What Does Luke 1:45 Mean?

And Flourishing is she who leaned her full weight, for there will be a completion of what was spoken to her from beside the LORD.
Luke 1:45 · SDV
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.

Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.

This verse in the King James

King James wording
And blessed is she that believed: for there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the Lord.

The verse joins trust and completion: the word is trusted before its fulfillment is visible.

She is flourishing because she trusts what the Lord has spoken to her, while its promised completion is still ahead. The verse names trust before visible fulfillment and holds the spoken word’s completion as its destination.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It undoes the idea that the Lord’s word becomes trustworthy only after its fulfillment is visible.

πιστεύσασα

pisteúsasa

GROWS FROM

πιστ-

pist-

trust, reliance on what is regarded as dependable

“leaned her full weight” in this verse is pisteúsasa. The verb here carries the sense of trusting, not merely agreeing with a statement. Its word family also describes what is firm and reliable, showing trust resting on the dependability of the spoken word.

ALSO GROWS

pistis: trust, reliance

πίστις

This noun names the trust expressed by the verb in the verse.

pistos: firm, steady; reliable

πιστός

The word family links trusting with the quality of being dependable.

τελείωσις

teleíōsis

GROWS FROM

τελει-

telei-

bring to completion, make complete

The word translated “performance” carries the sense of fulfillment or completion. The spoken things are presented as moving toward their full realization, giving trust a destination beyond the moment of hearing.

ALSO GROWS

teleióō: bring to completion, complete

τελειόω

This verb shows the movement toward the completion named in the verse.

téleios: complete, mature

τέλειος

This related form describes the state reached when something has come to completion.

μακαρία

makaría

GROWS FROM

μακαρ-

makar-

flourishing

The word calls her flourishing in the present, while the promised completion remains ahead. Flourishing here is joined to trust in what has been spoken, not only to the later sight of its fulfillment.

ALSO GROWS

makários: flourishing

μακάριος

This related form carries the same description of a flourishing state.

makarízō: call flourishing, pronounce blessed

μακαρίζω

This verb makes explicit that the word can name someone as flourishing.

The Lord’s spoken word is held as moving toward fulfillment, and trust meets it before it is seen.

Is any word too hard for the LORD? At the appointed time I will turn back to you, at this season of life, and Sarah will have a son.
Genesis 18:14 · SDVThe spoken word names an appointed time and a child not yet seen, placing the promise before its visible completion.
So shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth. It shall not return to me empty, but shall do what I delight in, and shall break through in the thing to which I sent it.
Isaiah 55:11 · SDVThe word that goes forth is described as accomplishing what it is sent to do.
By trust Sara herself received strength for the laying down of seed, beyond the season of her life, since she judged him steady who had promised.
Hebrews 11:11 · SDVTrust receives strength in relation to a promise whose fulfillment has not yet appeared.
By trust Sara herself received strength for the laying down of seed, beyond the season of her life, since she judged him steady who had promised.
Hebrews 11:11 · SDV

Luke’s “believed” is ⁨πιστεύσασα⁩ (pisteúsasa, trusting), while Hebrews’ “faith” is ⁨πίστει⁩ (pístei, trust); both belong to the ⁨πιστ-⁩ word family. Hebrews brings that same trust together with Sarah receiving strength and a promised child, opening Luke’s pairing of trust with completion.

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Luke 1:45 Meaning: The verse joins trust and completion