Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Luke 1:32
He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David:
32. shall be called ] i. e. shall be. The best comment on this verse is furnished by the passages of Scripture in which we find the same prophecy (Mic 5:4; 2Sa 7:12; Isa 9:6-7; Isa 11:1; Isa 11:10; Isa 16:5; Jer 23:5; Jer 30:9; Eze 34:24; Hos 3:5; Psa 132:11) and its fulfilment (Php 2:9-11; Rev 22:16).
the throne of his father David ] according to Psa 132:11.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
He shall be great – There is undoubted reference in this passage to Isa 9:6-7. By his being great is meant he shall be distinguished or illustrious; great in power, in wisdom, in dominion on earth and in heaven.
Shall be called – This is the same as to say he shall be the Son, etc. The Hebrews often used this form of speech. See Mat 21:13.
The Highest – God, who is infinitely exalted; called the Highest, because He is exalted over all his creatures on earth and in heaven. See Mar 5:7.
The throne – The kingdom; or shall appoint him as the lineal successor of David in the kingdom.
His father David – David is called his father because Jesus was lineally descended from him. See Mat 1:1. The promise to David was, that there should not fail a man to sit on his throne, or that his throne should be perpetual 1Ki 2:4; 1Ki 8:25; 1Ki 9:5; 2Ch 6:16, and the promise was fulfilled by exalting Jesus to be a Prince and a Saviour, and the perpetual King of his people.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Luk 1:32
He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest
The greatness of Jesus
The title of Great is one which the wisdom of this world recognizes, though I am not sure that it always gives the title fairly.
We have Alexander the Great, Charles the Great, Frederick the Great, and so on. The epithet has usually been applied to those whose great powers have been manifested chiefly in the subjugation of their fellows to their own will. This kind of manifestation is the most conspicuous, it involves the most open exercise of power, and is most mixed up with the gratification of human ambition, and pride, and vanity; but, undoubtedly, those who have most permanently and extensively influenced their fellows, have been those whose conquests have been in the regions of thought, in things spiritual–the founders of religions, the authors of philosophies, the great discoverers, the great teachers. A man like Alexander has ceased for centuries to be a living power in the world; but the great founder of Buddhism, e.g., is still affecting the daily lives and habits of something like a quarter of the whole population of the world. A great captain is like a brilliant meteor, but the author of a new thought, or a new system of thought, is like a fixed star.
I. THINK OF CHRISTS GREATNESS AS A MAN. Estimate in any just way the influence produced upon the worlds history by His life and deeds; can there be any doubt that He is the greatest man who ever lived? Whose life has been the most like a seed in this world, rising up with the irresistible power of growth, and bringing forth fruit after its kind? Whose religious teaching has been practically most potent in subduing to itself the highest intellects the human race has produced? In the most tattered rags of humanity, Jesus Christ stands forth so conspicuously as the King of men, that there are few, who do not, in Some form or another, bow the knee before Him.
II. CHRISTS GREATNESS AS GOD. It is the light of Divine majesty and condescension shining through the rags of humanity, that makes the whole history intelligible. He shall be great! nay, He is great in the midst of the humiliation of the Cross itself. That humiliation was self-sought, and only adds emphasis to the declaration and promise of the text.
III. CHRISTS GREATNESS IS TO INCREASE. He is great now. But He is to be greater still–not absolutely, but relatively–in the magnitude of His Kingdom and the universality of His sway.
IV. ALL MAY PROMOTE THE GREATNESS OF CHRIST. This is the noblest aim of man. Men are willing enough to make themselves great, to get themselves on in the world, to promote their own interests, wealth, glory, and within reasonable limits it is right that this should be so but the privilege of the believer is to transfer his zeal for promoting his own greatness to the promotion of the greatness of Christ. (Bishop Harvey Goodwin.)
The grandeur of Christ
This subject far transcends all utterance. Jesus is such a One that no oratory can ever reach the height of His glory, and the simplest words are best suited to a subject so sublime. Fine words would be but tawdry things to hang beside the unspeakably glorious Lord. I can say no more than that He is great. If I could tell forth His greatness with choral symphonies of cherubin, yet should I fail to reach the height of this great argument. I will be content if I can touch the hem of the garment of His greatness.
I. HE IS GREAT FROM MANY POINTS OF VIEW. I might have said, from every point of view; but that is too large a truth to be surveyed at one sitting Mind would fall us, life would fall us, time would fail us; eternity and perfection will alone suffice for that boundless meditation. But from the points of view to which I would conduct you for a moment, the Lord Jesus Christ is emphatically great.
1. In the perfection of His nature. Peerless and incomparable; Divine, and therefore unique. He is all that God is; and He is all that man is as God created him. As truly God as if He were not man; and as truly man as if He were not God.
2. In the grandeur of His offices. He comes to rebuild the old wastes, and to restore the fallen temple of humanity. To accomplish this He came to be our Priest, our Prophet, and our King; in each office glorious beyond compare. He came to be our Saviour, our Sacrifice, our Substitute, our Surety, our Head, our Friend, our Lord, our Life, our All. He is the Standard-bearer among ten thousand. Who is like unto Him in all eternity?
3. In the splendour of His achievements. He is no holder of a sinecure; He claims to have finished the work which His Father gave Him to do. Is it not proven that He is great? Conquerors are great, and He is the greatest of them. Deliverers are great; and He is the greatest of them. Liberators are great, and He is the greatest of them. Saviours are great, and tie is the greatest of them. They that multiply the joys are men truly great, and what shall I say of Him who has bestowed everlasting joy upon His people, and entailed it upon them by a covenant of salt for ever and ever?
