Luke 1:37 is the angel Gabriel's answer to Mary when she asks how she can bear a son as a virgin: For with God nothing shall be impossible. The verse is not a promise that God will do whatever we wish. It is a statement about who God is. The same God who gave a son to old, barren Elisabeth would form the Son of God in Mary's womb by the Holy Ghost. Mary's reply, be it unto me according to thy word (Luke 1:38), shows the right response: faith that rests on God's word, not on what seems possible.
Luke 1:37 belongs to the Annunciation, the scene Christians read in the weeks before Christmas. Gabriel has told Mary that she will conceive and bear a son, call His name Jesus, and that He will reign over the house of Jacob for ever. Mary does not doubt the message, but she asks a fair question: how? The angel gives her three things. He tells her how it will happen (the Holy Ghost and the power of the Highest), he gives her a sign (her cousin Elisabeth is six months pregnant in old age), and then he gives her the principle behind it all: nothing is impossible with God. In the Greek the line can be read, no word from God shall be without power. Either way, the point is the same. When God speaks, His word carries the power to do what it says. Below are 12 KJV passages, in three groups, that explain the verse in its setting, trace the same promise back through the Old Testament, and show how believers have trusted it since.
For with God nothing shall be impossible: the angel's word to Mary
1. Luke 1:37
"For with God nothing shall be impossible."
Gabriel's sentence is short, but every word matters. For ties it to what he has just said: Mary's conception and Elisabeth's. With God names the One who acts; the verse says nothing about human strength. Nothing shall be impossible covers the whole range of God's purposes, including the hardest one of all, that the eternal Son should become a baby. Notice that the verse comes as an explanation, not as a slogan. Mary is not told to believe in the impossible in general. She is told to believe a specific promise because of the character of the God who made it. That is how Christians should read it today.
2. Luke 1:34-35
"Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God."
Mary asks, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? Her question is different from Zacharias's a few verses earlier. He asked for proof (Luke 1:18) and was struck dumb. She asks how, and is answered. Gabriel tells her that The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee. The word overshadow recalls the cloud of glory that covered the tabernacle. The child will be holy and shall be called the Son of God. Luke 1:37 is the summary of this answer: the virgin birth is not a natural event explained away, but the direct work of God.
3. Luke 1:36
"And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren."
Before he states the principle, Gabriel points Mary to evidence close to home. Her cousin Elisabeth, who had been called barren and was now old, was six months pregnant. God often gives His people a sign that strengthens faith without replacing it. Mary could visit Elisabeth and see for herself, and that is what she did (Luke 1:39-40). The order is worth noticing: a miracle already done for someone else, then the promise of a greater one. When we struggle to believe God for something, it helps to remember what He has already done, in Scripture and in the lives of people we know.
4. Luke 1:38
"And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her."
Mary's reply is one of the great statements of faith in the Bible: Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. A handmaid is a servant. Mary puts herself at God's disposal before she knows what it will cost her: questions from Joseph, gossip in Nazareth, and later a sword through her own soul (Luke 2:35). She does not say she understands. She says, let it be as You said. This is what believing Luke 1:37 looks like in practice. It is not a feeling of confidence that we can do anything. It is a willingness to let God do what He has promised.
Is any thing too hard for the LORD? The promise before Mary
5. Genesis 18:14
"Is any thing too hard for the LORD? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son."
Gabriel's words echo a question God asked Abraham two thousand years earlier: Is any thing too hard for the LORD? Sarah had laughed behind the tent door when she heard that she would have a son at ninety. God did not scold her at length. He asked a question that answered itself, and set a time: At the time appointed I will return unto thee. Isaac was born exactly as promised. The parallel with Luke 1 is deliberate. Elisabeth's pregnancy repeats Sarah's, and Mary's goes beyond it. The God of Abraham had not changed. What was true at Mamre was true in Nazareth.
6. Hebrews 11:11
"Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised."
Hebrews looks back on Sarah and explains why she finally believed: she judged him faithful who had promised. That is the heart of biblical faith. Sarah's strength did not come from looking at her own body, which was past age, but from looking at the faithfulness of God. She went from laughing to trusting, and God counts her among the heroes of faith. This is good news for anyone who has doubted. Faith is not measured by how calm we feel but by whom we rely on. Mary, like Sarah, rested her hope on the God who keeps His word.
7. Jeremiah 32:17
"Ah Lord GOD! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee:"
Jeremiah prayed these words in prison while Babylon was besieging Jerusalem. God had just told him to buy a field in a land about to be conquered, which made no sense by any human reckoning. Jeremiah obeyed, and then prayed: Ah Lord GOD! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee. He starts with creation. If God made everything from nothing, nothing He promises is beyond Him. Jeremiah's field was a pledge that God would bring His people home, and seventy years later He did.
