Hail, full of grace (kecharitomene), the Lord is with you!" [Luke 1:28, RSVCE]
The Greek word, kecharitomene, is the perfect passive participle of the Greek verb, charitoo, meaning to grace or favor. The perfect tense denotes completion or fullness. It can be translated as "completely graced" or "fully favored." St. Jerome in the 4th century translated it into Latin as, gratia plena, or "full of grace." Even some Protestant Bibles render it as "highly favored one" (NIV & KJV). In this verse Gabriel does not address her as "Hail, Mary" but as "Hail, full of grace." Gabriel uses this participle as a name or title for Mary. In Acts 6:8, St. Stephen is said to be "full of grace" according to the RSV, but this phrase is used as a description and not as a title. Mary is named "Full-of-Grace", which includes sanctifying grace. Grace is opposed to sin (Rom. 5:21). This verse may not prove the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, but it would be an odd greeting otherwise. Elsewhere in the Bible, Elizabeth under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit declares to Mary:
"Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb!" [Luke 1:42, RSV]
In this poetic parallel, Mary's blessing from God is compared to the blessing that rests on her Son - the fruit of her womb. Jesus was blessed in His humanity by being sinless (Hebrews 4:15) even while in her womb. Mary was blessed by God as the mother of His Son and in her freedom from sin.
Nothing in before 100 ad supports this idea. It comes into the Church later - much later.
The doctrine of the Immaculate Conception developed slowly through the centuries. Some divinely revealed truths take time for us to fully understand. Its development can be traced back to God's words to the serpent:
"I will put enmity between you (serpent) and the woman and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel."[Genesis 3:15, RSV]
This verse is seen as the promise of the Redeemer. "He" and "her seed" refer to Christ. "Woman" and "her" can refer to Eve, but they apply better to Mary (John 19:26). Luke's Annunciation scene (Luke 1:26-38,42) appears to contrast the Eve-serpent scene (Gen. 3:1-7): Mary vs. Eve, Gabriel vs. Satan (Rev. 12:9) as serpent, Fruit of the womb vs. fruit of the tree. In Romans 5:14 and 1 Cor. 15:44-49, St. Paul sees Jesus Christ as the New Adam. In like fashion, St. Justin Martyr in 155 A.D. saw Mary as the New Eve: "For Eve, who was a virgin and undefiled, having conceived the word of the serpent, brought forth disobedience and death. But the Virgin Mary received faith and joy... And by her has He (Jesus) been born." [Dialogue with Trypho 100] St. Irenaeus in 190 A.D. wrote: "Eve was...the cause of death...; so also did Mary...become the cause of salvation, both to herself and the whole human race...The knot of Eve's disobedience was loosed by the obedience of Mary. For what the virgin Eve had bound fast through unbelief, this did the virgin Mary set free through faith." [Against Heresies III 22:4]
No where does the Scripture teach she was immaculate.
The absence of such a statement does not contradict its reality, much like sola scriptura, as has already been pointed out.
NYer,
I face a busy day of travel. I did read your post and will respond - hopefully tonight.
have a good day :-)
NYer,
Thanks for your patience while I completed my travels. I will apologize in advance for the length it takes to respond to your points. It is easy to make a claim, harder to provide a response. I will skip things that are irrelevant to the conversation...
“Even some Protestant Bibles render it as “highly favored one” (NIV & KJV).”
I would personally translate it as Greetings, highly favored one.
[It is worth noting that the words used rhyme in Greek. I don’t know if angels have a sense of humor, but it appears he is making a play on words.]
“Gabriel uses this participle as a name or title for Mary. “
Here I will disagree, since the Greek is not indicating a formal title or name. You have to enter the room believing this idea in order to “find” it in the Greek words. Is there any evidence in Scripture that Mary was ever addressed this way again during here lifetime by anyone? No.
Mary was chosen to bear Messiah. It is an amazing honor, born of God’s Grace.
Stephen is not a good example to compare. Different Greek word. The only other place this same word is used is Ephesians, as I pointed out up-thread and is used of all believers, who God has “highly graced.” Same word. Same idea - no merit, but favored with grace by God’s free choice. No title or formal name implied in either. The idea remains true, even though it is not a title or name.
“This verse may not prove the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, but it would be an odd greeting otherwise.”
Here we disagree. Again, there was absolutely no evidence or thought of an “immaculate conception” until centuries later. The Greek does not contain it. Further, it is an unusual greeting and you can see Mary’s response. Would you not also think it an unusual greeting, if an angel appeared to you NYer and called you “highly favored one.” The angel goes on to announce she will bear Messiah, which explains fully the words describing her as highly favored. Among all women, she was blessed as the single Jewish woman to bear Messiah.
“In this poetic parallel, Mary’s blessing from God is compared to the blessing that rests on her Son - the fruit of her womb.”
Actually, in Greek, this is incorrect. There is no comparison. The circumstantial clause about Christ is provided to support the main clause in the sentence. In everyday english, this means that the blessed fruit Mary is carrying in her womb - Messiah - is the reason she is blessed among women. Again, Greek can tell us many things. It doesn’t always tell us the one thing a passage means, but it often tells us what it cannot mean. In this instance, Elizabeth is affirming (under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, as it says in the text) what the angel said. Mary is blessed. Highly favored among women, because she alone is chosen to bear Messiah.
