The Bible Says
Luke 1:26-30 Meaning

There are no apparent parallel Gospel accounts of Luke 1:26-30.

Luke 1:26-3 begins the passage of scripture that is often referred to as “The Annunciation.” Luke 1:26-30 sets the stage for the angel Gabriel’s announcement to the virgin Mary, that the Holy Spirit would come upon her and she would miraculously conceive and give birth to God’s Son who would be called Jesus, and that Jesus would be the Messiah.

Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth (v 26).

Luke uses the word-now-to transition the time and place of his narrative context. Previously he was discussing Zacharias and Elizabeth in the district of Judea, in and near the capital city of Jerusalem (Luke 1:5-25). Now Luke will discuss the virgin Mary (v 27) who was in the city of Nazareth, located in the northern district of Galilee.

The expression-in the sixth month-refers to the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy (Luke 1:24). The events Luke is going to describe in Luke 1:26-33 took place six months after the events of Luke 1:23-25.

Elizabeth became pregnant, shortly after her husband Zacharias returned home from his term of priestly service (Luke 1:23). Her pregnancy was miraculous, because she was barren and both Elizabeth and Zacharias were advanced past the normal age of conceiving children (Luke 1:7).

Before Elizabeth became pregnant, the angel Gabriel had told Zacharias when he went into the temple that his wife would conceive a son, who would be the foretold and long-awaited Messianic forerunner who would prepare Israel for His coming (Luke 1:11-17). Gabriel also told Zacharias that the child would be a son, who would be named “John” (Luke 1:13).

Zacharias questioned Gabriel about his message and was struck mute until the angel’s prediction took place (Luke 1:18-20).

Six months had now passed since Elizabeth became pregnant, as foretold by the angel Gabriel.

Now the angel Gabriel was sent from God again. This time he was sent to a city in Galilee called Nazareth and he was sent to deliver an even more incredible message to a virgin, named Mary.

As we will see, Gabriel will announce to Mary that she will miraculously conceive through the Holy Spirit and give birth to the Son of God and the Messiah. And His name will be Jesus. Gabriel’s announcement and Mary’s conception took place in the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy with John (the Baptizer)-the Messiah’s forerunner.

When we take into account various details from Luke’s record of the conception of John the Baptizer (Luke 1:5-25) and Old Testament priestly schedules (1 Chronicles 24:1-18), we learn that Elizabeth likely conceived John in the late-spring/early-summer. If this was the case, then six months later would have been the late-fall/early winter around the time of the Jewish celebration of Hannukah-the festival of lights. This would mean that Jesus, the Light of the World, was conceived during Hannukah, the festival of lights.

To learn more about the timing of Jesus’s conception and birth and their possible correspondence to Jewish festivals, see The Bible Says article: “Do the Jewish Festivals of Passover, Hanukkah, and Tabernacles Bear Witness to the Messiah’s Birth?”

Galilee was in the northern part of Rome’s Judean province. The district of Galilee took its name from the 10-mile x 5-mile diamond-shaped lake, also called “Galilee.” The city of Nazareth was a small town within the district of Galilee and was located approximately 15 miles west from the southernmost point of the lake.

In the first century A.D., the population of the city of Nazareth may have been as small as 2,000 people. Some archeologists have found evidence that Nazareth in more ancient times had a much larger population but was abandoned for several centuries around the Assyrian invasion and fall of the Northern Kingdom (725 B.C.). These findings suggest that Nazareth was reinhabited by Jews during the second century B.C. after Israel regained its independence from the Seleucid tyrant, Antiochus Epiphanes, following the Maccabean revolt (167 B.C.).

If the city of Nazareth had a population of approximately 2,000 people when the angel visited Mary, it was a small town. This may partially explain Nathanael’s surprise when he was told that the Messiah hailed from Nazareth (John 1:45-46). The people (and likely Nathanael) also believed the Messiah would come from Bethlehem (Matthew 2:4-6, John 7:41-42) according to the prophecy of Micah 5:2. Jesus, the Messiah, was born in Bethlehem (Matthew 2:1, Luke 2:4-6).