4. In the prevalence of his merits. He has such merit with God that He deserves of the Most High whatsoever He wills to ask; and He asks for His people that they shall have every blessing needful for eternal life and perfection.
5. In the number of His saved ones.
6. In the estimation of His people.
7. In the glory of heaven.
8. On the throne of the Father.
II. He shall be great, and He is so, for HE DEALS WITH GREAT THINGS.
1. It was a great ruin He came to restore, great sin that He came to do away, great pardon that He came to bestow.
2. He has great supplies to meet our great wants.
3. He is a Christ of great preparations. He is engaged before the throne, today, in preparing a great heaven for His people; it will be made up of great deliverance, great peace, great rest, great joy, great victory, great discovery, great fellowship, great rapture, great glory.
III. HIS GREATNESS WILL SOON APPEAR. It now lies under a cloud to mens bleak eyes. They still belittle Him with their vague and vain thoughts; but it shall not always be so. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The greatness of Christ
The Saviour of men, and the example for all, must be the isolated one, the unparalleled Man in human history. He must be both like us and unlike us–like us in so far as His human nature is concerned: He must be born, He must increase in stature, be in subjection to His parents, and be subject to all the ordinary conditions of human nature as it develops itself from infancy to manhood. In all this He is like us–for otherwise He could not be our pattern and our Saviour. Then, again,He must be unlike us, or how could He be that One whom we are to imitate, and of whose fulness we must all partake? Christ as a Man was unlike all other men. He alone of all great men is the unparalleled One of all history; and the conviction of this truth suggests that more than man is here–more than a great and unparalleled man: it is none other than the Sonof the Highest. (Bishop Martensen.)
The Incarnation
The plan of salvation is likened unto a vine which has fallen down from the boughs of an oak. It lies prone upon the ground; it crawls in the dust, and all its tendrils and claspers, which were formed to hold it in the lofty place from which it had fallen, are twined around the weed and the bramble, and, having no strength to raise itself, it lies fruitless and corrupting, tied down to the base things of the earth. Now, how shall the vine arise from its fallen condition? But one way is possible for the vine to rise again to the place from whence it had fallen. The bough of the lofty oak must be let down, or some communication must be formed connected with the top of the oak and at the same time with the earth. Then, when the bough of the oak was let down to the place where the vine lay, its tender claspers might fasten upon it, and, thus supported, it might raise itself up, and bloom, and bear fruit again in the lofty place from whence it fell. So with man: his affections had fallen from God, and were fastened to the base things of earth. Jesus Christ came down, and by His humanity stood upon the earth, and by His divinity raised His hands and united Himself with the Deity of the Everlasting Father: thus the fallen affections of man may fasten upon Him, and twine around Him, until they again ascend to the bosom of the Godhead, from whence they fell. (Watts.)
The higher life
In one of his essays upon the phenomena of nature, Bacon tells of a mountain so high that no storm ever disturbs its air. Its climate knows little vicissitude. The clouds cannot float so high. The sunshine is constant by day, and the night comes late and the morning comes soon. So peaceful is that summit that a traveller having written some words in the white ashes of his camp fire, found the words still there after a score of years had passed. What an Elysian field is that I far above tornado and lightning shafts, and the miasma of the marsh and the battlefields of men. A fable in part, but an emblem of those heights where dwell those mortals who have reached the widest and deepest education and affections and the purest ethics. As in classifying physical beauty we feel constrained to make distinctions between a violet and an oak, or between a cascade with its murmur and mist, and a cathedral with its spire and arches, and between a trailing vine and a range of mountains, and must change our words with the change of feeling in the soul, and to the rose say beautiful, to the oak grand, pretty to the violet, and sublime to the mountain, so we must divide into many parts the attractiveness of humanity, and must confess some to be witty, some pretty, some beautiful, some learned, and then when already the heart is full of admiration it perceives one more class rising above all other grades of mortality–those morally and mentally great. In this grouping all ages may meet. The infinite love of the Creator is in nothing more manifested than in this, that He has made this moral height accessible to all. Not all can be rich, beautiful, witty, young; but all can climb upward to the higher life. It is not the mere privilege of all, but the pressing duty of all. The heights are large, and voices full of mercy and of alarm are bidding those in the valley to go up higher. God is represented as being in the holy mountains, and thither He expects His children to come. The heights are everywhere. They are seen in each profession and pursuit. There are merchants who grovel in the mire and whose gains stand for fraud, and there are merchants whose wealth tells of the industry, and growth, and welfare of the people. There are lawyers low and high–lawyers who are always upon the side of criminals, and concerning whose health and presence criminals are said to make inquiry before they plan a new crime; other lawyers, to whom men repair for help when they feel that their cause is just, and the points of law and equity must be placed clearly before jury or bench. There are writers low, and writers who are lofty. The former are witty and verbose in the defamation of character and in detailing the sins of society–these are the remains of human coarseness that are being slowly but steadily eliminated from all written thought, and therefore in greater multitude appear the writers of the pure school whose editorials, or essays, or books, or poems come into all homes as welcome as the beams of the morning sun Said one of the greatest poets: On every height there lies repose. This peace is not found elsewhere. It is not a sleep, not an easy existence of inaction, but a repose that comes from the sublimity of the landscape, and from the matchless purity of the air. It is not to be wondered at that the human mind, while sitting in the long past ages at the loom of thought, wove for the Deity such an attribute as The Highest. And it is not robe wondered at, that when Christ came with His faultless words and deeds, with His boundless friendship and upper forms of thought, the admiring world felt that He was a Son of the Highest–figures of speech which should be taken up afresh by our far-off age. We have read in the ocean and in the storm and in the stupendous size of the universe, that the Creator has power. We have seen in the marvellous laws of mind and material that He has wisdom. We read the Divine love in the entire pageant of life, animal and rational, and we read the Divine eternity in the awful age of the universe, which drinks up millions of years as the sun dries up dewdrops; but we have omitted to ]earn from the high in thought, and industry, and art, from their eternal beauty and repose, that God is also The Highest. Far above the sun, far above the suns to us unseen, is enthroned the worlds God–the God of all worlds–on a height undreamed of by mortals. His mansions are there. Compared with this summit, the mount in the poetic philosophy of Lord Bacon sinks down and becomes a part of times vale of tears. God is on the heights, and all those minds in this lower world which love the higher life arc steadily walking up the slope of this range, hidden now perhaps by mist, but covered with light beyond the clouds. (David Swing.)
