Definition (house-style)
Sullambano (Gr. συλλαμβάνω) means ‘to receive’, ‘to take’, ‘to conceive’ and in Luke 1:31 describes Mary’s conception — the moment when she received the Word of God and life was awakened within her. In Noordzij’s soteriology sullambano marks the starting point of the rebirth process: the receiving and accepting of the living Word of God as the seed of new birth.
As a technical soteriological term, sullambano marks the transition from outside (hearing) to inside (receiving): the Word is received as incorruptible seed (1Pet. 1:23), after which the development process (anagennao) begins and culminates in actual birth (tikto).
Author variants
Noordzij
Noordzij analyses sullambano as the opening term in the rebirth triptych:
“In the text where the angel says to Mary: ‘You will conceive’ (Luke 1:31), the Greek verb sullambano stands (= to receive, accept, take). Mary heard the Word of God through Gabriel and said ‘Let it be to me according to your word.’ She received the Word of God into herself, she accepted it. That was her immaculate conception.”
[Noordzij, Het Woord Gods en de Schrift (The Word of God and Scripture), b2]
For Noordzij, Mary’s conception is the type of every rebirth: the Spirit overshadows, the living Word is received (sullambano), and with this the development process begins. The emphasis falls on the posture of receptivity: Mary said ‘Let it be to me according to your word’ — she actively received. So the believer must likewise actively receive and accept the Word (John 1:12).