Knowing The Word in Advent, Luke 1:46-55

Mary's Song of Praise: The Magnificat

1:46 And Mary said,

“My soul magnifies the Lord, 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 48 for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed; 49 for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name. 50 And his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. 51 He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts; 52 he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate; 53 he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty. 54 He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, 55 as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever.”

Comments

The term “Magnificat” is from the opening word in the Latin translation of the Greek “to magnify.” Mary’s song was an outburst of praise using Old Testament language. In places it resembles the song of Hannah in 1 Samuel 2:1-10. While Hannah’s song was a shout of triumph in the face of her enemies, Mary’s was a humble contemplation of God’s mercies. Perhaps during Mary’s four-day journey to Judea she contemplated Hannah’s song and put her own spin on it.

In the Bible, the terms “soul” and “spirit” are interchangeable. We find Mary going back and forth about her spirit and her soul, yet they are the same thing. She saw herself as a sinner needing to be saved. God noticed her, his slave in her humble station and blessed her. While Mary was blessed for her faith, she was most blessed for the privilege of bearing Jesus. She is called “Theotokos” in Greek, meaning “God-bearer” (see bonus material below). In her song, Mary focused on God’s power, holiness, and mercy. While she saw herself as insignificant, it does not matter because God does what he wants to do for her and for those who fear him.

Mary composed a list of things God has done. These divine actions reverse our human values: proud to humble, mighty to powerless, and rich to empty. The tense of these actions seemed to indicate they were done in the past and completed. In this understanding, Mary was not talking about what God would do but what he had done. Even before the birth of Jesus, there was a gospel to proclaim because of what God had already accomplished. The gospel of Jesus would be consistent with God’s past actions. He had always been in the salvation business and would continue to be in the life of Jesus. However, it could be that Mary, under the power of the Spirit, was prophesying about what Jesus would do, presupposing his future actions would not be stopped. I believe we have to live in the tension of both interpretations of completed and yet to be completed divine activity. As Hebrews 13:8 declares, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever!”

Mary concluded with a mention of Abraham. This put Jesus into context as not only the offspring of father Abraham, but the one who is the continuation, and ultimately the climax, of the salvific promises of God.

Application

There is much troublesome teaching on the internet by biblical charlatans. Dr. Wayne Gruden is a trusted biblical theologian. If you want further explanation of why soul and spirit are interchangeable, please see the following teaching video from Wayne Gruden: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auubis58kQ4&ab_channel=zondervan

Prayer

Father in heaven, by your grace the virgin mother of your incarnate Son was blessed in bearing him, but still more blessed in keeping your word: Grant us who honor the exaltation of her lowliness to follow the example of her devotion to your will; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (BCP, p. 240)