A kingdom that would endure for ever had been promised to David (2Sa_7:16). But as long as it was ruled over by men it was not secure against loss and overthrow. It was only when it came into the hands of Christ that it became eternal and unchangeable (Dan_7:14). Nor are the words “for ever” to be taken in any limited sense, as signifying for a great while, or as long as the world endures; but as implying an everlasting rule, to be manifested, indeed, more clearly when this earth shall have passed away.

Luk_1:34. “How shall this be?”—The fact communicated by the angel Mary accepts with implicit faith. It is the manner in which it is to be accomplished that she cannot understand. Her question, therefore, does not manifest unbelief, but a natural wonder as to the method of fulfilment. She indicates her astonishment, and not her distrust. The incredulity of Zacharias on receiving a much less astonishing message is very marked, if we compare it with Mary’s attitude on this occasion. The lowly village maiden shows herself possessed of more faith in God than was found in the priest whose duties brought him into constant relations with God.

Luk_1:35. “The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee.”—Her wonder, not being incredulity, is solved, in so far as the mystery of God’s creative power can be made clear to a finite mind; and a sign, for which she had not asked, is given to strengthen her faith.

“That holy thing.”—We may notice in this phrase an implied distinction between this child and all others. From the first moment of His earthly existence He is holy in Himself. John the Baptist was to be filled with the Holy Ghost from his mother’s womb (Luk_1:15)—from the first he is to be consecrated and set apart for the great work of his life. In this sense he may be said to have been sanctified; while Jesus is one with that God from whom sanctification proceeds.

“The Son of God.”—Not here (as Luk_1:32) in the Messianic sense, nor essentially by the eternal generation, but because the human nature of Christ was the direct and miraculous production of Divine power.—Speaker’s Commentary.

The Mystery of the Incarnation.—The words spoken by the angels in the synoptical evangelists are few and brief. We can almost count the syllables, accorded as if penuriously. In particular we owe to St. Luke those angel-uttered words which form so exquisite a shrine for the dogma of the Incarnation. In the angel’s answer to Mary’s question we have a sentence whose fulness of thought and delicate transparency of expression come to us from the sphere in which the Miracle of miracles was wrought. The whole sentence is packed with thought, and is a Divine mixture of reserve and enthusiasm. It is like a smile of heaven over the glory of the eternal wisdom and love in bringing its most consummate work from the labyrinth of antenatal fatalities through which man passes into the world. It is thus that the purity of an angel speaks to the purity of a virgin. Yet if not a word too much is said for the delicacy of a maiden’s ear, not a word too little is employed to indicate even the physiological process by which the Incarnation was effected. It is the 139th Psalm translated into one of the tongues of heaven. Yet not the less really is the material process summarised which had been so nobly prophesied in the psalm of the Incarnation.—Alexander.

The Office of the Holy Spirit in the Incarnation.—The Holy Spirit was the immediate agent in the immaculate conception of “that holy thing.” Not that He was therefore the Father of the blessed Son, but He was the vehicle of the paternity. Not again that He so acted that the Son as God had nothing to do with the act of the Incarnation. The Son, in Divine will, willed to assume our nature, and so assumed it; but again the blessed Spirit wrought the process whereby the will was carried out.—Moule.

The Beauty of the Narrative of the Annunciation.—I have always felt myself at a loss to say whether the sublimity or the exquisite delicacy of the language here employed is the more to be admired. Calvin seems to have been struck with it, and the best expositors have felt it.—Brown.

The Spirit in the Son of Man.

I. The early beginnings of this wonderful life were implanted in the virgin mother by an act of the Holy Ghost.—In the annunciation to Mary not only is the supernatural conception declared, but the part of the Spirit in that mystery, about which it is almost impossible to speak, is defined and emphasised. Before the first stage of organic development had dawned He so wrought and ruled that the life fostered in this unique mother was protected against all the frailties of an earthly lineage, and made fit to blend with that Divine consciousness now or hereafter to be infused into it. The Spirit antedated the conception, and was present not as a competing but as a creative and dominating force in life. So richly was the Spirit given to Christ, that His holy influences were pulsing in those rudimentary stages of life which precede all signs of consciousness and moral responsibility.

II. The part of the Spirit in the conception (as well as in all the after-work of Jesus Christ) seems to suggest that independence of persons in the holy and blessed Trinity, about which we know so little, but which clearly preceded all the economies of human redemption. These sacred names of Father, Son, and Spirit do not represent merely latent potentialities in the Divine nature waiting for some crisis in human history before they can awake to consciousness and effective operation. In the eternal Godhead there was a co-relation of life scarcely suggested by the parallels of our rigidly defined human personalities. And the action of the Spirit in the miraculous dawn of Christ’s earthly life was the continuation of an influence which penetrated His consciousness and benignly wrought there prior to the Incarnation.—Selby.

Luk_1:36. “Thy cousin Elisabeth.”—The sign given was one of a kind to encourage the faith of Mary in the message of the angel. The creative power of God had been exercised in the case of Elisabeth. Neither her barrenness nor her old age could nullify the promise which had been made her of a son. In the gift of a sign where no sign was asked, we have an example of God’s constant procedure. Each day we live we receive fresh testimonies of His goodness by which our faith may be confirmed. The mercy and favour which others receive from Him should enable us to trust all the more firmly in Him at those times when we cannot understand His dealings with ourselves. Notice, “thy cousin Elisabeth.” The relationship to Mary, and the name she bore, are mentioned as known to God. There is something wonderful and affecting in this fact, though, after believing that God is omniscient, evidence of His being so may not seem remarkable. But the truth is, that we cannot realise what is meant by omniscience, and therefore find special knowledge of the kind here surprising.

Luk_1:37. “No word of God shall be devoid of power.”—Nothing that God promises is He unable to perform: all that He says He does. “This affirms not only God’s almightiness, but even more fully His absolute faithfulness to His promises, the thought most necessary to Mary. The denial of what is miraculous is the denial both of almightiness and faithfulness” (Schaff).

Luk_1:38. The Humility and Faith of Mary.—As David (2Sa_7:28), so does David’s daughter sink down in child-like humility and faith into the hands of her God, and let His will be her will. It is well for us that the Lord thus found on earth a believing heart, devoted to God, otherwise He could never have become man. “She was no unconscious vessel of the Divine will, but, in humility and faith, a fellow-worker with the purpose of the Father; and therefore her own unity with that purpose was required, and is here recorded” (Alford). Mary has restored woman to honour: the faithlessness of Eve brought us to sin and death; the faith of Mary brought us a Saviour from sin and death. “The heart of Mary is now filled with the Holy Spirit, who can also prepare her body to be the temple of the God-man” (Lange). “The holy Virgin came to her great perfection and height of piety by a few, and those modest and unattractive, exercises and actions. St. Paul travelled over the world; preached to the Gentiles and disputed against the Jews; wrote epistles; suffered dangers, injuries, affronts, and persecutions to the height of wonder; whereby he won for himself a crown. But the holy Virgin attained perfection by the means of a quiet and silent piety—by internal actions of love, devotion, and contemplation; and instructs us that the silent affections, the splendours of an internal devotion, the union of love, humility, and obedience, the daily offices of prayer and praises sung to God, acts of faith and fear, of patience and meekness, of hope and reverence, repentance and charity, and those graces which walk in a veil and silence, make great ascents to God, and as sure progress to favour and a crown, as the more ostentatious and laborious exercises of a more public religion” (Taylor).

Complete Consecration of the Being to God.—“And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to Thy word.” So much is said in the word of God concerning the depravity of the human heart, and so familiar is the fact to us from what we know of ourselves, that it strikes us with wonder and admiration when we come across a record of a human life in which we can find no outstanding blemish. Acts of heroic faith, and instances of remarkable integrity in circumstances of temptation, are numerous in the sacred record, but there are only very few examples of persons who have, all through the history that is given of them, lived before God in all good conscience. The Virgin Mary is one of these exceptional cases. And we cannot doubt but that piety like hers is the highest and purest service that can be rendered to God. The devotion that prompts to heroic deeds at great crises in the life, or in special circumstances of trial and difficulty, is admirable; but that which leads to quiet, unostentatious obedience to God, in the unromantic circumstances of every-day life, is surely superior to it, as it is far more difficult to cultivate and maintain. Several points in the history before us are worthy of notice.

I. Though the faith of the Virgin was so mature and strong, there can be no doubt but that she was young in years. The piety of the young, when it is spontaneous and deep, has a charm and freshness all its own. Beautiful as is the sight of the prodigal turning from his errors and vices to a life of holiness, a still more attractive charm is associated with the goodness of those who have never strayed from God—whose memories are not sullied with the records of a guilty past, and whose energies have not been wasted in the service of evil. Nor is there any reason in the nature of things why piety like that of the Virgin should not be the rule instead of the exception. For devotion to God, and holy obedience, are not a yoke of bondage, which we can only accustom ourselves to bear by long and laborious effort: they are the very conditions of our present peace and happiness.

II. The qualities of mind and heart displayed by the Virgin—her innocence, integrity, simplicity, humility, and obedience—prepared her for playing her part well in the new circumstances in which she found herself. She could not have anticipated the possibility of receiving such a message. For though in the Old Testament Scriptures it had been predicted that Christ would be born of a virgin, the prophecy was veiled and obscure, and it was not until the angel brought this message that the mystery was fully disclosed. But her consecration of herself to God in the ordinary circumstances of daily life enabled her to meet this sudden call upon her faith, and to rise to a high degree of heroic self-devotion in this new emergency in which she found herself. A great lesson is suggested to us all in this fact. How we shall act in some sudden crisis of life is predetermined for us by our habitual conduct, and by the character we build up in quiet times, when there is no strain upon us, and we are simply face to face with plain, every-day duties. The sudden emergency is the test by which the strength or weakness of our characters is brought to light. If, therefore, we wish to be prepared act nobly in special circumstances of trial and difficulty, the only wise course we can take is to do the duties that meet us now in a spirit of uprightness and of humble reliance upon God.

III. The spirit of true self-consecration shines out in the words, “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to Thy word.” It is not merely that of passive resignation, in which the human will is completely subordinated to the Divine will; but there is also a desire to carry out the Divine will. We are often resigned because we cannot help ourselves. But a higher resignation is that which leads us to yield ourselves to God in the full confidence that He knows what is best for us, and with the strong but humble desire to co-operate with Him in the promotion of His great designs.

“Be it unto me according to Thy word.”—Almost the very first word which Scripture records of the mother of our Lord is a word of piety—a word of sweet maiden piety. It is a reverent assent to a Divine revelation, and complete submission to a conviction which has entered her soul as a message from heaven, setting her apart to a consecrated life. The spirit of this noble expression of piety is not too powerful at the present day.—Roberts.

The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.

B. Annunciation of the Birth of the Messiah. Luk_1:26-38

(The Gospel for the day of the Annunciation of Mary.)

26And in the sixth month17 the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee,named Nazareth, 27To a virgin espoused [betrothed] to a man, whose name wasJoseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. 28And the angel [he]18 came in unto [to] her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured [thou highly favoured!κεχαριτωμένη],19 the Lord is [be] with thee: blessed art thou among women.20 29And when she saw him,21 she was troubled at his [the] saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should [might] be. 30And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. 31And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call His name JESUS. 32He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of His father David: 33And He shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of His kingdom there shall be no end.

34Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? 35And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee; therefore also that holy thing, which shall be born of thee,22 shall be called the Son of God. 36And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was [is] called barren. 37For with God nothing shall be impossible.38And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Luk_1:26. Nazareth.—See remarks on Mat_2:23.