Forgotten great ones
What a roll of greatness should we have were there tables of marble, or brass, or gold in which were engraven the names of those who in all times and places have attempted to attain mental and spiritual excellence. It is a sad thought that what is called history is only a page from a vast, grand, but lost, volume. Violence and reckless ambition impressed into service all the chroniclers of the past, and that kind of greatness we see in Christ was not often asked to sit for its picture, It was too high for the surrounding kings and their hosts of sycophants. It would require a whole London of Westminster Abbeys to hold the urns of the noble ones whose very names are forgotten. The loss is great to the present, for many minds see a preponderance of evil in our age, and are not sure that our world was planned by benevolence, to which desponding minds an adequate conception of the continuous glory of man would be a welcome inspiration. There has been a succession of minds on the heights, and these have signalled to each other in all the years of man upon our globe. What ones are visible, are only a few wanderers from the mighty herd. Solon and Moses studied at the Egyptian Heliopolis indeed, but of the many thousands of men always studying there, it cannot be possible that the honours were all borne away by a Hebrew and a Greek. At that educational centre, thousands and tens of thousands came and tarried and went while centuries passed along. It must be that the few names that have come to us are only types of a great army which was scattered over the prolific East. Aspasia was not the only intellectual powerful woman of the age of Pericles. She was the one brought into the foreground by her alliance with a powerful king; others having her education and her beauty and power lived and died in a fame that could not cross the gulf of many centuries. Nor was Cleopatra the only Greco-Egyptian woman who could speak and write in all the tongues of the Mediterranean coast, but she was one made historic by the accidents of crowns and vices, leaving us to assume that there were other women, many who equalled her in learning, and passed far above her in all higher worth. Thus history is only a page out of a lost volume. As those who dig in the sands of the Swiss lakes, or in the deserted cave-homes of man and beast, or who explore the ruins of Mycenae, toss out a few implements or a few carved bones or a few jewels worn once by beauty, so history casts up out of the vast sepulchre where the ages sleep traces only of an absent world. (David Swing.)
Jesus not a fabrication
We can learn, says Theodore Parker, but few facts about Jesus. But measure Him by the shadow He has cast into the world, and by the light He has shed upon it, and shall we be told, that such a man never lived–that the whole story is a lie? Suppose that Plato and Newton never lived, that their story is a lie; but who did their works, and thought their thoughts? It takes a Newton to forge a Newton. What man could have fabricated a Jesus? None but a Jesus.
Christ the ideal representative of humanity
It is no use to say that Christ, as exhibited in the Gospels, is not historical, and that we know not how much of what is admirable is superadded by the tradition of the followers. Who among His disciples, or among their proselytes, was capable of inventing the sayings ascribed to Jesus, or of imagining the life and character revealed in the Gospels? Certainly not the fishermen of Galilee; as certainly not St. Paul, whose character and idiosyncrasies were of a totally different sort; still less the early Christian writers, in whom nothing is more evident than that the good which was in them was all derived from the higher source. About the life and sayings of Jesus there is a stamp of personal originality combined with profundity of insight, which, if we abandon the idle expectation of finding scientific precision where something very different was aimed at, must place the Prophet of Nazareth, even in the estimation of those who have no belief in His inspiration, in the very first rank of the men of sublime genius of whom our species can boast. When this pre-eminent genius is combined with the qualities of probably the greatest moral reformer and martyr to that mission who ever existed upon earth, religion cannot be said to have made a bad choice in pitching on this man as the ideal representative and guide of humanity; nor even now would it be easy, even for an unbeliever, to find a better translation of the rule of virtue from the abstract in the concrete than to endeavour so to live that Christ would approve our life. (John Stuart Mill.)
Divine humanity realized in Christ
Dr. Philip Schaff mentions the testimony of Dr. De Wette, one of the ablest and most learned sceptical critics of Germany. After all his brilliant scepticism Dr. De Wette wrote, a few months before his death: I know that in no other name can salvation be found than in the name of Jesus Christ, the Crucified; and there is nothing loftier for mankind than the Divine humanity realized in Him, and the kingdom of God planted by Him.
