For no word shall be impossible with God If we choose to take rhema, word, in its strict and native sense, the meaning is, that God will do what he hath promised, for no hinderance can resist his power. The argument will be, God hath promised, and therefore he will accomplish it; for we ought not to allege any impossibility in opposition to his word But as a word often means a thing in the idiom of the Hebrew language, (which the Evangelists followed, though they wrote in Greek,) we explain it more simply, that nothing is impossible with God We ought always, in- deed, to hold it as a maxim, that they wander widely from the truth who, at their pleasure, imagine the power of God to be something beyond his word; for we ought always to contemplate his boundless power, that it may strengthen our hope and confidence. But it is idle, and unprofitable, and even dangerous, to argue what God can do unless we also take into account what he resolves to do. The angel does here what God frequently does in Scripture, employs a general doctrine to confirm one kind of promise. This is the true and proper use of a general doctrine, to apply its scattered promises to the present subject, whenever we are uneasy or distressed; for so long as they retain their general form, they make little impression upon us. We need not wonder if Mary is reminded by the angel of the power of God; for our distrust of it diminishes very greatly our confidence in the promises. All acknowledge in words that God is Almighty; but, if he promises any thing beyond what we are able to comprehend, we remain in doubt. Whence comes this but from our ascribing to his power nothing more than what our senses receive? Thus Paul, commending the faith of Abraham, says, that he "gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that what he had promised he was able also to perform," (Romans 4:20, 21.) In another passage, speaking of the hope of eternal life, he sets before him the promise of God. "I know," says he, "whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him," (2-Timothy 1:12.) This may seem to be a small portion of faith; for no man, however wicked, openly denies God's claim to be Almighty. But he who has the power of God firmly and thoroughly fixed in his heart will easily surmount the other obstacles which present themselves to faith. It ought to be observed, however, that the power of God is viewed by true faith, if I may use the expression, as efficacious [1] For God is and wishes to be acknowledged as powerful, that by the accomplishment itself he may prove his faithfulness.

Footnotes

1 - "Effectualem." -- "We must observe that true faith apprehends the power of God, not in the air, but with its results." -- "Il faut noter que la vraye foy apprehende la puissance de Dieu, non point en l'alr, mais avec ses effects."

For with God nothing shall be impossible - Words of the very same import with those spoken by the Lord to Sarah, when he foretold the birth of Isaac, Genesis 18:14, Is any thing too hard for the Lord? As there can be no doubt that Mary perceived this allusion to the promise and birth of Isaac, so she must have had her faith considerably strengthened by reflecting on the intervention of God in that case.

For with God nothing shall be impossible. That is consistent with his nature and perfections, with his counsels, purposes, and promises: every thing that he has said, purposed, or promised, he is able to do, and will; every word that he has spoken, every thing predicted by his prophets, or declared by his angels, and particularly this of a virgin's conceiving and bearing a Son: so that the angel not only answers her question, how this should be, but confirms her faith in it; partly by the instance of her cousin Elisabeth, and partly by observing the infinite omnipotence of God.

For, &c.--referring to what was said by the angel to Abraham in like case (Genesis 18:14), to strengthen her faith.