The Life of Christ
The Song of Mary
by
Rev. Mark Perkins, Pastor
Denver Bible Church
326 E. Colorado Ave.
Denver, Colorado 80210
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Introduction.
Luke's narrative now turns to the story of Mary, the mother of
our Lord.
Note: there is no Biblical support for the practice of Mariolatry.
Mary is clearly portrayed as the biological mother of Jesus Christ.
There was nothing special about her makeup that she was the mother
of our Lord - nothing that made her unique from all other women.
She was a woman who loved God, and she too waited for the Messiah.
In fact she waited faithfully, unlike so many of her contemporaries,
both women and men.
However, to make Mary someone to worship is completely wrong.
Mary was born into sin, like every other female child before
and after her. She does not have special access to God just because
she conceived and gave birth to Christ. She is no different as
far as we are concerned than any other mature believer. Christ
Himself warns against Mariolatry in Luke 11:27-28.
The Arrival of an Angel.
Luke 1:26-28, "Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was went from God to a city in Galilee, called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the descendants of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. And coming in, he said to her, 'Hail, woman who has been graced out. (kecharitomene) The Lord is with you.'"
Again, here is the angel Gabriel, the messenger of God, one of
the highest ranking of all the angels. He is sent to announce
to Mary the imminent arrival of the Messiah. Of the genealogies
of these two, we already know much. Repetition is not necessary.
As the angel "beams in", he issues a greeting to her.
The greeting means literally, "woman who has been graced
out". God is the only subject ever used by CHARITOO.
A Conversation with an Angel
Luke 1:29-38. "But she was greatly troubled at this statement, and kept pondering what kind of salutation this might be. And the angel said to her, 'Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found grace from the side of God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb, and bear a son, and you will name Him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever; and His kingdom will have no end.' And Mary said to the angel, 'How will this come about, since I am a virgin?' And the angel answered and said to her, 'The Holy Spirit will appear over you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and therefore the holy one who is born will be called the Son of God. And behold, even your relative Elizabeth has also conceived a son in her old age; and she who was called barren is now in her sixth month. For nothing will be impossible with God.' And Mary said, 'Behold the bondslave of the Lord; be it done to me according to your word.' And the angel departed from her."
Notice that Mary is not fazed at all by Gabriel's angelic appearance.
She is unique in this regard. Daniel trembles, Zacharias fears,
the shepherds are terribly frightened, and Mary is troubled by
the greeting of this angel! She begins to DIALOGEI in her own
mind. She is thinking it through, having a dialogue with herself
- "What did this angel mean by his greeting?" She was
troubled by it.
The angel alleviates her troubled mind and tells her the exact
meaning of the greeting.
"You have found grace from the side of God." Let me
quote from Bauer, Arndt, and Gingrich: "...denotes a person,
and indicates that something proceeds from this person."
Mary has found it - because she looked for it. She is a wonderful
believer from the age of Israel. In her great humility she cannot
think that she has found grace, for she has already prospered
in knowing God.
"You will conceive in your womb and bear a child."
This certainly would have come as a surprise, since Mary was
a virgin. She certainly understood the consequences of what the
angel was saying. She would be subject to disgrace, and maybe
the risk of capital punishment. There are great and terrible
implications to this.
"And you will name Him Jesus." His name means salvation.
"He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most
High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father
David; and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; and
kingdom will have no end."
There could be no mistaking it now. She was to be the mother
of the Messiah. He is the Son of God - he will sit on David's
throne - his kingdom will last forever - his kingdom will know
no boundaries. These are all very clear. She is to bear the Messiah.
Mary's response is simple - "How will this come about, since
I am a virgin?" Mary's response is not arrogant, unlike
that of Zacharias. She is just curious. She did know the basics
of reproduction. In fact, it is my impression that the Hebrew
society was much more open about such things than our own. She
was more than willing to believe.
