FK: "If 'Yes', and Eve contributed to our being lost, then that would mean that Mary contributed to our salvation, right?"
It is manifestly true that as the Most Holy Theotokos, she did contribute to our salvation. The Church has always taught this.
Joe: "IF our nature was evil, then Jesus Christ did NOT take up our nature during the incarnation. The POTENTIAL exists for man to be sinless, in Christ (as Mary has shown).'
FK: I would say 'Yes' to the first sentence. The human nature that Jesus took on did not include our sin nature. It never applied to Him. He never sinned because it was never in His nature to sin. Christ could not have inherited Adam's sin because Adam's sin was AGAINST Christ."
So Christ's human nature was not a "real" human nature? FK, the Creed says "True God and True Man". As for inheriting Adam's sin, although some Latin Rite Catholics in the past may have misstated the theology of The Church in this regard, it is my understanding that even the Latins now clearly teach, in conformity with the Fathers, that NONE of us, NO ONE inherits the Sin of Adam. Please clarify for me if you indeed believe that Christ did not share fully our human nature and that we inherit the Sin of Adam and if so, your basis for these beliefs.
I have to admit that I wasn't expecting that answer. :) May I ask in what way?
Please clarify for me if you indeed believe that Christ did not share fully our human nature and that we inherit the Sin of Adam and if so, your basis for these beliefs.
I do believe that Christ was both fully human and fully God, but He could not have been born with the sinful nature, as the rest of us are, because that would have been a paradox. Since sin was brought to the whole world through the one MAN, it is inherited through the man. Jesus was the only one whose father was not subject to the original sin of Adam, which is also why He is the only one who could have been (and was) sinless. Therefore, Jesus was fully human to the best extent that was possible.
The basis for my belief that we inherit the sin of Adam is best found in:
Rom. 5:12-17 : 12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned— 13 for before the law was given, sin was in the world. But sin is not taken into account when there is no law. 14 Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who was a pattern of the one to come.
15 But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God's grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! 16 Again, the gift of God is not like the result of the one man's sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification. 17 For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.
Eternal death through Adam is juxtaposed with eternal life through Christ. If the death referred to was only a physical death, then the corresponding life would have to be an immortal physical life, which we know doesn't happen. One other verse I can think of in support would be:
Ps. 51:5 : Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.