Posted on 09/21/2004 7:43:13 AM PDT by Tantumergo
In discussing why we believe in the Immaculate Conception, it’s important to understand what the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception is and what it is not. Some people think the term refers to Christ’s conception in Mary’s womb without the intervention of a human father; but that is the Virgin Birth. Others think the Immaculate Conception means Mary was conceived "by the power of the Holy Spirit," in the way Jesus was, but that, too, is incorrect. The Immaculate Conception means that Mary, whose conception was brought about in the normal way, was conceived without original sin or its stain — the meaning of "immaculate" being “without stain”. The essence of original sin consists in the deprivation of sanctifying grace, and its stain is a fallen nature. Mary was preserved from these defects by God’s grace; from the first instant of her existence she was in the state of sanctifying grace and was free from the corrupt nature original sin brings.
While in the West the doctrine has been taught somewhat negatively – the emphasis being on Mary’s sinlessness - the East has tended to put the accent instead on her abundant holiness. The colloquial term for her is Panagia, the All-Holy; for everything in her is holy.
Although this doctrine is not explicitly stated in Scripture (as indeed the Trinity is not explicitly stated), there is much implicit evidence that the New Testament Church believed in the sinlessness and holiness of the Mother of God.
The primary implicit reference can be found in the angel’s greeting to Mary. The angel Gabriel said, "Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you" (Luke 1:28). The phrase "full of grace" is a translation of the Greek word kecharitomene. This word represents the proper name of the person being addressed by the angel, and it therefore expresses a characteristic quality of Mary.
The traditional translation, "full of grace," is more accurate than the one found in many recent versions of the New Testament, which tend to render the expression "highly favoured daughter." Mary was indeed a highly favoured daughter of God, but the Greek implies more than that (and it never mentions the word for "daughter"). The grace given to Mary is at once permanent and of a unique kind. Kecharitomene is a perfect passive participle of charitoo, meaning "to fill or endow with grace." Since this term is in the perfect tense, it indicates a perfection of grace that is both intensive and extensive. So, the grace Mary enjoyed was not a result of the angel’s visit, but rather it extended over the whole of her life. She must have been in a state of sanctifying grace from the first moment of her existence to have been called "full of grace."
However, this is not to imply that Mary had no need of a saviour. Like all other descendants of Adam, she was subject to the necessity of contracting original sin. But by a special intervention of God, undertaken at the instant she was conceived, she was preserved from the stain of original sin and its consequences. She was therefore redeemed by the grace of Christ, but in a special way - by anticipation.
If we consider an analogy: Suppose a man falls into a deep pit and someone reaches down to pull him out. The man has been "saved" from the pit. Now imagine a woman walking along, and she too is about to topple into the pit, but at the very moment that she is to fall in, someone holds her back and prevents her. She too has been saved from the pit, but in an even better way: she was not simply taken out of the pit; she was prevented from getting stained by the mud in the first place. By receiving Christ’s grace at her conception, she had his grace applied to her before she was able to become subject to original sin and its stain.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that she was "redeemed in a more exalted fashion, by reason of the merits of her Son" (CCC 492). She has more reason to call God her Saviour than we do, because he saved her in an even more glorious manner.
St. Luke also provides us with further evidence that the early Church believed in the sinlessness of Mary. In the first chapter of his gospel, he goes to great pains to recount the event of the Visitation in parallel terms to the recovery of the Ark of the Covenant by David in 2 Sam 6. The following contrasts are notable:
1) 2 Sam 6,2 “So David arose and went…set out for Baala of Judah” Lk 1,39 “And Mary rising up in those days, went…to a town of Judah”
2) 2 Sam 6,9 “How can the ark of the Lord come to me?” Lk 1,43 “And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
3) 2 Sam 6,14 “And David danced with all his might before the Lord” Lk 1,44 “the infant in my womb leaped for joy.”
4) 2 Sam 6,11 “ And the ark of the Lord abode in the house of Obededom the Gittite three months.” Lk 1,56 “And Mary abode with her about three months.”
When taken in conjunction with Gabriel’s earlier promise to Mary that “The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the most High shall overshadow thee.” (Lk 1,35) in similar language to that describing the descent of the Shekinah on the ark, it is clear that St. Luke considers Mary to be the fulfilment of the type of the Ark of the Covenant.