The angel Gabriel was an important and apparently high-ranking angel. Gabriel is one of two angels who are named in scripture. (The other is the archangel, Michael). He is a messenger who is sent directly from God. When Gabriel rebuked Zacharias for his lack of faith, he described himself as one “who stands in the presence of God” (Luke 1:19).

Gabriel was sent to the prophet Daniel to interpret his vision of the Ram (Daniel 8:16). He was sent again to Daniel to deliver the “Seventy Weeks” prophecy concerning the Messiah (Daniel 9:24-27, 21). And as mentioned above, Gabriel was sent to Zacharias to announce the birth of the John, the Messiah’s forerunner (Luke 1:8-17). And now, Gabriel is being sent by God to announce the birth of the Messiah to Mary, the virgin who will conceive and bear Him (v 31).

She was a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the descendants of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary (v 27).

In this context, the term virgin describes a young girl who has never had sex before. Humans conceive children through sex. Because virgins have never had sex, they cannot sexually conceive a child until they lose their virginity. The fact that Luke describes Mary as a virgin not once but twice in verse 27 emphasizes that her virginity is an important detail in the birth of Jesus. It was important because, as Gabriel will soon inform Mary, that even though she is a virgin, she will conceive in her womb and bear a son (v 31).

The fact that Mary was a virgin and engaged (legally betrothed) to be married indicates that she was obedient to God’s laws regarding sexual behavior. For the good of the man and the woman, for the marriage, for any children, and for the good of the community, God’s law confines sexual acts to be between a husband and a wife. Mary had remained a virgin while she was unmarried. In this area of her life, Mary was righteous before the Lord.

Joseph, the man to whom Mary was engaged, was also a righteous man (Matthew 1:19).

Jewish marriage in ancient Israel was a multi-step process.

1. Betrothal
2. Wedding Ceremony
3. Sexual Consummation
4. Sharing a Household

Betrothal was a legal agreement between the groom and the bride-to-be’s parents. This legal contract involved witnesses and payment of a bride price. Once this contract was agreed to by both parties, the girl was betrothed or engaged to her husband.

Once a couple was betrothed, i.e. engaged, they were legally married. For instance, if the groom died before the wedding ceremony took place, the girl was considered a widow. Or if she was unfaithful, she was considered an adulteress who could face the penalty of the law. Only death or divorce could sever the marriage contract of betrothal.

Throughout the betrothal/engagement phase of the marriage, the girl would live with her parents until the wedding ceremony, sexual consummation, and the groom taking his bride into his home. These final three stages of Jewish marriage would usually take place about a year after the betrothal, and they happened over the span of about a week.

When Luke writes that Mary was engaged to Joseph, he is saying that Mary and Joseph had entered the first step of marriage, but not the later stages. They were in the betrothal phase, and thus legally married. But their wedding ceremony was still in the future, neither had they consummated their sexual union (Mary was a virgin), and they were not yet living together.

The status of Mary and Joseph’s engagement is explained in Matthew’s Gospel,

“Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: when His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit.”
(Matthew 1:18)

Mary became pregnant with Jesus by the Holy Spirit during the betrothal phase (stage 1) of her marriage to Joseph. And this happened “before they came together” (Matthew 1:18). The phrase “they came together” (Matthew 1:18) refers to phases 2-4 of their marriage, i.e. their wedding ceremony (stage 2), having sex together (stage 3), sharing a household together (stage 4).

Matthew writes when Joseph first discovered that Mary was pregnant (and the child was not his-because he had not had sex with her), that he sought to divorce her,

“And Joseph her husband, being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly.”
(Matthew 1:19)

The phrase “send her away” (Matthew 1:19) means “divorce.” If Joseph was to leave Mary after being legally married (betrothed/engaged) to her, he had to legally divorce her. But Joseph, being a righteous man, did not want to humiliate Mary and make her a public spectacle. So, Joseph was planning to divorce her as quietly as possible. It was while he was planning how to best accomplish this that the angel came to him and informed Joseph of God’s plan (Matthew 1:20-21) and he obeyed it (Matthew 1:24-25).

