Luke 1:15 (YLT)

Passage

for he shall be great before the Lord, and wine and strong drink he may not drink, and of the Holy Spirit he shall be full, even from his mother's womb;

Nearby Context

Luke 1:13 and the messenger said unto him, `Fear not, Zacharias, for thy supplication was heard, and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear a son to thee, and thou shalt call his name John,

Luke 1:14 and there shall be joy to thee, and gladness, and many at his birth shall joy,

Luke 1:15 for he shall be great before the Lord, and wine and strong drink he may not drink, and of the Holy Spirit he shall be full, even from his mother's womb;

Luke 1:16 and many of the sons of Israel he shall turn to the Lord their God,

Luke 1:17 and he shall go before Him, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn hearts of fathers unto children, and disobedient ones to the wisdom of righteous ones, to make ready for the Lord, a people prepared.'

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "Spirit", "shall", "great", "before", "lord", "wine", "strong", and "drink". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "Spirit" and "shall", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 14's "and there shall be joy to thee..." into verse 16's "and many of the sons of Israel...", so "Spirit" and "shall" belong inside that flow. In Luke context, the local focus is Christ, faith, and discipleship.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "Spirit" and "shall" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.