“Jesus was blessed in His humanity by being sinless (Hebrews 4:15) even while in her womb. Mary was blessed by God as the mother of His Son and in her freedom from sin.”
No. The passage doesn’t say this. In fact, it doesn’t say either of these things. We know from other passages that Christ was sinless. It was and is His eternal nature. He could be nothing less. He wasn’t blessed in his humanity by being sinless. He could be no other. To be sinful would be incompatible with being God. Sin would mean He could not die as a sacrifice for the sins of the world. Sin was never an option.
Mary was blessed in an unmerited way by being chosen by God to bear Messiah. There is nothing in this passage, nor anywhere in all books of Scripture that ever indicates Mary was anything but a human who needed a Savior. She does in fact say, “my Savior.” Needing a Savior implies what is to be expected of all humans - the presence of sin. Christ died for the sin of humanity on the cross - including Mary’s sin.
“The doctrine of the Immaculate Conception developed slowly through the centuries. Some divinely revealed truths take time for us to fully understand.
Best course I ever took was History of Doctrine. Can you imagine the privilege of taking a semester to take each major doctrine and trace its development though each century, using only original sources, from the time of Genesis through today? So I agree with your comment in one and only one sense. It has taken time for some doctrines to develop. Some true and some false. Time isn’t always a good thing. Often doctrines became more honed as the early church was attached from inside (heresy) and from outside (false religion). Doctrines were recast in order to make them clear in the face of error.
Example of true: Trinity. While the word is not found in Scripture, the idea is evident. We know God is one God. We know that the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit all have the attributes of God. To claim three God’s violates the first truth - that there is One God. In each step, the argument revolved around what the Scripture revealed and what that meant. Doctrines that took time to develop in this way rest on God’s revealed word.
Example of false: Immaculate Conception. Again, the word is not found in Scripture. In this case, neither is the idea found anywhere from Genesis to Revelation. Not in prophesy. Not in teaching. The doctrine developed much, much later in order to try to support a belief that did not originate in Scripture, but from outside Scripture.
Not only isn’t it present in God’s revelation, it serves no purpose in salvation.
“Its development can be traced back to God’s words to the serpent: “I will put enmity between you (serpent) and the woman and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel.”[Genesis 3:15, RSV]””
This is false. Nothing in Genesis 3:15 has anything to do with immaculate anything.
“This verse is seen as the promise of the Redeemer. “He” and “her seed” refer to Christ.”
Actually, no. Her seed includes all descendants of Eve. Christ is one of the seed. He is the One who will “crush” satan’s head.
“Woman” and “her” can refer to Eve, but they apply better to Mary (John 19:26).”
No, Mary was in the line of Eve’s seed, but the passage is not about Mary. God is speaking in the presence of Adam, Eve and Satan. He is addressing the serpent - Satan.
Again, nothing immaculate here. Nothing about Mary. It is about what will happen in the contest between good and evil. Satan will be crushed by Christ.
Anytime you have to leave the main point of a passage to try to make it teach a different doctrine, it should flag you that you are not on solid ground.
“Luke’s Annunciation scene (Luke 1:26-38,42) appears to contrast the Eve-serpent scene (Gen. 3:1-7): Mary vs. Eve, Gabriel vs. Satan (Rev. 12:9) as serpent, Fruit of the womb vs. fruit of the tree.”
Appears is the operative word.
I can’t resist saying it... Once I saw a cloud that looked exactly like a goat. Unfortunately, it was not a goat. It was a cloud. Sure looked like a goat. The human mind sees patterns.
Does God’s Word “rhyme?” You bet. Does that have anything to do with someone being immaculate? No.
“In Romans 5:14 and 1 Cor. 15:44-49, St. Paul sees Jesus Christ as the New Adam. In like fashion, St. Justin Martyr in 155 A.D. saw Mary as the New Eve:”
St. Paul wrote under the direct inspiration of God - moved by His Holy Spirit to record His Words. He didn’t “see” Christ as the New Adam. God moved Paul to reveal Christ is the New Adam.
Justin Martyr and Irenaeus wrote what they thought - not what was revealed. Surely you are not arguing their thoughts are equal to The Apostle Paul’s revelation under inspiration of the Spirit?
Unfortunately, their thoughts which are interesting have been seized on in the absence of Scriptural support by those who wish to make Mary into something she was not. It is better to accept what God tells us and not to make more or less of dear Mary than He does.
“The absence of such a statement does not contradict its reality, much like sola scriptura, as has already been pointed out. “
If you truly believe that any doctrine can exist without the revelation of God, then you are in the position of believing whatever feels good and claiming that because Scripture doesn’t teach it, it can still be true by declaration. You can claim that putting pizza in your shoe makes you more spiritual. Sorry. It may make you feel more spiritual. It is simply opinion though and not doctrine. When a church goes off the rails and makes the non-Scriptural into doctrine, there is no longer a standard of Truth.
As for sola scriptura - the belief in the sufficiency of Scripture for salvation and maturity and as the highest standard of Truth. The Bible itself declares all those things about Scripture alone. If you believe Scripture is inspired by God, you will believe those things. Does it matter what name you give that idea? No, like the word trinity, it is a short-hand way of referring to the teachings of Scripture.
In the case of the “immaculate conception,” it is no where to be found in Scripture.
Best to you.