Posted on 07/29/2013 7:55:48 AM PDT by Gamecock
Question:
A non-Christian asked if we teach that Jesus was sinless because he did not have a human father, wasn't his human mother, Mary, sinful? Why wasn't her sin passed on to her son, Jesus?
Answer:
You ask an important question about the sinlessness and perfection of Jesus Christ.
As you suggest, if there is any way in which Christ partakes of sin, he is disqualified from being the only redeemer of God’s elect (Westminster Shorter Catechism, Q. 21). The testimony of Scripture about this is clear. Hebrews says that Christ was tempted in all points as we are, yet without sinning (Heb. 4:15). Christ challenged his adversaries to prove that he had sinned and they could not (John 8:46). As the apostle Paul put it, “For our sake he made him [Christ] to be sin, who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor. 5:21, cf. 1 Pet. 2:22, 1 John 3:5). He is a high priest unlike any other who is “holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens” (Heb. 7:26). His title as the Lamb of God (John 1:29) also draws our attention to his innocence.
The early church thought deeply about this as it formulated clear statements about Jesus Christ having two natures, a divine nature and a human nature, yet being one person. Christ unites in himself uniquely and in an unrepeatable way, this union (called the hypostatic union) of the human and the divine. This is the mystery of the Incarnation that the creeds of the church confess.
The way in which God answers your question is in the mystery of the virgin birth. The Scriptures begin from, what one theologian terms, “above” (Donald Macleod). John 1 or Philippians 2 show this movement from the eternal Son of God to the incarnate Son of God. This is how the Westminster Shorter Catechism summarizes it:
Christ, the Son of God, became man, by taking to himself a true body and a reasonable soul, being conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost, in the womb of the Virgin Mary, and born of her, yet without sin. (Q. 22)
As Matthew described it, Mary was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit (1:18), and then the angel explained it to Joseph: “that which is conceived in her [Mary] is from the Holy Spirit” (1:20). The explanation to Mary herself, in response to her “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” (Luke 1:34), leaves any human agency out of the incarnation in the normal way of conception, for the angel tells Mary, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore, the child to be born will be called ‘holy’—the Son of God” (Luke 1:35). Without further description of how this would occur, the Bible testifies that the Holy Spirit overshadowed Mary (the same idea as the cloud which overshadowed the Mount of Transfiguration) in such a way that she indeed became the bearer of the Holy One of God (Gal. 4:4); and her offspring, Jesus Christ, remained without sin. God does not specify in greater detail than this how the conception of Jesus by-passed Mary’s own sinfulness to preserve Christ’s sinlessness, but the rest of Scripture, as I indicated above, affirms that Christ did not inherit our sin nature. He came to be the Second Adam (Rom. 5) who could forgive sins because he himself was both the One offended and himself sinless.
The glory of the grace found in Jesus Christ is that though he was without sin, yet he had pity upon sinners so as to die in their place while we were enemies, ungodly, and sinful (Rom. 5:6, 8, 10). We need a Savior who is fully human to bear patiently with us, yet is able to atone for our sin as the final and perfect sacrifice. The sinlessness of Christ makes a passage like Isaiah 53:9–11 so marvelous in that Christ had no deceit in his mouth and by his death he made many to be accounted righteous.
I hope this is of some help.
No, He didn't. And besides, that would be HIS body, not hers.
God's Holy Spirit lives in believers, who sin.
Protestant tradition not found in Scripture.
Have you not read,
God created each of us good, alive, perfect - our sins condemn us.
That's really rich coming from someone whose church teaches the immaculate conception, which is NOT found in Scripture.
However, you are wrong. It IS found in Scripture. There have already been verses posted upthread to support the sin nature coming through the father and here are more.....
Romans 5:12-21 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.
But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man's trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. And the free gift is not like the result of that one man's sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. For if, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.
Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous. Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
The ‘God’ part of Yeshua had no mother, and existed eternally before he created the mother of his human part.
Yup!
Rom 3:23-24 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
Romans 5:15 But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man's trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many.
Romans 5:19 For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous.
It's dangerous to build a theology around one or two verses.
If Jesus was not born of human sperm was he born of human egg? Did the HS implant Mary’s egg or was Jesus born totally virginal, without sperm or egg?
What is your view of Original Sin? Is it a blot on our souls passed from one generation to the next? Here's my view: Covenantal History.
He took upon Himself MY sin and punishment thereof, and gave ME His righteousness; the only task I have is to count it as the priceless, invaluable gift it is; and live accordingly.
