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Luke 1:26-38 : The Annunciation to Mary

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26 And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth,

27 To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary.

28 And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.

29 And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be.

30 And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God.

31 And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS.

32 He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David:

33 And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.

34 Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?

35 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.

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.

37 For with God nothing shall be impossible.

38 And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

True Christian Religion #158

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158. ADDITIONAL NOTE

Since this chapter has dealt with the Holy Spirit, it is of importance to note that the Holy Spirit is nowhere named in the Old Testament Word, but only 'the Spirit of holiness' in three passages, one in the Psalms of David (Psalms 51:11), and two in Isaiah (Isaiah 63:10-11). But there are frequent references in the New Testament Word, as much in the Gospels as in the Acts of the Apostles and in their Epistles. The reason is that the Holy Spirit first existed when the Lord came into the world, for it came out of Him from the Father; for 'the Lord alone is holy' (Revelation 15:4). For this reason too the angel Gabriel speaking to Mary the mother of Jesus said 'the holy thing which will be born of you' (Luke 1:35). The reason why we read 'The Holy Spirit was not yet, because Jesus was not yet glorified' (John 7:39), although it was said earlier that the Holy Spirit filled Elizabeth (Luke 1:41) and Zechariah (Luke 1:67), as well as Simeon (Luke 2:25), was that it was the spirit of Jehovah the Father which filled them; and it was called the Holy Spirit because the Lord was already at that time in the world.

This is why nowhere in the Old Testament Word does it say that the Prophets spoke from the Holy Spirit, but from Jehovah. For everywhere we read 'Jehovah spoke to me', 'The Word from Jehovah came to me', 'Jehovah said', 'The saying of Jehovah.'

To remove all possibility of doubt I propose to quote the passages solely in Jeremiah where these expressions occur:

Jeremiah 1:4, 7, 11-14, 19;

2:1-5, 9, 19, 22, 29, 31;

3:1, 6, 10, 12, 14, 16;

4:1, 3, 9, 17, 27;

5:11, 14, 18, 22, 29;

6:6, 9, 12, 15-16, 21-22;

7:1, 3, 11, 13, 19-21;

8:1, 3, 12-13;

9:3, 7, 9, 13, 15, 17, 22, 24-25;

10:1-2, 18;

11:1, 3, 6, 9, 11, 17-18, 21-22;

12:14, 17;

13:1, 6, 9, 11-15, 25;

14:1, 10, 14-15;

15:1-3, 6, 11, 19-20;

16:1, 3, 5, 9, 14, 16;

17:5, 19-21, 24;

18:1, 5-6, 11, 13;

19:1, 3, 6, 12, 15;

20:4;

21:14, 7-8, 11-12, 14;

22:2, 5-6, 11, 16, 18, 24, 29-30;

23:2, 5, 7, 12, 15, 24, 29, 31, 38;

24:3, 5, 8;

25:1, 3, 7-9, 15, 27-29, 32;

26:1-2, 18;

27:1-2, 4, 8, 11, 16, 19, 21-22;

28:2, 12, 14, 16;

29:4, 8-9, 16, 19-21, 25, 30-32;

30:15, 8, 10-12, 17-18;

31:1-2, 7, 10, 15-17, 23, 27-28, 31-38;

32:1, 6, 14-15, 25-26, 28, 30, 36, 42, 44;

33:1-2, 4, 10-13, 17, 19-20, 23, 25;

34:1-2, 4, 8, 12-13, 22;

35:1, 13, 17-19;

36:1, 6, 27, 29-30;

37:6-7, 9;

38:2-3, 17;

39:15-18;

40:1;

42:7, 9, 15, 18-19;

43:8, 10;

44:1-2, 7, 11, 24-26, 30;

45:2, 5;

46:1, 23, 25, 28;

47:1;

48:1, 8, 12, 30, 35, 38, 40, 43-44, 47;

49:2, 5-7, 12-13, 16, 18, 26, 28, 30, 32, 35, 37-39;

50:1, 4, 10, 18, 20-21, 30-31, 33, 35, 40;

51:25, 33, 36, 39, 52, 58.

These are solely from Jeremiah. There are similar expressions in all the other Prophets, but it is never said that the Holy Spirit spoke, nor that Jehovah spoke to them by means of the Holy Spirit.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.