Luke 1:27 Commentary and Bible Study

God chose this woman to be the mother of his Son. She was not perfect; she was herself a sinner who needed a Saviour as she will say presently, but her humility and simple piety made her a suitable mother of the one who ‘made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant’ (Philippians 2:7). The Lord ‘burdened her with blessing, and he pained her with renown.’ Walter Chalmers Smith’s hymn rightly interprets her attitude to this blessing. She would have avoided the attention it brought to her, but she was deeply thankful to God for the privilege accorded to her and submitted to God’s will.‘To a virgin’ – it had to be so, for the Christ could have no human father or else he too would be born with a sinful human nature. He was a man with a true body and a reasonable soul, because he had a true human mother, and the Spirit of God formed within her a holy being who was free from the corruption of sin. This is precisely what Isaiah had prophesied when he said, ‘The Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel’ (Isaiah 7:14). This is quoted by Matthew, but the sending of Gabriel and the annunciation of Christ’s birth is only here in Luke and is of course consistent with Isaiah 9:6 and John 1:14.Joseph is named as being espoused to Mary, but Luke is careful not to say that he is the father of the child. He was the legal father of the child as Mary’s future husband. That is why we are also told he was of the house of David. This was significant as every Jew knew, for the Messiah was to be descended from David. When Joseph is reassured by the angel that it is right for him to trust Mary and to take her to be his wife, he is addressed with the same title for the same reason: ‘Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife’ (Matthew 1:20). Scripture documents the fulfilment of Scriptural prophecy, and in this case it was essential to prove that the Christ was descended from David, both legally through Joseph and actually through Mary (Isaiah 9:7; Jeremiah 23:5). It is generally thought that, concerning the genealogy of Jesus Christ, Matthew gives that of Joseph, and Luke gives that of Mary. The virgin’s name was Mary; this is the same name as Moses’ sister, Miriam.