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 32. He shall be great] Behold the greatness of the man Christ Jesus:
1st. Because that human nature that should be born of the virgin was to be united with the Divine nature.
2dly. In consequence of this, that human nature should be called in a peculiar sense the SON of the most high God; because God would produce it in her womb without the intervention of man.
3dly. He shall be the everlasting Head and Sovereign of his Church.
4thly. His government and kingdom shall be eternal. Revolutions may destroy the kingdoms of the earth, but the powers and gates of hell and death shall never be able to destroy or injure the kingdom of Christ. His is the only dominion that shall never have an end. The angel seems here to refer to Isa 9:7; Isa 16:5; Jer 23:5; Da 2:44; Da 7:14. All which prophecies speak of the glory, extent, and perpetuity of the evangelical kingdom. The kingdom of grace and the kingdom of glory form the endless government of Christ.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
32, 33. This is but an echo ofthe sublime prediction in Isa 9:6;Isa 9:7.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
He shall be great,…. In his person, as God-man; this child born, and Son given, being the angel of the great counsel, the mighty God, and everlasting Father; Isa 9:6 which is here referred to; and in his offices, in his prophetic office, being that great and famous prophet Moses spoke of, mighty in word and deed, in his doctrine and miracles; in his priestly office, being a great high priest, both in the oblation of himself, and in his prevalent intercession; and in his kingly office, being the King of kings, and Lord of Lords; and in the whole of his office, as Mediator, being a great Saviour, the author of a great salvation for great sinners; in which is greatly displayed the glory of all the divine perfections: great also in his works, the miracles that he wrought, as proofs of his Deity and Messiahship, the work of redemption, the resurrection of himself from the dead, and of all men at the last day; and in the glory he is now possessed of in human nature, at the Father’s right hand, where he is highly exalted above all principality and power:
and shall be called the Son of the Highest; that is, of God, of whose names is , “the Most High”; see Ge 14:18 not by creation, as angels and men, nor by adoption, as saints, nor by office, as magistrates, are called “the children of the Most High”, Ps 82:6 but by nature, being the eternal Son of God; of the same nature with him, and equal to him: for he was not now to begin to be the Son of God, he was so before, even from all eternity; but the sense is, that he should now be known, owned, and acknowledged to be the Son of God, being as such manifested in human nature, and should be proved to be so by the works he wrought, and declared to be the Son of God with power by his resurrection from the dead:
and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David. Christ, as God, is the Son of God, as man, the son of David; a name often given to the Messiah, and by which he was well known among the Jews; and as Christ descended from him as man, in a literal sense, he had a right to the throne of his father David; and the Jews themselves say, that he was , “nearly allied to the kingdom” w: but here it intends not his throne, in a literal, but in a figurative sense; for as David was a type of the Messiah in his kingly office, hence the Messiah is called “David their king”, Ho 3:5 so his throne was typical of the Messiah’s throne and kingdom; which is not of this world, but is in his church, and is set up in the hearts of his people, where he reigns by his Spirit and grace; and this is a throne and kingdom “given” by the Lord God. The kingdom of nature and providence he has by right of nature, as the Son of the Highest; the kingdom of grace, or the mediatorial kingdom, the kingdom of priests, or royal priesthood, is a delegated one; his Father has set him as king over his holy hill of Zion; and he is accountable for his government to him, and will one day deliver it up complete and perfect.
w T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 43. 1.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The Son of the Most High ( H). There is no article in the Greek, but the use of Most High in verse 35 clearly of God as here. In Lu 6:35 we find “sons of the Most High” ( H) so that we cannot insist on deity here, though that is possible. The language of 2Sam 7:14; Isa 9:7 is combined here.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
1) “He shall be great,” (houtos estai megas) “This one shall be great,” shall exist as a great one, as formerly described prophetically, Isa 9:6; 1Ti 6:15; Php_2:10. This was also said of John, his forerunner, Luk 1:15; Mat 12:42. He was great in nature, offices, words, deeds, life, death, and in history.
2) “And shall be called the Son of the Highest:” (kai huios hupsistou klethesetai) “And he will be called Son or heir of the most High,” the Son or heir of God; Even the angels ascribed this to Him, when they met the shepherds on the night of His birth of Judaea, Luk 2:13-14; Psa 2:7.
3) “And the Lord God shall give unto him,” (kai dosei auto kurios ho theos) “And the Lord God will give or dole out to him,” commit to him the administration of, Psa 132:11.
4) “The throne of his father David:” (ton thronon Daid tou patros autou) “The throne of his lineage-father David,” 2Sa 7:12; Isa 9:6-7; Isa 16:5; Jer 23:5. Our Lord shall literally, physically, fulfill, in the Golden Millennial kingdom era, that promise made to Abraham and confirmed in David to reign in peace over all the ancient land-grant-promise made to Israel. That David was his lineage father is certified, Mat 1:1; Luk 3:23; Luk 3:31. Jesus will restore that kingdom, according to God’s promise, as expressed through the prophets, and the angel Gabriel.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
32. He shall be great The angel had said the same thing about John the Baptist, and yet did not intend to make him equal to Christ. But the Baptist is great in his own class, while the greatness of Christ is immediately explained to be such as raises him above all creatures. For to him alone this belongs as his own peculiar prerogative to be called the Son of God. So the apostle argues.
Unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee? (Heb 1:5.)
