Luke 1

Ver. 25. To take away my reproach—That is, of barrenness.
Ver. 28. The Lord is with thee, &c.—Campbell, “The Lord (be) with thee, thou happiest of women.”
Ver. 29. She was troubled.—Doubtless alarmed at seeing a stranger in her presence and not less so, if the splendour which attended him (as is probable) marked him to be a messenger from heaven.
Ver. 32. He shall be so of the highest, the true and essential Son of God, the promised Messiah.—These words of the angel have evidently a reference to various prophecies of the Old Testament, particularly Ps. lxxii.
Ver. 35. That holy thing.—A noun is evidently to be understood: Doddridge supplies “offspring,” and Campbell, “progeny;” but the simple term “child” is more in harmony with the style of Scripture.
Ver. 39. A city of Juda.—(This was most probably Hebron, a city of the priests, and situated in the hill country of Judea, about 26 miles south of Je-

Chap. I.
Ver. 1. In the beginning.—“I cannot embrace the opinion of those critics,” says Moses Stuart in his letters to Dr. Channing, “who think that the phrase ‘in the aed of itself simply, signifies from eternity. Although I believe that the Word, Greek Logos, did exist from eternity, I do not think it is proved directly by this expression. (Compare (Genesis 1:1).) That existence from eternity is implied, however, may be properly admitted. ‘In the beginning,’ is equivalent to in the beginning of the world, i.e. before the world was made; and so agreeing in this particular with the phrase, (John 17:5), ‘the glory that I had with thee before the world was;’ and (Ephesians 1:4), “before the foundation of the world.’ “Before the world was created, then, the Logos existed. Who or what was this Logos? A real existence; or only an attribute of God? A real sub- which is not liable to great objections….. Were I to desert it, (which I do not think there is here sufficient evidence to warrant,) I should prefer the word “I entirely agree with those who think it most likely that the allusion here is to a portion of holy writ, and not to the reveries of either Philo or Plato. The passage referred to is Proverbs viii. throughout. There is such a coincidence in the things attributed to each, as Geissertly shows, that both were intended to indicate the same divine personage. The passage in Proverbs, I own, admits of a more familiar explanation, as regarding the happy consequences of that mental quality, which we call true or heavenly wisdom: but it is suitable to the genius of scripture prophecy to convey, under such allegorical language, the most important and sublime discoveries."—Campbell. Compare our expo-
Ver. 14. The Word was made flesh.—Campbell, “became incarnate,” which is doubtless the true sense, though not so simple. The word made, is the same that is used ver. 3; it is of very extensive use, and in most of its before me.—Though the Greek protos, is sometimes used for pre-eminence, (as Lardner shows,) yet as the preceding clause (“he that cometh after me”) refers to time, it seems far the most natural to understand this in the same