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Veneration of Mary in Luke 11:27-28
August 15, 2013 | Annalex

Posted on 08/15/2013 7:03:11 PM PDT by annalex

Once a woman in the crowd surrounding Christ and His disciples cries out to Him:

Blessed is the womb that bore thee, and the paps that gave thee suck. (Luke 11:27)

What is it? We have, clearly, an act of venerating Mary. Note that the Blessed Virgin is venerated properly: not on her own but as the mother of Christ. Yet the reason for venerating is indeed concerning: it is her physiological and physiologically unique relationship with Jesus that is emphasized. That is not yet paganism with its crude theories of gods giving birth to other gods, but it is lacking proper focus and Jesus corrects it:

Yea rather, blessed are they who hear the word of God, and keep it. (Luke 11:28)

The Virgin with the Child on her knees and a prophet pointing at the star. Catacomb of Priscilla, late 2nd c. Source
Note that there is no condemnation here, not even asking the woman to stop; the "yea rather" (μενουνγε) is not a negation. It is used other times in the New Testament without a hint of negation. In Philippians 3:8 "αλλα μενουνγε και ηγουμαι παντα ζημιαν ειναι", "Furthermore I count all things to be but loss" (Textus Receptus 1550/1894, Byzantine/Majority Text 2000 has here "αλλα μεν ουν και ηγουμαι…" which is the same word morphology spelled separately and colliding affirmative "γε" with the following "και"). Romans 9:20 "μενουνγε ω ανθρωπε συ τις ει ο ανταποκρινομενος τω θεω" and Romans 10:18 "μενουνγε εις πασαν την γην εξηλθεν ο φθογγος αυτων" use the word reinforcing the subsequent statement. Some translations obscure this linguistic fact: in King James for example, the same word is rendered correctly, "yea rather" in Luke 11:28, wholly incongruously, "nay but" in Romans 9:20, but in Romans 10:18 the translation is again correct, "Yes verily". NRSV has both correct and elegant translations for all three. (See The Holy Mother and the "ΜΕΝΟΥΝΓΕ")

Having gotten past this linguistic hurdle, we can understand clearly what this passage, Luke 11:27-28, does: it establishes veneration of saints based not on their blood relation to Christ but on their obedience to God. It is in that sense that we venerate Our Lady: given that Christ is the Word of God personified, she heard and kept both Him in person as her Child and His teaching, figuratively. In Mary the essence of sainthood is seen in the flesh as well as in the mind. We could say that by the late second century at the latest, when we find evidence of the veneration of both the prophets and the Mother of God in the catacombs, the two reasons to venerate a saint: his martyrdom as in the case of Polycarp, or his obedience to the Word, as in Mary, -- unite into a single practice.


TOPICS: Catholic; History; Orthodox Christian
KEYWORDS: catholic; mary
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To: CynicalBear
no real need for belief in Jesus ey?

Of course one has to believe in Jesus. The issue in Canon 1260 is those who have no way of knowing Jesus, because of liars like Marx, Mohammed or the Protestant charlatans.

1,641 posted on 09/13/2013 6:49:16 PM PDT by annalex (fear them not)
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To: CynicalBear

I posted the answer to Cuban Leaf not long ago today.


1,642 posted on 09/13/2013 6:50:39 PM PDT by annalex (fear them not)
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To: jodyel
cretins such as yourself

You sound a bit upset.

1,643 posted on 09/13/2013 6:52:01 PM PDT by annalex (fear them not)
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To: annalex; cuban leaf
>>I posted the answer to Cuban Leaf not long ago today.<<

I’m not Cuban Leaf and didn’t see it. What’s the post number? Or simply post that answer to me.

1,644 posted on 09/13/2013 6:53:25 PM PDT by CynicalBear (For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ)
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To: Iscool
Christians are saved the moment they become born again...That's when God puts the Holy Spirit inside the body of the believer...Without that spiritual operation, one does not become a Christian...

That part is true. Once a Catholic man is baptized he is born again and nothing but his own error could snatch him from the hand of God. On human error, I gave plenty of scripture that it happens even after baptism.

1,645 posted on 09/13/2013 6:55:06 PM PDT by annalex (fear them not)
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To: CynicalBear

Thank you!

I’ve learned a new fact.


1,646 posted on 09/13/2013 6:56:23 PM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: CynicalBear

1633, 1634


1,647 posted on 09/13/2013 6:58:34 PM PDT by annalex (fear them not)
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To: annalex
>>The issue in Canon 1260 is those who have no way of knowing Jesus, because of liars like Marx, Mohammed or the Protestant charlatans.<<

Dude! They don’t know Jesus and don’t believe in Jesus. The RCC says they can be saved without knowing or believing in Jesus. There’s no two ways about it. It contradicts what scripture clearly teaches.

