[OLD REGGIE]

I thought I made a pretty big statement in my post...ie:I believe 1 John 5:13 ends the debate of salvation by grace/works.

Welcome Mitch:

It depends on your perspective. If you have nothing to lose by accepting "free" salvation, you'll have no problem with this.

On the other hand------supposing you had a big business built on the concept of "works" (usually "works" has a dollar tag attached) and you had to justify "indulgances", you could not accept any such thing as "free" salvation.

[dignan3]

I found a few references to "Full of Grace".
John 1:
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father.
(Jesus is "full of grace".)
and:
Acts 6:
8 And Stephen, full of grace and power, did great wonders and signs among the people.
(Stephen (full of grace...).

Let us consult the Greek, both the Textus Receptus and Westcott-Hort editions.

person	Textus Receptus	Westcott-Hort
Jesus	pleres charitos	pleres charitos
Stephen	pleres pistos	pleres charitos
Mary	kecharitomene	kecharitomene

We see that in the Textus Receptus, which is the Greek the KJV translators used, Stephen is not called pleris chatitos like Jesus, but rather pleris pistos, which the KJV renders "full of faith". Regardless, the Greek is not the same as regards to Jesus/Stephen vs. Mary. Therein lies the difference.

The translation of kecharitomene into "Highly favored one" does not even begin to do the Greek justice, IMO. Even Jerome's translation, "full of grace", while superior to "Highly favored one", doesn't convey the full force of kecharitomene.

Also, no one ever used pleris charitos as a proper name for either Jesus or Stephen. On the other hand, the Angel used kecharitomene as if that was Mary's name. In other words, the Angel didn't say, "Hail Mary..." but rather, "Hail Kecharitomene. It's almost as if that is who and what Mary intrinsically was. Think about it.

Pray for John Paul II