Gabriel tells her as best he can the specifics on how she will
conceive. "The Holy Spirit will appear over you, and the
power of the most high will overshadow you; and therefore the
holy one who is born will be called the Son of God."
This is the essence of the virgin birth. It is really quite clinical
in nature. God the Holy Spirit performs the operation by his
omnipotence, and adds the unpolluted chromosomes to Mary's ovum.
The Two Mothers are United
Luke 1:39-45, "Now at this time Mary arose and went with haste to the hill country, to a city of Judah, and entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth. And it came about that when Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the fetus leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. And she cried out with a loud voice, and said, 'Blessed among women are you, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And how has it happened to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the fetus leaped in my womb for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what had been spoken to her by the Lord.'"
For those who believe that the Bible says there is human life
in the womb, and that abortion is murder, this is the passage.
Therefore, we will handle it with care.
First we will consider all the reasons why it can be taken to
indicate the presence of human life in the womb.
Second we will consider the reasons why it indicates that human
life begins at birth.
The following are reasons why this passage might indicate that
there is human life in the womb.
Taken with verse 15 earlier in the passage, verse 41 corroborates
that the child in the womb is filled with the Holy Spirit. Knowing
this, we must assume that only human life would be filled thus.
Verse 15 clearly does not indicate that the filling occurs in
the womb. The combination of the Greek preposition EK plus the
ablative of separation of KOILIA shows that the filling occurs
after birth.
Furthermore, verse 41 definitely says that Elizabeth is the one
filled with the Spirit, and not the contents of her womb.
Therefore, neither of the two verses state that the contents
of Elizabeth's womb are filled with the Spirit, and in fact they
indicate the filling of two different people at two different
times.
Elizabeth is filled in the fifth month of her pregnancy. John
is filled after his birth - virtually from the womb.
The word BREPHOS is used for both the contents of the womb and
a new born child. This indicates that the people at the time
did not make a distinction between the two. We know that there
is definitely life outside the womb, and if there was no distinction
between before and after birth, then there is life inside the
womb as well.
Although BREPHOS was used interchangeably, it was the place of
residence that made the distinction between life and no life.
In the thinking of the Hebrew, a male child was a BREPHOS until
his eighth day, when he was circumcised. From that point, he
was a PAIDEIA, a trainable child, or a person in training. This
viewpoint is confirmed by Luke, who used the same terminology
in his gospel.
In this case, a ritual caused the terminology for the child to
be changed.
The fact that the contents of Elizabeth's womb leaps of its own
accord gives an indication that it has its own free will and
is thus alive.
However, the same can be said of any organ of the body. When
your stomach growls, does that mean that it is alive, and has
a mind of its own? To make the analogy closer, what if your stomach
growls when you see a picture of your favorite food and you are
also starving. Does that make your stomach a separate sentient
being? Of course not.
There is great doubt as to how the BREPHOS understood that the
mother of the Messiah was near. The sound of Mary's greeting
went into the ears of Elizabeth. From her sensory perception,
Elizabeth knew that it was Mary. Now, the question is this: If
John is a sentient being in the womb, how does he perceive the
greeting?
Elizabeth does the hearing, and not the contents of her womb.
Now, if Luke said that the BREPHOS heard the greeting, then we
would have another thing entirely. But Luke records the words
of Elizabeth exactly, "as the sound of your greeting came
into my ears, the BREPHOS leaped for joy".
The word SKIRTAO indicates the movement of non-sentient things,
and sentient beings under the total control of another entity.
It is never used to denote the volitional choice and subsequent
action of one that is under his own control!
It is used to note the movement of young cattle and sheep, as
they leap for joy. It is used to show the activity of the Bacchae,
women under demon possession, as they leap about under the control
of their possessing entity. It is used to show the activity of
Dionysus, one of the nephilim. It was used to describe the capricious
activity of the wind. It describes the activity of a rioting
mob. If ever there was something mindless, this would be it.
