Luke 1:28

And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(28) Highly favoured.—The verb is the same as that which is translated, “hath made us accepted “in Ephesians 1:6; and, on the whole, this, which is expressed in one of the marginal readings, seems the truest. The plena gratiâ of the Vulgate has no warrant in the meaning of the word.

The Lord is with thee.—Better, the Lord be with thee, as the more usual formula of salutation, as in Ruth 2:4.

Blessed art thou among women.—The words are omitted in many of the best MSS.

Benson Commentary

Luke 1:28. The angel said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured — Greek, Κεχαριτωμενη, who hast found mercy, or favour, with God, as it is explained, Luke 1:30. The Lord is with thee — Or, The Lord be with thee, as Dr. Campbell renders Κυριος μετα σου: Blessed art thou among women — That is, according to the Hebrew idiom, thou art the happiest of all the women that ever lived. It must be observed, that this salutation gives no room for any pretence of paying adoration to the virgin; as having no appearance of a prayer, or of worship offered to her. Besides, similar expressions are applied to others. Hail, is the salutation used by our Lord to the women after his resurrection: thou art highly favoured, or, hast found favour with God, is no more than was said of Noah, Moses, and David. The Lord is with thee, was said to Gideon, Jdg 6:12; and, Blessed shall she be above women, of Jael, Jdg 5:24. “The Church of Rome,” observes a pious writer, “saying ten Ave Marias for one Pater Noster, idolatrously uses these words as a prayer to the holy virgin, whereas they are only a salutation, declaring that she above all women had the honour freely conferred by God upon her, to be the mother of the Messiah. The original word, κεχαριτωμενη, signifies, not full of grace, but freely beloved. Compare Mary with other renowned women, and what had she, besides this favour, more than they? Had she the spirit of prophecy? so had they. Had she the spirit of sanctification? so had they: and she had no more immunity and freedom from sin and death than they. Accordingly the angel says, Blessed art thou among women, not, Blessed art thou above women. How senseless are they, 1st, In turning a salutation into a prayer! 2d, In making use of these words upon every occasion, which were spoken by an angel upon a special occasion! 3d, In applying these words to her now in heaven, which suited with her only when she was here on earth, saying, Full of grace, to her who is full of glory, and, The Lord is with thee, to her who is with the Lord!”

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

1:26-38 We have here an account of the mother of our Lord; though we are not to pray to her, yet we ought to praise God for her. Christ must be born miraculously. The angel's address means only, Hail, thou that art the especially chosen and favoured of the Most High, to attain the honour Jewish mothers have so long desired. This wondrous salutation and appearance troubled Mary. The angel then assured her that she had found favour with God, and would become the mother of a son whose name she should call Jesus, the Son of the Highest, one in a nature and perfection with the Lord God. JESUS! the name that refreshes the fainting spirits of humbled sinners; sweet to speak and sweet to hear, Jesus, a Saviour! We know not his riches and our own poverty, therefore we run not to him; we perceive not that we are lost and perishing, therefore a Saviour is a word of little relish. Were we convinced of the huge mass of guilt that lies upon us, and the wrath that hangs over us for it, ready to fall upon us, it would be our continual thought, Is the Saviour mine? And that we might find him so, we should trample on all that hinders our way to him. Mary's reply to the angel was the language of faith and humble admiration, and she asked no sign for the confirming her faith. Without controversy, great was the mystery of godliness, God manifest in the flesh, 1Ti 3:16. Christ's human nature must be produced so, as it was fit that should be which was to be taken into union with the Divine nature. And we must, as Mary here, guide our desires by the word of God. In all conflicts, let us remember that with God nothing is impossible; and as we read and hear his promises, let us turn them into prayers, Behold the willing servant of the Lord; let it be unto me according to thy word.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Hail - This word of salutation is equivalent to "Peace be with thee," or "Joy be with thee;" a form of speech implying that she was signally favored, and expressing joy at meeting her.

