Luke 1:37
in Luke 1For no word from God will ever fail.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
For no word from God shall be void of power.
KJV
For with God nothing shall be impossible.
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This verse in Luke 1
Commentary
12 notes on this verseFor with God nothing shall be impossible - Words of the very same import with those spoken by the Lord to Sarah, when he foretold the birth of Isaac, Gen 18:14, Is any thing too hard for the Lord? As there can be no doubt that Mary perceived this allusion to the promise and birth of Isaac, so she must have had her faith considerably strengthened by reflecting on the intervention of God in that case.
This site's exposition
thy cousin Elisabeth
on Luke 1:36-38
Thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age gives Mary a confirming sign she never asked for, the same courtesy withheld from Zacharias because he demanded rather than trusted, and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren ties the two conceptions together as evidence of one hand at work. For with God nothing shall be impossible restates Genesis 18:14's word to Sarah almost exactly, the same God who opened one old womb now opening a young one by an even greater wonder. Mary's answer closes the scene, Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it unto me according to thy word, a bondservant's word, not a queen's, and the commentators across the centuries have set her submission beside Eve's disobedience as the willing yes that undoes the ancient no.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers3 voices
(contra Faust. l. xxvi. c. 5.) But whoever says, "If God is omnipotent, let Him cause those things which have been done to have not been done," does not perceive that he says, "Let Him cause those things which are true, in that very respect in which they are true to be false." For He may cause a thing not to be which was, as when He makes a man who began to be by birth, not to be by death. But who can say that He makes not to be that which no longer is in being? For whatever is past is no longer in being. But if aught can happen to a thing, that thing is still in being to which any thing happens, and if it is, how is it past? Therefore that is not in being which we have truly said has been, because the truth is, in our opinions, not in that thing which no longer is. But this opinion God can not make false; and we do not so call God omnipotent as supposing also that He could die. He plainly is alone truly called omnipotent, who truly is, and by whom alone that is, whatever in any wise exists, whether spirit or body.
For the Lord of nature can do all things as He will, Who executes and disposes all things, holding the reins of life and death.
It has learnt not to respect life; how much more food? [You ask] "How many have fulfilled these conditions? "But what with men is difficult, with God is easy. Let us, however, comfort ourselves about the gentleness and clemency of God in such wise, as not to indulge our "necessities" up to the point of affinities with idolatry, but to avoid even from afar every breath of it, as of a pestilence.
The Medieval Church2 voices
The reason for this he adds when he says: For no word shall be impossible with God. Ecclesiastes 8: "Whatever he has willed, he shall do, and his word is full of power"; Matthew 19: "With God all things are possible," as was said to …
Perhaps someone is puzzled how Elizabeth was a relative of the Virgin, when the Virgin was from the tribe of Judah, and Elizabeth was from the daughters of Aaron, for the Law required that marriages be from one and the same tribe, and therefore kinship …
5 more voices on this verse
The Medieval Church1 voice
So it was then, lest the virgin should despair of being able to bear a son, that she received the example of one both old and barren about to bring forth, in order that she might learn that all things are possible with God, even those which seem to be opposed to the order of nature. Whence it follows, For there shall be no word (verbum) impossible with God.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
For with God nothing shall be impossible.
The interview between Mary the mother of Jesus and Elisabeth the mother of John, when they were both with child of those pregnant births, and the prophecies they both uttered upon that occasion,
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
J.C. Ryle1816–1900
Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Luke (lightly modernized text, Grace Gems edition) (1858)
proposed
Let us mark, in these verses — the reverent and discreet manner in which the angel Gabriel speaks of the great mystery of Christ's incarnation. In reply to the question of Mary, "How shall this be?" he uses these remarkable words, "The Holy Spirit shall come upon you — and the power of the Highest shall overshadow you." We shall do well to follow the example of the angel in all our reflections on this deep subject.
