P
phatcatholic
Guest
i have read in many places that Luke 1:35, with its “putting power upon” and its “overshadowing”, uses the langage of marital relations, that either this is when Mary became the Spouse of the Holy Spirit, or this is when/how the Holy Spirit will impregnate her, or both. but it has been posed to me that if Mary became the spouse of the Holy Spirit before her betrothal, then Joseph is an adulterer, and if she became the spouse of the Spirit after her betrothal then the HS is an adulterer!
here are the exact words of my opponent:In that book by Opisso, The perpetual virginity of Mary, he pleads his case for why Joseph could not legally consummate his marriage with Mary. He uses the arguement from the Bible when he says: “From the earliest biblical days adultery carried with it a sense of defilement, so that a woman who had known contact with another man, even if by force, was considered no longer fit to be visited by her husband (Genesis 49:4; 2 Samuel 20:3).”
“The deuteronomic code teaches that a woman who is divorced by her husband and thereafter marries another man likewise cannot return to her former husband (Deuteronomy 24:1-4)’”
Because of these reasons, he says that Joseph, knowing Jewish Scriptures, history and practice, would have been hard pressed to consummate his marriage with Mary. It would have been unthinkable, because she had “known contact with another.” I wonder if he knows that instead of protecting Joseph from lawlessness, or Mary from Joseph, he has tossed the transgression onto the Holy Spirit.
According to the laws that prohibited Joseph from taking Mary, the Holy Spirit is actually the “other man” of whom he speaks of when he says, Mary “had known contact with another man,” and Mary “becomes another man’s wife.” That “other man” to whom these laws would apply to is the Holy Spirit.
Remember that Mary became pregnant by the Holy Spirit after she was betrothed to Joseph. Now read Deuteronomy 22:23-24 “If there is a betrothed virgin, and a man meets her in the city and lies with her, then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city, and you shall stone them to death with stones, the young woman because she did not cry for help though she was in the city, and the man because he violated his neighbor’s wife. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.”
Once it is conceded that the Holy Spirit is that “other man” in the scriptures cited, He by default becomes that “other man” who takes to “himself” a virgin already betrothed to another man (Joseph), and “violated his neighbor’s wife” (Mary). The Scriptures say that is an evil thing. And therefore since Mary “cried not,” both should be stoned publicly.
i am not immediately sure how to get around this difficulty. your help would be greatly appreciated.
pax christi,
phatcatholic
here are the exact words of my opponent:In that book by Opisso, The perpetual virginity of Mary, he pleads his case for why Joseph could not legally consummate his marriage with Mary. He uses the arguement from the Bible when he says: “From the earliest biblical days adultery carried with it a sense of defilement, so that a woman who had known contact with another man, even if by force, was considered no longer fit to be visited by her husband (Genesis 49:4; 2 Samuel 20:3).”
“The deuteronomic code teaches that a woman who is divorced by her husband and thereafter marries another man likewise cannot return to her former husband (Deuteronomy 24:1-4)’”
Because of these reasons, he says that Joseph, knowing Jewish Scriptures, history and practice, would have been hard pressed to consummate his marriage with Mary. It would have been unthinkable, because she had “known contact with another.” I wonder if he knows that instead of protecting Joseph from lawlessness, or Mary from Joseph, he has tossed the transgression onto the Holy Spirit.
According to the laws that prohibited Joseph from taking Mary, the Holy Spirit is actually the “other man” of whom he speaks of when he says, Mary “had known contact with another man,” and Mary “becomes another man’s wife.” That “other man” to whom these laws would apply to is the Holy Spirit.
Remember that Mary became pregnant by the Holy Spirit after she was betrothed to Joseph. Now read Deuteronomy 22:23-24 “If there is a betrothed virgin, and a man meets her in the city and lies with her, then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city, and you shall stone them to death with stones, the young woman because she did not cry for help though she was in the city, and the man because he violated his neighbor’s wife. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.”
Once it is conceded that the Holy Spirit is that “other man” in the scriptures cited, He by default becomes that “other man” who takes to “himself” a virgin already betrothed to another man (Joseph), and “violated his neighbor’s wife” (Mary). The Scriptures say that is an evil thing. And therefore since Mary “cried not,” both should be stoned publicly.
i am not immediately sure how to get around this difficulty. your help would be greatly appreciated.
pax christi,
phatcatholic
