Luke 1:35
Read Luke 1:35 Using Other Translations
What does Luke 1:35 mean?
And the angel answered and said unto her
The angel gave her an account of the manner in which what he had
said should be effected, as well as observed some things for the
strengthening of her faith.
The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee.
The words, "upon thee", are left out in the Syriac and Persic
versions; but are retained in others, and in all copies: the
formation of Christ's human nature, though common to all the
three persons, yet is particularly, and most properly ascribed to
the Spirit; not to the first person, the Father, lest it should
be thought that he is only the Father of him, as man; nor to the
second person, the Son, since it is to him that the human nature
is personally united; but to the third person, the Spirit, who is
the sanctifier; and who separated, and sanctified it, the first
moment of its conception, and preserved it from the taint of
original sin. His coming upon the virgin must be understood in
consistence with his omnipresence, and immensity; and cannot
design any local motion, but an effectual operation in forming
the human nature of her flesh and substance; and not in the
ordinary manner in which he is concerned in the formation of all
men, ( Job 33:4 )
but in an extraordinary way, not to be conceived of, and
explained. The phrase most plainly answers to (le ab) , in frequent use with the
Jews F24, as expressive of coition.
And the power of the Highest shall overshadow
thee.
By "the power of the Highest" is not meant the Lord Jesus Christ,
who is sometimes called the power of God; but rather the Holy
Ghost, as before, who is styled the finger of God, and power from
on high, ( Luke 11:20 ) ( 24:49 ) unless it should
be thought that the perfection of divine power common to all the
three persons is intended: and so points out the means by which
the wondrous thing should be performed, even by the power of God;
and which should not only be employed in forming the human nature
of Christ, but in protecting the virgin from any suspicion and
charge of sin, and defending her innocence and virtue, by moving
upon Joseph to take her to wife. In the word, "overshadow", some
think there is an allusion to the Spirit of God moving upon the
face of the waters, in ( Genesis 1:2 ) when,
(tpxrm) , he brooded upon
them, as the word may be rendered; and which is the sense of it,
according to the Jewish writers
F25 as a hen, or any other bird broods on its eggs to exclude its young: and others have thought the allusion may be to (Myntx tpwh) , {z}, "the nuptial covering": which was a veil, or canopy, like a tent, supported on four staves, under which the bridegroom and bride were betrothed; or, as Dr. Lightfoot thinks, it is a modest phrase alluding to the conjugal embraces, signified by a man's spreading the skirt of his garment over the woman, which Ruth desired of Boaz, ( Ruth 3:9 ) though the Jewish writers say F1, that phrase is (Nyawvyn) (Nwvl) expressive of the act of marriage, or taking to wife. The phrase of being (hawbn xwrb Nylljm) "overshadowed", or "covered with the spirit of prophecy", as the virgin also was, is used by the Targumist, on ( 1 Chronicles 2:55 )
therefore
also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall
be
called the Son of God.
The human nature of Christ is here called a "thing"; for it was
not a person; it never subsisted of itself, but was taken at once
into union with the person of the Son of God, otherwise there
would be two persons in Christ, whereas he is God, and man, in
one person; and it is said to be "holy", being free from that
original pollution and sin, in which all that descend from Adam,
by ordinary generation, are conceived, and brought forth; and is,
moreover, said to be born of a virgin, "of thee", or "out of
thee". Christ's flesh was formed out of the Virgin's; he took
flesh of her; his body did not descend from heaven, or pass
through her, as water through a pipe, as some heretics of old
said: nor did his human nature, either as to soul or body,
pre-exist his incarnation; but in the fulness of time he was made
of a woman, and took a true body of her, and a reasonable soul,
into union with his divine person; and "therefore should be
called the Son of God": not that he was now to become the "the
Son of God"; he was so before his incarnation, and even from all
eternity; but he was now to be manifested as such in human
nature: nor does the angel predict, that he should, for this
reason, be called the Son of God; for he never was, on this
account, so called, either by himself, or others: nor is the
particle, "therefore", causal, but consequential: the angel is
not giving a reason why Christ should be the Son of God, but why
he should be owned, and acknowledged, as such by his people: who
would infer, and conclude from his wonderful conception and
birth, that he is the "Emmanuel", God with us, the child that was
to be born, and the Son given, whose name should be Wonderful,
Counsellor, the mighty God ( Isaiah 7:14 ) (
9:6 ) .
Moreover, the word, "also", is not to be overlooked; and the
sense is, that seeing that human nature, which should be born of
the virgin, would be united to the Son of God, it likewise should
bear the same name, being in personal union with him, who was so
from all eternity.
F24 Misn. Sanhedrin, c. 7, sect. 4. &
passim alibi
F25 R. Sol. Jarchi, R. Aben Ezra, & R.
Levi ben Gerson in Gen. 1. 2.
F26 T. Bab. Sota, fol. 49. 2. Vid. David
de Pomis, Lex. Heb p. 67. 2.
F1 Targum, Jarchi, & Aben Ezra in
loc.