Highly favoured - By being the mother of the long-expected Messiah - the mother of the Redeemer of mankind. Long had he been predicted; long had the eyes of the nation been turned to him, and long had his coming been an object of intense desire. To be reckoned among his "ancestors" was accounted sufficient honor for even Abraham and David. But now the happy "individual" was designated who was to be his mother; and on Mary, a poor virgin of Nazareth, was to come this honor, which would have rendered infinitely illustrious any of the daughters of Adam the honor of giving birth to the world's Redeemer and the Son of God.

The Lord is with thee - The word "is" is not in the original, and the passage may be rendered either "the Lord "is" with thee," or "the Lord be" with thee," implying the prayer of the angel that all blessings from God might descend and rest upon her.

Blessed art thou among women - This passage is equivalent to saying "thou art the most happy of women."

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

28. highly favoured—a word only once used elsewhere (Eph 1:6, "made accepted"): compare Lu 1:30, "Thou hast found favour with God." The mistake of the Vulgate's rendering, "full of grace," has been taken abundant advantage of by the Romish Church. As the mother of our Lord, she was the most "blessed among women" in external distinction; but let them listen to the Lord's own words. "Nay, rather blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it." (See on [1537]Lu 11:27).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Virgins betrothed, until the consummation of their marriage, were ordinarily kept in their friends’ house: thither came this angel, and saith,

Hail, thou that art highly favoured. The word translated hail signifies, Rejoice thou, or is as much as, God save thee. It is not the form of a prayer, (as the papists use it), but an ordinary salutation, as much as, God save you, or, Good morrow, is amongst us.

Thou that art highly favoured, kecaritwmenh; the word comes originally from cariv, which signifieth in Scripture two things:

1. The free love and favour of another bestowed on any: thus it is taken Luke 1:30 thou hast found favour. To the praise of the glory of his grace, Ephesians 1:6.

2. It signifies good habits in the soul; as 2 Peter 3:18, Grow in grace; Colossians 3:16, Singing with grace in your hearts.

Hence the verb, a participle from which the word here used is, may signify, two things; either:

1. Thou hast received grace or favour from God, or,

2. Thou that art full of gracious habits.

The first seems to be its sense in this place: it followeth in the verse, blessed art thou; so also it is expounded Luke 1:30, for thou hast found favour with God. So as the virgin was the object of Divine grace, as we are, and therefore not to be prayed to as the fountain of grace; she herself had nothing but what she received. This whole verse seemeth to be only a salutation, there is nothing of a prayer in it; the angel doth only take notice of her as a favourite of Heaven, one dear unto his Lord, with whom God was in an especial manner, and whom God blessed above the rate of those ordinary blessings with which he blesseth other women.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And the angel came in unto her,.... Into her house, and into the room where she was:

and said, hail; all health, happiness, and prosperity attend thee; Matthew 28:9.

thou art highly favoured; or graciously accepted, or hast obtained grace; not referring to electing, redeeming; justifying, pardoning, adopting, and sanctifying grace, which she had in common with other saints; but to that special and particular favour, in being chosen and singled out from all other women, to be the mother of the Messiah:

the Lord is with thee; so the angel to Gideon, Judges 6:12 or "be with thee", an usual form of salutation among the Jews; Ruth 2:4.

thou art blessed among women; and will be pronounced so by other women, as she was by Elisabeth, Luke 1:42 and by another woman, Luke 11:27.

Geneva Study Bible

And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art {z} highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: {a} blessed art thou among women.

(z) It might be literally rendered, full of favour and grace, and he shows immediately after, laying out plainly unto us, what that favour is in that he says, The Lord is with thee.

(a) Of God.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

Luke 1:28-29. Εἰσελθών] namely, ὁ ἄγγελος (see the critical remarks). Paulus erroneously puts it: “a person who came in said to her.”

κεχαριτωμένη] who has met with kindness (from God).[21] Well remarks Bengel: “non ut mater gratiae, sed ut filia gratiae.” See Luke 1:30; and on χαριτόω in general, see Ephesians 1:6On εὐλογ. σὺ ἐν γυναιξ. in the Textus receptus (but see the critical remarks), see Winer, p. 220 [E. T. 308]. It would be not a vocative, like κεχαριτωμένη, but a nominative, as the added σύ indicates: The Lord is with thee, blessed (κατʼ ἐξοχήν) art thou among women.

