Blessed Is She Who Believed: Luke 1:45 Meaning

Sometimes it’s inferred that Luke 1:45 is a verse for women alone. This is mostly because of how the pronouns ‘she’ and ‘her’ were used, and how the words in the verse were originally spoken to a woman. 

Whether female or not, it’s quite admirable and not an easy feat to display the type of faith that is talked about in Luke 1:45, the one that believes that everything God tells us will come to pass eventually. 

This sort of confidence can be described as faith over fear, a kind of rock solid assurance that comes with choosing to believe what God says, despite the fear and expectations projected on us by the world as a result of this belief.

In this article, you’ll understand the context of this verse, its meaning, and how its message applies to every searching individual in our world today.

What Is The Meaning Of Luke 1?

With over 80 verses, Luke 1 is one of the longest chapters in the New Testament. It contains the foretelling of the birth of John the Baptist and Jesus, Mary’s visit to Elizabeth, the canticle of Mary (the Magnificat), the birth of John, and the canticle of Zechariah, his father.

This chapter maps out a part of God’s carefully thought-out plan that intertwined many events to lead up to the Messiah’s coming recorded in Luke 2. Luke 1 plays a huge role in helping us understand the circumstances surrounding Jesus’ birth and the purpose of His forerunner John the Baptiser.

His assignment was to prepare the hearts of the people for Jesus, to give knowledge of salvation and the forgiveness of sins to God’s people  before they received it later in Christ.

From Luke 1, we learn that our Christian belief is not based on blind faith, that is, believing in what we don’t know or understand. But as John puts it in verses 1-4, it is truth passed down to us by eyewitnesses who saw the Messiah and His glory and kept records so that generations to come could see it too and believe.

What Is The Message of Luke 1:45?

We must first run through the story in the previous verses to grasp the context of Luke 1:45. 

The angel Gabriel had already relayed God’s message of immaculate conception to Mary, so she went to the house of Elizabeth, her cousin, who she knew also carried a special child. 

When she got there and greeted Elizabeth, baby John in her womb leaped for joy. And Elizabeth, being filled with the Holy Spirit at that moment, prophetically pronounced blessings upon Mary including the one in Luke 1:45.

What does this verse tell us?

“And blessed is she…”

Earlier in verse 42, Elizabeth uses the word “blessed” that is “eulogemene/os“, which means that generations to come will praise and speak well of her and her child. But here in verse 45, ‘Blessed’ is the word ‘makaria’ which is the same word that Jesus uses in the Beatitudes. It means ‘happy’. Elizabeth’s words can be translated as “happy is she who believed” 

What was the reason for this?

Mary was an unmarried pregnant woman. She would expect ridicule, shame, judgment, and even ostracism from her people. This was something Elizabeth herself was familiar with because she was previously called barren. 

But rather than feel shame, Elizabeth was letting Mary know that in her case, it would be the reverse. She would be honored or made joyful by bearing the child Jesus. Mary knew of the ridicule that might follow her pregnancy, so she was strengthened by Elizabeth’s words.

Even today, when we trust God’s promises, we have an unstealable joy even when we are surrounded by things that should make us grieve.

“… who believed that there would be a fulfillment…”

This part of Luke 1:45 emphasizes Mary’s faith in everything God said to her. Elizabeth blessed her, not just for her status as the mother of the Messiah, but for choosing to believe God’s words despite the hardships she would experience.

Christianity is built on faith and we access many things by believing what God’s Word says about them. Many people believe that God can fulfill His words, but not just His words about them. Faith requires that you believe both; God’s ability to do it and that it would come to pass in your life. It reflects in the actions you take when you receive His promises.

“… of what was spoken to her from the Lord.”

We may not have been sent an angel like Mary was before Luke 1:45, but we see what God has to say to us written plainly in the Bible. When situations seem hopeless, or it doesn’t seem like God’s promises would ever come to pass, do we choose to believe them still? 

We must know that God’s Word is reliable. He says in Matthew 24:35 that even heaven and earth may end, but not even a word that leaves His lips would go without being fulfilled.

This should be our confidence.

What Does Luke 1:39-45 Teach About The Importance Of Life?

Luke 1:39-45 says,

“39. In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a town in Judah,

40. and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth.

41. And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit,

42. and she exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!

43. And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?

44. For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.

45. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.”

Before she conceived John, Elizabeth was shamed because to others, she was barren. But having faith, when God’s words about having a son came, she held onto them. And when hen they asked for her baby’s name after birth, unmoving, she said ‘John’ because she knew it was God’s promise coming to pass.

Our lives are a gift from God. Many times we focus on the things that are going wrong in them instead of focusing on God’s words about making them better, and like a pin to a balloon, it deflates our faith.

As long as we are alive, there’s so much God can do and change about us and our lives.

Luke 1:45 Prayer

Father,
I pray Luke 1:45 over my life because I believe you will fulfill all your promises to me. I understand that having unwavering faith is the foundation of true happiness, confidence, and ultimate success in life. Only through faith can I believe that all your promises to me will be fulfilled.
Father, you do not lie, you are truth and love. What you have spoken and written will be. I ask that you would protect me against the evil that threatens to shake my faith and shield me from the enemy who whispers lies against your truths. I want to have great faith like Mary. I want to believe like Mary. I want to trust like Mary. And Father, may I be blessed like Mary.
In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Final Thoughts

Mary and Elizabeth were two seemingly lowly and shamed women. One because of her childlessness, and the other because of her pregnancy. But God chose to begin the transformation of the world through them, and they believed it.

Likewise, we too should have an unmoving faith in God’s promises. Like the hymn that says “tis so sweet to trust in Jesus”, we find true joy and contentment when we believe. That sums up the Luke 1:45 meaning.

How can we do so? We can cultivate belief in the promises of God by reading the Word and prayerfully acting on it daily. When we trust the seemingly little promises like “I am with you always” daily, we build our faith to believe God’s words about the impossible.