Luk_1:27. To a virgin.—Joseph is the most prominent person in Matthew’s narrative of events preceding the birth of Christ, Mary in Luke’s; an indication that in all probability she was, whether mediately or immediately, the source whence he derived the account of these facts. (Comp. Act_21:17.)

Of the house of David.—These words, relating solely to Joseph, show that he was also of the blood-royal. That they by no means deny the descent of Mary from David, will appear hereafter.

Luk_1:28. And [the angel] came in unto her.—Here is no mere apparition of an angel in a dream, as to Joseph; but a visit in open day, although, of course, in a quiet hour of retirement, as more befitting and satisfactory under the circumstances.—The words, the angel, although wanting in the best manuscripts, is intended. The substitution of any human being is inadmissible.

Highly favored.—It is apparent from Luk_1:30 that this is not spoken of the external beauty of Mary, but of the favor or grace she had found in God’s sight. The same epithet is bestowed upon all believers, Eph_1:6, orig.

[The greeting of the angel in Luk_1:28 is called the Angelic Salutation or Ave Maria, and forms the first part of the famous Roman Catholic prayer to the Virgin Mary:

“Hail, Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.”

The second part of this prayer is taken from the address of Elisabeth to Mary, Luk_1:42 :

“Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.”

To this was added, in the beginning of the sixteenth century (1508), a third part, which contains the objectionable invocation of the Virgin:

“Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.”

The concluding words, however, nunc et in hora mortis, are a still later addition of the Franciscans. Even the first two parts of the Ave Maria were not used as a standing form of prayer before the thirteenth century.—P. S.]

Luk_1:29. She cast in her mind.—A proof of her serenity and presence of mind at a critical hour. How different were Zachariah, and many before him!

Luk_1:32. Shall be called;—i.e., not only shall be, but shall one day be publicly recognized as what He really is.

The Son of the Highest.—This name seems here used by the angel, not in a metaphysical, but a theocratic sense. It points to the anointed King, so long foretold by the prophets, and to whom the words, 2Sa_7:14; Psa_2:7; Psa_89:28, so fully applied. Very deserving our consideration is the following observation of O. von Gerlach: “It is worthy of remark, that the proper divinity of her son was not definitely revealed to Mary: otherwise, neither she nor Joseph could have been in a position to bring up the child; for the submission, which was a necessary condition of His humanity, would have been submission only in appearance. But this promise, while it by no means abolished the parental relationship, would yet direct the reverential attention of the parents toward the child. From the very beginning of our Lord’s incarnation, we see that the knowledge of His divinity was not to be communicated in an external and awe-inspiring manner, but to be gradually manifested by His humanity and His work of redemption.”—For Mary, who was so intimately acquainted with the Old Testament, this prophecy would contain the essence of the most remarkable Messianic promises: 2 Samuel 7; Isaiah 9; Micah 5, etc.

Luk_1:33. Over the house of Jacob.—The announcement of His universal spiritual reign would have been, at this time, even more incomprehensible to Mary. It lies hidden, however, in the promise: “Of His kingdom there shall be no end.” We must not regard these words of the angel as an accommodation merely to the exclusively Jewish expectations then prevailing, concerning the kingdom of Messiah. Salvation is really of the Jews, and will one day return to Israel.

Luk_1:34. How shall this be? etc.—A natural objection, and a question as much allowed by the angel, as that of Zachariah (Luk_1:18) was arbitrary and blamable. Comp. Num_31:17; Jdg_11:39; Mat_1:18.

Luk_1:35. The Holy Ghost—the power of the Highest.—The parallel between these two expressions, exacts that the one should be interpreted by the other; and their mutual light teaches, that the Holy Spirit has verily a life-producing power, but by no means, that He is only power, without personality.

Shall come upon thee—shall overshadow thee.—Again two phrases reflecting light upon each other. Both point to the supernatural operation of the Holy Spirit, in bringing to pass that which ordinarily occurs only through conjugal intercourse. The word ἐπισκιάσει can no more be understood to denote a special divine protection (Kuinoel), than a cohabitation (Paulus, the rationalist).

Therefore also.—His miraculous birth is here spoken of as the natural, but by no means the only reason, why He, who had no human father, should receive the name of the Son of God.

Luk_1:36. Thy cousin, or: kinswoman (ἡ συγγενής σον).—It does not quite appear what was the relationship between Mary and Elisabeth, the daughter of Aaron (Luk_1:5). This relationship, however, whatever it might be, proves nothing against Mary’s descent from David, as different tribes might be united by marriage. (Num_36:6 offers no difficulty, as it relates only to heiresses, whose family was in danger of becoming extinct.) There is, therefore, no reason to conclude that Mary, by reason of her relationship to Elisabeth, was of the tribe of Levi (as in the Testam. XII Patriarcharum, p. 542, and Schleiermacher’s Lukas, p. 26).

Luk_1:37. . With God nothing shall be impossible.—Nothing, i.e., no word (ῥῆμα) of promise. A powerful support for Mary’s faith, who might infer from the mirabile the possibility of the miraculum. It is at the same time the last, and indeed the only sufficient, answer to the horror of the miraculous, which characterizes modern criticism.

Luk_1:38. Be it unto me.—Not only the utterance of obedient submission, but also of patient, longing expectation. The heart of Mary is now filled with the Holy Spirit, who can also prepare her body to be the temple of the God-Man.

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. Concerning the person of Mary, her youth, and legends of her after history, see Winer in voce “Mary.” The beauty of her character, as “the handmaid of the Lord,” and the chosen instrument of the Holy Spirit, strikes us at the first glimpse at her. (A. H. Niemeyer gives a short but beautiful description of her, in his Characteristik der Bibel, i. pp. 40–42.)

2. Two views, which have obtained in the Christian world, concerning the person and character of Mary, are condemned by these early pages of Luke’s Gospel. The first is that of the Roman and Greek Church, which transforms the handmaid of the Lord into the queen of heaven; the mother of Jesus into the mother of God; the redeemed sinner into the mediatrix and intercessor. The other is that of Rationalismus vulgaris, which deprives the humble bride of the carpenter of the chastity and purity which were her richest dowry, and necessarily rejects the miracle of the supernatural birth; there being no reason for concluding that Jesus was the son of Joseph. The first idea was chiefly supported by the apocryphal Gospels, which surrounded the head of her, upon whom the light of the divine favor had indeed richly fallen, by a halo of celestial glory. Its result was an almost heathen apotheosis of the virgin-mother, producing all the follies of an unlimited Mariolatry. The second notion was first conceived in the brain of the heathen Celsus, who derides the mother of Jesus, as the victim of seduction; while the Jewish version of this fable names one Panthera or Pandira as her seducer. To the shame of Christendom, we have seen this blasphemy revived, in various forms, in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries (Bahrdt, and, in some degree, Paulus and others). Its own intrinsic beauty, truth, and sublimity commend the Gospel narrative, in opposition to both these products of a diseased imagination.

3. With respect to the descent of Mary from David, it is undeniable that the words, ἐξ οἴκου Δαβίδ, Luk_1:27, refer exclusively to Joseph; yet they by no means assert, that our Lord did not descend from David on His mother’s side. We shall soon see that Luke 3. presents us with the genealogy of Mary, as Matthew 1. does with that of Joseph. The angel, too, who announces to her that she shall conceive a son, through the power of the Holy Spirit, could not possibly have added: “The Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of His father David,” had not Mary herself been a daughter of David. Her song of praise, also, clearly shows what expectations she cherished for the house of David, and can only be fully understood, psychologically, when it is regarded as uttered by the daughter of a royal house, who, though that house was then in the depths of degradation, was yet looking forward to the elevation of the rightful dynasty, and the abasement of the foreign tyrant who then usurped the throne. The Magnificat (as Mary’s Psalm is called) is as unambiguous a proof of Mary’s royal descent as the genealogy, Luke 3.

4. The miraculous conception of our Lord, by the power of the Holy Spirit, is related by Luke, as a fact which cannot be doubted, and leaves no room for the hypothesis that we have here a myth or legend. It has often been said, but never proved, that the Jews of those days were expecting that Messiah would be born of a virgin, in some miraculous manner; but even then, it would not follow that the narrative was composed merely in obedience to the dictates of such an expectation. The analogy of certain heathen theogonies may perhaps prove the possibility of inventing such a narrative, in a polytheistic or pantheistic sense; but its reality, in a Christian and theistic sense, can by no means be thus accounted for. A comparison with the accounts in certain apocryphal Gospels on this point speaks more for, than against, the historical fidelity of Luke. Our Lord Himself, indeed, so far as we know, never spoke of this miracle; but His silence may be satisfactorily accounted for. His mother’s honor, the nature of the circumstance, the enmity of the Jews, all forbade Him to bring to light a mystery, for the truth of which He had only His own or Mary’s word to offer. Nor need it astonish us, that His contemporaries speak of Him as the son of Joseph (Joh_1:45); nor that Mary, speaking of her husband to Jesus, then twelve years of age, should say, “Thy father” (Luk_2:48); nor, least of all, that His brothers should not believe in Him (Joh_7:5); for, from all in the domestic circle, except Mary and Joseph, the affair was concealed with profound secrecy. We have already seen that Matthew also speaks of a miraculous birth; while Mark passes over in silence the history of Christ previous to His entry upon His public ministry, although he presents the person of our Lord in so divine a light, as naturally to lead to the supposition of His heavenly origin. John is also silent on the subject, though, in his description of the children of God, as born οὐκ ἐξ αἱμάτων, οὐδὲ ἐκ θελήματος σαρκὸς, οὐδὲ ἐκ θελήματος ἀνδρός, immediately before the words, ὁ λόγος σὰρξ ἐγένετο, there seems contained a latent reminiscence of what he must have undoubtedly heard from Mary during his long and intimate intercourse with her. For if he says, that “that which is born of the flesh is flesh,” and that the λόγος δς ἦν ἐν ἀρχῇ πρὸς τὸν Θεόν, became flesh, we must, according to this Evangelist also, believe that this took place in some other way than through the θέλημα σαρκός. Nevertheless, though the conception by the power of the Holy Spirit may be deduced from his doctrine concerning the Logos, he certainly does not expressly declare it. Paul also contents himself with the general statement, that the Lord was born of a woman, and of the seed of David (Rom_1:4; Gal_4:4); and it seems clear that this miracle, though an indispensable element of gospel history, did not originally belong to the apostolic κήρυγμα, which, according to Act_1:21, began with the baptism of John.

