How did Jesus avoid having original sin?

[WJL]

Jesus was sinless (Hebrews 4:15, 1 John 3:5). In His humanity, Jesus was a descendant of Adam. Descendants of Adam receive original sin (Romans 5:12). So how did Jesus avoid having original sin?

Thanks.

 

[Ron_Conte]

Jesus was sinless (Hebrews 4:15, 1 John 3:5). In His humanity, Jesus was a descendant of Adam. Descendants of Adam receive original sin (Romans 5:12). So how did Jesus avoid having original sin?

Thanks.

Human persons inherit original sin from their parents. Mary was preserved from original sin by the Immaculate Conception, so she did not have original sin to pass on to the human nature of Christ.

 

[Cristiano]

Sin is separation from God. Jesus has both divine and human nature. The two natures cannot be separated, they are just two in one person. How can God be separated from himself?

 

[Evan]

Jesus was sinless (Hebrews 4:15, 1 John 3:5). In His humanity, Jesus was a descendant of Adam. Descendants of Adam receive original sin (Romans 5:12). So how did Jesus avoid having original sin?

Thanks.

It might be better to think of original sin in another way. It is also described as having a fallen nature. We inherit our nature from our parents. Jesus existed before the fall and his nature is divine. He took on human flesh, not the same as being created from our parents and inheriting their nature.

 

[Cristiano]

Human persons inherit original sin from their parents. Mary was preserved from original sin by the Immaculate Conception, so she did not have original sin to pass on to the human nature of Christ.

I was going with this answer, but then I saw the statement that we really inherit the original sin from our first parents Adam and Eve. See Baltimore Catechism:

1. Q. What is the sin called which we inherit from our first parents?

A. The sin which we inherit from our first parents is called Original Sin.

I do not disagree with you but the bottom line is that only God could break the link in the chain of original sin. If the were not true then we would not have the Immaculate Conception.

 

[Cristiano]

It might be better to think of original sin in another way. It is also described as having a fallen nature. We inherit our nature from our parents. Jesus existed before the fall and his nature is divine. He took on human flesh, not the same as being created from our parents and inheriting their nature.

The Logos existed before the fall. The human nature of Jesus was created and he inherited his mother’s human nature. That is why we call Mary the Mother of God.

 

[Matt_707]

Jesus was sinless (Hebrews 4:15, 1 John 3:5). In His humanity, Jesus was a descendant of Adam. Descendants of Adam receive original sin (Romans 5:12). So how did Jesus avoid having original sin?

Thanks.

Dude, He’s God.

 

[promethius]

Where did we stumble accross the idea that children inherit their human nature from their parents? We get our human nature from the fact that we’re descendants of adam and eve.

Jesus had no sin nature because He was God. Mary was the Immaculate conception for entirely different reasons.

 

[Jerok]

Human persons inherit original sin from their parents. Mary was preserved from original sin by the Immaculate Conception, so she did not have original sin to pass on to the human nature of Christ.

1st post answered it very concisely. /Thread?

 

[NHInsider]

Where did we stumble accross the idea that children inherit their human nature from their parents? We get our human nature from the fact that we’re descendants of adam and eve.

Jesus had no sin nature because He was God. Mary was the Immaculate conception for entirely different reasons.

Not according to the Church. The purpose of the Immaculate Conception was to prepare a sacred/uncorrupted Ark to contain the Incarnate Word.

 

[Cristiano]

Not according to the Church. The purpose of the Immaculate Conception was to prepare a sacred/uncorrupted Ark to contain the Incarnate Word.

You are really agreeing with him. The purpose that you mention is the one he was referring to. The IC purpose was not to prevent Jesus from original sin but to be a pure tabernacle.

 

[NHInsider]

Yeah, I realized after I’d posted that I hadn’t actually made my point. The IC provided that Jesus would received an uncorrupted human nature, as well as be contained in the unstained Ark.

 

[Evan]

Jesus, being God, would have an unstained nature even if he had been born the son of a prostitute. If he could prevent Mary from recieving the fallen nature associated with OS, he could preserve his own nature as well.

God cannot have a fallen nature. He can only be like us in all things except sin.

 

[Jerok]

Jesus, being God, would have an unstained nature even if he had been born the son of a prostitute. If he could prevent Mary from recieving the fallen nature associated with OS, he could preserve his own nature as well.

God cannot have a fallen nature. He can only be like us in all things except sin.

This is true, God can do anything, but he seems to follow the rules He sets. And the rule He set is that we all inherit our original sin from our parents. It’s arguable whether it’s the father or the mother, but if it’s the mother, God did what was necessary for Jesus to have a perfect human nature in Mary being perfect, instead of just saying ‘it is so’… which is entirely possible for Him to do.

