Posted on 12/05/2010 6:14:57 PM PST by RnMomof7
............The Historical Evidence
The Roman Catholic Church claims that this doctrine, like all of their other distinctive doctrines, has the “unanimous consent of the Fathers” (contra unanimen consensum Patrum).[10] They argue that what they teach concerning the Immaculate Conception has been the historic belief of the Christian Church since the very beginning. As Ineffabilis Deus puts it,
The Catholic Church, directed by the Holy Spirit of God… has ever held as divinely revealed and as contained in the deposit of heavenly revelation this doctrine concerning the original innocence of the august Virgin… and thus has never ceased to explain, to teach and to foster this doctrine age after age in many ways and by solemn acts.[11]
However, the student of church history will quickly discover that this is not the case. The earliest traces of this doctrine appear in the middle ages when Marian piety was at its bloom. Even at this time, however, the acceptance of the doctrine was far from universal. Both Thomas Aquinas and Bernard of Clairvaux rejected the immaculate conception. The Franciscans (who affirmed the doctrine) and the Dominicans (who denied it, and of whom Aquinas was one) argued bitterly over whether this doctrine should be accepted, with the result that the pope at the time had to rule that both options were acceptable and neither side could accuse the other of heresy (ironic that several centuries later, denying this doctrine now results in an anathema from Rome).
When we go further back to the days of the early church, however, the evidence becomes even more glaring. For example, the third century church father Origen of Alexandria taught in his treatise Against Celsus (3:62 and 4:40) that that the words of Genesis 3:16 applies to every woman without exception. He did not exempt Mary from this. As church historian and patristic scholar J.N.D. Kelly points out,
Origen insisted that, like all human beings, she [Mary] needed redemption from her sins; in particular, he interpreted Simeon’s prophecy (Luke 2.35) that a sword would pierce her soul as confirming that she had been invaded with doubts when she saw her Son crucified.”[12]
Also, it must be noted that it has been often pointed out that Jesus’ rebuke of Mary in the wedding of Cana (John 2:1-12) demonstrates that she is in no wise perfect or sinless. Mark Shea scoffs at this idea that Mary is “sinfully pushing him [Jesus] to do theatrical wonders in John 2,” arguing that “there is no reason to think [this] is true.”[13] However, if we turn to the writings of the early church fathers, we see that this is precisely how they interpreted Mary’s actions and Jesus’ subsequent rebuke of her. In John Chrysostom’s twenty-first homily on the gospel of John (where he exegetes the wedding of Cana), he writes,
For where parents cause no impediment or hindrance in things belonging to God, it is our bounden duty to give way to them, and there is great danger in not doing so; but when they require anything unseasonably, and cause hindrance in any spiritual matter, it is unsafe to obey. And therefore He answered thus in this place, and again elsewhere “Who is My mother, and who are My brethren?” (Matt. xii.48), because they did not yet think rightly of Him; and she, because she had borne Him, claimed, according to the custom of other mothers, to direct Him in all things, when she ought to have reverenced and worshiped Him. This then was the reason why He answered as He did on that occasion… He rebuked her on that occasion, saying, “Woman, what have I to do with thee?” instructing her for the future not to do the like; because, though He was careful to honor His mother, yet He cared much more for the salvation of her soul, and for the doing good to the many, for which He took upon Him the flesh.[14]
Now why on earth would Jesus care for the salvation of Mary’s soul at this point in time if she was already “preventatively” saved through having been immaculately conceived, as was claimed earlier? That does not make any sense, whatsoever. Likewise, Theodoret of Cyrus agrees with John Chrysostom in saying that the Lord Jesus rebuked Mary during the wedding at Cana. In chapter two of his Dialogues, he writes,
If then He was made flesh, not by mutation, but by taking flesh, and both the former and the latter qualities are appropriate to Him as to God made flesh, as you said a moment ago, then the natures were not confounded, but remained unimpaired. And as long as we hold thus we shall perceive too the harmony of the Evangelists, for while the one proclaims the divine attributes of the one only begotten—the Lord Christ—the other sets forth His human qualities. So too Christ our Lord Himself teaches us, at one time calling Himself Son of God and at another Son of man: at one time He gives honour to His Mother as to her that gave Him birth [Luke 2:52]; at another He rebukes her as her Lord [John 2:4].[15] And then there is Augustine of Hippo, whom many Roman Catholic apologists attempt to appeal to for their belief in the immaculate conception. They like to quote a portion of chapter 42 of his treatise, On Nature and Grace, where Augustine states,
