The Magnificat, Pt 2: Mary’s Personal Testimony
Since 1854, the Roman Catholic Church has adopted the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, the idea that Mary was sinless from her conception to her death. It reads, “The doctrine which holds that the Most Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first instant of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of almighty God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the human race, was preserved immune from every stain of original sin, has been revealed by God and therefore must be firmly and inviolably believed by all the faithful.”[1] They use verses such as Luke 1:28 and 42 to support this, focusing on her being called blessed and highly favored.
Should Catholics keep reading, they would find the very passage to prove them wrong. Coming from the lips of the one they claim was without sin. In just a few verses, Mary tells us how she viewed herself and it was no different from you or me.
Mary’s Humility
With the context in place, let’s take a closer look at Mary’s response to the wonderful thing that has happened to her. As we walk line by line through this prayer, you are going to see that every single line echoes something from the Old Testament. In fact, her entire prayer has very similar themes to Hannah’s prayer in 1 Samuel 2. Though not directly recited or quoted, Mary probably had this echoing through her mind.
Mary begins her prayer with a humble estimation of herself in light of the greatness of God. She bursts out saying, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior” (v. 46-47). The terms “soul” and “spirit” are basically interchangeable terms, both referring to the inner person. This praise and magnification of the Lord is coming up from the depths of her being. Her whole heart and mind are involved. Matthew 12:34 says that out of the heart, the mouth speaks. And this is what was in Mary’s heart. The present tense verb “magnifies” carries the idea of a swelling, an enlarging, to make and declare great, to exalt, and to glorify. And the word “rejoiced” means to greatly and exceedingly rejoice, being overjoyed, to be leaping or skipping for joy. It reminded me of David dancing before the ark being brought into Jerusalem in 2 Samuel 6:14-16).
Mary is literally bubbling over in thankful praise to God, wanting to exalt Him and make Him great. She joins in with the psalmist in Psalm 34:1-3, “I will bless Yahweh at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul will make its boast in Yahweh; The humble will hear it and rejoice. O magnify Yahweh with me, and let us exalt His name together.”
She calls Him “Lord,” “God,” “Savior,” and later “Mighty One.” She knew His character as revealed in the Old Testament and repeats those names back to Him in worship. Perhaps she is remembering Habakkuk 3:18, “Yet I will exult in Yahweh; I will rejoice in the God of my salvation.” Or Exodus 15:2, “Yah is my strength and song, And He has become my salvation; This is my God, and I will praise Him; My father’s God, and I will extol Him.” Throughout this whole prayer, she is exalting God. The “exalted one” (as her name means) is exalting the Lord. Not herself.
Notice she says “My Savior” – Mary herself is testifying that she needed a Savior! Though she was favored and blessed, she was not sinless. Like David said in Psalm 51:5, she too was conceived in sin. As Romans 3:23 says, we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. And the wages of sin is death according to Romans 6:23. She needed the gift of eternal life available through her Child as much as anyone else.
Why does she exalt Him? For He has looked upon the humble state of His slave, For behold, from this time on, all generations will count me blessed” (v. 48). She could not believe that the God of the universe looked on HER and allowed her to be blessed through all generations.
She called herself humble, not exalted. He brought her into the public sphere for all future generations when she otherwise would be unknown and forgotten. Mary echoes Psalm 138:6, “For Yahweh is high, Yet He sees the lowly” and Is. 66:2, “But to this one I will look, to him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word.” And God certainly did look upon one who was humble.
She called herself a slave, not a redeemer. This is the second time she calls herself this, as she called herself the “slave of the Lord” back in v. 38 when she humbly submitted to the angel’s words. The word she uses for Lord in the previous verse is kurios, which means “master or owner.” She recognized she was merely one who did her Master’s bidding. And the New Testament calls all of us slaves too. When we trust in Him for salvation, we make Him Savior and Lord and are now called to obey Him.
From that time on, yes, we have considered her blessed. In fact, Elizabeth, her cousin, was the first to do so (Lk. 1:42). Not because she is sinless or greater than any of us, but because of the immense privilege she had of being the one to carry and raise the Messiah that Israel had been waiting for. She knew what an honor this was and the eternal significance of it.
Her praise continues on with a highlighting of some of God’s attributes, specifically His might, holiness, and mercy: “For the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is His name” (v. 49). In verse 35, she was told that the power of the Most High would overshadow her and allow her to conceive. He had done a great thing by choosing her of all people to experience such a mighty work and miraculously conceive of her Savior! She sings from the Song of Ascents “Yahweh has done great things for us; We are glad” (Ps. 126:3; see also Dt. 10:21).
Notice she says “Holy is His name” – not hers!! She echoes the song of the angels around the throne in Is. 6:3 – “Holy, Holy, Holy, is Yahweh of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory.” And the song of the Israelites in Ex. 15:11 – “Who is like You among the gods, O Yahweh? Who is like You, majestic in holiness, Fearsome in praises, working wonders?” A pastor friend of mine said in a sermon on this passage, “If you regard God as holy, you cannot regard yourself too highly.” Mary’s humble estimation of herself came from a proper understanding of God’s holiness.
Mary then looks beyond herself to what He has done, is doing, and will do out of His great mercy: “And His mercy is upon generation after generation Toward those who fear Him” (v. 50). The verse is all uppercase letters so that means it’s a quotation from another passage, likely from Psalm 103:17, “But the lovingkindness of Yahweh is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him, and His righteousness to children’s children.” God’s mercy has been available and been displayed throughout time, but the qualifier: it is to those who fear Him, who have an affection, awe, and respect for Him. Mary will go on to recount some of those examples of His mercy in the next section. But the ultimate display of that mercy would come through the child that she bore.
These first few verses show that Mary was overwhelmed by the fact that God would choose her of all women to bear the Messiah. She did not think of herself highly, but rather as utterly undeserving of the great thing the Lord was doing in her life. She had a right view of herself and a right view of her God and the result was this outburst of praise. I like what Spurgeon said in his sermon on this passage: “The less worthy I am of His favors, the more sweetly I will sing of His grace.”[2]
To be continued.
[1] Lomonaco, Amedeo. The Immaculate Conception in the hearts and words of the Popes. Vatican News, 8 December, 2025. https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2025-12/the-immaculate-conception-in-the-hearts-and-words-of-the-popes.html
[2] Spurgeon, Charles Haddon. “Mary’s Song.” Metropolitan Tabernacle. Delivered December 25, 1864. https://www.spurgeon.org/resource-library/sermons/marys-song/#flipbook/