A commentator
J.C. Ryle1816–1900
Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Luke (lightly modernized text, Grace Gems edition) (1858)
proposed
Let us mark, in these verses — the reverent and discreet manner in which the angel Gabriel speaks of the great mystery of Christ's incarnation. In reply to the question of Mary, "How shall this be?" he uses these remarkable words, "The Holy Spirit shall come upon you — and the power of the Highest shall overshadow you." We shall do well to follow the example of the angel in all our reflections on this deep subject. Let us ever regard it with holy reverence — and abstain from those improper and unprofitable speculations upon it, in which some have unhappily indulged. It is enough for us to know that "the Word was made flesh," and that when the Son of God came into the world, he had a real body — so that He "took part of our flesh and blood," and was "made of a woman." Here we must stop. The manner in which all this was effected, is wisely hidden from us. If we attempt to pry beyond this point — we shall only darken counsel by words without knowledge, and rush in where angels fear to tread. In a religion which really comes down from Heaven — there must needs be mysteries. Of such mysteries in Christianity, the incarnation is one. Let us mark, in the second place — the prominent place assigned to the Holy Spirit in the great mystery of the incarnation. We find it written, "The Holy Spirit shall come upon you." An intelligent reader of the Bible will probably not fail to remember that the honor here given to the Spirit, is in precise harmony with the teaching of Scripture in other places. In every step of the great work of man's redemption — we shall find special mention of the work of the Holy Spirit. Did Jesus die to make atonement for our sins? It is written that "through the eternal Spirit, He offered himself without spot to God." (Hebrews 9:14.) Did Jesus rise again for our justification? It is written that He "was quickened by the Spirit."
The words behind it
8 Greek wordsEvery Greek word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Greek | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ὅτι | hoti | For | G3754 → | 1292 times |
| οὐκ | ouk | not | G3756 → | 1664 times |
| ἀδυνατήσει | adunatesei | will be impossible | G101 → | |
| παρὰ | para | with | G3844 → | 192 times |
| τοῦ | tou | <of the> | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| θεοῦ | theou | God | G2316 → | 1312 times |
| πᾶν | pan | every | G3956 → | 1235 times |
| ῥῆμα.¶ | rhema | declaration. | G4487 → | 68 times |
ὅτιFor
hotiG3754 →1292 times
οὐκnot
oukG3756 →1664 times
ἀδυνατήσειwill be impossible
adunateseiG101 →
παρὰwith
paraG3844 →192 times
τοῦ<of the>
touG3588 →19766 times
θεοῦGod
theouG2316 →1312 times
πᾶνevery
panG3956 →1235 times
ῥῆμα.¶declaration.
rhemaG4487 →68 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Jeremiah 32:27“Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh. Is anything too difficult for Me?
it leads to
- Matthew 19:26
Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
Reached by 4 separate paths from here.
- Jeremiah 32:17
“Oh, Lord GOD! You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too difficult for You!
Reached by 4 separate paths from here.
- Matthew 19:26
Through
Matthew 19:26Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
it leads to
- Jeremiah 32:27
“Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh. Is anything too difficult for Me?
Reached by 3 separate paths from here.
- Job 42:2
“I know that You can do all things and that no plan of Yours can be thwarted.
Reached by 4 separate paths from here.
- Mark 10:27
Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.”
- Luke 18:27
But Jesus said, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.”
- Jeremiah 32:27
Through
Jeremiah 32:17“Oh, Lord GOD! You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too difficult for You!
it leads to
- Genesis 18:14
Is anything too difficult for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you—in about a year—and Sarah will have a son.”
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Exodus 20:11
For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that is in them, but on the seventh day He rested. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath…
- Genesis 18:14
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies18
On this verse
About Luke
This page draws on 11 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Ambrose of Milan, Exposition of the Gospel of Luke; Augustine of Hippo, Catena Aurea by Aquinas; Bede, Catena Aurea by Aquinas; Bonaventure, Commentary on Luke, Chapter 1; J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Luke (lightly modernized text, Grace Gems edition); John Chrysostom, Catena Aurea by Aquinas; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Tertullian, On Idolatry and Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on Luke.