The Meaning of Luke 1:37 Explained

Luke 1:37

KJV: For with God nothing shall be impossible.

YLT: because nothing shall be impossible with God.'

Darby: for nothing shall be impossible with God.

ASV: For no word from God shall be void of power.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

For  with  God  nothing  shall be impossible. 

What does Luke 1:37 Mean?

Context Summary

Luke 1:26-38 - The Promised Messiah
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

Greek Commentary for Luke 1:37

No word [ουκ ρημα]
ημα — Rhēma brings out the single item rather than the whole content So in Luke 1:38. [source]
With God nothing shall be impossible [σὐκ ἀδυνατήσει παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ πᾶν ῥῆμα]
Ῥῆμα ,word, as distinguished from λόγος , word, in classical Greek, signifies a constituent part of a speech or writing, as distinguished from the contents as a whole. Thus it may be either a word or a saying. Sometimes a phrase, as opposed to ὄνομα ,a single word. The distinction in the New Testament is not sharp throughout. It is maintained that ῥῆμα in the New Testament, like the Hebrew gabarstands sometimes for the subject-matter of the word; the thing, as in this passage. But there are only two other passages in the New Testament where this meaning is at all admissible, though the word occurs seventy times. These are Luke 2:15; Acts 5:32. “Kept all these things ” (Luke 2:19), should clearly be sayings, as the A. V. itself has rendered it in the almost identical passage, Luke 2:51. In Acts 5:32, Rev. gives sayings in margin. In Luke 2:15, though A. V. and Rev. render thing, the sense is evidently saying, as appears both from the connection with the angelic message and from the following words, which has come to pass: the saying which has become a fact. The Rev. rendering of this passage is, therefore, right, though a little stilted: No word of God shall be void of power; for the A. V. errs in joining οὐκ and πᾶν , not every, and translating nothing. The two do not belong together. The statement is, Every ( πᾶν ) word of God shall not ( οὐκ )be powerless. The A. V. also follows the reading, παρὰ τῷ Θεῷ ,with God; but all the later texts read παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ ,from God, which fixes the meaning beyond question. [source]

Reverse Greek Commentary Search for Luke 1:37

Luke 7:1 Sayings [ῥήματα]
See on Luke 1:37. [source]
Luke 20:26 His words [ῥήματος]
Singular number. Rev., properly, saying. See on sa40" translation="">Luke 1:37.sa40 [source]
Luke 2:50 The saying [τὸ ῥῆμα]
See on Luke 1:37. [source]
Luke 2:15 Thing [ῥῆμα]
See on Luke 1:37. The utterance of the shepherds contains a climax: “Let us go and seethis saying, which has come to pass; which the Lord made known.” [source]
Luke 18:34 Saying [ῥῆμα]
See on Luke 1:37. [source]
John 5:47 Writings [γράμμασιν]
It is important to understand the precise sense of this word, because it goes to determine whether Jesus intended an antithesis between Moses' writings and His own words, or simply between Moses ( ἐκείνου ) and Himself ( ἐμοῖς ). Γράμμα primarily means what is written. Hence it may describe either a single character or a document. From this general notion several forms develop themselves in the New Testament. The word occurs in its narrower sense of characters, at Luke 23:38; 2 Corinthians 3:7; Galatians 6:11. In Acts 28:21, it means official communications. Paul, with a single exception (2 Corinthians 3:7), uses it of the letter of scripture as contrasted with its spirit (Romans 2:27, Romans 2:29; Romans 7:6; 2 Corinthians 3:6). In Luke 16:6, Luke 16:7, it denotes a debtor's bond (A.V., bill ). In John 7:15, Acts 26:24) it is used in the plural as a general term for scriptural and Rabbinical learning. Compare Sept., Isaiah 29:11, Isaiah 29:12) where a learned man is described as ἐπιτάμενος γράμματα , acquainted with letters. Once it is used collectively of the sacred writings - the scriptures (2 Timothy 3:15), though some give it a wider reference to Rabbinical exegesis, as well as to scripture itself. Among the Alexandrian Greeks the term is not confined to elementary instruction, but includes exposition, based, however, on critical study of the text. The tendency of such exegesis was often toward mystical and allegorical interpretation, degenerating into a petty ingenuity in fixing new and recondite meanings upon the old and familiar forms. This was illustrated by the Neo-Platonists' expositions of Homer, and by the Rabbinical exegesis. Men unacquainted with such studies, especially if they appeared as public teachers, would be regarded as ignorant by the Jews of the times of Christ and the Apostles. Hence the question respecting our Lord Himself: How knoweth this man letters ( γράμματα John 7:15)? Also the comment upon Peter and John (Acts 4:13) that they were unlearned ( ἀγράμματοι ). Thus, too, those who discovered in the Old Testament scriptures references to Christ, would be stigmatized by Pagans, as following the ingenious and fanciful method of the Jewish interpreters, which they held in contempt. Some such feeling may have provoked the words of Festus to Paul: Much learning ( πολλά γράμματα ) doth make thee mad (Acts 26:24). It is well known with what minute care the literal transcription of the sacred writings was guarded. The Scribes ( γραμματεῖς ) were charged with producing copies according to the letter ( κατὰ τὸ γράμμα ). -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
The one passage in second Timothy cannot be urged in favor of the general use of the term for the scriptures, especially since the best texts reject the article before ἱερὰ γράμμα , so that the meaning is apparently more general: “thou hast known sacred writings.” The familiar formula for the scriptures was αἱ γραφαὶ ἁγίαι . A single book of the collection of writings was known as βιβλίον (Luke 4:17), or βίβλος (Luke 20:42); never γραφή , which was the term for a particular passage. See on Mark 12:10. -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
It seems to me, therefore, that the antithesis between the writings of Moses, superstitiously reverenced in the letter, and minutely and critically searched and expounded by the Jews, and the living words ( ῥήμασιν , see on Luke 1:37), is to be recognized. This, however, need not exclude the other antithesis between Moses and Jesus personally. -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
[source]