Luke 1:29. The Recepta (but see the critical remarks) would have to be explained: but she, when she looked upon him, was terrified at his saying, so that ἰδοῦσα only appears as an accessory element of the narrative, not as jointly a reason of her terror (in opposition to Bornemann, de Wette, and others), which would rather be simply ἐπὶ τῷ λόγῳ αὐτοῦ, as is shown by the text which follows καὶ διελογίζετο κ.τ.λ.

ποταπός] qualis, what sort of a: a question of wonder. Comp. on Mark 13:1 f. In accordance with its whole tenor raising her to so high distinction the greeting was to her enigmatical.

[21] Observe the ingenious similarity of sound in the words χαῖρε κεχαριτωμένη. Plays on words of a like kind are found among Roman Catholics with the contrasts of ave and Eva.

Expositor's Greek Testament

Luke 1:28. χαῖρε, κεχαριτωμένη: ave plena gratiâ, Vulg[4], on which Farrar (C. G. T.) comments: “not gratiâ plena, but gratiâ cumulata”; much graced or favoured by God.—χαριτόω is Hellenistic, and is found, besides here, only in Ephesians 1:6 in N. T.—ὁ Κύριος μετὰ σοῦ, the Lord (Jehovah) is or be with thee, ἐστί or ἔστω understood; the two renderings come practically to the same thing.

[4] Vulgate (Jerome’s revision of old Latin version).

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

28. highly favoured] marg. “graciously accepted” or “much graced.” Literally, having been graced (by God). Ephesians 1:6, “accepted.” Not as in the Vulgate “Gratiâ plena” but “gratiâ cumulata.” “Not a mother of grace, but a daughter.” Bengel.

blessed art thou among women] These words are of dubious authenticity, being omitted by B and various versions. They may have been added from Luke 1:42. With this address comp. Jdg 6:12.

Bengel's Gnomen

Luke 1:28. Εἰσελθὺν, entering in) At evening time, as is probable. Comp. Daniel 9:21.—κεχαριτωμένη) Ephesians 1:6. The Vulg. renders gratia plena, in a passive sense [“filled with grace”], (as Ovid, Carmina plena favoris), one who has found favour, Luke 1:30. She is so called, not as the mother of grace, but as the daughter of grace, especially at that early time.—μετὰ σοῦ) May the Lord be with thee [not, “The Lord is with thee,” as Engl. Vers.] Comp. Matthew 1:23, at the end of verse, and the note. It is parallel to, χαῖρε, Hail. The Indicative is taken for granted,[7] and the Optative here subscribes to [seals and confirms] it. So Jdg 6:12 [the angel to Gideon, “The Lord is (or rather, may the Lord be) with thee”], Κύριος μετὰ σοῦ.—σὺ, thou) The Vocative: as in Acts 4:24 [Δέσποτα, σὺ ὁ ποιήσας, etc.] Chrys de Sacerd., p. 322.

[7] The χάρις of the Lord, implied in χαῖρε, is with her.—ED. and TRANSL.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 28. - Hail, thou that art highly favored. The plena gratia of the Vulgate, said and sung so often in the virgin's famous hymn, is an inaccurate rendering. Rather, "gratia cumulata," as it has been well rendered. "Having been much graced (by God)" is the literal translation of the Greek word. Blessed art thou among women. These words must be struck out; they do not exist in the older authorities. Luke 1:28

Vincent's Word Studies

Thou that art highly favored (κεχαριτωμένη)

Lit., as Rev. in margin, endued with grace. Only here and Ephesians 1:6. The rendering full of grace, Vulgate, Wyc., and Tynd., is therefore wrong.

All the best texts omit blessed art thou among women.

Cast in her mind (διελογίζετο)

See on James 2:4. The imperfect tense, "began to reason."