Bible Study Series: Luke 1:39-45. On hearing Mary’s voice, Elizabeth celebrates, and John (the future Baptist), will leap for joy in his mother’s womb. Good poetry, too
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In the next link to the original chapter, I comment more and offer the Greek text. At the bottom you will find a “Summary and Conclusion” section geared toward discipleship. Check it out!
In this post, links are provided for further study.
Let’s begin.
Scripture: Luke 1:39-45
39 In those days Mary got up and hurried off into the hill country to a Judean town 40 and entered Zechariah’s house and greeted Elizabeth. 41 It so happened that as Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.
42 And she lifted her voice exuberantly and said,
“Blessed are you among women! And blessed is the fruit of your womb!
43 How does this happen for me that the mother of my Lord would come to me?
44 For look! As the voice of your greetings sounded in my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy!
45 Blessed is she who has believed that there will be the fulfillment of what had been spoken to her from the Lord!”
Comments:
39-40:
Commentator D. L. Bock says that the distance from Nazareth to the hill country of Judea was 80-100 miles (128.7-160 km) (p. 134). Travel time was three to four days. What motivated her to go? The best response is God’s leading. The Spirit was orchestrating the two connected birth narratives. Mary surely did not travel alone. She either attached herself to other travelers, or she went with family or neighbors. But she appears to have entered the house alone.
In any case, it was a bold act for a girl to travel like this, in those days. I wonder how Joseph felt about this. Did he try to talk her out of it? If he couldn’t, did he surrender and offer advice, like how much food to take on the journey? The best route? Did he ask any of his family member to accompany her, part of the way?
Whatever the case, never let fear dominate you. Don’t be foolish or needlessly risky, but fear? Never. Step out in faith, if God calls.
41:
Never doubt that even a developing baby can perceive in its baby nature the things of God. Verse 15 says John would be full of the Spirit already from his mother’s womb. This speaks to the abortion issue. Please don’t abort your baby before God works out his plan for him.
What the Bible Really Says about Abortion and Prenatal Life
Spiritual Sonograms: God Loves You and Your Baby
For Sunday School teachers of small children, don’t deprive them of the fullness of the Spirit. Lay hands on them and pray for God to fill them, even if they don’t understand and look around while you are praying.
Elizabeth was also filled with the Spirit—baby John and mature adult Elizabeth. The Spirit is here to fill all of us. Have you received the infilling of the Spirit? All you need to be is hungry and thirsty for more of God. Please don’t approach this gift with your intellect fully charged up. “Well, we’ll just see about this! I’ll sit right here and watch and criticize! I won’t act until I want to, or I got proof! All this is passé and obsolete after the first century anyway!” With that skeptical attitude, you won’t receive him. Become like a child in your faith. Cornelius the centurion, a full adult male and military commander, was hungry for God, when Peter walked into his house. He received the Spirit in his fullness (Acts 10). Are you also hungry and open? If so, ask, and you will receive the Holy Spirit, not a fish or an egg or a scorpion (demon) (study Luke 11:11-13).
Baptized, Filled, and Full of the Spirit: What Does It All Mean? (it reviews all the key nouns, adjectives and verbs)
“The Spirit takes center stage in Acts after Pentecost and prompts Jesus’ followers in various breakthroughs in taking the gospel to the world. The Spirit does something new, but the Spirit is not something new. The Spirit always has been the messenger of God’s truth and guidance to humans and came upon various persons in the Old Testament to lead them to prophesy (see Num 11:16-25; 24:2; 2 Sam 23:2; 1 Chr. 12:18; Neh 9:30; Isa 61:1; Mic 3:8; Ezek 2:2; 3:12, 14, 24; 8:3; 11:1, 3, 24; 37:1; 43:5; Zech 7:12). David spoke through the Spirit (Acts 1:16; 4:25 as did Isaiah (Acts 28:25) (Garland, comment on 1:40-41).
The Spirit in the Old Testament
The Spirit’s Deity and Divine Attributes
The Spirit in the Church and Believers
42:
“exuberantly”: literally a “great cry” or “great shout.” Exuberantly gets the point across better in English. However one translates it, her exuberance came from her being filled with the Spirit. That is one of the fruit or product of the infilling: Boldness to carry out a mission or give a speech. How do we know she was bold? Verse 24 says she had secluded herself for five months. The next thing she knows, Mary greets her, and the Spirit fills her and she speaks with a loud shout or cry. She goes from seclusion to boldness in a minute! Many Renewalists believe that the Spirit’s presence in anointed people can “rub off” on them. This seems to be true from Scripture, as here.
Her exclamation says that Mary’s fruit of the womb is blessed. Did she perceive that Mary was pregnant at that time? Or did she speak in faith? After all, she said, “Blessed is she who believes that this shall be fulfilled.” That’s the future tense. So maybe Mary was not yet pregnant, but Elizabeth foresaw it happening.
“blessed”: see vv. 44-45 for a definition.
Any chance people will speak well of their families, to have peace in the household?
“fruit of your womb”: that’s an old school translation, but accurate. It literally says “fruit,” and of course it means “baby.”
In Luke 11:27-28, someone from the crowd will shout that the woman who nursed Jesus as a baby is blessed. Jesus will reply that the ones who are blessed hear the word of God and keep it. So Mary’s blessedness is not located in her bringing a special child into the world, but because she “has heard, believed, and obeyed (see Deut. 28:1, 4) and she becomes a model of faith” (Garland, comment on 1:42).
43:
“mother of my Lord”: That’s an amazing statement of faith. Mary must have communicated to Elizabeth that God would enable her to conceive the Son of the Most High. Did she write a letter? Or maybe Elizabeth did not know it by natural means (a letter), but by a word of knowledge, a prophetic insight. In any case, already Elizabeth was submitting to the Lord Jesus, either before he was conceived, or while he was an embryo in her womb. Now that takes faith and a humble heart!