It was customary throughout the ancient world, including Judea, for girls to become engaged in their early teen years. Jewish custom allowed girls to enter betrothal as young as twelve. Men often married in the late teens to early twenties once they had established their livelihood. This demonstrated their capability to provide a home and security for their wife and hoped-for growing family.

There were several practical reasons for early marriage in the ancient world.

• Early marriage provided security for women, who had limited means of independent survival, protection, and provision. Marrying daughters early helped secure their future.

• Early marriage maximized a woman’s childbearing years.
  
  Having many children was seen as a blessing from the LORD (Psalm 127, 128). In a pre-industrialized agricultural society, children quickly became an economic asset to the family. But mortality rates were high, especially for infants and young children. Some estimate that between 30-40% of children died before the age of 5. Marrying early gave couples a better chance to have multiple children survive to adulthood and continue the family line. It also helped ensure that the parents would have enough time to raise their children before their own deaths.

• Early marriage helped fulfill God’s vision for human flourishing. In Jewish tradition, marriage and procreation were seen as religious duties. The first instruction given to humanity was to “Be fruitful and multiply” (Genesis 1:28). Early marriage facilitated this command and was in line with the cultural/religious expectations of the day.

• Early marriage facilitated financial and social stability. Marriages were often arranged to strengthen family ties, secure wealth, or form political and economic partnerships.

While the Bible does not explicitly reveal Mary or Jospeh’s age, its general description of Mary as a virgin implies that she was in the customary age-range for betrothal. Some speculate that because Joseph does not appear to still be alive during Jesus’s ministry that he may have been on the older side of the customary 20-30 year range when men became married in ancient Israel.

The name Mary is the Hebrew name, “Miriam.” The Greek version of her name is “Μαριάμ” and is pronounced “Ma-ri-am.” It is a literal transliteration of her name in Hebrew.

Mary/Miriam was the name of Moses’s sister. In Hebrew, the root of the name, Mary/Miriam is “mar” which means “bitter” or “grief.” Moses’s sister, Miriam, was born during Israel’s oppression, and her name may have been in reference to her people’s suffering. Mary, the mother of Jesus, was born during the unwanted Roman occupation of Judea and she may have been given her name to recall the bitterness of Israel’s slavery in Egypt and to allude to her people’s present oppression under Rome.

Mary was engaged to a man whose name was Joseph.

In Hebrew, the name Joseph means: “He will add” or “May God increase.”

In Genesis, Joseph was the firstborn son of Rachel, Jacob’s favored wife. Joseph was despised by his brothers and sold into slavery in Egypt, where he was slandered and thrown into prison. Later God exalted him out of prison to become the second-in-command in all of Egypt and Joseph used his position to save Egypt and his family from a famine when his brothers came to Egypt in search of food.

Joseph forgave his brothers for betraying him and was reunited with them. Joseph was seen as a type of Messiah-a suffering Servant of the LORD (Isaiah 42:1-4, 49:1-26, 50:4-11, 52:13-53:12). Joseph’s suffering and exaltation was emblematic of the Messiah’s suffering and exaltation.

Joseph, the man who was engaged to Mary, was identified as a carpenter (Matthew 13:55) from Nazareth.

The Greek word translated as “carpenter” is τέκτων (G5045 -pronounced “ték-tōn”). This word could also mean stonemason. As a carpenter, Joseph (and later Jesus-Mark 6:3) may have worked in the reconstruction of the Roman city of Sepphoris, located about 5 miles from Nazareth. Sepphoris was rebuilt in the early 1^st century during Jesus’s childhood and would have required many tektons.

Joseph was one of the descendants of David.

David was regarded as Israel’s best king whose reign foreshadowed the Messiah’s reign. God made a covenant with David that he would have a son on the throne forever (2 Samuel 7:12-13). Because of this prophecy and other similar ones, it was crucial for the Messiah to be one of the descendants of King David.