5. This does not, however, interfere with the fact, that the miraculous conception stands on a firm historical foundation, and is of great dogmatic importance. For the first assertion, they who deny it, a priori, as absolutely impossible, deserve no other answer than: πλανᾶσθε μὴ εἰδότες τὰς γραφὰς μηδὲ τὴν δύναμιν τοῦ Θεοῦ [Mat_22:29]. Yet, far rather than say, with a modern theologian (Karl Hase), that “birth of a virgin cannot be proved to be impossible,” would we comfort ourselves with the words of the angel [to Mary, Luk_1:37]: ὅτι οὐκ ἀδυνατήσει παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ πᾶν ῥῆμα. The laws of nature are not chains, wherewith the Supreme Lawgiver has bound Himself; but cords, which He holds in His own hand, and which He can lengthen or shorten as His good pleasure and wisdom dictate. And surely, in the present case, an end worthy of divine interference justified the deviation. When the Eternal Word was, in “the fulness of the time,” to take upon Him the form of a servant, the new member could only be introduced into the human series in an extraordinary manner. He, who was in the beginning with God, and who came of His own will to sojourn in this our world, could hardly enter it as one of ourselves would. He, who was the light and life of men, must surely see the light of day, not by carnal procreation, but by an immediate exercise of omnipotent power. Besides, how could He be free from every taint of original sin, and redeem us from the power of sin, if He had been born by the fleshly intercourse of sinful parents? The strong and healthy graft which was to bring new life into the diseased stock, must not originate from this stock, but be grafted into it from without. To deduce hence the need also of an immaculata conceptio, in the case of Mary, would be to lose sight of the fact, that we do not lay the chief stress upon the article “natus e virgine M.,” but upon the preceding “conceptus e Sp. S.” From the moment of our Lord’s conception, the Holy Spirit certainly continued to influence and penetrate the mind and spirit of Mary, to suppress the power of sin, and to make her body His consecrated temple. If it be said (by Schleiermacher) that Christian consciousness is perfectly satisfied by accepting the fact, that God removed from the normal development of the Son of Man all the pernicious influences and consequences attending an ordinary human birth, the question here is not, What can the Christian consciousness of an individual bear? but, What saith the Scripture? We believe, on the authority of Luke, who took all pains and had the best means of reliable information (comp. Luk_1:1-4), that the power of the Holy Spirit overshadowed Mary in a mysterious manner. The moment of conception is simply hinted at by the words, “Behold the handmaid of the Lord,” and seems to coincide with the departure of the angel.23 Moreover, the true humanity of the Son of Man is by no means abolished, but rather explained by this miracle; for was Adam no real man, because he also, in a physical view, was a υἱὸς Θεοῦ? In short, the miraculous conception is a σκάνδαλον to those alone who will see in our Lord nothing more than His pure humanity, and who put the sinlessness of the perfect man Christ Jesus in the place of the real incarnation of God in Him. To us, who believe in the latter, His miraculous conception is the natural consequence of His superhuman dignity, the basis of His normal development, and a symbol of the ἄνωθεν γεννηθῆναι, which must take place in every member of the kingdom of God. Compare J. J. van Oosterzee: Disputatio Theologica de Jesu e virgine Maria nato. Traj. ad Rh. 1840.

6. The conception of the Son of God, by the Holy Spirit, is the beginning of the intimate union between the λόγος ἔνσαρκος and the πνεῦμα οὐκ ἐκμέτρου, Joh_3:34. Thirty years later, the Spirit descended upon Him in a bodily shape; and after He was glorified, He sent the Spirit upon all that believed on Him. The same Spirit who formed the body of Christ, forms also the corpus Christi mysticum, the Church.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

The calm, unostentatious entrance of the Divine into the world of man.—God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty.—The true veneration of Mary: 1. Exhibited; 2. justified; 3. carried out.—The present worship of Mary [in the Roman and Greek Churches] judged before the tribunal of Gabriel: 1. Mary is called by him, highly favored; by her worshippers, the dispenser of favors; 2. by him, blessed among women; by them, raised above women; 3. by him, the handmaid of the Lord, a sinful daughter of Adam; by them, the Queen of angels [and saints]; 4. in his eyes, a sinful daughter of Adam [nowhere exempt in the Bible from the general depravity of Adam’s posterity]; now [according to the papal dogma proclaimed in 1854], conceived without sin (immaculate concepta).—Mary a type of faith; in her just astonishment, natural fear, gentle boldness, quiet reflection, and unlimited obedience.—The blessed among women: 1. Poor, yet rich; 2. “troubled,” yet meditative; 3. proud as a virgin, yet obedient as a wife; 4. first doubtful, then believing.—The angelic appearances to Zachariah and Mary compared.—Jesus a gracious gift: 1. To Mary; 2. to Israel; 3. to the world.—The greatness of Jesus, and the greatness of John, compared (Luk_1:15; Luk_1:32): 1. Jesus greater than John in Himself; 2. a greater gift of God; 3. therefore worthy of our greater appreciation.—The throne of David: 1. Raised up after deep abasement; 2. raised up amongst Israel; 3. raised up amongst us; 4. raised up to fall no more.—The question: “How shall this be?” may be asked: 1. In a sense lawful for man, and reverential toward God; or 2. in a sense unlawful for man, and dishonoring God.—The operation of the Holy Spirit in creation (Gen_1:2), and in redemption or the new creation (Luk_1:35), compared: 1. In both, a long and silent preparation; 2. in both, a life-giving and fructifying operation; 3. in both, a new world created.—The support which those, who are “highly favored,” find from contemplating others also highly favored: This support perfectly lawful, often indispensable, always limited, and the highest, and often the only, support of faith, in a power to which nothing is impossible.—With God nothing shall be impossible, an answer by which: 1. Unbelief is put to shame; 2. weak faith strengthened; 3. and faith excited to thankful adoration and unlimited obedience.—Behold the handmaid of the Lord! 1. Her hidden conflict; 2. her complete victory; 3. her full reward; 4. her happy peace.—The messenger of Heaven and the child of earth united, to perform the counsel and good pleasure of God.—The greatest miracle in the world’s history, encompassed with the thickest veil of obscurity.

Starke:—God knows where to find His children, however hidden they may be (2Ti_2:19).—God is wont to bestow His favors in times of quiet and retirement, Isa. 30:50.—All believers are the “blessed” of the Lord (Eph_1:3).—The holier, the humbler.—The “troubles” of holy minds always end in comfort.—The members of Christ’s kingdom have in Him an everlasting King, an everlasting support, and an everlasting joy.—Let even thy nearest and dearest forsake thee, so thou make sure the Lord Jesus be with thee, and abide in thee.

Heubner:—Mary and Eve: their similarity and dissimilarity, their relation to the human race.—Mary the happiest, but also the most sorely tried, of women.—Christians born of the house of Jacob, according to the Spirit.—Humility the best frame of mind for the reception of grace.—Our birth is also a work of God.—The miraculous birth of Jesus, a glorification of the whole human race.

Wallin:—The angel’s salutation of Mary may be applied to Christians in all the holy seasons of life: baptism, confirmation, the time of chastening, the day of death.

Fr. Arndt:—How does the time of regeneration begin in the world, and in the heart? By an announcement of the grace of God, which is: 1. Heard in humility; 2. received with patience and entire self-resignation.

Van Oosterzee [in sermons previously published]:—Mary the handmaid of the Lord. This saying the inscription of the history of Mary, as maid, wife, and widow.—Her character presents a rare combination of: 1. Genuine humility, with joyful faith; 2. of quiet resignation, with active zeal; 3. of faithful love, with unwavering heroism.—That the Word was made flesh, is: 1. An undoubted fact; this proved by: (a) the life, (b) the words, (c) the works of the Lord; 2. an unfathomable miracle; (a) the unprecedented, (b) the intimate, (c) the voluntary, nature of the union of the Divine Word with flesh; 3. an ever-memorable benefit; for this incarnation is: (a) the glory, (b) the light, (c) the life of mankind. To conclude, the questions: Do you believe in the fact? adore the miracle? highly esteem the benefit?

Footnotes:

[17]Luk_1:26.—“In the sixth month,” i.e., of the pregnancy of Elisabeth.

[18]Luk_1:28.—The ὁ ἄγγελος of the text. rec., though sustained by Codd. A., C., D., and the Latin Vulgate (angelus), is omitted by the Vatican and other uncial Codd. and thrown out by Tischendorf and Alford, but retained by Lachmann, and Tregelles who includes it in brackets. The Sinaitic MS. comes to its aid, and reads: προς αυτην ο αγγελος ειπεν (the text. rec. places ἄγγελος before αὐτήν, so also Lachmann and Tregelles). It is easier to account for its insertion than for its omission.

[19]Luk_1:28.—Highly favored, Begnadigte (Luther less literally: Holdselige), is the proper translation of the passive participle κεχαριτωμένη, and not full of grace, gratia plena, gnadenvolle, as the Latin Vulgate and the Romish versions render it in the service of Mariolatry. Alford: “Though χαριτόω is not found in classical writers, the analogy of all verbs in -όω must rule it to mean, the passing of the action implied in the radical substantive [χάρις] on the object of the verb—the conferring of grace or favor upon.” The word occurs besides here once in the N. T., viz., Eph_1:6 : τῆς χάριτος αὐτοῦ, ἐν ᾗ ἐχαρίτωσεν ἡμᾶς ἐν τῷ ἠγαπημένῷ, which the Vulgate renders: “in qua gratificavit nos,” etc., the E. V.: “wherein he hath made us accepted,” lit.: has graced us.

[20]Luk_1:28.—The words of the text. rec., εὐλογημένη σὺ ἐν γυναιξίν, blessed thou among women, are generally regarded as a later insertion from Luk_1:42, and thrown out of the text by the recent critical editors. Tregelles retains the words, but in brackets. Cod. Sinait. likewise omits them. The original reading of the angelic salutation then is simply: “Hail, highly favoured one, the Lord [be] with you!” The reading here in connection with the proper translation of κεχαριτωμένη has some bearing upon the question of the worship of Mary.

[21]Luk_1:29.—The word ἰδοῦσα, when she saw him, for which the Vulgate reads cum audisset, is wanting in Codd. Sin., Vatican., and other ancient authorities, and thrown out of the text by Griesbach, Tischendorf, Alford, and Tregelles, while Lachmann retains it. The correct reading is: η̊ σὲ ἐπὶ τῷ λόγῳ διεταράχθη, and she was troubled at the saying. Meyer, and after him Alford, suppose that the original mistake was, passing from ΔΕ to ΔΙΕαράχθη (hence Cod. D. reads only the verb. simplex), which gave rise to the glosses, transpositions, and reinsertions of ἐπὶ τῷ λόγῳ.

[22]Luk_1:35.—Or: The Holy One that is born, τὸ γεννώμενον ἅγιον; Vulgate: quod nascetur (other Latin authorities: nascitrur) sanctum. The particularizing addition, ἐκ σου, ex te, of thee, of the received text, is without sufficient authority and thrown out or put in brackets by the critical editors.—P. S.]

[23][Older divines generally date the supernatural conception from the words of the angel, Luk_1:35, which were the medium of the mysterious operation of the Holy Spirit.—P. S.]

Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1:26 Nazareth, a village in Galilee, was an insignificant, disreputable little village southwest of the Sea of Galilee (see John 1:46).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Luk_1:26-27. Τῷ ἕκτῳ] see Luk_1:24.

Ναζαρέτ] According to Matthew, Bethlehem was the dwelling-place of Joseph and Mary. See on Mat_2:23, Remark, and Schleiermacher, L. J. p. 51 ff.

ἐξ οἴκου Δαυίδ] applies not to Mary and Joseph (Chrysostom, Theophylact, Euthymius Zigabenus, Beza, Calovius, and others, including Wieseler in the Stud. u. Krit. 1845, p. 395), but merely to the latter, Luk_2:4, Luk_3:23 ff. The descent of Mary from David cannot at all be proved in the N. T. See on Mat_1:17, Remark 2. Comp. on Luk_1:36; Luk_2:4 f.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Luk 1:26-38 . The announcement to Mary .

Luk 1:26 . Ναζαρέτ : the original home of Joseph and Mary, not merely the adopted home as we might infer from Mat 2:23 .

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

26-38. The Annunciation of the Birth of the Saviour.1

The birth of the Baptist is parallel to the birth of Isaac; that of the Messiah to the creation of Adam. Jesus is the second Adam. But once more there is no violent breach with the past. Even in its revolutions Providence is conservative. Just as the Prophet who is to renovate Israel is taken from the old priesthood, so the Christ who is to redeem the human race is not created out of nothing, but “born of a woman.”

26. εἰς πόλιν τῆς Γαλιλαίας ᾗ ὄνομα Ναζαρέτ. The description perhaps implies that Lk. is writing for those who are not familiar with the geography of Palestine. There is no reason for believing that he himself was unfamiliar with it. Comp. ver. 39, 4:31, 7:11, 8:26, 9:10, 17:11, 19:29, 37, 41.