We must except the holy Virgin Mary, concerning whom I wish to raise no question when it touches the subject of sins, out of honour to the Lord; for from Him we know what abundance of grace for overcoming sin in every particular was conferred upon her who had the merit to conceive and bear Him who undoubtedly had no sin.[16]
However, those who quote this passage miss the point of what Augustine is trying to communicate. He was trying to refute the Pelagian heretics (who were the ones who were claiming that Mary—among other biblical characters—were sinless, since they denied the depravity of man). The article explaining Augustine’s view of Mary on Allan Fitzgerald’s Augustine Through the Ages helps clear up misconceptions regarding this passage:
His [Augustine's] position must be understood in the context of the Pelagian controversy. Pelagius himself had already admitted that Mary, like the other just women of the Old testament, was spared from any sin. Augustine never concedes that Mary was sinless but prefers to dismiss the question… Since medieval times this passage [from Nature and Grace] has sometimes been invoked to ground Augustine’s presumed acceptance of the doctrine of the immaculate conception. It is clear nonetheless that, given the various theories regarding the transmission of original sin current in his time, Augustine in that passage would not have meant to imply Mary’s immunity from it.[17]
This same article then goes on to demonstrate that Augustine did in fact believe that Mary received the stain of original sin from her parents:
His understanding of concupiscence as an integral part of all marital relations made it difficult, if not impossible, to accept that she herself was conceived immaculately. He… specifies in [Contra Julianum opus imperfectum 5.15.52]… that the body of Mary “although it came from this [concupiscence], nevertheless did not transmit it for she did not conceive in this way.” Lastly, De Genesi ad litteram 10.18.32 asserts: “And what more undefiled than the womb of the Virgin, whose flesh, although it came from procreation tainted by sin, nevertheless did not conceive from that source.”[18]
As can be seen here, these and many other early church fathers[19] did not regard Mary as being sinless or immaculately conceived. It is quite clear that the annals of church history testify that Rome cannot claim that this belief is based upon the “unanimous consent of the fathers,” since the belief that Mary was sinless started out among Pelagian heretics during the fifth century and did not become an acceptable belief until at least the beginning of the middle ages.
Conclusion
As has been demonstrated here, neither scripture nor church history support the contention of the Roman Catholic Church that Mary was sinless by virtue of having been immaculately conceived. In fact, Rome did not even regard this as an essential part of the faith until the middle of the nineteenth century. This should cause readers to pause and question why on earth Rome would anathematize Christians for disbelieving in a doctrine that was absent from the early church (unless one wants to side with the fifth century Pelagians) and was considered even by Rome to be essential for salvation until a century and a half ago. Because Rome said so? But their reasons for accepting this doctrine in the first place are so demonstrably wrong. After all, they claim that this was held as divinely revealed from the very beginning, even though four and a half centuries’ worth of patristic literature proves otherwise. This ought to be enough to cast doubt not only on Rome’s claims regarding Mariology, but their claims to authority on matters of faith and morals in general.
I don’t think the Catholic nastiness has died down.
How long you want to guess before this thread gets locked by it?
Can you provide the scripture that says that she was “the ark of the covenant?”
Blessed is not sinless it is blessed.. All the Jewish girls wanted to be the mother of Israels savior.. so she was blessed by the honor.. The blesser is sinless not the blessed ... Luk 11:27 And it came to pass, as he spake these things, a certain woman of the company lifted up her voice, and said unto him, Blessed [is] the womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked. [Select for Copy; Double click to (de-)select all] Luk 11:28 But he said, Yea rather, blessed [are] they that hear the word of God, and keep it.
Hey, if you find happiness by trashing the Mother of Our Lord and Savior, I won’t stand in the way.
Thousands of years of theological study and discussion give way to your prejudice.