Joseph’s lineage as one of the descendants of David establishes Jesus’ legal right to the throne of Israel (Matthew 1:1-16, Luke 3:23-38). This was true even though Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:35) and not by Joseph.

Jesus’s legal status as Joseph’s son connected Him to David’s royal lineage. This lineage makes Jesus eligible to the throne and become the rightful King and Messiah of Israel, despite His humble origins as a human. The contrast between Jesus’s royal lineage and His lowly circumstances is an example of God's principle of exalting the humble (Matthew 23:12, Luke 1:52, 14:11, James 4:10) and fulfilling His promises in unexpected ways.

It is interesting how through His parents Jesus is linked to the three people in the Old Testament most prominently associated with the Messiah.

• Jesus was linked to Joseph the son of Israel, a type of Messiah, through the husband of his mother, whose name was also Joseph.

• Jesus was linked to Moses, also a type of Messiah, through His mother, Mary, whose name was Miriam, the sister of Moses. The Messiah was predicted to be like a second Moses (Deuteronomy 18:15-20).

• Jesus was linked to King David through Joseph, who descended from David, as the legal son of Joseph.

Gabriel greets Mary:

And coming in, he said to her, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you” (v 28).

Luke describes that the angel Gabriel came inside the building or house to announce God’s message to Mary with the expression: And coming in, he (Gabriel) said to her (Mary).

Gabriel’s began his message: “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.”

The Greek term that is translated as Greetings is a form of χαίρω (G5463-pronounced “Kai-rō”). This salutation can also be translated as: “Rejoice!” or “Be happy!”

Gabriel addresses Mary as favored one.

The Greek term that is translated as favored one is a participle in a perfect aspect and passive voice-κεχαριτωμένη (pronounced: “ke-cha-rit-ō-men-é”). It is from the verb: χαριτόω (G5487-pronounced: “cha-rit-ó-ō”). As a verb, “charitóō” means to “encircle with favor,” “make graceful,” or “honor greatly.”

• Because “charitóō” is in the form of an adjectival participle (κεχαριτωμένη), it functions as a noun which describes Mary.

• Because κεχαριτωμένη is in the passive voice, it means that Mary is the recipient of favor, honor, and grace rather than the bestower of favor, honor, and grace. God is the bestower of these things. God is the one who favors, honors, and encircles Mary with grace.

• Because κεχαριτωμένη uses a perfect aspect, this description describes something that has already been decided while emphasizing the continual effects and consequences into the future. In this case, God has already found favor with Mary and chosen her to be the bearer of His Son, but the fact that God favored Mary will continually bring about enormous consequences in her life and the course of eternity.
  
  In other words, the perfect aspect of this participle captures the life-changing dynamic of God’s favor and what Gabriel is about to tell Mary. Her life will never be the same.

And indeed, the course of Mary’s life was about to dramatically change forever. And these changes would not be easy for Mary. In many respects, God’s favor would complicate her life and make it more difficult-even more painful (Luke 2:35a). This may be why Gabriel assured Mary that the Lord is with you.

God often allows those He favors to experience difficult circumstances or trials for them to overcome by faith and thereby grow in their intimacy with Him (James 1:2-12, 1 Peter 1:6-9). Examples of this include God’s favored servant Job, as well as King David, who once escaped Saul’s wrath by running to the Philistines and pretending to be a madman (1 Samuel 21:10-15).

And God’s favor did not spare His own Son, Jesus, from the shame and agony of the cross (Matthew 27:46, Luke 22:42-44, Romans 8:32, Philippians 2:8, Hebrews 2:9, 5:8, 12:1).

The book of Hebrews tells us that God does not spare any of His children trials so that they may have the opportunity to overcome these trials by faith and produce the fruits of righteousness (Hebrews 12:7-11).