Galilee is one of many geographical names which have gradually extended their range. It was originally a little “circuit” of territory round Kadesh Naphtali containing the towns given by Solomon to Hiram (1Ki 9:11). This was called the “circuit of the Gentiles,” because the inhabitants were strangers (1 Mac. 5:15, Γαλ. ἀλλοφύλων). But it grew, until in the time of Christ it included the territory. of Naphtali, Asher, Zebulon, and Issachar (D. B.2 1. p. 1117). For a description of this region see Jos. B. J. 3:3. 1-3. Nazareth is mentioned neither in O.T. nor in Josephus, but it was probably not a new town in our Lord’s time. The site is an attractive one, in a basin among the south ridges of Lebanon. The sheltered valley is very fruitful, and abounds in flowers. From the hill behind the town the view over Lebanon, Hermon, Carmel, the Mediterranean, Gilead, Tabor, Gilboa, the plain of Esdraelon, and the mountains of Samaria, is very celebrated (Renan, Vie de J. p. 27). It would seem as if Mt. (2:23) was not aware that Nazareth was the original home of Joseph and Mary.

The form of the name of the town varies much, between Nazareth, Nazaret, Nazara, and Nazarath. Keim has twice contended strongly for Nazara (J. of Naz., Eng. tr. 2. p. 16, 4. p. 108) ; but he has not persuaded many of the correctness of his conclusions. WH. consider that “the evidence when tabulated presents little ambiguity” (2. App. p. 160). Ναζαράθ is found frequently (eight out of eleven times) in Codex Δ, but hardly anywhere else. Ναζαρά is used once by Mt. (4:13), and perhaps once by Lk. (4:16). Ναζαρέθ occurs once in Mt. (21:11) and once in Acts (10:38). Everywhere else (Mat 2:23; Mar 1:9; Luk 1:26, Luk 1:2:4, Luk 1:39, Luk 1:51; Joh 1:46, Joh 1:47) we have certainly or probably Ναζαρέτ. Thus Mt. uses the three possible, forms equally; Lk. all three with a decided preference for Nazaret ; while Mk. and Jn. use Nazaret only. This appears to be fairly conclusive for Nazaret. Yet Scrivener holds that “regarding the orthography of this word no reasonable certainty is to be attained” (Int. to Crit. of N.T. 2. p. 316); and Alford seems to be of a similar opinion (1. Prolegom. p. 97). Weiss thinks that Nazara may have been the original form, but that it had already become unusual when the Gospels were written. The modern town is called En Nazirah, and is shunned by Jews. Its population of 5000 is mainly Christian, with a few Mabometans.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Second Narrative: Announcement of the Birth of Jesus, Luk 1:26-38

The birth of John the Baptist, like that of Isaac, was due to a higher power; but it did not certainly transcend the limits of the natural order. It is otherwise with the birth of Jesus; it has the character of a creative act. In importance it constitutes the counterpart, not of the birth of Isaac, but of the appearance of the first man; Jesus is the second Adam. This birth is the beginning of the world to come. If this character of the appearance of Jesus be denied, the whole of the subsequent narrative remains unintelligible and inadmissible. Directly it is conceded, all the rest accords with it.

But the creative character of this birth does not destroy the connection between the old and the new era. We have just seen how, in the birth of the greatest representative of the old covenant, God remained faithful to the theocratic past, by making the Israelitish priesthood the cradle of this child. He acts in the same way when the Head of renewed humanity, the Lord of the world to come, is to make His appearance; He causes Him to come forth as a scion from the stock of the ancient royalty of Israel. Further, God has respect in this work to the conditions of the human past generally. While creating in Him a new humanity, He is careful to preserve the link which unites Him to the ancient humanity. Just as in the first creation He did not create man’s body out of nothing, but formed it out of the dust of the already existing earth, of which Adam was to become the lord; so, at the appearance of the second Adam, He did not properly create His body; He took it from the womb of a human mother, so as to maintain the organic connection which must exist between the Head of the new humanity and that natural humanity which it is His mission to raise to the height of His own stature.

This narrative records: 1. The appearance of the angel (Luk 1:26-29); 2. His message (Luk 1:30-33); 3. The manner in which his message is received (Luk 1:34-38).

1. The appearance of the angel: Luk 1:26-29. From the temple the narrative transports us to the house of a young Israelitish woman. We leave the sphere of official station to enter into the seclusion of private life. Mary probably was in prayer. Her chamber is a sanctuary; such, henceforth, will be the true temple.

The date, the sixth month, refers to that given in Luk 1:24. It was the time when Elizabeth had just left her retirement; all that takes place in the visitation of Mary is in connection with this circumstance. The government ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ, by God, or, as some Alex. read, ἀπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ, on the part of God, indicates a difference between this message and that in Luk 1:19. God interposes more directly; it is a question here of His own Son. The received reading ὑπο, by, seems to me for this reason more in accordance with the spirit of the context than the Alex. reading, which lays less emphasis on the divine origin of the message.

The most usual form of the name of the town in the documents is Nazareth: it is admitted here by Tischendorf in his eighth edition. He accords, however, some probability to the form Nazara, which is the reading of Luk 4:16 in the principal Alexandrians. In Luk 3:23, the MSS. only vary between Nazareth and Nazaret. Keim, in his History of Jesus, has decided for Nazara. He gives his reasons, i. p. 319 et seq.: 1. The derived adjectives Ναζωραῖος, Ναζαρηνός are most readily explained from this form. 2. The form Nazareth could easily come from Nazara, as Ramath from Rama (by the addition of the Aramean article). The forms Nazareth and Nazaret may also be explained as forms derived from that. 3. The phrase ἀπὸ Ναζάρων, in Eusebius, supposes the nominative Nazara. 4. It is the form preserved in the existing Arabic name en-Nezirah. Still it would be possible, even though the true name was Nazara, that Luke might have been accustomed to use the form Nazareth; Tischendorf thinks that this may be inferred from Act 10:38, where א. B. C. D. E. read Nazareth.

The etymology of this name is probably ‡ֵנצֶר, H5916 (whence the feminine form נצרת), a shoot or scion; this is the form used in the Talmud. The Fathers accordingly perceived in this name an allusion to the scion of David in the prophets. Burckhardt the traveller explains it more simply by the numerous shrubs which clothe the ground. Hitzig has proposed another etymology: נוצרה, the guardian, the name referring either to some pagan divinity, the protectress of the locality, as this scholar thinks, or, as Keim supposes, to the town itself, on account of its commanding the defile of the valley.

Nazareth, with a population at the present day of 3000 inhabitants, is about three days’ journey north of Jerusalem, and about eight leagues west of Tiberias. It is only a short distance from Tabor. It is reached from the valley of Jezreel through a mountain gorge running from S. to N., and opening out into a pleasant basin of some twenty minutes in length by ten in width. A chain of hills shuts in the valley on its northern side. Nazareth occupies its lower slopes, and rises in smiling terraces above the valley. From the summit of the ridge which encloses this basin on the north there is a splendid view. This valley was in Israel just what Israel was in the midst of the earth—a place at once secluded and open, a solitary retreat and a high post of observation, inviting meditation and at the same time affording opportunity for far-reaching views in all directions, consequently admirably adapted for an education of which God reserved to Himself the initiative, and which man could not touch without spoiling it.

The explanation, a town of Galilee, is evidently intended for Gentile readers; it is added by the translator to the Jewish document that lay before him.

Do the words, of the house of David, Luk 1:27, refer to Joseph or Mary? Grammatically, it appears to us that the form of the following sentence rather favours the former alternative. For if this clause applied, in the writer’s mind, to Mary, he would have continued his narrative in this form: “and her name was...,” rather than in this: “and the young girl’s name was...” But does it follow from this that Mary was not, in Luke’s opinion, a descendant of David? By no means. Luk 1:32; Luk 1:69 have no sense unless the author regarded Mary herself as a daughter of this king. See Luk 3:23.

The term χαριτοῦν τινα, to make any one the object of one’s favour, is applied to believers in general (Eph 1:6). There is no thought here of outward graces, as the translation full of grace would imply. The angel, having designated Mary by this expression as the special object of divine favour, justifies this address by the words which follow: The Lord with thee. Supply is, and not be; it is not a wish. The heavenly visitant speaks as one knowing how matters stood. The words, “Blessed art thou among women,” are not genuine; they are taken from Luk 1:42, where they are not wanting in any document.

The impression made on Mary, Luk 1:29, is not that of fear; it is a troubled feeling, very natural in a young girl who is suddenly made aware of the unexpected presence of a strange person. The T. R. indicates two causes of trouble: “And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying.” By the omission of ἰδοῦσα, when she saw, the Alexs. leave only one remaining. But this very simplification casts suspicion on their reading. The two ancient Syriac and Latin translations here agree with the T. R. The meaning is, that trouble was joined to the surprise caused by the sight of the angel, as soon as his words had confirmed the reality of his presence. Ποταπός denotes properly the origin (ποῦ τὸ ἀπό). But this term applies also to the contents and value, as is the case here. What was the meaning the import of...Having thus prepared Mary, the angel proceeds with the message he has brought.

Frédéric Louis Godet — Commentaries on Luke, John, Romans, and 1 Corinthians — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1870s–1890s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Angel serving the Lord which should be born, is sent to the virgin Mary, in whom the Son of the most high promised to David, is conceived by the virtue of the holy Ghost.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

We have here notice given us of all that it was fit we should know concerning the incarnation and conception of our blessed Saviour, six months after the conception of John. The same angel, Gabriel, that was employed in making known to Zacharias God's purpose concerning his son, is employed in this also; for in this, the same glorious work of redemption, which was begun in that, is carried on. As bad angels are none of the redeemed, so good angels are none of the redeemers; yet they are employed by the Redeemer as his messengers, and they go cheerfully on his errands, because they are his Father's humble servants, and his children's hearty friends and well-wishers.

I. We have here an account given of the mother of our Lord, of whom he was to be born, whom, though we are not to pray to, yet we ought to praise God for.

1. Her name was Mary, the same name with Miriam, the sister of Moses and Aaron; the name signifies exalted, and a great elevation it was to her indeed to be thus favoured above all the daughters of the house of David.

2. She was a daughter of the royal family, lineally descended from David, and she herself and all her friends knew it, for she went under the title and character of the house of David, though she was poor and low in the world; and she was enabled by God's providence, and the care of the Jews, to preserve their genealogies, to make it out, and as long as the promise of the Messiah was to be fulfilled it was worth keeping; but for those now, who are brought low in the world, to have descended from persons of honour, is not worth mentioning.

3. She was a virgin, a pure unspotted one, but espoused to one of the same royal stock, like her, however, of low estate; so that upon both accounts there was (as it was fit there should be) an equality between them; his name was Joseph; he also was of the house of David, Mat 1:20. Christ's mother was a virgin, because he was not to be born by ordinary generation, but miraculously; it was necessary that he should be so, that, though he must partake of the nature of man, yet not of the corruption of that nature: but he was born of a virgin espoused, made up to be married, and contracted, to put honour upon the married state, that that might not be brought into contempt (which was an ordinance in innocency) by the Redeemer's being born of a virgin.

4. She lived in Nazareth, a city of Galilee, a remote corner of the country, and in no reputation for religion or learning, but which bordered upon the heathen, and therefore was called Galilee of the Gentiles. Christ's having his relations resident there intimates favour in reserve for the Gentile world. And Dr. Lightfoot observes that Jonah was by birth a Galilean, and Elijah and Elisha very much conversant in Galilee, who were all famous prophets of the Gentiles. The angel was sent to her from Nazareth. Note, No distance or disadvantage of place shall be a prejudice to those for whom God has favours in store. The angel Gabriel carries his message as cheerfully to Mary and Nazareth in Galilee as to Zacharias in the temple at Jerusalem.