Angels and kings, I admit, are sometimes dignified with this title in Scripture; but they are denominated in common the sons of God, on account of their high rank. But it is perfectly clear and certain, that God distinguishes his own Son from all the others, when he thus addresses him particularly, Thou art my Son, (Psa 2:7.) Christ is not confounded either with angels or with men, so as to be one of the multitude of the sons of God; but what is given to him no other has a right to claim. The sons of God are kings, not certainly by natural right, but because God has bestowed on them so great an honor. Even angels have no right to this distinction, except on account of their high rank among creatures, in subordination to the Great Head, (Eph 1:21.) We too are sons, but by adoption, which we obtain by faith; for we have it not from nature: Christ is the only Son, the only-begotten of the Father, (Joh 1:14.)
The future tense of the verb, he shall be called the Son of the Highest, is tortured by that filthy dog (26) Servetus to prove that Christ is not the eternal Son of God, but began to be so considered, when he took upon him our flesh. This is an intolerable slander. He argues that Christ was not the Son of God before he appeared in the world clothed with flesh; because the angel says, He shall be called On the contrary, I maintain, the words of the angel mean nothing more than that he, who had been the Son of God from eternity, would be manifested as such in the flesh, (1Ti 3:16😉 for to be called denotes clear knowledge. There is a wide difference between the two statements, — that Christ began to be the Son of God, which he was not before, — and that he was manifested among men, in order that they might know him to be the person who had been formerly promised. Certainly, in every age God has been addressed by his people as a Father, and hence it follows, that he had a Son in heaven, from whom and by whom men obtained the sonship. For men take too much upon them, if they venture to boast of being the sons of God, in any other respect than as members of the only-begotten Son, (Joh 1:18.) Certain it is, that confidence in the Son alone, as Mediator, inspired the holy fathers with confidence to employ so honorable an address. That more complete knowledge, of which we are now speaking, is elsewhere explained by Paul to mean, that we are now at liberty not only to call God our Father, but boldly to cry, Abba, Father, (Rom 8:15; Gal 4:6.)
The Lord God will give unto him the throne of his father David We have said that the angel borrows from the prophets the titles which he bestows on Christ, in order that the holy virgin might more readily acknowledge him to be the Redeemer formerly promised to the fathers. Whenever the prophets speak of the restoration of the church, they direct all the hope of believers to the kingdom of David, so that it became a common maxim among the Jews, that the safety of the church would depend on the prosperous condition of that kingdom, and that nothing was more fitting and suitable to the office of the Messiah than to raise up anew the kingdom of David. Accordingly, the name of David is sometimes applied to the Messiah. “ They shall serve the Lord their God, and David their king,” (Jer 30:9.) Again, “my servant David shall be a prince among them,” (Eze 34:24.) “They shall seek the Lord their God, and David their king,” (Hos 3:5.) The passages in which he is called “ the son of David” are sufficiently well known. In a word, the angel declares that in the person of Christ would be fulfilled the prediction of Amos, “ In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen,” (Amo 9:11.)
(26) The use of such epithets may not be easily reconciled to the refinements of modern taste; but, three centuries ago, few readers would be startled by them, and they are much more sparingly employed by Calvin than by many of his contemporaries. Not to mention that Paul says, Beware of dogs, (Phi 3:2,) and that the statement, Without are dogs, (Rev 22:15,) bears the impress of the Alpha and Omega, (Rev 22:13,) Servetus, to whom the epithet “filthy” is applied, had denied the fundamental doctrine of our Lord’s supreme Divinity, and had luxuriated in the most revolting and blasphemous expressions. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(32) Shall be called the Son of the Highest.It is noticeable that this name applied to our Lord by the angel, appears afterwards as uttered by the demoniacs (Mar. 5:7). On the history of the name, see Note on Mar. 5:7.
The throne of his father David.The words seem at first to suggest the thought that the Virgin was of the house of David, and that the title to the throne was thus derived through her. This may have been so (see Note on Luk. 3:23-38), and the intermarriage which had taken place in olden times between the house of Aaron and that of David (Exo. 6:23; 2Ki. 11:2) show that this might be quite consistent with the relationship to Elizabeth mentioned in Luk. 1:36. On the other hand, it must be remembered that the genealogies, both in St. Matthew and St. Luke, appear, at first sight, to give the lineage of Joseph only, and therefore that, if this were, as many have believed, the Evangelists point of view, our Lord, notwithstanding the supernatural birth, was thought of as inheriting from him. The form of the promise, which might well lead to the expectation of a revived kingdom of Israel after the manner of that of David, takes its place among the most memorable instances of prophecies that have been fulfilled in quite another fashion than those who first heard them could have imagined possible. That the Evangelist who recorded it held that it was fulfilled in the Kingdom of Heaven, the spiritual sovereignty of the Christ, is shown by the fact that he records it in the same Gospel as that which tells of the Crucifixion and Ascension.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
32. Throne of his father David See note on Mat 1:20. The throne of the theocracy, or ancient kingdom of God. The Jewish nation, as a chosen people of God, constituted this theocracy during the Mosaic dispensation. On the throne of this theocracy David was a representative king. When the Jewish race ceased to be the theocracy by the taking of the kingdom of God from them, that kingdom was established on a new basis, by which every man, Jew or Gentile, was admitted to form part of that kingdom by faith. On the throne of that theocracy sits Jesus, the eternal successor of David.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
“He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High,
And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David,
And he will reign over the house of Jacob for ever,
And of his kingdom there will be no end.”