In other passages, it delineates the activity of the contents
of the womb, as in the struggle of Jacob and Esau in the womb
of Rebekah, Gen 25:20.
In Luke 6:23, our Lord uses this verb to describe believers in
the millennium experiencing ecstatics under the power of the
Spirit.
Its noun form is used as a synonym for Satyrs (nephilim), and
the demon possessed attendants of Dionysus.
In the Septuagint, it is used three times to describe the same
kind of activity.
o In Jer 50:11, it is used to describe the activity of demon-possessed humans.
o In Psalm 114:4,6 it describes the activity of inanimate objects like mountains and hills. They are compared to rams and lambs.
o In Mal 3:20 skirtao again indicates the activities of ecstatic believers in the millennium.
But never once, not once does it describe rational deliberation
and action. This shows that Elizabeth never believed that the
BREPHOS was alive. If she had, she would have used a word that
described the deliberate activity of a rational being.
That the BREPHOS leaps for joy shows that the contents of Elizabeth's
womb could experience emotion. If it could, then it was a human
being. We know from medical science that a fetus does have a
highly developed nervous system.
We know from this passage that it was the fetus that leaped for
joy, and not Elizabeth. However, at this point we know that the
BREPHOS is a part of Elizabeth's body, and in the fifth month
is dependent on her for life. We know that the placenta, the
mass of blood and tissue between the mother and the fetus, also
contains a nervous system connection. This nervous connection
was the conduit for the SKIRTEI of the fetus that would become
John.
The emotion of Elizabeth upon hearing Mary's voice was transmitted
to the nervous system (without a human soul) of the fetus through
the placenta. At that time, the nervous system of the BREPHOS
reacted blindly to the electrochemical discharge from Elizabeth,
and there was strong movement in the womb. The fetus shared the
emotion of Elizabeth - it was not capable of emotion on its own.
Reasons why this verse instead teaches that there is no soul
life in the womb.
BREPHOS is used only for the fetus. As we have seen, it is use
for both. Therefore, the word BREPHOS is quite inconclusive.
In verse 42, Elizabeth cries out, "blessed is the fruit
of your womb!" Why did Elizabeth say this, and not, blessed
is the one that is in your womb? Simple conclusion: Christ was
not there yet. The human soul would be imputed to the body at
the moment of birth.
The verb SKIRTAO is only used of those things which are not under
their own volitional control. Such is the case with the contents
of Elizabeth's womb.
The Exposition of the Passage
We are not sure why Mary got up and went 'with haste' to visit
Elizabeth - at least the text does not come right out and tell
us. However, we do know that Elizabeth is in a funk over the
timing of her pregnancy. She does not want to be a circus sideshow
act - she wanted children while she was still young.
We also know that Mary and Elizabeth were cousins, so it was
likely that Mary knew both of Elizabeth's pregnancy and her mental
state. Finally, we know that as soon as she know about her own
immaculate conception, she left to be with Elizabeth.
Therefore, it is likely that the combination of the above conditions
led Mary to visit Elizabeth. Just as soon as Mary enters the
house and speaks her greeting, just as soon as that greeting
enters the ears of Elizabeth, the fetus leaps in her womb. This
leaping was reflex motility in response to the excitement of
Elizabeth on hearing the voice of her cousin.
Immediately Elizabeth is filled with the Holy Spirit. This is
for the purpose of prophecy - what she says next is inspired
by God the Holy Spirit. Luke always does us the courtesy of telling
us when one is under the filling of the Spirit. Elizabeth literally
"sounds off with a great cry" - ANEPHO.NE.SEN KRAUGE.
MEGALE. and she says, "Blessed are you among women and blessed
is the fruit of your womb."
This first part of what she says confirms that when she wants
to talk about a human being she uses one expression. Mary is
blessed because she is chosen to bear and nourish and raise the
Son of God. The fruit of her womb (not yet ripe nor picked) will
also be blessed, because of His life and death.
