Mary passing on sinlessness to Jesus

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Okay, so one thing I do not understand, and please correct me if I am wrong as I am nowhere near as knowledgeable of Catholic doctorine as many of you, but I have heard that it is believed that Mary was spared of Sin so she could give birth to the sinless Jesus. Please just tell me to shut up and correct me if that is wrong, but I HAVE heard people state this.

So if this is the case, and Mary can simply be spared sin in order to give the perfect birth to Jesus so He could be born sinless, why couldn’t Jesus simply be spared of sin just as Mary was? Surely Mary’s parent’s sinned, yet Mary ended up without sin. So why couldn’t the same have been for Jesus.

Thanks 🙂
 
Mary did not pass sinlessness to Jesus, he could have been born sinless no matter. But Lk 5:38 New wine must be put into fresh wineskins. Mt 9:17 …but new wine is put in fresh wineskins so both are preserved. You dont get a dirty glass out of the sink to get a drink, you get a clean glass so your drink will be uncontaminated.
Probably someone else can come up with a different analogy and much better one…
 
Mary did not pass sinlessness on to Jesus.

We’re all born sinless.

We are, however, born with the effects (as opposed to the guilt, for we as individuals did not commit the sin resulting from the Fall of Man) of original sin, which is indeed passed down through human birth.

Therefore, had Mary not been the product of Immaculate Conception, Jesus would have been born sinless like other humans, but still would have inherited the effects of original sin from his human mother.

Regardless of Mary’s immaculate conception, her fiat was still a necessity, which makes Mary and her contribution to God’s salvation plan so wondrous…no wonder all generations would call her Blessed!

Peace and all good!
 
It’s the other way around. Mary was preserved from original sin in order to allow her to house the Christ, who was sinless.

Since original sin is inherited through biological ancestry, there was no need for a miraculous grace to preserve the man Jesus from original sin, although this would have been necessary if Mary had been born with original sin.
 
Perhaps it is a matter of perception. Mary was not a football player passing a ball off to her team hoping they would get the ball.
Mary was chosen by your God.
Muslims agree she is a woman who followed God.
I am not sure where I can find where a Jew, Muslim or Cahtolic claim that Mary could be the cause of Jesus to be sinless.
Can you?
She can not pass on something that the Son of God already is.
She was spared the stain of original sin.
Her son never had it
I am open to correction on this.
 
Two major reasons that I see (but there are more):
  1. Mary is the Ark of the New Covenant. God Himself is present in her womb. It is His tabernacle and temple. As she is the Ark, and filled with His Presence, she must be completely pure and without blemish. Really study the Ark in the OT to get a feel for how serious this is.
  2. If Mary had Original Sin, or personal sin, then Jesus would need to apply His own salvific power to Himself. He would need to apply His grace to Himself in the flesh He received from Mary. This creates quite a conundrum. Can Jesus be God if He needs grace and salvation to save Himself? God applied His grace and salvation to Mary at her conception, so that she was pure and there was no need for Jesus to “clean” Himself.
 
St_Redemption said:
Okay, so one thing I do not understand, and please correct me if I am wrong as I am nowhere near as knowledgeable of Catholic doctorine as many of you, but I have heard that it is believed that Mary was spared of Sin so she could give birth to the sinless Jesus. Please just tell me to shut up and correct me if that is wrong, but I HAVE heard people state this.

So if this is the case, and Mary can simply be spared sin in order to give the perfect birth to Jesus so He could be born sinless, why couldn’t Jesus simply be spared of sin just as Mary was? Surely Mary’s parent’s sinned, yet Mary ended up without sin. So why couldn’t the same have been for Jesus.

Thanks 🙂
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This premise is incorrect; those who told you this are wrong.

It was not necessary for Mary to be sinless so that Jesus could be sinless. Jesus would be sinless by virtue of his being God, so Mary’s being sinless was not necessary.

But because of Who she would bear, it was FITTING that she be free from sin, just like the Ark of the Covenant had to be made of pure gold and incorruptible acacia wood, because of the dignity of the Person she bore.
 
The Blessed Virgin Mary was conceived without sin because of the dignity of the holy Child she was chosen to bear. As you rightly point out, Jesus Christ did not need a sinless mother in order to be born sinless Himself; Jesus could have been born sinless even if his mother had been an unrepentant lying, blaspheming, murdering, thieving adulteress. Mary’s sinless conception was not necessary but fitting, as it was fitting that the stone tablets inscribed with God’s words, the Ten Commandments, be carried in a new wooden container covered inside and out with precious gold even though an old container previously used to haul muck from stalls could have been used to carry them.

An understanding of how the Virgin Mary’s sinlessness fits into God’s plan of salvation also makes a lot of sense if you understand, as early Christians did, that Mary’s obedience countered Eve’s disobedience. Just as St Paul compares the sinless Jesus Christ to Adam in Romans 5 and 1 Corinthians 15, very early Christians, such as St Justin Martyr (Dialogue with Trypho, Chapter 100), writing about 155, and St Irenaeus, (Against Heresies, Book 3, Chapter 22; Book 5, Chapter 19), writing about 189, compared the Virgin Mary to Eve. In one place, Irenaeus concludes, “And thus also it was that the knot of Eve’s disobedience was loosed by the obedience of Mary,” and in another, “And thus, as the human race fell into bondage to death by means of a virgin, so is it rescued by a virgin; virginal disobedience having been balanced in the opposite scale by virginal obedience.”
 
Jesus passed sinlessness to Mary, not the other way around.

-Tim-
 
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