Blessed Virgin Mary Sinless?

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As Catholics we believe that Mary remained sinless her entire life. Romans 3:23 states that “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Mary is fully human, so why do we believe she is not included as part of “all?”
 
What I’ve heard explained is that we don’t take “all” quite so literally as God is capable of making his own exceptions. After all, Jesus was fully human, and we certainly know this didn’t apply to him.
 
Firstly, and most obviously, we need to recognize that “all” doesn’t mean “everyone without exception”, but rather, “everyone, without distinction.” Paul is asking his audience if Jews have “any advantage” over the Greeks (gentiles). When he says “all”, he is referring to both the groups he was discussing. So, both groups have sinned.

Secondly, if we take “all” to mean “everyone without exception”, then that necessarily means that newborns, children, and even Jesus, have sinned. That puts us in an awkward position.
 
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And the angel being come in, said unto her: Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women" Luke 1:28
The angel from God said: “full of grace.”
If full of grace, then my understanding would be that God ensured that His choice for His Son’s mother and nurturer had no lack of grace within her. I see ‘full’ as the defining word.
 
I agree with Trishie.

This explanation of the biblical Greek word -translated full of grace - might edify.
“It is permissible, on Greek grammatical and linguistic grounds, to paraphrase kecharitōmenē as completely, perfectly, enduringly endowed with grace” (Blass and DeBrunner, Greek Grammar of the New Testament, as cited by Catholic apologist Phil Vaz).
 
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I think just quoting one verse Roman’s 3:23 by itself distorts the message Paul is trying to tell us. To properly understand it one should read in context 3:21 to 3:27. Also, realize that God can do anything and if one understands that in Gen. that God told the serpent that he would put enmity between you and the woman. Who is this woman? Mary of course since she would become the new Eve. Jesus bring the Son of God Being divine is free from any and all sin To be born of a woman to become the Son of Man being with two natures That woman would have to be pure and free of sin.

Mary then became the first to believe in Christ the Savior who would free mankind of the sin of Adam and Eve to restore human nature that was before the fall of man… Mary is not just some character om a book, she was a real person to whom God choose before time to be the human Mother of God the Father’s Son. Sadly so many of our separated brethren take Roman’s 3:23 to mean everyone without exception has sinned except Christ of course as though God is not or not able to make one sinless as in the case of Mary. This due to reading the verse in question out of context thereby making Paul to say something quite different from his intended meaning. Since Mary was full of grace, that can only happen if she was without sin from conception.
 
Jesus taught that only a good tree can produce good fruit. Could Jesus teach this if His own mother had sin?
 
Infinite in the sense that all of Mary’s ancestors back to Adam would also need to be sinless, if, as you propose, a sinless child can only come from a sinless parent. Catholic teaching, as I understand it, does not say Mary needed to be sinless in order for Jesus to be sinless but only that it was “fitting” she be sinless because Jesus was sinless.
 
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ahhh, ok. Good point. Infinite regress is a problem. Let me rethink here. Well, I’m not proposing that it was necessary for Mary to be sinless. I understand that the Incarnation could have happened by any means God found fitting. I’m suggesting that in the light of Jesus’ teaching about good trees and good fruit, that it was fitting that she be sinless.😊
 
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Jp123 said:
As Catholics we believe that Mary remained sinless her entire life. Romans 3:23 states that “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Mary is fully human, so why do we believe she is not included as part of “all?”
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Good question.

If you look closely at the context of Romans 3, Paul is comparing Gentiles to Jews and asking the question “is one group ‘better off’ than the other?”

He points out all the advantages that Jews have, but then makes a critical claim: “the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law.” In other words, a Jew doesn’t possess salvation by virtue of following the law; like anyone else, he achieves salvation “through faith in Jesus Christ.” And that’s because, having no special “inside track” on salvation, Jews (just like Gentiles) “have sinned and are deprived of the glory of God.”

In other words, the use of the word “all” here means “Jews and Gentiles alike”, not “every single person who has ever lived.”

Does that help?
 
Can God the Father cause May to be sinless I believe God can. Can God make Mary sinless throughout her life? Yes I believe God can. To say that Mary was not sinless or that she had sinned sometime during her life would mean that God was not able to cause Mary to be sinless or not in sin throughout her life making God limited in His power to do so. Paul in his Epistle Roman’s 3:23 as Gorgias pointed out means " all Jews and Gentiles alike not every single person who has ever lived." I believe this to be the correct understanding of what Paul was saying in that particular verse. It makes better sense that way and i think those who Paul say this understood it to mean it that way.
 
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