But as believers encounter their trials, God’s word promises them three things:

1. God will never abandon or forsake us.
   (Matthew 28:20, John 14:16-18, 16:33)
   
   
2. There is great reward for those who endure and overcome their trials by faith.
   (Matthew 19:28-29, Romans 8:17-18, 2 Corinthians 4:16-18, Hebrews 11:6, James 1:12, 2 Peter 1:8-11, Revelation 3:21)
   
   
3. No circumstance, trial, person, or principality in heaven or earth has the power to separate us from love and the good things God has in store for those who love Him.
   (Romans 8:28, 31-39)

After writing how the angel Gabriel came to Mary and said to her, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you,” Luke tells us Mary’s response to his greeting:

But she was very perplexed at this statement, and kept pondering what kind of salutation this was (v 29).

Luke notes that Mary did not fully grasp what Gabriel meant by his greeting. She was very perplexed, which means she was confused.

While it likely would have been perplexing to most people to have an angel of the Lord suddenly appear and greet them, this is not what Luke describes. Luke points out that Mary was perplexed NOT at the angel’s appearance, but at his statement and that she kept pondering what kind of salutation this was.

Moreover, the second expression-that she kept pondering what kind of salutation this was-suggests that Mary kept pondering what Gabriel meant by calling her favored one and/or that the Lord was with her for some time, even after he delivered the message and departed. Mary’s wonder was not just for that moment. Gabriel’s greeting perplexed her then, and possibly continued to amaze her in the days, weeks, months, possibly even years that followed.

If this was the case, this demonstrates how when God reveals things to us, that we too can be perplexed and continue to ponder their meaning for some time after the revelation. And that it is not necessary for us to understand everything about it to be faithful and obey. In this life, God gives us enough insight to obey Him by faith.

Lukes's insight into Mary’s amazement and thinking is an example of firsthand information. It would have been unlikely that Luke, the gospel writer and historian, could have known that Mary was very perplexed at the angel’s statement and kept pondering its meaning unless it was revealed to him by God, or Mary directly told Luke (or someone else who later told Luke) about it.

There are many of these firsthand insights and details throughout the first two chapters of Luke which describe the circumstances of Jesus’s conception, birth, and upbringing that only Mary would know. Many of these details do not appear in the other Gospels. Their inclusion in Luke’s account suggests that they came from his careful investigation and/or that Mary may have been one of the eyewitnesses that he interviewed as he conducted his research (Luke 1:2-3).

Luke continues with Gabriel’s message to Mary.

The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God (v 30).

The angel may have seen how Mary was perplexed and/or afraid.

By telling Mary, “Do not be afraid…,” Gabriel may have been trying to comfort and reassure her from being frightened and afraid at the sight an angel from another realm. Fear was a typical response for humans when they encountered angels (Judges 6:22-23, Daniel 8:17, 10:9, Matthew 28:3-4, Luke 1:11-12, 2:10, 24:4-5).

By telling Mary, “for you have found favor with God,” Gabriel may have been trying to explain what it meant for Mary to be a favored one and for the Lord to be with her. The reason Mary is called favored one is because she has found favor with God-God is the One who is favoring her and therefore, the Lord God is with her.

Apparently, Gabriel did not provide a reason for why God favored Mary instead of someone else. The angel only says that she has found favor with God.

In broader terms however, the Bible describes how God favors those who love, trust, and obey Him.

• God favors the righteous.
  (Psalm 5:12)
  
  
• God favors those who have an enduring faith to obey God as they wait on Him to fulfill His promises.
  (Psalm 147:11)
  
  
• God favors those who are kind and who pursue truth.
  (Proverbs 3:3-4)
  
  
• God favors those who conform to what is good.
  (Proverbs 12:2)

It is reasonable to assume that Mary had these favorable qualities, and that God saw them in her. But at the same time, God likely favored Mary, not because of her status or righteous accomplishments, but rather, God favored Mary out of His sovereign grace.

The Greek word “charis” translated favor is often translated grace. In any case when “charis” is bestowed by God it is always a matter of His mercy. Although God tells us what He favors, no one can obligate God. Therefore, it is He who chooses to bestow His mercy. Fortunately for us, God is full of mercy (Lamentations 3:22-23).

Gabriel then continues his message to Mary by announcing to her the incredible thing that was about to happen.