for nothing shall be impossible with God.
इस पद की टीका
Setting
Luke 1:37 — "For with God nothing shall be impossible" — is the angel Gabriel's closing word to Mary after announcing the virgin conception of Christ. It rests her faith not on her own ability to grasp the wonder but on God's omnipotence, sealed by the sign of Elizabeth's pregnancy in old age.
A Sign Given to Strengthen Faith
The angel does not leave Mary to wrestle alone with the impossible. He points her to a smaller, already visible miracle as a foothold for her faith.
A J PollockThe less wonderful birth is brought before her notice to strengthen her faith to believe in the more wonderful birth. "For with God nothing shall be impossible" (Luke 1:37).
A J PollockHe then instances her cousin, Elizabeth, who, after long years of barrenness and past the natural powers of nature, was to give birth to a wonderful child, destined to be the forerunner of the Christ, John, the Baptist.
The same point is drawn from the angel's method: Mary asked for no sign, yet one was freely supplied because nothing lies beyond God's power.
Numerical Bible NotesBefore departing, however, he has referred her to Elisabeth, as a sign of the power of God at work, to which nothing is impossible, and Mary, who has asked for no sign to be given her, yet "drinks of the brook in the way," and goes "with haste," as one feeling the weight of what had been communicated to her, to seek refreshment in the company of her kinswoman, linked with her as she is in faith, and now by this new work of God which is beginning to accomplish the long looked for blessing.
The Power Behind the Promise
The verse anchors the virgin birth in an act that is wholly God's, with no contribution from the will of man. Mary herself is the passive vessel; the source of this life is divine.
J. N. DarbyThe Holy Ghost should come upon her — should act in power upon this earthen vessel, without its own will or the will of any man. God is the source of the life of the child promised to Mary, as born in this world and by His power... Holy in His birth, conceived by the intervention of the power of God acting upon Mary (a power which was the divine source of His existence on the earth, as man), that which thus received its being from Mary, the fruit of her womb, should even in this sense have the title of Son of God.
This is not Luke restating the eternal Sonship — that belongs to John, Hebrews and Colossians — but presenting a true Man born by direct divine action, the central note of Luke's Gospel.
Numerical Bible NotesThis is not, then, the truth of incarnation declared, though, of course, in perfect accordance with it; it is that of a Man born by divine intervention, without human father, — Son of God, but as Man. And this is Luke's theme: it is the Gospel of the Manhood.
Mary's Response — Submission, Not Self-Importance
Mary's reaction to "nothing shall be impossible" is not to glory in her chosen role but to disappear behind the greatness of God who is acting.
J. N. DarbyThe angel announces to her the blessing bestowed on Elizabeth through the almighty power of God; and Mary bows to the will of her God — the submissive vessel of His purpose, and in her piety acknowledges a height and greatness in these purposes which only left to her, their passive instrument, her place of subjection to the will of God. This was her glory, through the favour of her God.
J. N. DarbyThe marvellous intervention of God humbled her, instead of lifting her up. She saw God in that which had taken place, and not herself; on the contrary the greatness of these marvels brought God so near her as to hide her from herself.
A Wider Truth — God Is Almighty
The principle Gabriel states is the same one tested in Sarah's womb and applied wherever human capacity has run out.
F. B. HoleThe Almighty power of God came out in the birth of Isaac, which was a humanly impossible thing... Can a living child be produced from parents as good as dead? Here clearly was involved the supreme test. Can life be brought out of death? It was brought out. Isaac was born. God is the ALMIGHTY.
W. W. FeredayOne has only to bring GOD in, and the greatest marvel becomes simplicity itself. "With God all things are possible" (Matt. 19:26).
Summary
- Faith's foothold. Gabriel pointed Mary to Elizabeth's pregnancy — a "less wonderful" miracle — to ground her faith for the greater one.
- Divine source. The conception was a direct act of the Holy Spirit on Mary as a passive vessel, "without its own will or the will of any man."
- Son of God as Man. Luke 1:37 introduces not the eternal Sonship but Christ "Son of God, but as Man" — Luke's distinctive theme of full, holy manhood.
- Mary's posture. The greatness of God's purpose hid Mary from herself; submission, not self-importance, was her glory.
- A general principle. "Nothing impossible" is the same Almighty power seen in Isaac's birth and wherever life is brought out of death — wherever God is brought in, the greatest marvel becomes simple.