Home

For Teaching

Luke 1: What the Passage Says

184 claims across 80 verses, in the order the chapter makes them.

Not a sermon outline. What Luke 1 says, and what its hard words meant. The reading of it is yours.

The Chapter in a Sentence

Luke opens by telling Theophilus why he wrote this account: to give him a careful, orderly record so he can be sure of what he was taught. The angel Gabriel tells the priest Zacharias that his wife Elisabeth will have a son named John, and when Zacharias doubts, he is left unable to speak. Six months later Gabriel tells Mary in Nazareth that she will give birth to a son named Jesus, and Mary visits Elisabeth and sings a song of praise. John is born, Zacharias gets his voice back, and he speaks a prophecy about God rescuing Israel and about the child's role as a prophet who will go ahead of the Lord.

Claim by Claim

  1. 1:1
    • Many people have undertaken to compose an orderly account.
    • The account concerns things that have been fulfilled (the term can also mean fully believed) among us.
  2. 1:2
    • Those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word handed these things down to us.
    • The accounts follow what those eyewitnesses delivered.
  3. 1:3
    • The writer has followed all things closely and accurately from the beginning.
    • It seemed good to the writer also to write an orderly account.
    • The writer addresses the account to Theophilus.
    • Theophilus is addressed as most excellent.
  4. 1:4
    • The purpose of the writing is that Theophilus may know the certainty of the matters.
    • Theophilus has been instructed in those matters.
  5. 1:5
    • In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a certain priest.
    • The priest's name was Zacharias.
    • Zacharias belonged to the priestly division of Abijah.
    • Zacharias had a wife descended from the daughters of Aaron.
    • His wife's name was Elisabeth.
  6. 1:6
    • Both of them were righteous before God.
    • They walked in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord.
    • They were blameless.
  7. 1:7
    • They had no child.
    • Elisabeth was barren.
    • Both of them were advanced in years.
  8. 1:8
    • Zacharias was serving as priest before God in the order of his division.
  9. 1:9
    • According to the custom of the priesthood, the lot fell to Zacharias to burn incense.
    • Zacharias went into the temple of the Lord.
  10. 1:10
    • The whole multitude of the people was praying outside at the hour of the incense offering.
  11. 1:11
    • An angel of the Lord appeared to Zacharias.
    • The angel was standing at the right side of the altar of incense.
  12. 1:12
    • When Zacharias saw the angel he was troubled.
    • Fear fell upon Zacharias.
  13. 1:13
    • The angel told Zacharias not to be afraid.
    • The angel said Zacharias's prayer had been heard.
    • The angel said Zacharias's wife Elisabeth would bear him a son.
    • The angel said Zacharias would call the child's name John.
  14. 1:14
    • The angel said Zacharias would have joy and gladness.
    • The angel said many would rejoice at the child's birth.
  15. 1:15
    • The angel said the child would be great in the sight of the Lord.
    • The angel said the child would drink no wine and no fermented strong drink.
    • The angel said the child would be filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother's womb.
  16. 1:16
    • The angel said the child would turn many of the sons of Israel to the Lord their God.
  17. 1:17
    • The angel said the child would go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah.
    • The angel said the child would turn the hearts of fathers to their children.
    • The angel said the child would turn the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous.
    • The angel said the child would make ready a people prepared for the Lord.
  18. 1:18
    • Zacharias asked the angel by what means he would know this.
    • Zacharias said he was an old man.
    • Zacharias said his wife was advanced in years.
  19. 1:19
    • The angel answered that he is Gabriel.