The angel then made clear Who it was Who was to be born.
He will be ‘great’.
He will be called the son of the Most High.
He will receive from the Lord God the throne of His father David.
He will reign for ever over the house of Jacob.
Of His kingdom there will be no end.
‘He will be great.’ We can compare here the words concerning John in Luk 1:15. ‘He will be great in the sight of the Lord.’ But this One will be great in His own right because of Who He is. He is the Son of the Most High.
We can compare here Act 8:9-10. ‘Great’ was a title used by the Jews of God describing Him as ‘the Great One.’ In Psa 48:1 we read ‘Great is YHWH’ (compare Psa 76:1). In Psa 86:10 we read, ‘You are great.’ In Psa 96:4 ‘YHWH is great (compare Psa 99:2; Psa 145:3; Psa 147:5). In Psa 135:5 ‘YHWH is great’. The description therefore has divine overtones, especially in parallel with ‘the Son of the Most High’.
‘He will be called the Son of the Most High.’ This is in direct contrast with John who is to be called ‘the prophet of the Most High’ (Luk 1:76). The Son far exceeds the prophet in glory. This is brought home in Luk 20:9-18 where after the prophets came the only Son. So that distinction is here drawn from the beginning. There are no external examples of the Messiah ever being called ‘the son of God’. So this went beyond just being the Messiah. This in itself would be a new conception to Mary, and as the phrase was put in inverted parallel with ‘He will be called holy, the Son of God’, which follows the description of His conception through the Holy Spirit (Luk 1:35), it would lift her thinking, and should ours, to a new level.
In Psa 82:6 the leading judges of Israel are called elohim (gods), and ‘sons of the Most High’ in that they act in the place of God. But here was to be One Who was to be uniquely His Son. Outside the Psalms the title ‘Most High’ is used of the God of Israel mainly on the lips of foreigners, and its most emphatic use is in Daniel 7 (four times in LXX Hupsistou as here) where ‘the saints of the Most High’ will receive the everlasting kingdom from God by means of a son of man who will come with the clouds of heaven to the throne of God to receive it. That this approaching ‘son of man’ must be the representative of Israel is clear in the passage, and would undoubtedly bring to mind Israel’s king, the son of David. Thus ‘son of the Most High’ may well also have in mind this earthly/heavenly figure who acts on behalf of ‘the saints of the Most High’, thus already connecting Jesus with the Son of Man, and with the saints of the Most High.
A similar connection comes out in Luke. Here Jesus is the Son of the Most High, clearly in context a title revealing His exalted station, but in Luk 6:35 God’s people are urged to reveal themselves as sons of the Most High (those who behave like the Most High and thus demonstrate their relationship with Him) by revealing their unselfish generosity and by loving their enemies, in the same way as ‘He is kind to the ungrateful and the selfish’. The sons of the Most High are those therefore who look to the Son of the Most High and seek to be like Him, just as the saints of the Most High looked to the son of man.
The receiving of the throne of his father David would by itself merely have signified to Mary that He would be restored to the throne that was his birthright. But the indication that His reign would be of an everlasting kingdom which would know no end would demonstrate that there was to it at least some aspect of the supernatural. Here was a more than earthly Messiah. Certainly in Eze 37:25; 2Sa 7:13; 2Sa 7:16 the coming king was to reign for ever, but that may well have been interpreted as meaning that his house would reign for ever. Here, however, it is made clear to Mary that as in Isa 9:7 the child born is to reign everlastingly, for He is to be born through a supernatural birth with a supernatural future in view.
We know that she did not fully understand all this. How could she? Nor would she fully understand Him in the future. But it was being made quite clear that this was more than just an earthly kingship. It was to be an everlasting kingship on the everlasting throne of His father David. Heaven would break through to earth in everlastingness. He was to be the expected Messiah, but as an everlasting Messiah and more.
Note that His reign on the throne of David over ‘the house of Jacob’ is to be for ever. This is no earthly kingship, nor is it a limited house of Jacob. Here ‘the house of Jacob’ is all who are connected with that house through the ages, which includes the ‘Israel of God’, the church of Jesus Christ. They too are part of the house of Jacob. For all Christians are, in Christ, made one with Israel, that is, with the house of Jacob (Eph 2:12-17).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Luk 1:32 f. ] Comp. Luk 1:15 . And what greatness belonged to this promised One, appears from what is said in the sequel of His future!
.] Description of His recognition as Messiah , as whom the angel still more definitely designates Him by . . . The name Son of God is not explained in a metaphysical reference until Luk 1:35 .
. . ] i.e. the royal throne of the Messianic kingdom, which is the antitypical consummation of the kingdom of David (Psa 132:11 , 110), as regards which, however, in the sense of the angel, which excludes the bodily paternity of Joseph, David can be meant as only according to the national theocratic relation of the Messiah as David’s son, just as the historical notion of the Messiah was once given. The mode in which Luke (and Matthew) conceived of the Davidic descent is plain from the genealogical table of ch. 3, according to which the genealogy passed by way of Joseph as foster-father .