You win the thread, I suppose.
And theologically wrong.
The Temple with the Ark was still in Jerusalem and the temple sacrifices were still being performed. The Old Covenant had not passed until Christs death and the veil torn. Christ himself went to the temple and observed the law.
Mary herself offered a guilt offering to the priest.
All of mankind needed saving after sin was found in Adam.
In Luke 2:47 Mary says “And my Spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.”
but it is what may be called a pious and probable belief among Catholics.
A "probable" belief? The more the RCC opens her mouth to explain her beliefs, the worse it gets for anyone who tries to make sense of this 2000-year-old-2-BILLION-plus group of "representatives" of Christ. But keep going. You have 2000 years of tradition to back up your claims...and lots of implicit scripture to decode for the 'faithful'.
Actually the Catholic church itself teaches that only Jesus could keep the whole law perfectly..and THAT is a description of sinless:)
Amen, Well Put.
God Bless
Because she was human.
The Ark of the Covenant was built by sinful human hands.
There is nothing in Scripture which supports that view of Mary anyway. The types found in Scripture that are mentioned in the New Testament as types are types of Christ or types of baptism.
Any made up outside of that do not have the legitimacy attached to them that the Scriptural types of Christ have.
Mary was simply an obedient human.
When God called, she obeyed. Thats all.
The Bible speaks of only one sinless person and that Jesus Christ. If Mary was sinless, then God would have said so. Since God did not say Mary was without sin in the Bible then she was a good person, but a sinner JUST LIKE US.
I know thew Catholic church likes to make stuff up. I used to be Catholic. But the point is this: If its not in the Bible, then its just a fairy tale. The RCC doesn’t get to add arbitrary things to the Word of God.
So the doctrine of Purgatory is fake. Not in the Bible? Toss it out!
Mary was not an eternal virgin. Not in the Bible? Toss it out! The Bible says Jesus had brothers. He was not an only child.
Prayer to saints? Not in the Bible? Toss it out!
Nowhere is there an example of people praying to the dead in the Bible. Zip. Nada. Nowhere!
The RCC likes to call these added heresies tradition. But is tradition mentioned in the Bible? Mary was simply an obedient human.
When God called, she obeyed. Thats all.
The Bible speaks of only one sinless person and that Jesus Christ. If Mary was sinless, then God would have said so. Since God did not say Mary was without sin in the Bible then she was a good person, but a sinner JUST LIKE US.
I know thew Catholic church likes to make stuff up. I used to be Catholic. But the point is this: If its not in the Bible, then its just a fairy tale. The RCC doesn’t get to add arbitrary things to the Word of God.
So the doctrine of Purgatory is fake. Not in the Bible? Toss it out!
Mary was not an eternal virgin. Not in the Bible? Toss it out! The Bible says Jesus had brothers. He was not an only child.
Prayer to saints? Not in the Bible? Toss it out!
Nowhere is there an example of people praying to the dead in the Bible. Zip. Nada. Nowhere!
The RCC likes to call these added heresies tradition. But is tradition mentioned in the Bible? NO! Toss it out!
There is NO authority granted to the Catholic church to just make up crap and add it to the Holy Word of God, but thats just what they do.
Wiser people like me who believe in Jesus, are eventually forced to leave the RCC by their own inability to understand the very things of God.
No, she wasn’t. God said, “all have sinned” and that included Mary.
RnMomof7 suggested that she might have been and that such would mean nothing. Or words to that effect. All meant with the greatest respect, no doubt, right RnMomof7?
Hey RnMomof7 what does your splinter of the Presbyterian schism say about Mary? Is it the claims about her sex life you posted, or was that just you?
No, she was not. Christs line goes through Rahab, I mean come on folks, only a Catholic could believe such a thing, this is why the ascension of Mary came about (and very recently) since they think she was without sin they had to have her acend and never die, I feel sorry for those that believe such things.
Who ya gonna believe? God’s Word (which you are not qualified to read) or the RCC?
/sarc, by the way
Good theology friend.. What we call the Gospels were actually Old Testament , Jesus lived under the law and kept it perfectly for us !! The New Testament began at the Resurrection ...
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