What does Luke 1:38 Mean?

Verse Meaning

Mary responded submissively to God"s will, as Hannah had ( 1 Samuel 1:11, where the same Greek word, doule, "servant," or "slave-girl," occurs in the Septuagint). Even though Gabriel"s announcement was good news, it was also bad news. Mary would bear the Messiah, but her premarital pregnancy would bring misunderstanding and shame on her for the rest of her life (cf. Deuteronomy 22:23-24). Therefore her humble attitude is especially admirable (cf. Genesis 21:1; Genesis 21:7; Genesis 21:12; Genesis 30:34). Unfortunately she did not always maintain it (cf. John 2:5). In this she was only human. [source][source]

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"This passage suggests four other important lessons: (1) the certainty that God will perform his promise, since nothing is impossible with him, (2) Mary"s example as one chosen to serve God, an example that extends even beyond the willingness to be used to trust God to take us beyond our limitations, (3) the significance of the Virgin Birth of our Savior, and (4) the importance of sexual faithfulness throughout our lives." ^[1] [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