] from Isa 9:6 ; Dan 7:13 f. The conception of an everlasting Messianic kingdom (according to Psa 110:4 ) is also expressed in Joh 12:34 ; comp. the Rabbins in Bertholdt, Christol. p. 156. The “ house of Jacob ” is not to be idealized (Olshausen, Bleek, and others: of the spiritual Israel); but the conception of the kingdom in our passage is Jewish-national, which, however, does not exclude the dominion over the Gentiles according to the prophetic prediction (“quasi per accessionem,” Grotius).
. ] as Luk 19:14 ; Rom 5:14 .
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
32 He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David:
Ver. 32. Son of the Highest ] Answerable to the Hebrew Elion, whence for the sun, cuius antiquissima veneratio, saith Beza, whom the ancients deify.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
32. . . ] This announcement makes it almost certain (but see note above) that Mary also was of the house of David. No astonishment is expressed by her at this part of the statement, and yet, from the nature of her question, it is clear that she did not explain it by supposing Joseph to be the destined father of her child . See 2Sa 7:13 ; Psa 89:3-4 ; Isa 9:7 ; Jer 33:15 .
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Luk 1:32 foreshadows the future of the child. , applied also to John, Luk 1:15 . , shall be called = shall be. . . .: the Messiah is here conceived in the spirit of Jewish expectation: a son of David, and destined to restore his kingdom.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
He shall be great, &c. Marks the break in the Dispensations, verses: Luk 1:32, Luk 1:33 being yet future.
the Highest = the Most High. Greek hupsiatos. Occurs seven times in Luke (Luk 1:32, Luk 1:35, Luk 1:76; Luk 2:14 (plural); Luk 6:35; Luk 8:28; Luk 19:38 (plural); and twice in Acts (Luk 7:48; Luk 16:17). Else. where, only four times (Mat 21:9 (plural) Mar 5:7; Mar 11:10 (plural); and Heb 7:1).
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
32. . .] This announcement makes it almost certain (but see note above) that Mary also was of the house of David. No astonishment is expressed by her at this part of the statement, and yet, from the nature of her question, it is clear that she did not explain it by supposing Joseph to be the destined father of her child. See 2Sa 7:13; Psa 89:3-4; Isa 9:7; Jer 33:15.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Luk 1:32. , He) The Messiah is clearly described, even as at Luk 1:68, etc., and ch. Luk 2:30, etc.-, great) The greatness of John, described at Luk 1:15, is far exceeded by the greatness of Jesus, described here. [See Luk 1:33, and comp. Dan 2:35; Eph 4:10.-V. g.]- , He shall be called the Son of the Highest) Jesus, even in a point of view distinct from His Divine nature, and from His personal union with God the Father, is, in a sense transcendentally above all angels and men, the Son of the Highest, on account of the extraordinary nature [rationem, principle of His conception and nativity.- , the throne of David His father) Christ was promised to the fathers, especially to Abraham, as the Seed. He was promised by Moses, a prophet, as the Prophet. He was promised to David, a king, as the King. Even the temporal kingdom of Israel belonged to Jesus Christ by hereditary right. Massecheth Sanhedrin, ch 4, says, that Jesus is nearest to the kingdom, .
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
shall be great: Luk 1:15, Luk 3:16, Mat 3:11, Mat 12:42, Phi 2:9-11
the Son: Luk 1:35, Mar 5:7, Mar 14:61, Joh 6:69, Act 16:17, Rom 1:4, Heb 1:2-8
give: 2Sa 7:11-13, Psa 132:11, Isa 9:6, Isa 9:7, Isa 16:5, Jer 23:5, Jer 23:6, Jer 33:15-17, Eze 17:22-24, Eze 34:23, Eze 34:24, Eze 37:24, Eze 37:25, Amo 9:11, Amo 9:12, Mat 28:18, Joh 3:35, Joh 3:36, Joh 5:21-29, Joh 12:34, Act 2:30, Act 2:36, Eph 1:20-23, Rev 3:7
Reciprocal: Gen 49:10 – until Num 24:17 – a Sceptre 2Sa 7:13 – I will stablish 2Sa 7:16 – General 1Ki 1:13 – sit 1Ki 11:13 – for David 1Ki 11:39 – not for ever 2Ki 8:19 – for David 1Ch 17:14 – in mine 2Ch 10:16 – David Psa 45:6 – throne Psa 71:6 – thou art Psa 72:5 – as long Psa 89:3 – made Psa 89:4 – General Psa 89:29 – throne Psa 132:12 – their children Psa 132:18 – but upon Pro 29:14 – his throne Ecc 5:8 – for Isa 54:5 – the Lord Jer 17:25 – sitting Jer 22:2 – that sittest Jer 22:30 – sitting Jer 30:21 – governor Jer 33:17 – David shall never want Jer 33:21 – that he Eze 21:27 – until Eze 37:22 – and one Eze 45:7 – General Dan 2:44 – which shall never Dan 4:3 – his kingdom Oba 1:21 – and the Mic 5:4 – shall he be great Mat 1:1 – the son of David Mat 12:28 – then Luk 1:76 – Highest Luk 23:3 – the King
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
IN CONFIRMATION OF FAITH
He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest.
Luk 1:32
For the sake of deepening our conviction of the unspeakable importance of the doctrine of the Incarnation, let us lay aside our own belief for the moment, and see what the result of the surrender will be.
I. We should lose the Atonement.If Jesus be only a man, His death upon the Cross is only an ordinary deaththe death of a human being, and nothing more. Christ the Man can set us an example, but Christ the God-man alone can make atonement for transgression.
