<p>1:37 <i>For no word from God shall be void of power</i>- The various possibilities in translation offer various possible interpretations. The idea could be that Mary was not to worry about the mechanics of how God's prophetic words about the virgin birth and the birth of the Messianic forerunner would come about; there was and is power within the prophetic word to bring about its own fulfilment. This principle has wide relevance. Not least, we need not worry how all shall be fulfilled in the last days, nor seek to force fulfilment of prophecy; for the power of fulfilment is lodged within the prophetic word itself. But &quot;void of power&quot; can also simply mean &quot;impossible&quot;. The only other time the Greek word occurs is in Mt. 17:20: &quot;If you have faith... nothing shall be impossible unto you&quot;. The 'possibility' of the fulfilment depends partially upon our faith. And this would have been so appropriate to Mary, who had prayed in faith to be the mother of Messiah. The prophetic word is &quot;possible&quot;, but it is made actual by our faith. When Mary says &quot;Be it unto me according to your word&quot; (:38) she is as it were enabling the fulfilment of that word. See on :45. This is not to say that God does not have sovereign possibility of Himself; but clearly His preference is to work within the parameters of human faith.</p>