II. The address of the angel to her, Luk 1:28. We are not told what she was doing, or how employed, when the angel came unto her; but he surprised her with this salutation, Hail, thou art highly favoured. This was intended to raise in her, 1. A value for herself; and, though it is very rare that any need to have any sparks struck into their breast with such design, yet in some, who like Mary pore only on their low estate, there is occasion for it. 2. An expectation of great news, not from abroad, but from above. Heaven designs, no doubt, uncommon favours for one whom an angel makes court to with such respect, Hail thou, chaire - rejoice thou; it was the usual form of salutation; it expresses an esteem of her, and good-will to her and her prosperity.

(1.) She is dignified: "Thou art highly favoured. God, in his choice of thee to be the mother of the Messiah, has put an honour upon thee peculiar to thyself, above that of Eve, who was the mother of all living." The vulgar Latin translates this grati plena - full of grace, and thence gathers that she had more of the inherent graces of the Spirit than ever any had; whereas it is certain that this bespeaks no other than the singular favour done her in preferring her to conceive and bear our blessed Lord, an honour which, since he was to be the seed of the woman, some woman must have, not for personal merit, but purely for the sake of free grace, and she is pitched upon. Even so, Father, because it seemed good unto thee.

(2.) She has the presence of God with her: "The Lord is with thee, though poor and mean, and perhaps now forecasting how to get a livelihood and maintain a family in the married state." The angel with this word raised the faith of Gideon (Jdg 6:12): The Lord is with thee. Nothing is to be despaired of, not the performance of any service, not the obtaining of any favour, though ever so great, if we have God with us. This word might put her in mind of the Immanuel, God with us, which a virgin shall conceive and bear (Isa 7:14), and why not she?

(3.) She has the blessing of God upon her: "Blessed art thou among women; not only thou shalt be accounted so by men, but thou shalt be so. Thou that art so highly favoured in this instance mayest expect in other things to be blessed." She explains this herself (Luk 1:48), All generations shall call me blessed. Compare it with that which Deborah saith of Jael, another that was the glory of her sex (Jdg 5:24), Blessed shall she be above women in the tent.

III. The consternation she was in, upon this address (Luk 1:29). When she saw him, and the glories with which he was surrounded, she was troubled at the sight of him, and much more at his saying. Had she been a proud ambitious young woman, that aimed high, and flattered herself with the expectation of great things in the world, she would have been pleased at his saying, would have been puffed up with it, and (as we have reason to think she was a young woman of very good sense) would have had an answer ready, signifying so much: but, instead of that, she is confounded at it, as not conscious to herself of any thing that either merited or promised such great things; and she cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. Was it from heaven or of men? Was it to amuse her? was it to ensnare her? was it to banter her? or was there something substantial and weighty in it? But, of all the thoughts she had as to what manner of salutation it should be, I believe she had not the least idea of its being ever intended or used for a prayer, as it is, and has been, for many ages, by the corrupt, degenerate, and anti-christian ages of the church, and to be ten times repeated for the Lord's prayer once; so it is in the church of Rome. But her thoughtfulness upon this occasion gives a very useful intimation to young people of her sex, when addresses are made to them, to consider and cast in their minds what manner of salutations they are, whence they come, and what their tendency is, that they may receive them accordingly, and may always stand on their guard.

IV. The message itself which the angel had to deliver to her. Some time the angel gives her to pause; but, observing that this did but increase her perplexity, he went on with his errand, Luk 1:30. To what he had said she made no reply; he therefore confirms it: "Fear not, Mary, I have no other design than to assure thee that thou hast found favour with God more than thou thinkest of, as there are many who think they are more favoured with God than they really are." Note, Those that have found favour with God should not give way to disquieting distrustful fears. Doth God favour thee? Fear not, though the world frown upon thee. Is he for thee? No matter who is against thee.

1. Though she is a virgin, she shall have the honour of being a mother: "Thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and thou shalt have the naming of him; thou shalt call his name Jesus," Luk 1:31. It was the sentence upon Eve, that, though she should have the honour to be the mother of all living, yet this mortification shall be an allay to that honour, that her desire shall be to her husband, and he shall rule over her, Gen 3:16. But Mary has the honour without the allay.

2. Though she lives in poverty and obscurity, yet she shall have the honour to be the mother of the Messiah; her son shall be named Jesus - a Saviour, such a one as the world needs, rather than such one as the Jews expect.

(1.) He will be very nearly allied to the upper world. He shall be great, truly great, incontestably great; for he shall be called the Son of the Highest, the Son of God who is the Highest; of the same nature, as the son is of the same nature with the father; and very dear to him, as the son is to the father. He shall be called, and not miscalled, the Son of the Highest; for he is himself God over all, blessed for evermore, Rom 9:5. Note, Those who are the children of God, though but by adoption and regeneration, are truly great, and therefore are concerned to be very good, Jo1 3:1, Jo1 3:2.

(2.) He will be very highly preferred in the lower world; for, though born under the most disadvantageous circumstances possible, and appearing in the form of a servant, yet the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David, Luk 1:32. He puts her in mind that she was of the house of David; and that therefore, since neither the Salique law, nor the right of primogeniture, took place in the entail of his throne, it was not impossible but that she might bring forth an heir to it, and therefore might the more easily believe it when she was told by an angel from heaven that she should do so, that after the sceptre had been long departed from that ancient and honourable family it should now at length return to it again, to remain in it, not by succession, but in the same hand to eternity. His people will not give him that throne, will not acknowledge his right to rule them; but the Lord God shall give him a right to rule them, and set him as his king upon the holy hill of Zion. He assures her, [1.] That his kingdom shall be spiritual: he shall reign over the house of Jacob, not Israel according to the flesh, for they neither came into his interests nor did they continue long a people; it must therefore be a spiritual kingdom, the house of Israel according to the promise, that he must rule over. [2.] That it shall be eternal: he shall reign for ever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end, as there had been long since of the temporal reign of David's house, and would shortly be of the state of Israel. Other crowns endure not to every generation, but Christ's doth, Pro 27:24. The gospel is the last dispensation, we are to look for no other.

V. The further information given her, upon her enquiry concerning the birth of this prince.

1. It is a just enquiry which she makes: "How shall this be? Luk 1:34. How can I now presently conceive a child" (for so the angel meant) "when I know not a man; must it therefore be otherwise than by ordinary generation? If so, let me now how?" She knew that the Messiah must be born of a virgin; and, if she must be his mother, she desires to know how. This was not the language of her distrust, or any doubt of what the angel said, but of a desire to be further instructed.

2. It is a satisfactory answer that is given to it, Luk 1:35. (1.) She shall conceive by the power of the Holy Ghost, whose proper work and office is to sanctify, and therefore to sanctify the virgin for this purpose. The Holy Ghost is called the power of the Highest. Doth she ask how this shall be? This is enough to help her over all the difficulty there appears in it; a divine power will undertake it, not the power of an angel employed in it, as in other works of wonder, but the power of the Holy Ghost himself.

(2.) She must ask no questions concerning the way and manner how it shall be wrought; for the Holy Ghost, as the power of the Highest, shall overshadow her, as the cloud covered the tabernacle when the glory of God took possession of it, to conceal it from those that would too curiously observe the motions of it, and pry into the mystery of it. The formation of every babe in the womb, and the entrance of the spirit of life into it, is a mystery in nature; none knows the way of the spirit, nor how the bones are formed in the womb of her that is with child, Ecc 11:5. We were made in secret, Psa 139:15, Psa 139:16. Much more was the formation of the child Jesus a mystery; without controversy, great was the mystery of godliness, God manifest in the flesh, Ti1 3:16. It is a new thing created in the earth (Jer 31:22), concerning which we must not covet to be wise above what is written.

(3.) The child she shall conceive is a holy thing, and therefore must not be conceived by ordinary generation, because he must not share in the common corruption and pollution of the human nature. He is spoken of emphatically, That Holy Thing, such as never was; and he shall be called the Son of God, as the Son of the Father by eternal generation, as an indication of which he shall now be formed by the Holy Ghost in the present conception. His human nature must be so produced, as it was fit that should be which was to be taken into union with the divine nature.

3. It was a further encouragement to her faith to be told that her cousin Elisabeth, though stricken in years, was with child, Luk 1:36. Here is an age of wonders beginning, and therefore be not surprised: here is one among thy own relations truly great, though not altogether so great as this; it is usual with God to advance in working wonders. Greater works than these shall ye do. Though Elisabeth was, on the father's side, of the daughters of Aaron (Luk 1:5), yet on the mother's side she might be of the house of David, for those two families often intermarried, as an earnest of the uniting of the royalty and the priesthood of the Messiah. This is the sixth month with her that was called barren. This intimates, as Dr. Lightfoot thinks, that all the instances in the Old Testament of those having children that had been long barren, which was above nature, were designed to prepare the world for the belief of a virgin's bearing a son, which was against nature. And therefore, even in the birth of Isaac, Abraham saw Christ's day, foresaw such a miracle in the birth of Christ. The angel assures Mary of this, to encourage her faith, and concludes with that great truth, of undoubted certainty and universal use, For with God nothing shall be impossible (Luk 1:37), and, if nothing, then not this. Abraham therefore staggered not at the belief of the divine promise, because he was strong in his belief of the divine power, Rom 4:20, Rom 4:21. No word of God must be incredible to us, as long as no work of God is impossible to him.

VI. Her acquiescence in the will of God concerning her, Luk 1:38. She owns herself, 1. A believing subject to the divine authority: "Behold, the handmaid of the Lord. Lord, I am at thy service, at thy disposal, to do what thou commandest me." She objects not the danger of spoiling her marriage, and blemishing her reputation, but leaves the issue with God, and submits entirely to his will. 2. A believing expectant of the divine favour. She is not only content that it should be so, but humbly desires that it may be so: Be it unto me according to thy word. Such a favour as this it was not for her to slight, or be indifferent to; and for what God has promised he will be sought unto; by prayer we must put our amen, or so be it, to the promise. Remember, and perform thy word unto thy servant, upon which thou has caused me to hope. We must, as Mary here, guide our desires by the word of God, and ground our hopes upon it. Be it unto me according to thy word; just so, and no otherwise.

Hereupon, the angel departed from her; having completed the errand he was sent upon, he returned, to give an account of it, and receive new instructions. Converse with angels was always a transient thing, and soon over; it will be constant and permanent in the future state. It is generally supposed that just at this instant the virgin conceived, by the overshadowing power of the Holy Ghost: but, the scripture being decently silent concerning it, it doth not become us to be inquisitive, much less positive.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 26. A city of Galilee] As Joseph and Mary were both of the family of David, the patrimonial estate of which lay in Bethlehem, it seems as if the family residence should have been in that city, and not in Nazareth; for we find that, even after the return from the captivity, the several families went to reside in those cities to which they originally belonged. See Ne 11:3. But it is probable that the holy family removed to Galilee for fear of exciting the jealousy of Herod, who had usurped that throne to which they had an indisputable right. See on Lu 2:39. Thus, by keeping out of the way, they avoided the effects of his jealousy.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(26) And in the sixth month.—The time is obviously reckoned from the commencement of the period specified in Luk_1:24.

