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To: NYer

Baptists don’t believe in this. How is their interpretation different? Just curious.


6 posted on 12/08/2009 7:02:55 PM PST by Oshkalaboomboom
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To: Oshkalaboomboom
Baptists don’t believe in this. How is their interpretation different? Just curious.

To gain an understanding of this doctrine, one must begin with Scripture - that is something Baptists and Catholics both agree upon. When he angel Gabriel greeted Mary, he 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. It therefore expresses a characteristic quality of Mary.

The traditional translation, "full of grace," is better than the one found in many recent versions of the New Testament, which give something along the lines of "highly favored daughter." Mary was indeed a highly favored 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 that Mary was graced in the past but with continuing effects in the present. So, the grace Mary enjoyed was not a result of the angel’s visit. In fact, Catholics hold, it extended over the whole of her life, from conception onward. She was in a state of sanctifying grace from the first moment of her existence.

Thanks for the ping and question. Hope this response clarifies things a little bit for you.

7 posted on 12/08/2009 7:32:34 PM PST by NYer ("One Who Prays Is Not Afraid; One Who Prays Is Never Alone" - Benedict XVI)
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To: Oshkalaboomboom

It is not only Baptists who do not believe this. I am a Lutheran pastor and do not believe this. The teaching as it shows in the article has evolved. “...all men, both Jews and Greeks, are under the power of sin.” Rom. 3:9 Mary herself acknowledged this in her ‘low estate’ and completely points to the holiness of God her Savior and not to any holiness in her.Lk. 146-56


8 posted on 12/08/2009 7:44:22 PM PST by Prussian Koenig
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