Marshall: “Jesus is described as [Lord] (1:76; 2:11; 7:13, 19; 10:1, 39, 41; 11:39; 12:42; 13:15; 17:5f.; 18:6; 19:8, 31, 34; 20:42, 44; 22:61; 24:3, 34; cf. 1:15 (and note) for the use of the title for God)” (comment on v. 43).
No wonder why early generations of Christians called Mary the “Mother of God.” After all, Elizabeth says she was the mother of “my Lord.” Theologically and technically, both statements are right. Note that Elizabeth called him Lord from the very beginning. It was inspired and personal. John had to find this out for himself. Morris also teaches us that Elizabeth was not jealous of Mary. “But in genuine humility she recognized the greater blessing God had given to Mary” (note on vv. 43-45).
44-45:
Still more remarkable content—reality here for them, more than words on a page for us and them. Elizabeth perceived the motive in baby John by divine means. He leaped for joy. It was not an ordinary kick. She spoke out her belief.
And now for the even more remarkable part. She uses the past tense (she who has believed) about a future event, for the verb “there will be” is in the future. Yes, the Word of Faith teachers get a few things right, once in a while. Please don’t throw out everything they say. In any case, you have to believe it before you see it (John 20:29). Elizabeth believed it before it was accomplished—before Mary’s baby, her Lord, was conceived or born.
“blessed” The more common adjective, which appears here in vv. 20-22, is makarios (pronounced mah-kah-ree-oss) and is used 50 times. It has an extensive meaning: “happy” or “fortunate” or “privileged” (Mounce, pp. 67-71). But it is in the feminine: “blessed is she.”
Let’s look more deeply at “blessed.”
The Old Testament was written in Hebrew, and the main word for blessing is the verb barak, used 327 times throughout the Hebrew Bible: Genesis 76 times, Deuteronomy 40 times, and Psalms 76 times. Each time it is people-related. The noun is beraka, used 71 times, and “denotes the pronouncement of good things on the recipient or the collection of good things” (Mounce, p. 70).
The New Testament was written in Greek, and the verb is eulogeō (pronounced yew-loh-geh-oh, and the “g” is hard), which is used 41 times and means to “bless, thank, or praise.” The adjective eulogētos (pronounced yew-loh-gay-toss, and the “g” is hard), which is used 8 times, means “blessed, praised.” The noun is eulogia (pronounced yew-lo-gee-ah, the “g” is hard, and we get our word eulogy from it), and is used 16 times. It means to “speak well.” It is mostly translated as “praise.” The log– stem is rich in Greek, and it can include speaking a word.
Do I Really Know God? He Is Blessed
“look!”: It’s an updated translation of “behold!”
In v. 45, believing (verb) and faith (noun) is very important to God. It is the language of heaven. We live on earth and by faith see the invisible world where God is. We must believe he exists; then we must exercise our faith to believe he loves us and intends to save us. We must have saving faith by trusting in Jesus and his finished work on the cross.
True acronym:
F-A-I-T-H
=
Forsaking All, I Trust Him.
Let’s discuss the verb believe and the noun faith more deeply. It is the language of the kingdom of God. It is how God expects us to relate to him. It is the opposite of doubt, which is manifested in whining and complaining and fear. Instead, faith is, first, a gift that God has distributed to everyone (Rom. 12:3). Second, it is directional (Rom. 10:9-11; Acts 20:21). We cannot rightly have faith in faith. It must be faith in God through Christ. Third, faith in Christ is different from faith in one’s ability to follow God on one’s own. It is different from keeping hundreds of religious laws and rules. This is one of Luke’s main themes in Acts, culminating in the Jerusalem Council (Acts 15) and Paul’s ministry for the rest of Acts. Faith in Jesus over faith in law keeping. Fourth, there is faith as a set of beliefs and doctrines, which are built on Scripture (Acts 6:7). Fifth, there is also a surge of faith that is poured out and transmitted through the Spirit when people need it most (1 Cor. 12:9). It is one of the nine charismata or manifestations of grace (1 Cor 12:7-11). Sixth, one can build faith and starve doubt by feasting on Scripture and the words about Christ (Rom. 10:17).
Word Study on Faith and Faithfulness
So Luke highlights women’s roles and high status in his Gospel. Good for Dr. Luke. He must have observed that his culture did not value them highly, and God moved on his heart to run against the culture, in Luke-Acts. God was doing a new thing. This is now his show, his kingdom. Women too shall be honored. They too shall be blessed. They too shall be filled with the Spirit. They too shall be lifted up. They too shall accomplish his purposes.
This is a perfect segue into Mary’s song / poem in the next section.
To conclude ….
This pericope (pronounced puh-RIH-koh-pea) or unit or section is filled with joy. Mary traveled from up north to the hill country of Judea. Courageous, though surely Joseph told her to travel in a group, a human caravan. Baby John leaped for joy when he heard Mary voice and greeting. That’s an amazing story. Babies in the womb can sense and respond to things. Let’s honor them with life.
GrowApp for Luke 1:39-45
1. Elizabeth went from seclusion to outspoken boldness. How has the infilling of the Spirit transformed your life?
2. When were you so filled with the Spirit that you spoke out boldly?
3. God spoke well of Mary and her future baby. He calls you blessed even before you feel blessed. He values you before you feel valued. How do you think this full and true revelation from God can help you grow in him?
RELATED
11. Eyewitness Testimony in Luke’s Gospel
3. Church Fathers and Luke’s Gospel
2. Archaeology and the Synoptic Gospels
1. The Historical Reliability of the Gospels: Introduction to Series
SOURCES
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