A city of Galilee, named Nazareth.—The town so named (now en-Nazirah) was situated in a valley among the hills that rise to a height of about 500 feet on the north of the Plain of Esdraelon. The valley itself is richly cultivated. The grassy slopes of the hills are clothed in spring-time with flowers. On one side there is a steep ridge that forms something like a precipice (Luk_4:29). In the rainy season the streams flow down the slopes of the hills and rush in torrents through the valleys. From a hill just behind the town, the modern Neby Ismail, there is one of the finest views in Palestine, including Lebanon and Hermon to the north, Carmel to the west, with glimpses of the Mediterranean, and to the south the Plain of Esdraelon and the mountains of Samaria, to the east and south-east Gilead, and Tabor, and Grilboa. It is a three days’ journey from Jerusalem, about twenty miles from Ptolemais, and eighteen from the Sea of Galilee, six from Mount Tabor, about six from Cana, and nine from Nain. The name, as stated in the Note on Mat_2:23, was probably derived from the Hebrew Netzer (= a branch), and conveying something of the same meaning as our -hurst, or -holm, in English topography.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

26–38. The Annunciation

26. in the sixth month] i. e. after the vision of Zachariah. This is the only passage which indicates the age of John the Baptist, as half a year older than our Lord.

Galilee] Thus began to be fulfilled the prophecy of Isa_9:1-2. Galilee of the Gentiles (Gelîl haggoyîm), one of the four great Roman divisions of Palestine, was north of Judaea and Samaria, west of Peraea, and comprised the territories of Zebulun, Naphthali, Issachar and Asher (Mat_4:13). Josephus describes it as rich in trees and pastures, strong, populous, containing 204 towns, of which the least had 15000 inhabitants, and occupied by a hardy and warlike race, Bell. Jud. iii. 3; Vit. 45, 52. See Map, and note on Luk_3:2.

named Nazareth] The expression shews that St Luke is writing for those who were unfamiliar with Palestine. See on Luk_2:51.

a virgin] Isa_7:14; Jer_31:22. The many miraculous and glorifying legends which soon began to gather round her name in the Apocryphal Gospels are utterly unknown to Scripture.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And in the sixth month,.... After Elisabeth's conception; for so long was John the Baptist conceived before Christ, and so long he was born before him; and it seems as if there was the same distance between the public ministry of the one, and the other: John was before Christ, as man, being his forerunner; but Christ was preferred unto him as mediator, and existed before him, as the eternal Son of God:

the angel Gabriel was sent from God; the same angel, that near five hundred years before gave Daniel an exact account of the time of the Messiah's coming, and six months ago acquainted Zacharias with the conception, birth, character, and office of his forerunner:

unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth; the whole country of Galilee was mean and contemptible with the Jews: they observe, though through mistake, that no prophet arose out of it, Joh 7:52 and Nazareth particularly was exceeding despicable in their eye: hence those words of Nathanael, "can any good thing come out of Nazareth?" Joh 1:46 and yet hither an angel was sent by God; and here dwelt the mother of our Lord. See Gill on Mat 1:23

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

26 And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth,

Ver. 26. Unto a city of Galilee] God and his angels can find out his hidden ones, Psa 83:3, in what corner of the country soever.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

In the sixth month - The sixth month after Elizabeth’s conception.

A city of Galilee named Nazareth - See the notes at Mat 2:22-23.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

In the sixth month, that is, after Elisabeth’s conception; thus it is expounded afterward, Luk 1:36.

The angel Gabriel, the same angel that had appeared in the temple to Zacharias, who seemeth to have had a special ministration with reference to that part of God’s will which was predictive of the Messias; he

was sent from God (without whose command the angels do not move)

unto a city of Galilee named Nazareth. There Joseph lived; from thence he went, Luk 2:4. The angel came to the virgin, who is here described by her name, Mary, and her relation, she was espoused to one Joseph, who is said to be

of the house of David. Matthew reduces his genealogy to prove him to be so.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Ver. 26-38. The annunciation of the Virgin Mary.

The recital contained in this little section is peculiar to this Gospel of St. Luke. It lay outside what may be termed the apostolic tradition. It neither helps nor mars the moral or dogmatic teaching of the men trained in the school of Jesus of Nazareth. It simply answers a question that probably few of the converts of the first quarter of a century which succeeded the Resurrection morning cared to ask:

We do not suppose that the true story of the birth of Jesus Christ was any secret, any precious mystery in the Church of the first days. It was known doubtless to the leading teachers, known to many of their hearers, but it was evidently unused as a popular text for preaching. It probably was not among those "memoirs" of the apostles which were read and expounded in the first forty years in the public synagogues and in the quiet upper rooms of so many of the cities of Syria, and in not a few of the towns of Egypt, Greece, and Italy. Nor is the reason of this doubtful; the wondrous story of the child Jesus" birth would add little to the simple faith of the first believers in the Crucified.

Of miracles and works of wonder they had heard enough to convince them that, if these were true, surely never man had worked like this Man. They had heard, too, of the crowning, sign of the Resurrection. There were men in those first days, scattered abroad in all lands, who had seen these things, who knew that the Master had died on the cross, and who had seen him, touched him, and spoken to him after his resurrection. The mysterious miracle of the incarnation was not needed for the preaching of the first days.

But time went on, and naturally enough many of the thoughtful cultured men who had accepted the doctrine of the cross began to say We ought to have the true story of the beginnings of these marvelous events authoritatively written down. Here and there we have heard something of the birth and childhood, why have we not the details authenticated? Men like Paul and Luke felt that such natural questionings should be answered. And hence it came to pass that, moved by the Holy Spirit under, we believe, the direction of Paul Luke went to the fountainhead, to the blessed mother herself, to those holy women some of whom we believe had borne her company from the beginning, and from her lips and their lips wrote down what she (or they) dictated, partly from memory, partly perhaps from memoranda which she and others had kept of that strange sweet time; and so these two chapters of the Third Gospel, of which the incarnation is the central narrative, were written down much in the original form in which Luke received it, the Greek simply translating the original Hebrew story. Around the words of the Gospel soon gathered a host of miraculous legends glorifying the blessed mother of the Lord. These are utterly unknown to Scripture, and should be quietly put aside. Strange speculations respecting her and the manner of the wondrous birth have been in all times, nay, still are favorite subjects of dispute among theologians. It is a pity to try and be wise beyond what is written. The believer will content himself with just receiving the quiet story of the holy maid as Mary the mother gave it to Luke or Paul, feeling assured that the same power of the Highest by which the crucified Jesus was raised from the tomb where he had lain for three days, was able to overshadow the virgin of Nazareth, was able to cause to be born of her that holy thing which was called the Son of God.

And in the sixth month; that is, after the vision of Zacharias in the temple. Unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth. These explanatory notes make it clear that St. Luke was writing for those who were strangers to Palestine. Such details were no doubt added by St. Luke to the oral or written Hebrew narrative upon which this section is entirely based. Under the Roman domination the land of promise was divided into Judaea, Samaria, Peraea, and Galilee. Galilee was the northern department, and comprised the old territory of the tribes of Zebulun, Naphtali, and Asher. From Josephus we learn that at this period the northern division was rich and populous, and covered with flourishing towns. Nazareth, which still exists as a large village of some three thousand inhabitants, under the name of En-Nazirah, is about twenty-four miles to the east of the Luke of Tiberius. It is well situate in a valley among the hills which rise to the north of the Esdraelon plain. From one of the grassy slopes which rise behind Nazareth, one of the noblest views is obtained. The snowy summits of Lebanon and Hennon close the prospect on the north; on the south the broad Esdraelon plain, with the mountains of Ephraim; Gilead and Tabor lie on the east; on the other side, the green uplands of Carmel are bathed by the blue waves of the Mediterranean Sea. The meaning of the name Nazareth has been the subject of much learned controversy. The more usually adopted derivation, however, refers the word to rxn, "a shoot or branch," which conveys, as Dean Plumptre remarks, something of the same meaning as our hurst or holm in English topography. Burckhardt, the traveler, believes the name was originslly used on account of the numerous shrubs which cover the ground in this locality.

Vers. 26-38. The announcement to the Virgin.

Gabriel, "the mighty one of God," or "the man of God," again sent with glad tidings. The work for the great-hearts, for the strongest and best, is the work of preaching the gospel of his grace. The God-sent preacher is he who, like Gabriel, "stands in the presence of God." "He that is now called a prophet was aforetime called a seer." But the true prophet is always a seer. "Sent to a virgin... and the virgin"s name was Mary." It is significant that so little is said in Holy Scripture as to this one "blessed among women." Nothing is related as to her birth and parentage, as to her gifts of mind and person; it is not even directly asserted that she belonged to the royal stock of David that is to be implied only from such a verse as the thirty-second. After the Lord, on the cross, solemnly gave her to the care of the beloved disciple, there is only one allusion to her an allusion in Acts 1. There is no reference to her in the Epistles of Paul; none in that of James, certainly nearly related to her; none in those of John, with whom she had lived. St. Luke, speaking of her in connection with the birth, says only, "A virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph." "Blessed," cried a woman one day to Jesus, "is she that bare thee!" He did not deny it; but that there might be no distraction of soul, he added, "Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the Word of God, and keep it." This Mary, or Miriam, is blessed among women. The word of the Lord"s angel we need not hesitate to utter", "Hail, thou that art highly favored!" But what is the real beauty of Mary? Is it not that she is in the foremost rank of those on whom the Lord"s "yea rather, blessed" rested that she is pre-eminently the hearer and keeper of the Word of God? The few touches of character which are presented suggest the picture of a rarely lovely nature.

(1) Observe the manner of the faith which is evoked by Gabriel"s message. First, there is the "casting in the mind." The sight is marvelous; the salutation is strange. She is troubled; but instead of any display of excitement or of alarm, there is only the quiet self-possessed casting in the mind. "What could this be? Was it from above? Was it a voice of God or a snare of the devil?

(2) When the birth is announced, there is no such reply as that which fell from Zacharias no word of scepticism, no demand for a sign. She does not doubt that it shall be; she only inquires how it shall be.

(3) And, lastly, when the angel"s answer is given, concluded by the assertion, "With God nothing shall be impossible," or "No word shall be void of power," how complete is the response of the heart! Difficulty, trial, sorrow, for herself was certain. "Wherefores "and "bows" were no doubt beating against the bars of their cage; but there comes forth the submissive and quiescent, "Behold the handmaiden of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy Word." The portrait bears the marks of Divine wisdom. The reticence of Scripture might suggest that the inspiring Spirit of God, foreseeing the danger which so soon appeared, of an admiration scarcely separated from and insensibly sliding into grave error, moved the evangelist to abstain from any magnifying of the Virgin. But the mistaken honor paid to Mary should not withdraw the mind from what is truly honorable and exemplary in her conduct. She is a type of the believer for all times, in that quietness and confidence which are the believer"s strength, in that receptiveness of soul which is his life, in that entire self-yielding to God which is his reasonable service. "Blessed is she that believeth." What is the angel"s message? Do not attempt to expound the words in verses 30-35. Be content reverently to receive a mystery so deep and dread. But two things may be noted as to verse 35.

(1) The force of the "therefore" or "wherefore," at the beginning of the last clause, bidding us see in the statement which precedes the reason of the assertion which follows. The statement is that the Holy Ghost should encloud the mother therefore the holiness of the Lord. Mark, the difference between Christ"s holiness and ours is not in kind; it is in this, that his generation was that which is denoted in our regeneration. Of course, in the human nature of Christ we must recognize an altogether exceptional work of Divine power. But the efficient cause in his birth is the efficient cause in all spiritual birth. Holiness, we see, is not a mere attainment, the result of adherence to a moral regimen, of obedience to a moral law it is a new supernatural being of the spirit." What took place, in a marvelous way, even before the actual birth of the Son of Mary, takes place in the case of every one born from above. He is "born not of blcod, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." And therefore that which is born, being holy, is the Son of God.