    • Gabriel said he stands in the presence of God.
    • Gabriel said he was sent to speak to Zacharias.
    • Gabriel said he was sent to bring Zacharias this good news.
  20. 1:20
    • The angel said Zacharias would be silent and unable to speak.
    • The silence would last until the day these things came to pass.
    • The silence was because Zacharias did not believe the angel's words.
    • The angel's words will be fulfilled at their appointed time.
  21. 1:21
    • The people were waiting for Zacharias.
    • The people marvelled that he delayed so long in the temple.
  22. 1:22
    • When Zacharias came out he could not speak to them.
    • The people perceived that he had seen a vision in the temple.
    • Zacharias kept making signs to them.
    • Zacharias remained unable to speak.
  23. 1:23
    • When the days of his priestly service were completed, Zacharias went away to his own house.
  24. 1:24
    • After those days his wife Elisabeth conceived.
    • Elisabeth hid herself for five months.
    • Elisabeth said something.
  25. 1:25
    • Elisabeth said the Lord had done this for her.
    • Elisabeth said the Lord had looked on her in these days.
    • Elisabeth said the Lord acted to take away her reproach among people.
  26. 1:26
    • In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God.
    • Gabriel was sent to a city of Galilee named Nazareth.
  27. 1:27
    • Gabriel was sent to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph.
    • Joseph was of the house of David.
    • The virgin's name was Mary.
  28. 1:28
    • The angel came in to her.
    • The angel greeted her.
    • The angel said she is highly favored.
    • The angel said the Lord is with her.
    • The angel said she is blessed among women.
  29. 1:29
    • When she saw the angel she was troubled at his words.
    • She considered what kind of greeting this might be.
  30. 1:30
    • The angel told Mary not to be afraid.
    • The angel said she had found favor with God.
  31. 1:31
    • The angel said she would conceive in her womb.
    • The angel said she would bring forth a son.
    • The angel said she would call his name Jesus.
  32. 1:32
    • The angel said the son would be great.
    • The angel said the son would be called the Son of the Most High.
    • The angel said the Lord God would give him the throne of his father David.
  33. 1:33
    • The angel said he would reign over the house of Jacob forever.
    • The angel said his kingdom would have no end.
  34. 1:34
    • Mary asked the angel how this would be.
    • Mary said she does not know a man.
  35. 1:35
    • The angel answered that the Holy Spirit would come upon her.
    • The angel said the power of the Most High would overshadow her.
    • The angel said that therefore the holy one to be born of her would be called the Son of God.
  36. 1:36
    • The angel said Elisabeth, her kinswoman, had also conceived a son in her old age.
    • The angel said this was the sixth month for Elisabeth.
    • The angel said Elisabeth had been called barren.
  37. 1:37
    • No thing (the word can also mean no spoken word) will be impossible with God.
  38. 1:38
    • Mary said she is the handmaid of the Lord.
    • Mary asked that it be done to her according to the angel's word.
    • The angel departed from her.
  39. 1:39
    • Mary arose in those days.
    • Mary went with haste into the hill country.
    • Mary went into a city of Judah.
  40. 1:40
    • Mary entered the house of Zacharias.
    • Mary greeted Elisabeth.
  41. 1:41
    • When Elisabeth heard Mary's greeting, the babe leaped in Elisabeth's womb.
    • Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.
  42. 1:42
    • Elisabeth cried out with a loud voice.
    • Elisabeth said Mary is blessed among women.
    • Elisabeth said the fruit of Mary's womb is blessed.
  43. 1:43
    • Elisabeth asked how it came to her that the mother of her Lord should come to her.
  44. 1:44
    • Elisabeth said that as soon as the sound of Mary's greeting reached her ears, the babe leaped in her womb for joy.
  45. 1:45
    • Elisabeth said the woman who believed is blessed.