1,648 posted on 09/13/2013 6:58:46 PM PDT by CynicalBear (For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ)
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To: jodyel

That i was not alone in seeing Rv. 12 as referring to Israel.


1,649 posted on 09/13/2013 6:59:30 PM PDT by daniel1212 (Come to the Lord Jesus as a contrite damned+destitute sinner, trust Him to save you, then live 4 Him)
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To: annalex
In short, the idea that every baptized person is a "saint" accordingh to how St. Paul used the word is another Protestant hoax.

Seems more like muddy water to me.

1,650 posted on 09/13/2013 7:02:59 PM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: annalex
>>That veneration of saints developed after the scripture was written, and certainly that Mary was assumed into heaven after that, — does not make the teaching of the Holy Apostolic Church “another gospel”.<<

“But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.” Galatians 1:8-9

What part of than that which we have preached unto you do you not understand? You just admitted that the RCC teaches something the apostles did not which constitutes “another gospel” the teachers of which are to be “accursed”.

1,651 posted on 09/13/2013 7:04:21 PM PDT by CynicalBear (For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ)
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To: annalex
Not so: the saints have life everlasting.

Even the DEAD ones?

1,652 posted on 09/13/2013 7:04:53 PM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: annalex; cuban leaf
Why don't you try reading the thread from the beginning?

I'm sure he will!

Just to see how you guys 'discuss' things!

1,653 posted on 09/13/2013 7:06:00 PM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: Elsie
All true believers are called saints.

Philemon 1:5 Hearing of thy love and faith, which thou hast toward the Lord Jesus, and toward all saints;

Paul called the members of every church saints.

1,654 posted on 09/13/2013 7:08:28 PM PDT by CynicalBear (For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ)
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To: annalex

Thank you. I will check them.


1,655 posted on 09/13/2013 7:09:21 PM PDT by CynicalBear (For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ)
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To: annalex

I’m sure that those who are not familiar with the bible fall for that eloquent verbosity, but you miss the point in your very last sentence when you say, “In short, the idea that every baptized person is a “saint” accordingh to how St. Paul used the word is another Protestant hoax.”

You create a straw man. I didn’t say every “baptised person”. I said every Christian. And the interesting thing is that whether anyone, including you or me, is a Christian is strictly between God and him/her. Many claim to be and are even baptized. It doesn’t mean they are.

Those that read the Bible and pray to Him for wisdom know the folly of praying to dead people. Our intercessor is Jesus and no other man or woman. By “our”, I mean followers of Christ.


1,656 posted on 09/13/2013 7:17:57 PM PDT by cuban leaf (Were doomed! Details at eleven.)
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To: annalex

This was discussed at great length already, in the first couple hundred posts. Why don’t you try reading the thread from the beginning?


Because the only “great length” I need to read on this is the Bible - inspired by prayer. You have, apparently, attempted to wear people down through spamming and quoting yourself ad-nausium.

It’s a cool idea, frankly, but I am undaunted - for now. I mean, before I feel it proper to invoke Matthew 7:6.


1,657 posted on 09/13/2013 7:20:52 PM PDT by cuban leaf (Were doomed! Details at eleven.)
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To: Elsie

I’m sure he will!

Just to see how you guys ‘discuss’ things!


Nope. Not worth it. I don’t read the comments of every Joe on a bar stool with an opinion. One must earn my attention. Life is short.


1,658 posted on 09/13/2013 7:22:18 PM PDT by cuban leaf (Were doomed! Details at eleven.)
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To: annalex; Elsie

Why don’t you try reading the thread from the beginning?


See post 1658.

The number itself cracks me up.


1,659 posted on 09/13/2013 7:26:02 PM PDT by cuban leaf (Were doomed! Details at eleven.)
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To: MarkBsnr

Jesus never said ‘born again’. He said ‘born from above’, and ‘born of water and the Spirit’. We may have a failure to communicate here.


Not true. Depends on what version you read. And it never says, “In my fathers house are many mansions” either, unless you have the single version that interprets the word for “dwelling place” as “mansion”. that would be the KJV. It’s like interpreting the word for “car” to mean “limo”. ;-)

On a related note, my church is one of those “KJV only” places. Two weeks ago the pastor was reading a verse with tricky “old english” words and had to tell the congregation that today it would mean “x”. Comically, my NIV bible interpreted it to be “x”.

Get it? The pastor, who only reads the KJV had to help the congregation understand its meaning by translating it into the NIV version. I don’t care who you are, that is danged funny!

It’s nice to read a translation that is in the language you actually speak on a daily basis. It is easier to understand His word. Of course, if you are really serious about it, you want to learn the original languages and read it that way. :-)


1,660 posted on 09/13/2013 7:33:11 PM PDT by cuban leaf (Were doomed! Details at eleven.)
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