II. We should lose Christs Intercession.You expect Christ to be the receptacle and the transmitter, as your great High Priest, of the almost infinite number of petitions and intercessions which are being offered at the throne of grace. Do you conceive it possible that any being who was not actually Divine could undertake such an office as thisthe office of a hearer of prayer to a universe full of petitioners?
III. We exhaust the Gospel of its power.If we abandon the doctrine of the Incarnation, we really exhaust the Gospel of the power which it possesses over human heartsthe power of self-sacrificing love.
Nothing on earth shall induce us to surrender our belief in the eternal Sonship of Christ.
Prebendary Gordon Calthrop.
Illustration
We are bound, says Bishop Westcott, not only to believe that Jesus is Lord, but to confess Him before men. For if the message of the Incarnation necessarily transcends our thoughts in its fullness, none the less it comes within the range of our experience as far as our thoughts can reach. It touches life at every point, and we are bound to consider what it means for us, for our fellow-men, and for the world. It is not enough to hold it as an article of our creed; we must openly and in secret prove its efficacy in action. By our reticence, by our habitual reserve in dealing with it as the master-power in shaping and sustaining our thoughts, our purposes, our deeds, we encourage a feeling of secret mistrust as to the validity of the faith.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
2
Verses 28 and 30 contain all that the angel said by way of praise for Mary. After that he spoke of the greatness to be bestowed upon her son. San of the Highest is the same as calling him the Son of God. Throne of David means the throne which David (his great ancestor) had prophesied should be given him (Psa 132:11).
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David:
[Shall be called the Son of the Highest.] That is, “he shall be called the Messiah”: for Messiah and the Son of God are convertible terms…
Fuente: Lightfoot Commentary Gospels
Luk 1:32. He shall be great. Not shall become so. What follows is an explanation to Mary of this greatness, but a full explanation was scarcely possible.
Shall be called. Shall be, and also, shall one day be publicly recognized as what He really is: the son of the Most High, i.e., God (comp. Luk 1:35). Mary would probably understand this in the light of the familiar Old Testament passages: 2Sa 7:14; Psa 2:7; Psa 89:27. She did not fully comprehend it Stupendous spiritual truth is rarely comprehended at once, and had the proper divinity of her Son been definitely known by her, neither she nor Joseph would have been in a position to bring up the child. Chap. Luk 2:48-51, confirms this.
The throne of his father David. The Messiahship is now distinctly made known. Comp, especially Psa 132:11 : Of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne, which foretells a physical descent from David. As Mary takes no exception to this part of the angels prediction, it is natural to conclude that she was also of the house of David. Her song of praise (Luk 1:46-55) indicates the same thing. See notes there, and on the genealogy, chap. Luk 3:23-38.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
THE KINGDOM OF CHRIST
32-34. He shall be called Great and the Son of the Highest; the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of His father David, and of His kingdom there shall be no end. I see no possibility of satisfying these plain and unequivocal affirmations of inspired truth by a simple reference to His spiritual kingdom, which was a glorious verity before David was born, and will be forever. One line of Biblical exegetes spiritualize all the literal Scriptures, while their opponents literalize all, the tendency being to materialistic infidelity, and that of the fornier into a dreamy Utopianism, doing away with the material, universe, and running into the vagaries of idealism. While Davids throne was a temporal reality, visible, tangible, and actual, it was not his own, as he was merely the executive of the theocracy a man after Gods own heart, because he did Gods will. (Act 13:22.) Therefore we are bound to conclude that Davids great Son and Successor will restore the theocracy of which David was the executive, extended over, not only this world, but, as it already prevails, over all other worlds, and reign forever. The magnitude of the Divine attributes, administration, grace, and glory is so incomprehensible by human intellect as to superinduce a constant liability on our part to run into the heresy of minification. Good Lord deliver us! Let us take the Word as we find it, if it decapitates all of our idols!
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
1:32 He shall be great, and shall be {d} called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David:
(d) He will be declared to be so, for he was the Son of God from everlasting, but was made manifest in the flesh in his time.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Like John, Jesus would be great (Luk 1:15). However, He would be the Son of God, a clear statement of His deity (Psa 2:7-9; Psa 89:26-29; cf. Luk 1:35). The "Most High" is a common designation of God in the Old Testament (Heb. El Elyon, Gen 14:18; et al.). It carried over into the New Testament (Luk 1:35; Luk 1:76; Luk 6:35; Luk 8:28; Act 7:48; Act 16:17; Heb 7:1-3). The Greeks also used the title "Most High" to describe their gods. [Note: Marshall, The Gospel . . ., p. 67.]
"In Semitic thought a son was a ’carbon copy’ of his father, and the phrase ’son of’ was often used to refer to one who possessed his ’father’s’ qualities (e.g., the Heb. trans. ’son of wickedness’ in Psa 89:22 [AV] means a wicked person)." [Note: Martin, p. 205.]
Jesus would also be the long expected Messiah (2Sa 7:12-14; Psa 89:3-4; Psa 89:28-29). His divine sonship qualified Him for His messianic role. The messianic rule of the Son would continue forever after it began (Isa 9:7; Dan 7:14; Mic 4:7; et al.). [Note: See J. Dwight Pentecost, "The Biblical Covenants and the Birth Narratives," in Walvoord: A Tribute, pp. 263-67.]
"Today, Jesus is enthroned in heaven (Act 2:29-36), but it is not on David’s throne." [Note: Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, 1:172.]