Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
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How can I fulfill my life’s purpose?
A. Knowing that God promises to be with you (Luke 1:28 “And coming in, he said to her, “Greetings, favored one!
The Lord is with you.””)
It is because the Lord is with her that she is endued with grace.
The Lord is with you.
Compare Judg 6:12; Ruth 2:4.
This is not a wish (“may the Lord be with you”) but a statement and refers to God’s mighty power being present and upon Mary.
Mary is “highly favored” because she is the recipient of God’s grace.
“The Lord is with you” recalls the way the angel of the Lord addressed Gideon to assure him of God’s help in the assignment he was about to receive (Judg 6:12).
1:28 The Lord is with you Recalls “Immanuel” (“God with us”) from Isa 7:14, which was already alluded to in Luke 1:27 (compare Matt 1:23).
Greetings (like “hail”) were normal, but rank and status within society determined whom one should greet and with what words.
Neither the title (“favored” or “graced one”) nor the promise (“The Lord is with you”) was traditional in greetings, even had she been a person of status.
Highly favoured.
Literally, “endowed with grace.”
This expression designates Mary as the recipient of divine favor, or grace, not the dispenser of it
Mary’s favored status (v.
28) does not imply any intrinsic worthiness; it merely means that she has been a recipient of God’s gracious activity.
Nevertheless, Mary’s obedience and faith (v.
38; cf.
v. 45) are clearly a model for Luke’s community.
The address, “favored one” (a perfect participle, Grk “Oh one who is favored”) points to Mary as the recipient of God’s grace, not a bestower of it.
Gabriel’s greeting is literally, “Grace, you who are highly graced!”
Although she was a godly woman, it was God’s grace, not Mary’s character, that made her God’s choice.
The phrase “highly favored” is used of all God’s people in Eph.
1:6 (“which He freely bestowed on us” [NASB]).
ASB: favored one.
In that she has been chosen by God, despite her low status as a poor, unmarried woman.
CBB: Highly favored - The greeting is unusual, especially to a person of low status.
Given the usual age of marriage for Galilean virgins, May may have been in her midteens; her age, her gender and her being a Galilean villager together would have given her little social often.
The Lord is with you - Divine announcements often included the assurance that God was “with” the hearer, including when God was calling someone to a difficult task (e.g.
Gen 31:3, Ex. 3:12, Josh 1:5; 3:7; Judg.
6:12,16; Jer.
1:8,19)
B. Knowing God’s Favor Propels You (Luke 1:30 “The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God.” )
The participle indicates that Mary has been especially favoured by God in that he has already chosen her to be the mother of the Messiah (1:30).
There is no suggestion of any particular worthiness on the part of Mary herself (1:30 note).
and signifies the free gracious choice of God who favours particular men and women; the stress is on God’s choice rather than human acceptability.
You have found favor with God.
Here as in Judg 6:17; 2 Sam 15:25 (cf. 1 Sam 1:18) the issue is God’s gracious choice, not Mary’s particular piety (cf.
Gen 6:8); for unlike Luke 1:6, nothing is made of Mary’s personal piety either before or after this verse.
The emphasis is on God’s sovereign choice, not on human acceptability.
Mary has “found favor with God” (v.
30); she is a recipient of his grace (v.
28), and she can therefore say, “My spirit rejoices in God my Savior” (v.
47).
New Testament (1:26–38—The Angel and the Girl)
Mary here joins the list of those in the Bible who found favor before God (Gen 6:8 ; 19:16, 19; Ex 33:13).
God has chosen to act on this person’s behalf.
Mary was favored because the Lord set his undeserved grace upon her, not because she had earned good standing.
C. Knowing God Provides Provisions For my Impossibilities (Luke 1:37 ““For nothing will be impossible with God.”” )
The angel explains how it has been possible for the barren Elizabeth to become pregnant, and hence how it will also be possible for Mary to conceive her son: God is at work, and nothing is impossible for him
1:37 For with God nothing will be impossible.
Compare Gen 18:14 (LXX), where the same expression is found; cf. also Matt 19:26; Job 42:2; Zech 8:6 for the same thought.
This refers primarily to Mary’s conceiving as a virgin, but it also alludes to Elizabeth’s conceiving referred to in the previous verse.
The point of 1:36–37 is that God, who acted for Elizabeth as he did for Sarah, could still do anything.
On 1:36, cf.
Genesis 18:14 (on Sarah having a child); Mary has more faith than her ancestor (Gen 18:12–15).
37. Nothing shall be impossible.
The thought of this verse is expressed repeatedly throughout the Scriptures.
To Abraham came the question, “Is any thing too hard for the Lord?” (see on Gen. 18:14).
Through Isaiah God proclaimed, “My word … shall not return unto me void” (Isa.
55:11).
In Greek, the phrase πᾶν ῥῆμα (pan rhēma, “nothing”) has an emphatic position, giving it emphasis as the lesson in the entire discussion.
The remark is a call for faith.
This phrase is an OT idiom of God’s power accomplishing His purposes (cf.
Job 42:2; Jer.
32:17; Zech.
8:6).
It may be an allusion to Gen. 18:14 which deals specifically with the birth of Isaac (another supernatural, but not virgin, birth).
It also occurs in a similar affirmation in Mark 10:27 and Luke 18:27.
If ever Mary was tempted to doubt God’s promise to her, she could recall Gabriel’s words that nothing will be impossible with God, as had been shown in the lives of Abraham and Sarah (Gn 18:14).
ASB: As God had long ago shown Sarah, another childless woman (Gen.
18:14 ““Is anything too difficult for the Lord?
At the appointed time I will return to you, at this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.””
Gen 21:1-2 “Then the Lord took note of Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for Sarah as He had promised.
So Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the appointed time of which God had spoken to him.” )
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