    • Elisabeth said there will be a fulfillment of the things spoken to her from the Lord.
  46. 1:46
    • Mary said her soul magnifies the Lord.
  47. 1:47
    • Mary said her spirit rejoiced in God her Savior.
  48. 1:48
    • Mary said God has looked upon the low estate of his handmaid.
    • Mary said that from now on all generations will call her blessed.
  49. 1:49
    • Mary said the Mighty One has done great things for her.
    • Mary said his name is holy.
  50. 1:50
    • Mary said his mercy is on those who fear him, from generation to generation.
  51. 1:51
    • He has shown strength with his arm.
    • He has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
  52. 1:52
    • He has brought down rulers from their thrones.
    • He has exalted the lowly.
  53. 1:53
    • He has filled the hungry with good things.
    • He has sent the rich away empty.
  54. 1:54
    • He has helped his servant Israel.
    • He did so in remembrance of mercy.
  55. 1:55
    • He spoke to our fathers.
    • He spoke to Abraham and to his seed forever.
  56. 1:56
    • Mary stayed with Elisabeth about three months.
    • Mary returned to her own house.
  57. 1:57
    • The time came for Elisabeth to give birth.
    • Elisabeth brought forth a son.
  58. 1:58
    • Her neighbors and her relatives heard that the Lord had magnified his mercy toward her.
    • They rejoiced with her.
  59. 1:59
    • On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child.
    • They were calling the child Zacharias after the name of his father.
  60. 1:60
    • His mother answered no.
    • His mother said he shall be called John.
  61. 1:61
    • They told her that no one among her kindred is called by that name.
  62. 1:62
    • They made signs to his father to learn what he wanted the child called.
  63. 1:63
    • Zacharias asked for a writing tablet.
    • Zacharias wrote that the child's name is John.
    • They all marvelled.
  64. 1:64
    • His mouth was opened immediately.
    • His tongue was loosed.
    • He spoke, blessing God.
  65. 1:65
    • Fear came upon all who dwelt around them.
    • All these things were talked about throughout the hill country of Judea.
  66. 1:66
    • All who heard laid these things up in their hearts.
    • They asked what this child would become.
    • The hand of the Lord was with the child.
  67. 1:67
    • His father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Spirit.
    • Zacharias prophesied.
  68. 1:68
    • Blessed be the Lord God of Israel.
    • He has visited his people.
    • He has accomplished redemption for his people.
  69. 1:69
    • He has raised up a horn of salvation for us.
    • The horn of salvation is in the house of his servant David.
  70. 1:70
    • He spoke this by the mouth of his holy prophets, who were from of old.
  71. 1:71
    • The salvation is from our enemies.
    • The salvation is from the hand of all who hate us.
  72. 1:72
    • It is to show mercy toward our fathers.
    • It is to remember his holy covenant.
  73. 1:73
    • The covenant is the oath he swore to our father Abraham.
    • The oath was to grant something to us.
  74. 1:74
    • The grant is that we, delivered out of the hand of enemies, might serve him without fear.
  75. 1:75
    • We would serve him in holiness and righteousness before him.
    • We would do so all our days.
  76. 1:76
    • The child will be called a prophet of the Most High.
    • The child will go before the face of the Lord.
    • The child will prepare his ways.
  77. 1:77
    • The child will give knowledge of salvation to his people.
    • The knowledge of salvation comes by the forgiveness of their sins.
  78. 1:78
    • This comes through the tender mercy of our God.
    • The rising light from on high (the word can also mean a sprouting branch) has visited us.
  79. 1:79
    • It is to give light to those sitting in darkness and in the shadow of death.
    • It is to guide our feet into the way of peace.
  80. 1:80
    • The child grew.
    • The child became strong in spirit.
    • The child was in the deserts until the day of his public showing to Israel.

