Short answer: Luke 1:37 is the angel Gabriel's closing word to Mary: what God has spoken will not fail. The familiar translation "nothing is impossible with God" is true, but the Greek is more specific — it says that no word or promise from God is ever powerless. It is a statement about God's promises, not a general claim that anything you can picture will happen.
Notice how two public-domain translations differ. The King James Version reads: "For with God nothing shall be impossible." The World English Bible reads: "For nothing spoken by God is impossible."
The context: an angel, a virgin, and an elderly cousin
Gabriel has just told Mary she will conceive and bear a son who will be called the Son of the Most High (Luke 1:31–33). Mary asks the obvious question — how, since she is a virgin (Luke 1:34). Gabriel answers that the Holy Spirit will come upon her.
Then, before this verse, he offers her evidence she can go and check: her relative Elizabeth, called barren and well past childbearing years, is six months pregnant (Luke 1:36). Verse 37 is the conclusion drawn from that evidence. And Mary's reply in verse 38 — "let it be to me according to your word" — takes it as a statement about God's word.
The sentence also echoes the Old Testament. When Sarah laughs at the promise of a son in her old age, the LORD asks, "Is any thing too hard for the LORD?" (Genesis 18:14, KJV). Luke's Greek closely mirrors the ancient Greek translation of that line. Mary is being placed in a very old story: God speaks, a barren womb opens, a promise lands.
What it means, phrase by phrase
"For" — this is a reason, attached to the news about Elizabeth. Gabriel is not changing the subject to offer a proverb; he is explaining why the news he just gave should settle Mary's question.
"nothing spoken by God" — the Greek word here is rhēma, which can mean "word," "saying," or "thing." That single word is why the translations diverge. Render it "thing" and you get the KJV's "nothing shall be impossible." Render it "word" and you get the WEB's "nothing spoken by God is impossible." Most modern translations lean toward the second, and the surrounding verses support it: Gabriel is talking about a specific promise he just delivered.
"is impossible" — literally, will not be powerless or void. God's word does not fall to the ground unfulfilled.
Neither rendering is dishonest, and the difference is not a denominational dispute — it is a translator's judgment about one Greek word. The practical effect is a matter of emphasis. "Nothing is impossible with God" is a true statement about God's power that Scripture affirms elsewhere. "No word from God will fail" is the narrower claim this verse is making, and it is arguably the more comforting one: it means God's specific promises to you are not at risk.
Cross-references
- Genesis 18:14 — "Is any thing too hard for the LORD?" spoken to Sarah about the birth of Isaac.
- Jeremiah 32:17, 27 — Jeremiah prays that nothing is too hard for the God who made heaven and earth.
- Matthew 19:26 — with men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.
- Isaiah 55:11 — God's word does not return to him empty.
- Luke 1:38 — Mary's answer treats verse 37 as a statement about God's word.
- Luke 18:27 — the same principle applied to salvation.
How to apply it today
Anchor the verse where Gabriel anchored it. This is a promise for people holding a promise. If God has said something in Scripture — that he forgives the one who confesses, that he will never leave you, that he is making all things new — Luke 1:37 says that word carries its own power to arrive.
Be careful about the leap from "nothing is impossible with God" to "therefore the outcome I want will happen." God's power is unlimited; his promises are specific. Mary is not told that she will get whatever she asks. She is told that what God has said will come to pass, and she answers by consenting to a hard and costly obedience.
Do what Mary did with the evidence. Gabriel gave her a checkable fact — go see Elizabeth. She went (Luke 1:39–40). Faith in this passage is not a feeling summoned in the dark; it is trust extended to a God who has already acted, and who invites you to look.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why do translations of Luke 1:37 differ so much? The Greek word rhēma can mean either "word/saying" or "thing." The KJV translators took it as "thing," giving "with God nothing shall be impossible." The WEB and most modern translations take it as "word," giving "nothing spoken by God is impossible." It is a translation judgment about vocabulary, not a doctrinal disagreement, and both statements are taught elsewhere in Scripture.
Does Luke 1:37 mean God will do anything I ask? No. The verse is about God's promises, not our requests. It says that what God has spoken cannot fail. Elsewhere the Bible is clear that God sometimes answers prayer with "no" — Jesus asked in Gethsemane for the cup to pass from him, and it did not. Luke 1:37 guarantees God's word, not our preferences.
Is Luke 1:37 quoting the Old Testament? It is at minimum echoing it. When Sarah doubts that she will bear a son in old age, the LORD asks whether anything is too hard for him (Genesis 18:14). The Greek phrasing of Luke 1:37 closely resembles the ancient Greek translation of that verse. Gabriel is placing Mary in the line of women to whom God promised an impossible child.
Who said Luke 1:37, and to whom? The angel Gabriel spoke it to Mary in Nazareth, at the end of the announcement that she would bear Jesus. It is his answer to her question about how this could happen, offered alongside the sign of Elizabeth's pregnancy in her old age.