Wait... task? I thought what Christ did on the Cross was complete and no more is to be done...? Now you're telling me you have a role to play in your own salvation. Next, you'll be telling me that God gave us His Church and Her leaders to help propagate and explain the faith... but then, you would just about be Catholic...
Stop reading men’s words and focus on the standard of God’s Holy and perfect Word, as expressed in the Bible.
Again, this statement is at once ironic, ignorant, and a false piety. Men wrote the Bible through the inspiration of God. By your way of belief, the Holy Spirit then hushed and let us read the Bible for the rest of time. But wait... that would mean there was no Church (which Christ said He would build; Matt 16:18) and no guidance (which Christ told us we would have; John 14:16) until Gutenberg gave us the printing press 1500 years later so all could read and memorize their Bibles. Before then, we had monks faithfully copying for the Churches and the people hearing ("faith comes through hearing"; Romans 10:17) in the Liturgy of the Word during Mass... back when we were one Faith.
Just because we can mass produce Bibles today doesn't mean that the Protestant world-view would have stood the test of time in the ancient Church. It can be reasonably argued that the Protestant Reformation was made possible by the printing press... and it is this mechanism which enables them to maintain the fiction of Sola Scriptura. God gave us other means that lasted without the graces of St Gutenberg.
Hmm, I didn’t know “virgin” had anything to do with the egg. But, what difference does that make - she certainly was not impregnated with sperm from a human, and that’s all that really matters, isn’t it?
How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?
In fact, this isn't a medical fact. To the best of my knowledge, it originated with M. R. DeHaan, a medical doctor and theologian who wrote a book titled The Chemistry of the Blood back in the 1940s speculating on the sinless nature of Jesus.
In fairness to DeHaan, I don't believe he was intentionally trying to teach a corrupted Christology with respect to Christ's human nature. But he was writing prior to the discovery of DNA, and he probably could not have known at the time that human blood, like all other tissue, is a blend of the mother's and father's genes.
If a child's blood is passed exclusively from his father, then I would also have his blood type. I don't. I have my mother's.
Not quite. The egg provides 1/2 of the genetics. Was Jesus, then, genetically related to Mary’s family or was he totally God and totally man?
In order for Jesus’ personhood to be totally divine he could not have human genetics. IOW the HS did not impregnate Mary’s egg but Jesus was implanted in her womb in whole. Get it?
Jesus was a true descendant of Mary. Otherwise, since he had no human father, he is not a member of the human race. Only a true son of Adam could stand in as a substitutionary sacrifice for other men. Only a man could intercede for other men as a priest. And, finally, if Christ has no human ancestry, then he cannot be a son of David and has no just claim to be "king of the Jews," and he lied.
Theology matters. And sometimes, even the seemingly fiddly little details have huge implications.
I am more inclined to believe the bible’s outright declaration that ‘There is none Righteous, no not one’ and ‘All have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God’ and also ‘All We like sheep have gone astray’ than any cult or denominations contradictory viewpoint.
Even the prophet who declared ‘woe is me for I am an unclean man with unclean lips’ was made clean by having the burning coal pressed against his lips.
The doctrine of ‘Original Sin’ is valid when we realize that everyone has within themselves a ‘sin nature’ and NO ONE’ is exempt from that anymore than anyone is exempt from the nature and effect of their own DNA which is inherited from their parents.
Christ has two titles by which he is commonly referred by, Son of Man and Son of God. The bible declares that even blasphemy against the ‘Son of Man’ can be forgiven but blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.
Christ’s nature as the son of man is different than His nature as the Son of God which is the exact same nature as the Holy Spirit. The first title refers to his fleshly body while the second title refers to his Spirit which is Holy.
Even Abraham who is the source of the covenant which God used to guarantee His blessings upon the Jews and the world through Abraham’s future descendent Jesus was not without original sin, The bible states that by his faith (Abraham’s) he was DECLARED righteous. That Righteous standing was due to a judgment or declaration by God and not due to Abraham being born without ‘Original Sin’ or being sinless.
As long as I am on the subject and I am going to be flamed I may as well mention some other thoughts that give me concern such as some trying to have Mary named ‘Co-redemptrix’ with Christ when the bible states that ‘there is ONE mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus.
The bibles outright declaration of Christ’s singular position of authority should put to rest of all thought of praying to various ‘patron saints’ to have them put one’s requests before the father.
“words mean things”
Why did you change the translation - of course words mean things! Luke 1:28
And the angel being came in, said unto her: hail full of grace, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women...”