Words Worth Explaining

Every language note in this chapter, gathered. These explain what a word meant, never what it means for the reader.

1:1
Luke's first four verses are one long, carefully built sentence in Greek, written in the style used for the preface of a formal history or technical handbook. Such prefaces conventionally named the author's sources, his method, his purpose and the patron the work was dedicated to. "Taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration" means simply "undertaken to compose an account."
1:2
"Ministers" here carries no church sense. The Greek word means an assistant or under-servant, someone who works for another. "The word" is the message about Jesus. The verse describes people who both witnessed the events and then spent their lives passing the account on.
1:3
"Most excellent" translates a formal address used for a man of standing; in Acts the same word is used when addressing Roman governors. Theophilus is a Greek name meaning "friend of God" or "loved by God." He is most likely a real patron paying for or receiving the work, though some have read the name as an address to any reader who loves God. "Having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first" means having investigated everything thoroughly from the start, not having understood it perfectly.
1:4
The Greek word behind "instructed" refers to teaching given by word of mouth, the kind of oral instruction a new believer received.
1:5
Herod the Great ruled Judea as a client king under Rome from 37 BC until his death in 4 BC, which places these events at the very end of his reign. The priests were organized into twenty four divisions or "courses" (listed in 1 Chronicles 24), and Abia, the Greek spelling of Abijah, was the eighth of them. Each division traveled to Jerusalem and served at the temple for about a week, twice a year, plus the major festivals. That Elisabeth was "of the daughters of Aaron" means she too came of a priestly family, Aaron being the brother of Moses and Israel's first priest; a priest marrying a priest's daughter was considered especially fitting.
1:7
In this culture a childless marriage was a public misfortune and was widely assumed to be the wife's failing, which is why the text says Elisabeth was barren rather than that the couple had no children.
1:9
Incense was burned on a small altar inside the sanctuary building itself, which ordinary worshipers never entered. Because there were thousands of priests and only two incense offerings a day, the duty was assigned by drawing lots, and a priest who drew it once would normally never be eligible again. For Zacharias this was probably the single greatest moment of his working life.
1:10
The incense was offered twice daily, at the morning and the evening sacrifice. The crowd praying "without," meaning outside, stood in the open temple courts while the one priest went inside. They waited for him to reappear and pronounce the blessing over them.
1:11
The altar of incense stood inside the Holy Place, directly in front of the curtain that screened off the innermost room. It is a different object from the large altar out in the courtyard where animals were burned.
1:13
John represents the Hebrew name Yohanan, meaning "the LORD has been gracious." The name matters later, in verses 59 to 63, when the family objects that no relative bears it.
1:15
"Strong drink" translates a word for fermented drink not made from grapes, such as beer or date or palm liquor. Lifelong abstinence from wine and strong drink was the central mark of a person under the Nazirite vow described in Numbers 6, which also involved leaving the hair uncut; Samson and Samuel are the famous examples.
1:16
"The children of Israel" is a standing Hebrew phrase for the whole nation descended from the man Israel, not for young people.
1:17
Elias is the Greek spelling of Elijah, a prophet of the ninth century BC who was taken up to heaven rather than dying. The book of Malachi, which closes the Old Testament, promised that Elijah would be sent before the great day of the LORD "to turn the heart of the fathers to the children," and the angel's words here quote that promise directly. First hearers would have caught the reference at once.
1:18
Zacharias is asking for a guarantee or proof, which is what the angel then gives him, though not of a kind he would have chosen.
1:19
Gabriel is one of only two angels named in the Jewish scriptures, the other being Michael. He appears in the book of Daniel as the interpreter of visions. "I stand in the presence of God" is court language: an attendant who stands before a king is one of his immediate personal servants.
1:20
"Dumb" in 1611 English meant unable to speak, with no suggestion of stupidity; the word only later acquired that sense. "In their season" means at the proper appointed time.
1:21
"Tarried" means lingered or took a long time. The delay was noticeable because the officiating priest was expected to come straight out and bless the waiting crowd; a long stay inside the sanctuary suggested something had gone wrong.