 

[Evan]

This is true, God can do anything, but he seems to follow the rules He sets. And the rule He set is that we all inherit our original sin from our parents. It’s arguable whether it’s the father or the mother, but if it’s the mother, God did what was necessary for Jesus to have a perfect human nature in Mary being perfect, instead of just saying ‘it is so’… which is entirely possible for Him to do.

I’m not sure that’s accurate. I believe we inherit original sin, not from our parents, but from Adam and Eve directly.

CCC 403 Following St. Paul, the Church has always taught that the overwhelming misery which oppresses men and their inclination towards evil and death cannot be understood apart from their connection with Adam’s sin and the fact that he has transmitted to us a sin with which we are all born afflicted, a sin which is the “death of the soul”. Because of this certainty of faith, the Church baptizes for the remission of sins even tiny infants who have not committed personal sin

 

[Cristiano]

This is true, God can do anything, but he seems to follow the rules He sets. And the rule He set is that we all inherit our original sin from our parents. It’s arguable whether it’s the father or the mother, but if it’s the mother, God did what was necessary for Jesus to have a perfect human nature in Mary being perfect, instead of just saying ‘it is so’… which is entirely possible for Him to do.

Well following your logic, why didn’t Mary inherit the original sin? The IC is the pure tabernacle. The lack of original sin for Jesus is do to the simple fact that He is God! God cannot be separated himself (sin=separation from God).

 

[Jerok]

Well following your logic, why didn’t Mary inherit the original sin? The IC is the pure tabernacle. The lack of original sin for Jesus is do to the simple fact that He is God! God cannot be separated himself (sin=separation from God).

Mary didn’t inherit original sin because of the Immaculate Conception.

newadvent.org/cathen/07674d.htm

We declare, pronounce and define that the doctrine which holds that the Blessed Virgin Mary, at the first instant of her conception, by a singular privilege and grace of the Omnipotent God, in virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of mankind, was preserved immaculate from all stain of original sin, has been revealed by God, and therefore should firmly and constantly be believed by all the faithful.

Now I’m not too sure whether it’s inherited from parents through DNA or other methods, or directly from Adam. Does anyone have an official source on this?

It makes sense to me that Jesus inherited his human nature through the perfect Mary. God already made Mary perfect via the Immaculate Conception, so he didn’t have to do so again for Jesus. Jesus would be perfect anyway, being God and man, but God does like to follow His own laws, and the law could be to inherit original sin through the parents. But I could be wrong on this speculation.

 

[Cristiano]

Mary didn’t inherit original sin because of the Immaculate Conception.

newadvent.org/cathen/07674d.htm

We declare, pronounce and define that the doctrine which holds that the Blessed Virgin Mary, at the first instant of her conception, by a singular privilege and grace of the Omnipotent God, in virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of mankind, was preserved immaculate from all stain of original sin, has been revealed by God, and therefore should firmly and constantly be believed by all the faithful.

Now I’m not too sure whether it’s inherited from parents through DNA or other methods, or directly from Adam. Does anyone have an official source on this?

It makes sense to me that Jesus inherited his human nature through the perfect Mary. God already made Mary perfect via the Immaculate Conception, so he didn’t have to do so again for Jesus. Jesus would be perfect anyway, being God and man, but God does like to follow His own laws, and the law could be to inherit original sin through the parents. But I could be wrong on this speculation.

I think that I did not make my point well understood. I was saying that if your logic were true that Jesus had to have a parent without sin to be sinless himself; then Mary parents should have been without original sin too. The Immaculate Conception (IC) was because she had to be sinless given the fact that she was the 'ark" of the new covenant.

The original sin is from our “first” parents Adam and Eve. see post #5.

 

[Evan]

Now I’m not too sure whether it’s inherited from parents through DNA or other methods, or directly from Adam. Does anyone have an official source on this?

There is a lot we don’t inherit through our DNA. The DNA is purely chemical. Human beings are rational creatures. Other animals are not. Other plants are not. A dead cell with DNA intact may have the DNA of a human, but is still not alive, we inherit life from our parents, yet life is not contained in DNA.

God broke is law of inheritance (in your view) from parents when he created Mary W/O original sin. So he obeys his laws when it is appropriate and breaks them as needed.

Sin is separation from God (to a greater or lesser extent) and God cannot separate from God.

 

[promethius]

Not according to the Church. The purpose of the Immaculate Conception was to prepare a sacred/uncorrupted Ark to contain the Incarnate Word.

That is entirely and one hundred percent different from saying that sinful nature is an inheretid (similar to a genetic?) trait we receive from our parents.

IOW, what you said is correct: Mary had to be the perfect Ark to contain the Lamb of God.

What is INCORRECT is that she HAD to be PERFECT or Jesus would have been born with a sinful nature by inheritance from Mary.