J
justasking4
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Part 2
Good Fella;3125396]
Good Fella;3125396]
Actually much of what you say here is to be applied to your church. If its starting premise is as you say–" “spiritual sense” to disclose as opposed to the “literal sense” of understanding the sacred texts." no wonder it arrives at such an unbiblical conclusion. With such a starting almost anything could be said.This same Church has as much authority in the public interpretation of Scripture to form its Marian doctrines as she does her Christological doctrines. That Mary was immaculately conceived and thus sinless is evident in Scripture, but this evidence is implicit and requires a “spiritual sense” to disclose as opposed to the “literal sense” of understanding the sacred texts. Christians who embrace the false principle of ‘sola scriptura’ and adopt a literal approach to understanding the Scriptures, and fail to look at particular texts as part of a unified whole from Genesis 3:15 to Revelation 12, obviously arrive at the wrong conclusion that there is no biblical evidence that confirms the Church’s traditional Marian doctrines and devotions. By starting from the wrong premise, these Christians naturally reach false conclusions.
As far as i know the ones who write these commentaries are far more knowledgeable about the scriptures than those not trained in this area. What these commentaries certainly show at times is that they don’t support what many are saying here.Finally, appealing to the commentaries found in our bibles to argue against Church Marian doctrines constitutes a faulty line of reasoning, since these commentaries virtually function within the scope of the literal sense of understanding Scripture. The Sacred texts contain material that lies deeply underneath the historical surface and is woven like a thread throughout the entire Bible linking the Old Testament with the New.
You can claim all this you want to. What i want to know is if catholic scholars support these conclusions. From what i have read so far they do not. I would think there are some who do.The Old Testament texts stand on their own: the virgin and child in Isaiah 7,14 form a near-term sign referring to the reign of King Ahaz in the 8th century B.C. and is not an oracle about Christ. But this prophecy does point towards Christ and finds fuller meaning and fulfillment in the Messiah along a unified, interwoven path. Likewise, the Ark of the Covenant is just that, but it does in a spiritual sense prefigure the Mother of our Lord. The evangelist Luke discerned the parallel between Mary and the Ark, or more likely expressed in literary form what the primitive Church had already traditionally understood about Mary by the mid-sixties. :yup:
At any rate, Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria, opposed the spread of Arianism in the East and insisted on the doctrine of ‘homoousianism’ with his fellow pro-Nicenes which led to the promulgation of a Christological dogma which is embraced even by mainstream Protestants. This is what the good Bishop, Father, and Doctor of the Church has to say about the sinlessness of Mary pointing towards the Marian dogma of the Immaculate Conception of 1854:
“O noble Virgin, truly you are greater than any other greatness. For who is your equal in greatness, O dwelling place of God the Word? To whom among all creatures shall I compare you, O Virgin? You are greater than them all O Covenant, clothed with purity instead of gold! You are the Ark in which is found the golden vessel containing the true manna, that is, the flesh in which divinity resides.”
{Homily of the Papyrus of Turin, 71:216 (ante A.D. 373)}
All this shows me is how he viewed Mary. What it does not show on what basis in Scripture does he make some of the claims. For example where does it say in Scripture of Mary that “You are greater than them all O Covenant, clothed with purity instead of gold!”? What NT writer describes her that way?Pax vobiscum
Good Fella![]()