1:23
Each priestly group served its week and then went home. Zacharias did not live in Jerusalem; priests lived scattered around the country and traveled in for their turn.
1:24
Luke gives no reason for the seclusion and the Greek offers no hint of one. Readers have suggested modesty, custom, or simply waiting until the pregnancy was beyond doubt, but the text leaves it open.
1:25
"Reproach" here means public disgrace. A married woman without children was an object of comment and pity, and the shame was hers to carry whatever the actual cause.
1:26
"The sixth month" counts from Elisabeth's conception, not from a point in the calendar. Nazareth was a small farming village in Galilee, the northern district; it is never mentioned in the Jewish scriptures or in any other surviving source of the period.
1:27
"Espoused" describes betrothal, which in this society was far more binding than a modern engagement. The agreement was legally contracted, the couple were already called husband and wife, and it could only be ended by a formal divorce, yet the bride stayed in her father's house and the marriage was not yet consummated. "Of the house of David" means descended from king David.
1:28
"Hail" translates the ordinary Greek greeting, literally "rejoice." "Highly favoured" is a single Greek word, a passive participle meaning "you who have had favor shown to you," that is, one whom God has chosen to treat graciously. Many early manuscripts do not contain the closing words "blessed art thou among women" here; they appear in every manuscript at verse 42.
1:29
"Cast in her mind" means turned the thing over in her mind, worked at it. What unsettles her in the Greek is the greeting itself, not the sight of the angel.
1:31
Jesus is the Greek form of the Hebrew name Yeshua, a shortened form of Joshua, which means "the LORD saves."
1:32
"The Highest" renders "Most High," an ancient title for God. "His father David" means his ancestor, the king who ruled around 1000 BC. Behind the promise of David's throne lies 2 Samuel 7, where God undertakes that David's line will rule permanently.
1:33
"The house of Jacob" means the descendants of Jacob, the grandson of Abraham who was renamed Israel. The phrase stands for the nation as a whole.
1:34
"I know not a man" is a Hebrew style idiom in which "know" means to have sexual relations. Mary is stating that she is a virgin, not claiming ignorance.
1:35
The Greek verb behind "overshadow" pictures a cloud spreading over something. The same word is used in the Greek version of the Old Testament for the cloud of God's presence settling on the tent of meeting. The Greek of the last clause can be divided either as "that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God" or as "that which is born shall be called holy, the Son of God."
1:36
"Cousin" in 1611 English meant a relative of any degree. The Greek says only that the two women were kin, without specifying how. Since Elisabeth was of a priestly family, the link tells us nothing certain about Mary's own tribe.
1:37
The Greek reads literally "no word from God will be impossible," and the noun means both "word" and "thing" or "matter." So the sentence can be taken as "nothing will be impossible with God" or as "no word God has spoken will fail." Both readings are defensible and translations divide.
1:38
"Handmaid" translates the feminine form of the word for a slave. It is a term of complete subordination to a master, used here as Mary's own description of her position.
1:39
Juda is Judah, the southern hill country around Jerusalem. Luke does not name the town. The journey from Nazareth was somewhere between eighty and a hundred miles, several days on foot, and an unaccompanied young woman making it in haste is unusual.
1:42
"Blessed" here means declared fortunate, spoken well of, rather than made holy. "The fruit of thy womb" is a Hebrew idiom for a child.
1:43
"Whence is this to me" means "how does this come to happen to me," an expression of being honored beyond one's station.
1:45
"Performance" in 1611 English meant carrying out or fulfillment. The Greek can be read two ways: "blessed is she who believed that what was spoken to her by the Lord would be fulfilled," or "blessed is she who believed, for what was spoken to her by the Lord will be fulfilled."
1:46
"Magnify" means to declare great or make much of, not to enlarge. The song that follows, known from its Latin first word as the Magnificat, is built throughout on phrases from the Jewish scriptures, and follows especially closely the song of Hannah in 1 Samuel 2, sung by another woman given an unexpected child.
1:48
"Low estate" means a humble, unimportant position, taking in both poverty and social insignificance. "Call me blessed" means count me fortunate.
1:50
"Them that fear him" is the standard Hebrew expression for those who honor and obey God. The fear meant is reverence, not terror.
1:51