The word for blessing here is EULOGEO, which means to speak well
of someone. EULOGEO is blessing with reference to reputation.
Furthermore, Elizabeth says, "and why does this happen to
me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?" Elizabeth
employs a rhetorical question here. She does not expect an answer
- she knows it. Elizabeth knows that the child she will bear
will prepare the way for Christ. She answers her own question
in the next verse.
Elizabeth now gives an explanation of her previous words, "for
behold, as the sound of your greeting came into may ears, the
fetus in my womb leaped for joy."
Elizabeth explains to Mary her rhetorical question, and her statement
about blessing. She is telling Mary that at the moment she heard
her greeting (and at the moment she was filled with the Spirit)
the child leaped in her womb. It all came together at that moment
- Elizabeth understood everything - Mary - the greeting - her
own pregnancy - God's plan for the ages.
Finally, Elizabeth summarizes the entire experience - the lifetime
of that moment, "and blessed is she who believed that the
things that were spoken will be fulfilled in her by the Lord."
Elizabeth is telling us that she finally understands it all,
and she is complementing Mary on her immediate belief in the
word of God. The word for blessing here is different from the
one above. This is macharia, or mental attitude contentedness.
Elizabeth is saying in a roundabout way that she missed the boat
- that she did not immediately respond as she should have, and
so she missed the blessing.
The important thing is that Elizabeth now understands everything
with clarity. This verse also answers the previous question -
why Mary came to visit Elizabeth. It was so that Elizabeth could
recognize her own error, and turn around.
Mary's Song
Luke 1:46-56, "And Mary said: 'My soul exalts the Lord, and my spirit rejoiced in God my Savior. For He considered the humble state of His bondslave; for behold, from this time on all generations will consider me blessed. For the Mighty One has done great things for me; and holy is His name. And His mercy is upon generation after generation towards those who fear Him. He has done mighty deeds with His arm; He has scattered those who were proud in the thoughts of their heart. He has brought down rulers from their thrones, and has exalted those who were humble. He has filled the hungry with good things and sent away the rich empty handed. He has given help to Israel His servant, in remembrance of His mercy, as He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and his offspring forever.' And Mary stayed with her about three months, and then returned to her home."
This is the great prayer of worship from Mary. It is a prayer
that is based on the utter confidence of one who has known and
relied on the capabilities of God.
Let's look at what Mary knows about God from learning in the
ritual plan of God. She knows the architecture of her own soul
- that she has emotion, mentality, and a human spirit. She knows
that God is the source of her salvation. She calls Him her savior.
She understands the omnipresence and omniscience of God when
she says that "He considered" her humble state.
EPIBLEPO is the verb here, and it means to look down upon something,
and to understand it. God looked down upon Mary and He fully
understood her humble state. God also knew exactly what to do
about it. That is the expression of his omniscience.
Mary understands the omnipotence of God - she calls Him the Mighty
One, and she knows exactly what God has accomplished.
She understands the perfection, or holiness of God. When she
says, "Holy is His name", she says, perfect is his
essence.
She understands the implications of the birth of the Messiah.
She praises God for the strategic victory of the angelic conflict,
and here is her reasoning. If God can accomplish the virgin conception
and birth of the Messiah, He can accomplish anything else. What
is the problem to go from one impossibility to the next.
Mary was a patriot, and she understood the implications of the
Messiah on her nation. She related the Messiah to the kingdom
of God, and indeed she already understood some of the kingdom
concepts even before Christ ever explained them.
She understood the difference between being rich and poor. This
metaphor has nothing to do with food or hunger in the literal
sense. It has everything to do with a desire for a relationship
with God. It is all about true humility.
Those who are humble and hungry for a relationship with God will
receive the intrinsically good. Those who are rich in their own
minds will go away empty handed.
Mary understood the mercy of God, and its implications. She knew
the history of her nation and its heroes.
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