(2) The word, "that holy thing," or "that which is to be born," that sacred, separated entity, may suggest a hint as to the Person of Jesus. Body and soul are one thing, each having its own properties and qualities which cannot be transferred to the other, yet the two making one. It is not possible to tell where body ends and soul begins. Now, in the Son of Mary we have the humanity and the Divinity, each perfect and complete. Whatever can be said of man can be said of him; what can be said of God can also be said of him. Very man and very God. He is one Person. The one entity born of the Virgin is the Son of God. More than this let us not try to say. "Faith through the veil of flesh can see The face of thy Divinity, My Lord, my God, my Savior.

"This is the doing of the Lord, and it is marvelous in our eyes.

Vers. 26-38. "The Beginning of the creation of God.

We now enter upon another announcement, more wonderful still than that about John. It is the announcement about the advent of him who is indeed "the Beginning of the creation of God". (Rev_3:14) A deeper interest should gather round it than attaches to the beginning of the material universe. Both begin in mystery, but happily we see the mystery by the eye of faith safely lodged in the hand of God. Genesis gives to us the mysterious origin of the ordinary creation, and Luke gives to us the mysterious origin of the extraordinary creation of which Jesus is the real Head.

I WE SHALL NOTICE THE SCENE OF THIS ANGEL-VISIT. We saw Gabriel last in the temple, holding intercourse beyond the first veil with Zacharias as he offered the incense. He was in "the holy place," on the threshold of "the holy of holies." But now, by way of contrast, he repairs to Nazareth, that city of Galilee so hidden in the hills that all who for various reasons needed a hiding-place resorted thither. It was a rendezvous for the worst of people, and became proverbial as the one place out of which no good thing need be expected. (Joh_1:46) It was here the angel of mercy made his way to carry good tidings to one in whose veins was the blood of kings. The house of David had fallen indeed on evil days when its lineal representative was to be found in a virgin betrothed to the village carpenter. Meanwhile let us comfort ourselves with the thought that angel-visits, though reputedly few and far between, are not confined to temple-courts or palaces of earthly kings. The lowliest of situations and the lowliest hearts may be honored by a messenger from heaven.

II THE MESSAGE GABRIEL BROUGHT. Having sought and found the virgin who was espoused to Joseph, he first addressed to her a remarkable salutation. He salutes her as one who is

(1) "highly favored" (kecaritwmenh) that is, the object of special favor from God; and

(2) as one enjoying God"s special presence Lord is with thee." The other clause, "Blessed art thou among women," seems to be transferred from the subsequent salutation of Elisabeth (verse 42; and cf. Revised Version). It was a very gracious assurance Gabriel brought to Mary. She needed all the support it gave her in her present trying position. The immediate effect upon her mind was fear. She is troubled at the unexpected apparition. But it led her to deep thoughtfulness. It has been well said that praise comes as a surprise to the meek, but as a right, or rather less than a right, to the proud.

(2) Mary was thrown by her fear into anxious thought as to what particular good fortune could be hers. Her idea was that she deserved nothing, and so she could the more thoroughly appreciate whatever came. What a relish Divine favor would be if we had Mary"s meekness! Gabriel now bids her no longer to fear, since she has found favor with God, and her good fortune is to consist g t in this that she is to be the mother of an everlasting Monarch. But we must pause over Gabriel"s message.

1. The name of her Son is to be Jesus. That is, he is to be a Savior of men from sin. (cf. Mat_1:21) The world has had Joshuas in abundance, captains of invasion, but only one Jesus as a Savior from the curse and power of sin.

2. He is to be great. And assuredly, if moral influence and genius constitute the highest greatness, Jesus has no equal among the sons of men.

3. He is to be called the Son of the Highest. God is to be his Father in a special sense. This does not refer to his "Eternal Sonship," but to his human sonship. He is to stand to God in the relation of son to father, so far as his human nature is concerned. Mary is thus to be the mother of God"s Son.

4. He is to succeed to the throne of his father David. Now, are we to understand this of a succession to a world-kingdom, and a "personal reign" over the Jews? If this be the meaning, then this reign is still to come, for through the rejection of Messiah this kingship was prevented. And so some interpret this (cf. Godet, in loc.). But our Lord"s own words about the unworldliness of his kingdom seem to set this idea at rest. He came to be King over a spiritual kingdom. Now, David, we should remember, was a great ecclesiastical reformer. He exercised commanding influence in the church as well as State of his time; and he realized his vice-regency under God. Jesus succeeds David upon the spiritual lines which were the chief lines of David"s influence as king.

5. His reign and kingdom are to be everlasting. His is to be no dying dynasty, but an everlasting rule. Emperors and kings have come and gone, and left their glory behind them; but this Son of Mary commands more influence every year, and knows no decline. The kingdoms of the world run a longer or shorter course; but Christ"s kingdom outlasts them all. Such a message was fitted to overwhelm an ordinary mind. Mary is to be the mother of a new King, and he is never to be uncrowned an everlasting Monarch! Surely an ordinary head would be turned by such tidings as these.

III HOW MARY TAKES THE MESSAGE. She is so meek that her head is not turned. She is in amazement certainly, but there is calm dignity and purity in her reply.

1. She asks how such a birth is to come about since she is a virgin? This was not the inquiry of a doubter, but of a believer. She wanted direction. Was she to go on with her proposed marriage with Joseph? or was she to break with him? or was she to do nothing but wait? Gabriel directs her to wait passively in God"s hands, and all he has promised will come supernaturally about. Just as the Spirit overshadowed the old chaotic world, and brought the cosmos out of it, so would he overshadow Mary, and give her a holy Son. Mary was to sit still and see the salvation of God. And here we must notice that it was a "holy Child" which the world required as a Savior, one in whom the law of sin affecting the rest of the race should be broken, who would be "holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners." David may say, "In sin did my mother conceive me;" but no such language must be heard from the lips of Christ. This moral break, this exception to the general rule, is brought about by a supernatural conception and birth. Is there not here a lesson about leaving things sometimes in God"s hands altogether? It is a great thing sometimes to sit still and do nothing; to cultivate passivity. Like the Virgin, let us simply wait. As a further direction, Gabriel suggests a visit to Elisabeth, that her faith in God"s power may be confirmed. The intercourse with her aged relative will do her a world of good in present circumstances. There in the hill-country of Judaea she will find increasing reason for trusting in God.

2. Mary accepts the situation with all its risks. Her submission is an instance of the holiest courage. She cannot but become for a time an object of suspicion to Joseph, and to many more. Her reputation will be for a time at stake. It is a terrible ordeal to encounter. But she bows to the Divine will, and asks God to do with her as he pleases. Faith alone could sustain her in such circumstances. God would vindicate her character in due season. How much are we willing to risk for our Lord? Would we risk reputation, the most precious portion of our heritage, if God clearly asked us to do so? This was what Mary was ready to do. In other words, are we ready to put God before personal reputation? Is he worthy in our eyes even of such a sacrifice? IV NOTICE THAT WE HAVE HERE AN INTIMATION HOW THE NEW CREATION MUST BEGIN WITHIN US. The angel-message comes to us, as to Mary, that "Christ" may be formed in us "the Hope of glory." What we have got to do is just to wait for the overshadowing as Mary did. It comes to the waiting and expectant souls. Not the waiting of indifference, but the waiting of expectancy, secures the great blessing. Let us cease from our own efforts, let us be still, and we shall indeed see the salvation of God! R.M.E.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

In the sixth month - After Elisabeth had conceived.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

angel

(See Scofield "Heb 1:4")

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Annunciation to Mary.

Gabriel’s visit to Nazareth:

v. 26 And in the sixth month the Angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth,

v. 27. to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary.

In the sixth month after the Lord had remembered Elisabeth to carry out a part of His design and prophecy for the sake of fallen mankind, He made preparations for a still more wonderful event, by commissioning the same messenger as in the previous case, Gabriel, to serve as the bearer of another message. Luke is very careful to make all statements which are necessary to make the situation clear. Though Mary and Joseph were both of the house of David, they did not live in the city of their fathers, but in Nazareth of Galilee, a small town in the mountains southwest of the Sea of Galilee. To a virgin by the name of Mary the angel was sent, not to a young married woman, as the critics of the virgin birth will have it. Mary was still a virgin, as she protests to the angel, v. 34. But she was engaged, or espoused, according to Jewish custom, to a man by the name of Joseph, who was also of the royal blood. The betrothal among the Jews, according to the command of God, was as binding as the consummated marriage. It was attended with many ceremonies and took place about a year before the wedding. Simple words, but fraught with most momentous meaning! As one commentator expresses it: "At length the moment is come which is to give a Son to a virgin, a Savior to the world, a pattern to mankind, a sacrifice to sinners, a temple to the Divinity, and a new principle to the world."

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

In this history of our Saviour’s miraculous and immaculate conception, we have several things observable, as, 1. The messenger sent from heaven to publish the news of their conception of the son of God, an angel; an evil angel was the first author of our ruin; a good angel could not be the author of our restoration, but is the joyful reporter of it.

Observe, 2. The angel’s name, Gabriel, which signifieth the power of God; the same angel who had many hundred years before declared to the prophet Daniel the coming of the Messiah.

Observe, 3. The place which the angel is sent unto, Nazareth, an obscure place, little taken notice of; yea, a city in Galilee, out of which arises no prophet; even there doth the God of prophets condescend to be conceived. No blind corner of Nazareth can hide the blessed virgin from the angel. The favours of God will find out his children wherever they are withdrawn.

Observe, 4. The person whom the angel is sent unto, To a virgin espoused, whose name was Mary; for the honour of virginity, Christ chose a virgin for his mother; for the honour of marriage, a virgin espoused to a husband.

Observe, 5. The message itself, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women.

Where note, that the angel salutes the virgin as a saint, he doth not pray to her as a goddess. The church of Rome idolatrously uses these words as a prayer to the holy virgin (saying ten Ave Maries for one Pater-Noster) whereas they are only a salutation; declaring that she above all women, had the honour freely conferred by God upon her to be the mother of the Messiah. The original word signifies, not full of grace but freely beloved.

Compare Mary with other renowned women, and what had she besides this favour, more than they? Had she the spirit of prophecy? so had they. Had she the spirit of sanctification? so had they: and she had no more immunity and freedom from sin and death than they.

Accordingly, says the angel, Blessed art thou among women; he doth not say, Blessed art thou above women. Let the church of Rome be as copious as they will in the commendation of the mother, so they do not derogate from the glory of the Son.

But how senseless are they,

1. In turning a salutation into a prayer!

2. In making use of these words upon every occasion, which were spoken by an angel upon a special occasion!

3. In applying these words to her now in heaven, which suited with her only when she was here on earth, saying, Full of grace, to her who is full of glory; and, The Lord is with thee, to her that is with the Lord!

Observe, 6. The effect which the sight and salutation of the angel had upon the holy virgin; she was afraid. If Zachary before her was amazed at the sight of the angel, much more the virgin, her sex subjecting her to fear. All passions, but particularly the passion of fear, disquiets the heart, and makes it unfit to receive the messages of God. Therefore the angel instantly says unto her, Fear not, let joy enter into thy heart, out of whose womb shall come salvation. Thus the fears of holy persons do end in comfort: joy was the errand which the angel came upon and not terror. What little cause she had to fear the presence of an angel, who was so highly favoured of him, at whose presence the angels tremble! But we see the holiest person on earth cannot bear the presence of a holy angel, much less the presence of a holy God, nor stand before the manifestations of his favours:

Lord! how unable then will the wicked be at the great day to stand before the manifestation of thy fury! If the sight of a holy angel now makes the best of saints to quake and tremble, what will the sight of an infinitely holy and just God then do, when the wicked shall be slain by the brightness of his presence?

