I have much to contend in the entirety of your post, including context, in some instances, but for the moment, the statements above form the nexus of my objection:
It is contrary to the Bible to suggest that any daughter of Eve is held aside from the curse of the original sin. Likewise, No son of Adam is without sin. If a man is in his flesh, he is subject to, and held hostage by, the curse of the original sin.
It is that sinful nature which sets up the dichotomy- We cannot remain sinless, and any single sin removes us from the grace of God for all time. Our doom is sealed without the Redeemer.
But in that line of thought, it is Christ's conquering of sin that has made him the Redeemer of all mankind. In order to conquer sin, He had to prevail over it, ergo, he must in fact have been born into the same sinful nature of the flesh that all of us have, or He would not have had experienced a sinful nature, and would not have cause to prevail over it.
What is the purpose of tempting Him, if in fact there was no way in which he could be tempted? What does it do to his triumph over Satan in the desert if there was never any risk?
What good is Christ's example, if he was not well and truly a man in the flesh, subject to all of the lusts we endure, yet prevailing perfectly over them all? What purpose for his growing weary, for his anger, for his fear of the cross, if not to show us all that he was indeed as human as you or I?
To suggest that Christ was born without the sinful nature He prevailed against greatly cheapens what He did do in spite of that sinful nature- He did what none of us, before or since has been able to do. He led a sinless life. That act is what broke the bondage of sin.
To consider otherwise would render the need for appearing in the flesh rather pointless, wouldn't it?
And if that is the case, there would then also be no need for Mary to be sinless, to be beyond the reach of original sin, for if it were sins of the flesh He must conquer, he must have gotten that flesh from his mother, by the nature of His immaculate conception.
Interesting points. Would have to ponder again, for sure. But I think I greatly agree.
Mary is the New Eve and thus is the SPIRITUAL Mother of all those who have been redeemed.
Adam is the Father of all humanity and Eve is the Mother of all humanity.
“Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.”
1Corinthians 15:45
The New Adam is Jesus Christ, who is the Creator of all humanity. Since we have a first Adam and a last Adam, and a first Eve as well, then it stands to reason that we have a last Eve, the Blessed Virgin Mary who is known as the New Eve.
Since Eve is the mother of all humanity, then the Blessed Virgin Mary is Mother of us all as well, Our Spiritual Mother.
Scripture typology and the writings of the early Christians bears this out.
Why would you expect Our Blessed Lord(who is perfection) to enter the world through a sin stained creature?
Does not it stand to reason that when GOD created the “New Ark of the Covenant”, the vessel that contained “His Word” (Jesus Christ, John 1:1) that He would be equally or more meticulous in creating it? Can GOD co-exist with original sin in the same vessel, the womb of Mary? That ‘vessel’, Mary, had to be worthy of the ‘Treasure’ she carried, Jesus The Christ, the Word Incarnate.
Even Martin Luther thought so...
“It is a sweet and pious belief that the infusion of Mary's soul was effected without original sin; so that in the very infusion of her soul she was also purified from original sin and adorned with God's gifts, receiving a pure soul infused by God; thus from the first moment she began to live she was free from all sin.”
Martin Luther, (Sermon: “On the Day of the Conception of the Mother of God,” 1527)
Dear Friend,It is your “do it my way” or believe the lies that pastor Chuck or Harry has told you that causes you to be at total odds with Historical Christianity.
The whole sinless thing makes no sense to me. If Mary, a human, can be made sinless, than why not all people?
Heck why not make Adam and Eve sinless, then none of this would have been necessary.
Yes, Mary made salvation possible through her obedience to God. But I don’t think for a second that God’s plans for salvation rested on the decision of one person. If Mary has refused, God would have brought it about another way. To presume that any person can frustrate the will of God is sheer arrogance.
roamer_1, You are close with what you have written but there needs to be a few changes to understand why Mary only had to be a virgin for God’s plan to work.
Because of the fall, man is bound by the sin nature. Adam was a Son of God. He gave up that birthright for himself and all mankind to Satan. This is why Jesus told the religious leaders of the time that their father was Satan. We are no different today. Our natural father is Satan. It is only because of the work of Jesus that we can be born again and adopted into God’s family regaining the birthright and privileges that Adam had before he fell.
Man’s sin nature is passed from Adam through the fathers as stated in Ex. 20:5;
I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquities of the fathers unto the third and forth generation of them that hate me.
God choose to impregnate a virgin for Jesus’ birth so that there would be no misunderstanding as to who the father is. Because there was no human father, there was no sin nature. He was the same as Adam before the fall. He was born sinless and had free will like Adam. Unlike Adam, He choose to obey His Father. This is why Paul stated in Romans 5 and 6, (paraphrasing); “As by one man, Adam, all sin came into the world, by one man, Jesus, it was conquered. We can live a less sinful life as Christians because we are no longer bound by the sin nature. It is now our free will when we sin.”
For the courts of Heaven to be satisfied, Jesus had to be exactly like pre fall Adam.
As you can plainly see, there was only one reason for a virgin birth. All the talk about Mary being sinless and/or her perpetual virginity had nothing to do with God’s plan working and takes away from who we should be focused on. BVB
Whatever happened to the scripture that says ALL HAVE SINNED AND FALLEN SHORT OF THE GLORY OF GOD? Was this left out of their Bible???