Luke 1:48-50

Vers. 48b-50. The greatness of her happiness appears in the renown which it will bring her; hence the γάρ, for. The word behold refers to the unexpected character of this dealing. Mary ascribes to God, as its author, the fact which she celebrates, and glorifies the three divine perfections displayed in it. And first the power. In calling God the Almighty, she appears to make direct allusion to the expression of the angel: the power of the Highest (Luke 1:35). Here is an act in which is displayed, as in no other since the appearance of man, the creative power of God. The received reading μεγαλεῖα answers better than the reading of some Alex., μεγάλα, to the emphatic term נִפְלְאוֹת, which Luke doubtless read in his Hebrew document (comp. Acts 2:11). But this omnipotence is not of a purely physical character; it is subservient to holiness. This is the second perfection which Mary celebrates. She felt herself, in this marvellous work, in immediate contact with supreme holiness; and she well knew that this perfection more than any other constitutes the essence of God: His name is holy. The name is the sign of an object in the mind which knows it. The name of God therefore denotes, not the Divine Being, but the more or less adequate reflection of Him in those intelligences which are in communion with Him. Hence we see how this name can be sanctified, rendered holy. The essential nature of God may be more clearly understood by His creatures, and more completely disengaged from those clouds which have hitherto obscured it in their minds. Thus Mary had received, in the experience she had just passed through, a new revelation of the holiness of the Divine Being.

This short sentence is not dependent on the ὅτι, because, which governs the preceding. For the καί, and, which follows, establishes a close connection between it and Luke 1:50, which, if subordinated to Luke 1:49, would be too drawn out.

This feature of holiness which Mary so forcibly expresses, is, in fact, that which distinguishes the incarnation from all the analogous facts of heathen mythologies.

The third divine perfection celebrated by Mary is mercy (Luke 1:50). Mary has already sung its praise in Luke 1:48 in relation to herself. She speaks of it here in a more general way. By them that fear God, she intends more especially Zacharias and Elizabeth, there present before her; then all the members of her people who share with them this fundamental trait of Jewish piety, and who thus constitute the true Israel.

The received reading εἰς γενεὰς γενεῶν, from generation to generation, is a form of the superlative which is found in the expression to the age of the ages, the meaning of which is, “to the most remote generations.” The two other readings mentioned in the critical notes express continuity rather than remoteness in time. These words, “ on them that fear Him,” are the transition to the third strophe. For they implicitly contain the antithesis which comes out in the verses following.