She had to be full of grace and blessed amongst women to fulfill her part of God’s will. By God’s grace she is called to help others lead to her Son Jesus Christ so that they be in heaven with the Father.
I am not sure I follow you here. Please take a step back and give me your definition of grace. If she had to be full of it, than what was it. And can you also tell me where you derive her calling to lead people to Christ - was it by virtue of her participation in the plan or was there some scripture you had in mind here.
I looked at the thread on Hail, full of grace and could spend a lifetime deciphering all of the dialog on the subject. the KJV has Luke 1: 28 “And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.”
But to me, both interpretations adequately describes Mary and her earthly role as mother of the Christ child - she was both favored and full of grace (perhaps that’s why they picked that Greek word). I prefer the full of grace interpretation because grace is much more than an unmerited gift from God - it is actually something more tangible to me.
I attend a multi-denominational Bible study group on Wednesday mornings with about ten good men, 6 Baptists, 2 Presbyterians, 2 Catholics and 1 Latter-day Saints (maybe 2 now). We all share a thirst for understanding the more important things in life. When I spoke openly at one meeting about the Apocrypha, my 2 Catholic friends went home and came back the following week loaded for bear. I make better Catholics out of Catholics.
Also - I think you might find this a little amusing… one week the topic was the method of baptism. The Baptists contended (in love)for the immersion method, while the Catholic position was okay with the sprinkling. When the dust settled, they asked me what the Latter-day Saint position was on the subject. First I let them know I was raised Catholic, then converted to Later-day Saint, so I had both methods and was covered regardless of who was right.
I did see a noticeable wave of disbelief pass through the group when I told them when our early church leadership faced this question we just asked and a resurrected John the Baptist showed us how to do it. The Baptist Minister in our group was happy to hear it was by full immersion, and I did not get tarred and feathered for saying it.
I enjoy the dialog and hope to contribute without preaching.
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