Luke 1:35

My Notes

What Does Luke 1:35 Mean?

The angel explains the incarnation to Mary: and the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.

The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee (eperchomai — to come upon, to arrive, to descend onto) — the Spirit descends on Mary. The coming upon is the creative act — the same Spirit who hovered over the waters in Genesis 1:2, bringing order out of chaos, now hovers over Mary, bringing the new creation into existence. The Spirit's action is the mechanism of the incarnation: the divine nature enters the human through the Holy Ghost's creative power.

The power (dunamis — divine energy, miraculous capability) of the Highest (Hupsistos — the Most High, the supreme God) shall overshadow (episkiazo — to cast a shadow over, to envelop, to cover as with a cloud) thee — overshadow recalls the glory cloud (Shekinah) that covered the tabernacle (Exodus 40:35: the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle). The same verb (episkiazo) is used in the LXX of Exodus 40:35. Mary becomes the new tabernacle — the dwelling place of God's glory, overshadowed by the divine presence the way the tabernacle was overshadowed by the cloud.

Therefore also that holy thing (hagion — the holy one, the sacred, the set-apart) which shall be born of thee — the child conceived by the Spirit and overshadowed by the Most High is holy — not merely good or special but hagion: set apart, sacred, belonging to God in a unique way. The holiness of the child is the consequence (therefore) of the Spirit's coming and the Most High's overshadowing. The conception is supernatural. The child is holy because the conception is divine.

Shall be called the Son of God — the title is the consequence of the supernatural conception: because the Holy Spirit conceived and the Most High overshadowed, the child is the Son of God. Not metaphorically. Not by adoption. By nature — the divine conception produces a divine Son. The called (kaleo) is not a honorary title given later. It is the identity that flows from the origin: born of the Spirit, overshadowed by the Most High, the child is — and therefore is called — the Son of God.

The verse explains the mechanism of the incarnation: the Holy Spirit provides the creative power. The Most High provides the overshadowing presence. The result is a holy child who is genuinely, ontologically, the Son of God. The two natures (divine and human) are united in one person through the Spirit's creative act in Mary's womb.

Reflection Questions

• 1.How does the Spirit 'coming upon' Mary parallel the Spirit hovering over creation in Genesis 1:2 — and what does the parallel communicate about the incarnation as new creation?
• 2.What does the 'overshadowing' — using the same word as the glory cloud covering the tabernacle — reveal about Mary as the new dwelling place of God?
• 3.Why is the child 'holy' — and how does the divine conception produce the holiness rather than human merit?
• 4.How does 'shall be called the Son of God' establish Jesus's divine identity as flowing from his divine origin — not as an honorary title but as ontological reality?

Devotional

The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee. Two descriptions of the same mystery: the Spirit descends. The Most High covers. The creative power of God — the same power that made the universe from nothing — enters Mary and begins the most extraordinary act of creation in history: God becoming human.

Shall overshadow thee. The word is the same used for the glory cloud covering the tabernacle (Exodus 40:35). The cloud of God's presence — the Shekinah that filled the Most Holy Place — now covers Mary. She becomes the tabernacle. The glory that once dwelt in a tent now dwells in a womb. The overshadowing is the incarnation: God taking up residence in human flesh.

That holy thing which shall be born of thee. Holy. The child is holy — set apart, sacred, uniquely belonging to God. Not because Mary is holy (though she is blessed). Because the Spirit conceived him and the Most High overshadowed the conception. The holiness is the consequence of the divine origin. What is conceived by God's Spirit is holy by nature.

Shall be called the Son of God. Called — not as a title given later. Called — as the identity that flows from the origin. The child born of the Spirit, overshadowed by the Most High, conceived without a human father — is the Son of God. Not metaphorically. Not honorarily. Actually — the divine nature united with the human in one person. The Son of God is born of a woman because the Most High made it so.

The incarnation in one verse: the Spirit creates. The Most High overshadows. The holy child is conceived. The Son of God is born. The mechanism is divine power. The location is a human womb. The result is the God-man — fully God, fully human, one person, two natures, the hope of the world wrapped in the body of a baby.

Mary received the explanation. We receive the result: the Son of God, born of a woman, conceived by the Holy Ghost, overshadowed by the Most High. The explanation does not resolve the mystery. It deepens it. The Spirit creates what human reproduction cannot. The Most High dwells where the cosmos cannot contain him. And the holy thing born of Mary is the one who saves the world.

Commentary

Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.

Cross References

Related passages throughout Scripture