John 1:14 doesn’t cancel out Luke 1:28 - both can be true, and the Revelations verses don’t cancel out Luke 1:28 either - all of these can be true - one doesn’t negate the other
She was without sin, but still human. Christ died for her too.
She was a human and she is born a sinner like all of us
I teach 7th grade biology, and I'll break it down as simple as I can.
When the embryo is in the uterus, he/she get nutrients and oxygen via the umbilical cord and placenta.
The placenta connects the baby to the mother and is where the nutrients and oxygen from the mother are exchanged to the baby and vise versa.
There can be problems if the mother and baby have different RH factors. It may require the new born to receieve a blood tranfusion.
The problem can be avoided in future pragnancies by the mother receiving an injection,
Justin Martyr
[Jesus] became man by the Virgin so that the course that was taken by disobedience in the beginning through the agency of the serpent might be also the very course by which it would be put down. Eve, a virgin and undefiled, conceived the word of the serpent and bore disobedience and death. But the Virgin Mary received faith and joy when the angel Gabriel announced to her the glad tidings that the Spirit of the Lord would come upon her and the power of the Most High would overshadow her, for which reason the Holy One being born of her is the Son of God. And she replied, "Be it done unto me according to your word" (Luke 1:38) (Dialogue with Trypho 100 [A.D. 155]).
Irenaeus
Consequently, then, Mary the Virgin is found to be obedient, saying, "Behold, 0 Lord, your handmaid; be it done to me according to your word." Eve . . . who was then still a virgin although she had Adam for a husband — for in paradise they were both naked but were not ashamed; for, having been created only a short time, they had no understanding of the procreation of children . . . having become disobedient [sin], was made the cause of death for herself and for the whole human race; so also Mary, betrothed to a man but nevertheless still a virgin, being obedient [no sin], was made the cause of salvation for herself and for the whole human race. . . . Thus, the knot of Eve's disobedience was loosed by the obedience of Mary. What the virgin Eve had bound in unbelief, the Virgin Mary loosed through faith (Against Heresies 3:22:24 [A.D. 189]).
Origen
This Virgin Mother of the Only-begotten of God is called Mary, worthy of God, immaculate of the immaculate, one of the one (Homily 1 [A.D. 244]).
Hippolytus
He [Jesus] was the ark formed of incorruptible wood. For by this is signified that His tabernacle [Mary] was exempt from defilement and corruption (Orat. In Illud, Dominus pascit me, in Gallandi, Bibl. Patrum, II, 496 ante [A.D. 235]).
Ephraim the Syrian
You alone and your Mother are more beautiful than any others, for there is neither blemish in you nor any stains upon your Mother. Who of my children can compare in beauty to these? (Nisibene Hymns 27:8 [A. D. 361]).
Ambrose of Milan
Come, then, and search out your sheep, not through your servants or hired men, but do it yourself. Lift me up bodily and in the flesh, which is fallen in Adam. Lift me up not from Sarah but from Mary, a Virgin not only undefiled but a Virgin whom grace had made inviolate, free of every stain of sin (Commentary on Psalm 118:22-30 [A.D. 387]).
Gregory Nazianzen
He was conceived by the virgin, who had been first purified by the Spirit in soul and body; for, as it was fitting that childbearing should receive its share of honor, so it was necessary that virginity should receive even greater honor (Sermon 38 [d. A.D. 390]).
Augustine
We must except the Holy Virgin Mary, concerning whom I wish to raise no question when it touches the subject of sins, out of honor 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 (Nature and Grace 36:42 [A.D. 415]).
Theodotus of Ancrya
A virgin, innocent, spotless, free of all defect, untouched, unsullied, holy in soul and body, like a lily sprouting among thorns (Homily 6:11[ante A.D. 446]).
Proclus of Constantinople
As He formed her without any stain of her own, so He proceeded from her contracting no stain (Homily 1[ante A.D. 446]).
Jacob of Sarug
[T]he very fact that God has elected her proves that none was ever holier than Mary, if any stain had disfigured her soul, if any other virgin had been purer and holier, God would have selected her and rejected Mary[ante A.D. 521].
Romanos the Melodist
Then the tribes of Israel heard that Anna had conceived the immaculate one. So everyone took part in the rejoicing. Joachim gave a banquet, and great was the merriment in the garden. He invited the priests and Levites to prayer; then he called Mary into the center of the crowd, that she might be magnified (On the Birth of Mary 1 [d. ca A.D. 560]).
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