Luke 1:26-38

The occurrence here narrated is called the Annunciation, ushering in the Miraculous Conception of Christ. The account of Matthew presupposes such a miraculous conception (Matthew 1:18-25). There, however, Joseph is the more prominent person; here Mary. Luke may have derived his account from her. The view of Mary's character and position, prevalent in the Roman and Greek churches, does not rest upon Luke's narrative. That unscriptural view found its final expression (1854) in the Papal dogma of the Immaculate Conception (i.e. , that Mary herself was conceived without sin), a theory opposed by every statement concerning her, found in the four Gospels, by her own testimony in addressing God as her ‘Saviour' (chap. Luke 1:47), and by the Scripture doctrine of universal depravity. Equally false are all theories which deny that our Lord was ‘conceived by the Holy Ghost.' The statements of Luke cannot be disproved. The invention of such a story is more unaccountable than its truth. ‘A narrative so perfect could only have emanated from the holy sphere within which the mystery was accomplished. A later origin would inevitably have betrayed itself by some foreign element' (Godet). Those who feel their needs aright will crave just such a supernatural occurrence as this to justify their full dependence on the Saviour.