What does Luke 1:34 Mean?

Verse Meaning

Mary, unlike Zechariah , did not ask for a sign that what the angel had predicted would happen. The idea that the Messiah would appear soon did not surprise her either. Instead she asked how it would happen. This was not an expression of weak faith but of confusion. Consequently Gabriel did not rebuke her as he had Zechariah. She was unmarried and a virgin. She had not had sexual relations with any man. ^[1] Evidently Mary assumed that Gabriel meant she would conceive before she and Joseph consummated their marriage. ^[2] The euphemism of "knowing" someone sexually comes from the Old Testament ( Genesis 4:1; Genesis 19:8; et al.). [source][source]

[source]

Context Summary

The narrative is artlessly simple and natural and is its own complete vindication. No human genius could have invented it. Compare it, for instance, with all the ornate and fantastic pictures of the Annunciation by the great masters! That little children and wise men alike appreciate this story bespeaks its humanness and its divineness.

It is to the humble and childlike maiden that the supreme honor of womanhood is given. The choice was one of pure grace. The Creator-Spirit Himself wrought this divine miracle. The appearance of our Savior among mankind was the direct and immediate act of Deity, so far as His body was concerned, but as to His spirit, it was the voluntary emptying on His own part, of which Paul speaks, Philippians 2:7. "The word became flesh." It was not a transient assumption of the appearance of humanity, but a real fusion of the divine and the human in that holy thing which was to be born. Here was the beginning of a new humanity, to be reproduced in all that believe, till the earth is filled with the "sons of God," Romans 8:14. [source]

Chapter Summary: Luke 1

¹  The preface of Luke to his whole gospel
⁵  The conception of John the Baptist;
²⁶  and of Jesus
³⁹  The prophecy of Elisabeth and of Mary, concerning Jesus
⁵⁷  The nativity and circumcision of John
⁶⁷  The prophecy of Zachariah, both of Jesus,
⁷⁶  and of John