8. Jeremiah 32:27
"Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for me?"
God answers Jeremiah's prayer with his own words turned into a question: Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for me? The title God of all flesh is important. He rules over every human being, including the armies of Babylon at the gate. Nothing that people can do will stop what He has decided. Notice too that God does not promise Jeremiah an easy road. Jerusalem would still fall. But the fall would not be the end of the story. That is often how God's impossible promises work: the trouble is real, and so is the rescue.
With God all things are possible: trusting the promise today
9. Matthew 19:26
"But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible."
Jesus said these words after the rich young ruler walked away sad. The disciples were shocked that a rich man could not easily enter the kingdom, and asked, Who then can be saved? Jesus answered, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible. The greatest impossibility in the Bible is not a virgin birth or a child in old age. It is a sinful heart being saved. No one can earn eternal life or change his own nature. God can, and He does it every time someone turns to Christ. Luke 1:37 and Matthew 19:26 belong together: the impossible birth made the impossible salvation possible.
10. Mark 9:23
"Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth."
A father brought his son, who had a terrible spirit, to the disciples, and they could not help. He said to Jesus, if thou canst do any thing, help us. Jesus turned the if back on him: If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. The man's reply is honest and much loved: Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief (Mark 9:24). Jesus healed the boy. This verse does not mean faith is a power we use to get what we want. It means faith connects us to the God for whom nothing is impossible. Even weak faith in a strong Savior is enough.
11. Luke 1:45
"And blessed is she that believed: for there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the Lord."
When Mary visited her, Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost and said, blessed is she that believed: for there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the Lord. Performance here means fulfilment. Elisabeth praises Mary not for being sinless or special in herself, but for believing what God said. This is the blessing open to every believer. We are not asked to make God's promises come true. We are asked to trust that He will perform them. Mary went on to sing the Magnificat, which begins, My soul doth magnify the Lord (Luke 1:46).
12. Ephesians 3:20
"Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,"
Paul ends his great prayer for the Ephesians with praise unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think. The words pile up: able, exceeding, abundantly, above, all. Paul has just prayed that they would know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, and he knows that even this prayer falls short of what God can do. This is Luke 1:37 applied to the Christian life. God is not limited by the size of our requests or the reach of our imagination. The power that worketh in us is the same power that raised Christ from the dead.
A short prayer
Father, nothing is too hard for You. You gave a son to Sarah and to Elisabeth, and You sent Your own Son into the world through the virgin Mary. Forgive me for the times I measure Your promises by what seems possible to me. Give me faith like Mary's to say, Be it unto me according to Thy word. Where my faith is weak, help my unbelief. Thank You that with You even a sinner's salvation is possible, and that You are able to do far more than I ask or think. In Jesus' name, Amen.
Go deeper: a SOAP study prompt
Pick one verse above and write: - Scripture: copy the verse by hand. - Observation: what does it say? Who is speaking, to whom? - Application: what does it mean for you today? - Prayer: turn it into a two-line prayer.
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Frequently asked questions
What does Luke 1:37 mean?
Luke 1:37 (For with God nothing shall be impossible) is the angel Gabriel's explanation to Mary of how she, a virgin, could bear the Son of God. It means that God's power has no limit when it comes to doing what He has promised. It points back to Genesis 18:14 and forward to Jesus' words in Matthew 19:26.
Who said nothing is impossible with God?
The angel Gabriel said it to Mary in Nazareth, in Luke 1:37, after telling her that her cousin Elisabeth had conceived in old age. Jesus said something very similar in Matthew 19:26 and Mark 10:27 (with God all things are possible), and God Himself asked Abraham, Is any thing too hard for the LORD? (Genesis 18:14).
Does Luke 1:37 mean God will give me anything I ask for?
No. The verse is about God's power to keep His word, not a guarantee that every wish will be granted. Mary believed a specific promise God had made. Christians apply the verse by trusting God's promises in Scripture and praying according to His will (1 John 5:14), confident that nothing can stop what He has purposed.
Is Luke 1:37 read at Christmas?
Yes. Luke 1:26-38, the Annunciation, is read in many churches during Advent, often on the fourth Sunday of Advent, and in Christmas Eve lessons and carols services. It is also the Gospel for the Feast of the Annunciation on March 25, nine months before Christmas.
Sources: All Scripture quotations are from the King James Version (KJV), public domain in the United States. References were checked against the KJV text from bible-api.com.
Related: The Angel Gabriel · Mary, Mother of Jesus · Isaiah 7:14 Meaning · The Christmas Story in the Bible · Emmanuel Meaning · Miracles · Advent · Faith
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