John 3:34 The words [τὰ ῥήματα]
Not words, nor individual words, but the words - the complete message of God. See on Luke 1:37. [source]
John 17:8 The words [τὰ ῥήματα]
Compare thy word ( λόγον ), John 17:6. That signified the gospel message in its entirety. This, the message considered in its constituent parts. See on Luke 1:37. Compare John 5:38, John 5:47; John 6:60, John 6:63, John 6:68; John 8:43, John 8:47, John 8:51; John 12:47, John 12:48; John 15:3, John 15:7. [source]
Romans 10:8 The word is nigh thee []
Septuagint, Very nigh thee is the word. The word is the whole subject-matter of the Gospel. See Romans 10:9. Moses used it of the law. See on Luke 1:37. The whole quotation in the Hebrew is as follows: “It (the commandment) is not in heaven, that ye should say, Who will ascend for us to heaven, and bring it to us, and make us hear it that we may do it? And it is not beyond the sea, that ye should say, Who will go over for us beyond the sea, and bring it to us, and make us hear it that we may do it? But the word is very near thee, in thy mouth and in thy heart, to do it.” The object of the passage is to contrast the system of faith with the system of law, and that, especially, with reference to the remoteness and difficulty of righteousness. Moses says that the commandment of God to Israel is not incapable of accomplishment, nor is it a distant thing to be attained only by long and laborious effort. The people, on the contrary, carries it in its mouth, and it is stamped upon its heart. Compare Exodus 13:9; Deuteronomy 6:6-9. In applying these words to the system of faith, Paul, in like manner, denies that this system involves any painful search or laborious work. Christ has accomplished the two great things necessary for salvation. He has descended to earth and has risen from the dead. All that is necessary is to accept by faith the incarnate and risen Christ, instead of having recourse to the long and painful way of establishing one's own righteousness by obedience to the law. [source]
Ephesians 6:17 Word of God [ῥῆμα θεοῦ]
See on Luke 1:37. See Luke 3:2; Luke 4:4; Romans 10:17; Hebrews 6:5; Hebrews 11:3. [source]
Hebrews 1:3 By the word of his power [τῷ ῥήματι τῆς δυνάμεως αὐτοῦ]
The phrase N.T.obut comp Luke 1:37, and see note. The word is that in which the Son's power manifests itself. Ἀυτοῦ hisrefers to Christ. Nothing in the context suggests any other reference. The world was called into being by the word of God (Hebrews 11:3), and is maintained by him who is “the very image of God's substance.” [source]
Revelation 17:17 The words [τὰ ῥήματα]
But read οἱ λόγοι theprophetic words. For the distinction, see on Luke 1:37. [source]

What do the individual words in Luke 1:37 mean?

For not will be impossible with - God every thing
ὅτι οὐκ ἀδυνατήσει παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ πᾶν ῥῆμα

ἀδυνατήσει  will  be  impossible 
Parse: Verb, Future Indicative Active, 3rd Person Singular
Root: ἀδυνατέω  
Sense: impossible.
τοῦ  - 
Parse: Article, Genitive Masculine Singular
Root:  
Sense: this, that, these, etc.
Θεοῦ  God 
Parse: Noun, Genitive Masculine Singular
Root: θεός  
Sense: a god or goddess, a general name of deities or divinities.
πᾶν  every 
Parse: Adjective, Nominative Neuter Singular
Root: πᾶς  
Sense: individually.
ῥῆμα  thing 
Parse: Noun, Nominative Neuter Singular
Root: ῥῆμα  
Sense: that which is or has been uttered by the living voice, thing spoken, word.