Observe lastly, the character which the angel gives of the person that should be born of the blessed virgin, He shall be great, and called the son of the Highest. Great, in respect of his person: Great, in respect of his offices: Great, in respect of his kingdom; for God would settle upon him a spiritual kingdom, of which David’s earthly one was a type which shall never be abolished: though the administration of it by the word and sacraments shall cease at the day of judgment, when he shall deliver up the kingdom, in that respect, to his father. All other kingdoms, have had, or shall have, their periods, but the gospel-church, which is Christ’s kingdom, shall continue till his kingdom of glory be revealed.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

THE ANNUNCIATION TO MARY

26-30. When I visited Nazareth, I spent some time in the Church of the Annunciation, quite magnificent and capacious, said to stand on the identical spot where the angel Gabriel delivered the wonderful tidings to Mary. Here we have it stated positively that Joseph, the husband of Mary, was a descendant of David. While the genealogy of our Savior recognizes the necessity of Mary’s personal identity with David’s family, and it is so taken for granted, yet it is not directly revealed, except in her wifehood to Joseph; as you must remember the institution of matrimony actually identifies husband and wife, “They two shall be one flesh.” In the recognition of this absolute unification through the institution of matrimony, we must concede Mary’s identity with the family of David.

31. “And thou shalt call His name Jesus.” This name is eminently significant of His office and mission to save the whole world, as it is a Greek word, and means Savior,

William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

J. W. McGarvey's The Fourfold Gospel [VI. Annunciation of Jesus' Birth].

VI. ANNUNCIATION OF THE BIRTH OF JESUS. (At Nazareth, B. C. 5.) cLUKE I. 26-38.

c26 Now in the sixth month [this is the passage from which we learn that John was six months older than Jesus] the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth [Luke alone tells us where Mary lived before the birth of Jesus. That Nazareth was an unimportant town is shown by the fact that it is mentioned nowhere in the Old Testament, nor in the Talmud, nor in Josephus, who mentions two hundred four towns and cities of Galilee. The way in which Luke introduces Galilee and Nazareth shows that he wrote to those unfamiliar with Palestine. Compare the conversation at Joh_1:45, Joh_1:46. Galilee comprised the lands of Zebulun, Naphtali, Issachar and Asher. It was rich in trees and pastures. Its people were hardy and warlike], 27 to a virgin betrothed to a man [In the East, the betrothal or engagement was entered into with much ceremony, and usually took place a year before the marriage. It was so sacred that the parties entering into it could not be separated save by a bill of divorcement-- Mat_1:19] to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David [that is, Joseph was of the house of David]; and the virgin's name was Mary. [The same as Miriam-- Exo_15:20.] 28 And he came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favored, the Lord i is with thee. 29 But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this might be. [Whether it meant a present sorrow or joy, for God's salutations all [14] mean joy, but usually is in the distant future-- Heb_12:11, 2Co_4:17, 2Co_4:18.] 30 And the angel said unto her, Fear not [the gospel is full of "Fear nots"; it teaches us that perfect love which casts out fear-- 1Jo_4:18], for thou hast found favour with God. 31 And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. [The same as Hoshea ( Num_13:8), Joshua, and Jeshua ( Zec_3:1). It means the "salvation of Jehovah." It was one of the most common Jewish names, but was given to Jesus by divine direction because of its fitness-- Mat_1:21.] 32 He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Most High [A common Hebrew way of saying "He shall be." Even the evil spirits called Jesus by this name-- Mar_5:7]: and the Lord God shall give unto him [he shall not receive his kingdom as a bribe from Satan ( Mat_4:9), nor win it by force of arms ( Joh_18:10, Joh_18:11, Joh_18:36, Mat_26:53), but as the gift of God-- Act_2:32-36, Phi_2:9-11, Mat_28:18] the throne [see Psa_132:11] of his father David [this must refer to Mary's descent from David, for she is expressly told in Luk_1:35 that her son would have no earthly father]: 33 and he shall reign over the house of Jacob [That is, over the family or descendants of Jacob; but the expression includes his spiritual, rather than his carnal, descendants ( Gal_3:7, Gal_3:28, Gal_3:29). This name therefore includes the Gentiles as the name of a river includes the rivers which flow into it] forever [ Dan_2:44, Dan_7:13, Dan_7:14, Dan_7:27, Mic_4:7, Psa_45:6, Heb_1:8, Rev_11:15]; and of his kingdom there shall be no end. [ Isa_7:9. Christ shall resign his mediatorial kingdom to the Father at the close of this dispensation ( 1Co_15:24-28); but as being one with his Father he shall rule forever.] 34 And Mary unto the angel, How shall this be [Her question indicates surprise, not disbelief. Unlike Zacharias, she asked no sign. The youthful village maiden, amid her humble daily duties, shows a more ready faith in the far more startling message than the aged priest in the holy place of the temple in the atmosphere [15] of the sacred incense], seeing I know not a man? 35 And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow [the Spirit of God is thus spoken of as "brooding over" or overshadowing creation to develop it-- Gen_1:2] thee [This indicates that the Holy Spirit himself created the body of Christ ( Heb_10:5). The spirit, or divine nature, of Christ was from the beginning, and was unbegotten--that is, in the sense of being created]: wherefore also the holy thing. [the body of Jesus-- Heb_7:26, 1Pe_2:22] which is begotten [ Gal_4:4] shall be called the Son of God. [As the Evangelist is here talking about the bodily and human nature of Jesus, it is possible that he may here speak of Jesus as the Son of God in the same sense in which he called Adam the son of God ( Luk_3:38); that is, his body and human nature were the direct and miraculous production of the divine power. If so, we find Jesus called the Son of God in three several senses: 1. Here, because he was born into the world in a supernatural manner. 2. Elsewhere, because by his resurrection he was begotten from the dead ( Rom_1:4, Act_13:33, Psa_2:7). 3. Also elsewhere, because of the eternal, immutable, and unparalleled relationship which he sustains to the Father-- Joh_1:1, Joh_1:14, Joh_1:18.] 36 And behold, Elisabeth thy kinswoman, she also hath conceived a son in her old age. [The angel tells of Elisabeth's condition, that it may encourage the faith of Mary, and lead her to trust in Him with whom nothing is impossible-- Jer_32:17, Jer_32:27, Gen_18:14, Mat_19:26.] 37 For no word from God shall be void of power. [ Isa_55:11.] 38 And Mary said, Behold, the handmaid [Literally, "slave" or "bondservant." It is the feminine form of the word which Paul so often applies to himself ( Rom_1:1, Tit_1:1). Mary uses it to indicate her submissive and obedient spirit] of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. [In great faith she not only believes the promise, but prays for its fulfillment. She bowed to the will of God like [16] Eli ( 1Sa_3:18), and became the mother of Him who prayed, "Not my will, but thine, be done"-- Luk_22:42.] And the angel departed from her.

[FFG 14-17]

J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

26. Was sent to a city of Galilee. Nazareth, the home of Mary. Matthew (1:20) gives an account of this visit, but does not give the angel's name.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

General Information:

The angel Gabriel announces to Mary that she is going to be the mother of the one who is the Son of God.

In the sixth month

"in the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy." It may be necessary to state this clearly if it would be confused with the sixth month of the year. (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

the angel Gabriel was sent from God

This can be stated in active form. AT: "God told the angel Gabriel to go" (See: Active or Passive)

a virgin engaged to ... Joseph

Mary's parents had agreed that Mary would marry Joseph. Though they had not had sexual relations, Joseph would have thought and spoken of her as his wife.

He belonged to the house of David

"He belonged to the same tribe as David" or "He was a descendant of King David"

the virgin's name was Mary

This introduces Mary as a new character in the story. (See: Introduction of New and Old Participants)

He came to her

"The angel came to Mary"

Greetings

This was a common greeting. It means: "Rejoice" or "Be glad."

you who are highly favored!

"you who have received great grace!" or "you who have received special kindness!"

The Lord is with you

"with you" here is an idiom that implies support and acceptance. AT: "The Lord is pleased with you" (See: Idiom)

she was very confused ... wondered what kind of greeting this could be

Mary understood the meaning of the individual words, but she did not understand why the angel said this amazing greeting to her.

translationWords

angel

Gabriel

God

Galilee

Nazareth

virgin

Joseph (NT)

David

Mary

favor

word

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

26–38. THE ANNUNCIATION

26. Ἐν δὲ τῷ μηνὶ τῷ ἕκτῳ. i.e. after the vision of Zachariah. This is the only passage which indicates the age of John the Baptist, as half a year older than our Lord. The reader will observe how this, like most of the other sections of this narrative, falls naturally into three subsections: α. The Salutation, 26–29. β. The Message, 30–33. γ. The Meek Acceptance, 34–38.

τῆς Γαλιλαίας. Thus began to be fulfilled the prophecy of Isa 9:1-2. Galilee of the Gentiles (Gelîl haggoyîm), one of the four great Roman divisions of Palestine, was north of Judaea and Samaria, west of Peraea, and comprised the territories of Zebulun, Naphtali, Issachar and Asher (Mat 4:13). Josephus describes it as rich in trees and pastures, strong, populous, containing 204 towns, of which the least had 15,000 inhabitants, and occupied by a hardy and warlike race, Bell. Jud. III. 3; Vit. 45, 52. See Map, and note on Luk 3:2.

ᾗ ὄνομα Ναζαρέτ. The expression shews that St Luke is writing for those who were unfamiliar with Palestine. See on Luk 2:51. Keim (Gesch. Jesu, I. 319) argues in favour of the form Nazara, i. from the adjectives Ναζωραῖος, Ναζαρηνός; ii. from the phrase ἀπὸ Ναζάρων in Eusebius; iii. from the modern name En-Nezirah. But there can be little doubt of the reading here, though Νάζαρα is read by some MSS. in Luk 4:16. Nazareth and Nazara may both have been in use, like Ramath and Rama. The derivation of the name is disputed, but it is probably derived from Netser, ‘a branch.’ For a description of the village see Life of Christ, I. 53.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

26-38.] Announcement by the same Angel of the birth of Christ.

26.] τῷ ἕκτῳ—referring to the πέντε in ver. 24.

Ναζαρέτ] In this particular the information of our Evangelist appears to be fuller than that of Matthew, who seems not to be aware of any residence at Nazareth previous to the birth of our Lord: but see note on Mat 2:22.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Gabriel. The annunciation and the angel Gabriel are favorite themes with Dante, and he pictures them with exquisite beauty. Thus both appear on the sculptured wall which flanks the inner side of the purgatorial ascent.

"The angel who came down to earth with tidings Of peace that had been wept for many a year, And opened heaven from its long interdict, In front of us appeared so truthfully There sculptured in a gracious attitude, He did not seem an image that is silent. One would have sworn that he was saying Ave! For she was there in effigy portrayed Who turned the key to ope the exalted love, And in her mien this language had impressed, Ecce ancilla Dei! as distinctly As any figure stamps itself in wax." Purgatory, 10, 34 - 45.

In Paradise Gabriel appears as a light circling round the Virgin and singing :

"I am angelic love, that circle round The joy sublime which breathes out from the womb That was the hostelry of our desire; And I shall circle, Lady of heaven, while Thou followest thy Son, and mak'st diviner The sphere supreme, because thou enterest there."

Paradise, 23, 103 - 108.

And again :

"And the same love that first descended then, Ave Maria gratia plena singing, In front of her his wings expanded wide."

Paradise, 32, 94 - 96.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.