"With his arm" is an idiom for power put into action, used repeatedly in the Old Testament of the exodus. "The imagination of their hearts" means the thoughts and plans they form inwardly; in Hebrew usage the heart is the seat of thinking and deciding, not of feeling. The Greek verbs from here to verse 55 are past tense, but Hebrew poetry often uses a past tense for what God has resolved to do, so the lines may describe settled acts of the past, what God has just begun, or what he is certain to do.
1:52
"Seats" here means thrones. "Them of low degree" means people of humble rank.
1:54
"Holpen" is the older past participle of "help" and means simply helped. "His servant Israel" uses a word that means both child and servant, echoing the way the prophet Isaiah speaks of Israel as God's servant.
1:55
"Seed" means offspring or descendants. The Greek phrasing leaves it open whether "for ever" attaches to the promise made to Abraham's descendants or to the speaking of it.
1:58
"Cousins" again means relatives in general, as in verse 36.
1:59
Circumcision, the cutting away of the foreskin of a male child on the eighth day after birth, was commanded in Genesis 17 as the physical sign of God's covenant with Abraham and his descendants. The naming customarily happened on the same occasion, and naming a boy after his father or grandfather was normal practice.
1:61
Children were normally named after the father or another relative, which kept the family line audible in the names themselves. Choosing a name with no family precedent was not just unusual; it looked like a deliberate break with the family.
1:62
That they made signs rather than speaking to Zacharias suggests he could not hear either. The Greek word used of him in verse 22 covers both deafness and inability to speak.
1:63
A "writing table" is a writing tablet, a small wooden board coated with wax. Letters were scratched into the wax with a pointed stylus and could be smoothed out so the board could be used again. It was the ordinary equivalent of a notepad.
1:65
"Fear" here means awe, the reaction to something they took to be more than ordinary. "Noised abroad" means talked about everywhere, spread by word of mouth.
1:66
"Laid them up in their hearts" means stored them away in memory to think about. "The hand of the Lord was with him" is an idiom for God's active power and protection resting on a person.
1:67
"Prophesied" means spoke a message given by God. It can include prediction but is not limited to it; the primary sense is speaking on God's behalf. What follows, like Mary's song, is a poem stitched together from the language of the Jewish scriptures.
1:68
"Visited" in 1611 English means came in person to act, the way a ruler comes to deal with a situation, and it carries no sense of a social call. "Redeemed" comes from the language of buying a slave out of bondage or buying back family property that had been sold, so the image is of a price paid to get someone back.
1:69
The horn of a bull or ram was a standard Hebrew image for strength, and "raising up a horn" meant producing a powerful champion or deliverer. The phrase "horn of salvation" comes from Psalm 18. It has nothing to do with a musical instrument.
1:70
"Since the world began" translates a Greek phrase meaning "from of old" or "from ages past." It refers to the long line of prophets, not literally to the creation.
1:72
A covenant is a formal, binding agreement with stated obligations, of the kind made between a king and his people or between two parties sealing a treaty. The covenant meant here is the one God made with Abraham and his descendants.
1:73
The oath is the one recorded in Genesis 22, where God swears by himself to bless Abraham and his descendants. "Sware" is the older past tense of "swear." In Greek, verses 72 to 75 run on as a single clause, and it is not fully clear whether "that he would grant unto us" hangs on the oath or on the remembering.
1:76
"Go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways" draws on the practice of sending a herald and a work party ahead of a royal journey to clear and level the road. The image comes from Isaiah 40 and Malachi 3.
1:77
"Remission" means release or cancellation. The word was used for writing off a debt and for letting a prisoner go.
1:78
"Dayspring" is an old English word for daybreak, the rising of the sun. The Greek noun behind it means the rising of a heavenly body but was also used in the Greek Old Testament for the "Branch," the promised shoot springing from David's line, so the picture may be either sunrise or a sprouting plant. Manuscripts also divide between "has visited us" and "will visit us."
1:79
"The shadow of death" is a Hebrew expression for the deepest possible darkness, familiar from Psalm 23 and from Isaiah 9, where people walking in darkness see a great light.
1:80
"Waxed strong" means grew strong. "The deserts" means uninhabited wilderness, the dry rocky scrubland east and south of the settled country, not sand dunes. "His shewing unto Israel" means the day he appeared publicly and began his work.

Read Luke 1