Luke 1:28

Hail. Gr. chaire, an ancient common form of salutation (see Matt. 28:9) that expressed esteem and good will. The word thus translated is the imperative form of the verb chairo, “to rejoice,” or “to be glad.” This form of greeting may be compared with the salutation, “Peace be unto you” (Luke 24:36; etc.), a common form of greeting in the Orient today as well as in ancient times.

Highly favoured. Literally, “endowed with grace.” This expression designates Mary as the recipient of divine favor, or grace, not the dispenser of it. The Latin phrase, plena gratia, of the Vulgate, is rendered “full of grace” by Wyclif, Tyndale, and by various Catholic translations. But this phrase does violence to the statement of the angel if taken to imply that Mary was henceforth to be a dispenser of divine grace rather than a recipient of it. Gabriel did not endow her with personal merit to bestow upon others. That the angel bestowed upon Mary nothing more than is available to all Christian believers is clear from the use of the same Greek word in Eph. 1:6, where Paul states that “he [the Father] hath made us accepted” (literally, “he endowed us with grace”) in Christ — not in Mary, significantly. Mary was “highly favoured” only, as the angel explains, because the Lord was with her She had “found favour with God” (Luke 1:30) and was, literally, “endowed with grace.”

Mary is nowhere called “blessed” except by Elisabeth (v. 42) and by an unnamed woman (ch. 11:27), and to the statement of the latter Jesus personally took exception (v. 28). He ever treated His mother with courtesy and consideration (see on John 2:4), but never exalted her above others who heard and believed in Him (Matt. 12:48, 49). At the cross He did not refer to her as the “Mother of God,” or even as “mother” — He simply addressed her as “woman,” a title of respect (see on John 19:26). Neither Paul nor any other NT writer attributes to her any extraordinary merit, or influence with God.

The Catholic exaltation of Mary has no basis in Scripture, but is founded entirely upon the fantastic legends of the apocryphal gospels, which even Catholics themselves deny a place in the sacred canon. In the early Christian centuries these legends were combined with pagan myths concerning the Oriental “queen of heaven” (see Jer. 7:18; 44:17, 18; etc.), consort of the gods, and the Magna Mater, or Great Mother, of Asia Minor. The Catholic concept of Mary as the “Mother of God” is basically little more than this pagan female deity clad in Christian terminology, made dogma at the Council of Ephesus in A.D. 431. Ephesus, incidentally, was the home of Diana, Gr. Artemis', not, however, the Greek virgin goddess Artemis, but an Asiatic mother goddess sometimes identified with the “Great Mother.” According to tradition, Mary spent her last years at Ephesus, in the home of the apostle John.

The words of the angel’s salutation have been perverted by the Catholic Church into a prayer addressed to Mary as an intercessor. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, it is composed of the angel’s words (1), with the addition (before 1184) of the opening words of Elisabeth’s inspired greeting to Mary found in v. 42 (2), and the further addition (by 1493) of a plea for prayer (3), and a still later addition (4), made by 1495, and included in the Catechism of the Council of Trent, with the entire form officially recognized in the Roman Breviary of 1568. Thus artificially constructed, the Ave Maria reads as follows:

[1] “Hail, Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee;

[2] blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

[3] Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners,

[4] now and at the hour of our death. Amen.”

Is with thee. The word “is” has been supplied by the translators, inasmuch as in the Greek it is often understood rather than expressed. Perhaps “be with thee” may be preferable to “is with thee.” This was a common form of greeting in OT times (see Judges 6:12; Ruth 2:4).

Blessed art thou among women. Important textual evidence may be cited (cf. p. 146) for the omission of this clause. It is attested, however, in v. 42 (see on v. 42).