In Luke’s mind she is the ark of the New Covenant. Just as the old ark contained the Word of God written on stone, the bread from heaven in the form of manna, and the priestly staff of Aaron; so the new ark contains the Word of God enfleshed, the true bread of heaven, and the high priest of the New Covenant.
Up until its disappearance 500 years earlier the ark had been the holiest thing in all creation – even to touch it or look into it was to bring death or plagues on non-Levites. Similarly then, the ark of the New Covenant would have been viewed as the holiest created being by the early Jewish Christians. Mary’s holiness was by the specific design of heaven, just as the old ark was given as a specific design from heaven.
This understanding of Mary as the ark is not just limited to the Lucan tradition. We also find Johannine understanding of this teaching in the Apocalypse. If we omit the medieval chapter and verse numberings, we see that John’s vision, following the judgement of Jerusalem and the Old Covenant, reveals:
“And the temple of God was opened in heaven: and the ark of his covenant was seen in his temple, and there were lightnings, and voices, and an earthquake, and great hail. And a great sign appeared in heaven: A woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars:” Apoc. 11,19-12,1
While some commentators see in the figure of the woman a corporate type of Israel or the Church, these can only be secondary meanings as the same vision reveals two other figures which both have primary individual identities: Satan and the woman’s child – Jesus Christ:
Apoc 12,3 “And there was seen another sign in heaven: and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads, and ten horns: and on his head seven diadems: Apoc 12,9 “And that great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, who is called the devil and Satan.”
Apoc 12,5 “And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with an iron rod: and her son was taken up to God, and to his throne.”
Thus many fathers of the Church as well as recent Popes have clearly identified the ark/woman as Mary, the Holy Mother of God. This should not be surprising as John is here recapitulating the whole of revelation. Not only is he portraying the breaking in of the New Covenant, but of the new creation itself. The early chapters of Genesis where we see the man and woman in conflict with the serpent at the beginning of the old creation, are now recapitulated with the new Adam and the new Eve in conflict with that same serpent, though this time with positive results. Revelation has come full circle with the final triumph of God over the devil through the woman and her seed as first foretold in Genesis 3,15.
This is why early fathers such as St Irenaeus, St Ephraim, St. Ambrose and St. Augustine could clearly identify Mary as the new Eve as well as the Ark of the Covenant. For in a way that Eve in her disobedience could only be physically the mother of all the living, Mary is now revealed as the true mother of all the living in Jesus Christ:
Apoc 12,17 “And the dragon was angry against the woman: and went to make war with the rest of her seed, who keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.”
It is only reasonable to conclude, then, that just as the first Eve was created without sin and filled with sanctifying grace, so the new Eve who was to “untie the knot of disobedience” wrought by the first, should be also so conceived. Or, as Cardinal Newman put it:
“Now, can we refuse to see that, according to these Fathers, who are earliest of the early, Mary was a typical woman like Eve, that both were endued with special gifts of grace, and that Mary succeeded where Eve failed?” Memorandum on the Immaculate Conception. Cardinal John Henry Newman.
Although arguments from authority can often be the weakest form of argument, as Catholics, it is worth finally pointing out that the ultimate reason for believing in the Immaculate Conception is that this doctrine has been infallibly defined as being revealed by God, and as such our salvation depends on adhering to it:
"Accordingly, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, for the honour of the Holy and undivided Trinity, for the glory and adornment of the Virgin Mother of God, for the exaltation of the Catholic Faith, and for the furtherance of the Catholic religion, by the authority of Jesus Christ our Lord, of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and by our own: "We declare, pronounce, and define that the doctrine which holds that the most Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first instance of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege granted by Almighty God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the human race, was preserved free from all stain of original sin, is a doctrine revealed by God and therefore to be believed firmly and constantly by all the faithful." Hence, if anyone shall dare—which God forbid!—to think otherwise than as has been defined by us, let him know and understand that he is condemned by his own judgment; that he has suffered shipwreck in the faith; that he has separated from the unity of the Church; and that, furthermore, by his own action he incurs the penalties established by law if he should dare to express in words or writing or by any other outward means the errors he think in his heart." Ineffabilis Deus, Bl. Pope Pius IX
What about the Old Testament?
yes
I also wonder about Mary's birth. If she was born without sin, would that not assume some blessedness to her parents? Are Mary's parents considered saints? Are they considered holy vessels of God? (since they bore the "Mother and Bride of Christ")
Saint Joachim (4 B.C.) and Saint Anne (3 B.C.). Saint Joachim was the father of the Blessed Virgin Mary. His name is sometimes contracted into Heli or Eliacim, which means God has judged. God judged him to be worthy to be the father of the greatest of all God’s creatures. Saint Joachim’s wife was Saint Anne.
When Mary was born September 8, Saint Joachim knelt beside her for three whole days, looking upon her with awe and love and admiration. On September 12, he was inspired by God-as was Saint Anne, her mother –to give her the name Mary, which means both Lady and Star of the Sea. It was on September 15, the octave of Our Lady’s nativity, that Saint Joachim called his daughter Mary.
Saint Joachim was let known before his death that his child was to be the Mother of God. Mary was the only child of Joachim and Anne. Saint Joachim died when Mary was a consecrated virgin in the Temple of Jerusalem. She sent angels to guard her father in his last agony.
“Good Saint Anne” is the loving way many Catholics address the mother of the Virgin Mary, the Mother of God. Mary, the Child of Saint Anne, was born fifteen years three months and seventeen days before the birth of Jesus. Fifty years after Saint Anne’s death, Saint Anne’s body was brought to France by Saint Mary Magdalen and her companions in the year 47. Countless churches have been dedicated to Saint Anne all over the world. Canada is particularly devoted to her, and has a beautiful shrine named for her there, called “Saint Anne de Beaupre,” to which people come from everywhere.
Simplicity is the secret by which we gain Saint Anne’s love, her intercession and her protection. Saint Anne taught her little daughter to read the Holy Scriptures. Mary was the fulfillment of all its prophecies. Sensing her daughter’s immaculate and incomparable holiness, beauty and brilliance, Saint Anne and Saint Joachim presented Mary in the Temple when she was three years old, and gave her to God and to us forever. The feast of this Presentation is November 21.
Can someone live a sinless life without being a diety?
I would like to say that with God all things are possible but in reference to your particular question, I would like to reference St. John the Baptist lived without sin.
The thing is, when we are born into this world with the Sin of Adam, even though that sin is removed through the Sacrament of Baptism, its remnant remains and is called the concupiscence of sin - or the tendancy toward sin. Not only was Our Lady created without sin, because of that fact, She was also lacking was any tendancy toward sin - ALL Her tendancies were toward God and humbly pleasing Him Her entire life.
"Actually, Christ predicted it"
Correct.
"although if you meant that the Bible doesn't record the event itself, you're correct."
That's what I meant! Also this latter point is very good evidence for all the NT being written prior to 70 AD which rather squelches a lot of the faulty biblical criticism that has been imbibed in the last century or so.
The word for "brothers" in Mark 6:3 is "adelphoi." Adelphoi also appears in Acts 1:15 where it says there were a hundred and twenty "adelphoi." I pity the poor woman who had one hundred and twenty sons! The culture in which Jesus lived used the term "brothers" much more loosely than we do; it could mean cousins, or other close relatives. Check out Galatians 1:19, "I saw none of the other apostles - only James, the Lord’s brother." This verse tells us that there is an apostle named James who is the Lord’s brother. Matthew 10 lists the apostles. There are two James’ - one is the son of Zebedee; the other the son of Alphaeus. Furthermore, Mark 6:3, Matthew 27:56 and John 19:25 taken together show that two of the "brothers" were children of Mary, the wife of Clopas. Mark 6:3 says James and Joseph (footnote n in NIV states: Greek Joses, a variant of Joseph) are "brothers" of the Lord. Matthew 27:56 says Mary, the mother of James and Joses, was at the crucifixion. John 19:25 says that this Mary is the wife of Clopas. Someone might object at this point; what about "until" in Matthew 1:25: "But he had no union with her until (heos) she gave birth to a son." Doesn’t this mean that he did have "union" with her after Jesus was born? The word "until" doesn’t necessitate that the opposite takes place after the "until" is fulfilled. For example: in 2 Samuel 6:23, Michal had no children until (heos) her death. Certainly, she didn’t have any after her death.
"For two people with such differing points of view, it is useless to argue unless we come together on the subject of Authority, which we will probably never do."
Certainly I agree with you on this point. All disputed questions of Faith finally come down to which authority one accepts.
It took ARCIC (the Anglican Roman Catholic International Commission) 30 years to come to this conclusion - I'm pleased to see that your wits are somewhat sharper!
But on what do you base your authority and why? What is your pillar and ground of the truth?
"BTW...Mary is NOT a DEITY!"
She is also not a bacon sandwich! What is your point?
Catholics need to stop praying to her as if she is a deity...Jesus is THE ONLY WAY...
Jesus is THE ONLY WAY.... to the Father, but there are multiple paths to the Son, Mary and the saints being the best way.
Catholics do not pray to Her as though She was a Diety. Do you think that Jesus Himself did not at times ask Her for things? Well, He wants for us to do the same.
And your Biblically based proof would be...?
24:25 In me is all grace of the way and of the truth, in me is all hope of life and of virtue.
Well, your "Reformer" ancestors cut some books out of the canon, so using your version isn't the same as mine. If you have 1st and 2nd Macabees in your edition, look there.
Uhhh...yeah...
Who put those books INTO the canon?
In response to Protestant views, the Roman Catholic Church made its position clear at the Council of Trent (1546) when it dogmatically affirmed that the entire Latin Vulgate enjoyed equal canonical status.
Likewise, Hebrews, James, 2 Peter, 2 & 3 John, Jude, and Revelation are the Deuterocanonical books of the New Testament.
Like Pyro7480 said, look there.
You are right, She is not God, but she is the Holy Theotokos, the Panagia! The Troparion and Kontakion of the Orthodox Liturgy for the Dormition of the Holy Theotokos says it well:
Troparion (Tone 1)
In giving birth, you preserved your virginity!
In falling asleep you did not forsake the world, O Theotokos!
You were translated to life, O Mother of Life,
And by your prayers you deliver our souls from death!
Kontakion (Tone 2)
Neither the tomb, nor death, could hold the Theotokos,
Who is constant in prayer and our firm hope in her intercessions.
For being the Mother of Life,
She was translated to life by the One who dwelt in her virginal womb!
This is what The Church, at Rome and in the East has always and everywhere believed. Anything else is heresy!
"I have a few questions. If Mary was sinless, then everything she spoke, thought, and did was without sin. If she spoke without sin, then nothing she said was erroneous. Do you agree? Would this mean that she was considered to have always spoken truth?"
Mary would not have lied, but that doesn't mean she was omniscient. She was/is a human being and therefore her intellect would have been subject to ignorance like ours during her earthly life.
As to your questions about her parents, Stubborn has given some excellent answers to these in #122.
"Can someone live a sinless life without being a diety?"
Its not common, but Scripture does attest to this:
Lk 1,5 "In the days of Herod, King of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah of the priestly division of Abijah; his wife was from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. 6. Both were RIGHTEOUS IN THE EYES OF GOD, OBSERVING ALL THE COMMANDMENTS AND ORDINANCES OF THE LORD BLAMELESSLY."
There is also the case of St. John the Baptist who was sanctified from the womb:
Lk 1,15 "for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He will drink neither wine nor strong drink. HE WILL BE FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT EVEN FROM HIS MOTHER'S WOMB, and he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God."
"Jesus is THE ONLY WAY..."
Sure He is, but how did He arrange for you and me to get to hear about Him, if not by the testimony of His Saints?
We would be stuck in unbelief if other co-workers or co-mediators of Christ had not brought us to Him.
According to Scripture, Job committed no sins (Job 1), and the parents of John the Baptist also committed no sins (Luke 1).
They had the inherited sin of Adam, but they lived lives free of actual sin.
I know a bit about Greek, ancient, koine and modern. The NT and Septuagint used the words athelphos and athelphoi to mean both brother/brothers, cousin/cousins and brother or brothers in the sense of "Brother in Christ" Greek then and now is a flexible language. In any event, The Church both at Rome and in the East NEVER believed that the Theotokos had any children after the birth of Christ. The position that she did, and thus was not "Ever Virgin" denies Holy Tradition and is a relatively modern, European born heresy of the Reformation.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.