John 17 3:
Wrong again! The same participle form occurs in Ephesians 1:6 where it is applied to all believers. Are we to conclude on this basis that all believers are without original sin? I think not!
You are mistaken. The word found in Ephesians 1.6 is a participle of
Charis, meaning
Grace. But a
different one, with a different meaning. The word in Ephesians 1.6 is ECHARITOSEN. This is NOT the same word as KECHARITOMENE, which is used of Mary, despite having the same root. “Full of Grace” is only a rough translation of “kecharitomene”, which does not give the full flavour of this complex and precise word.
Briefly then KE-CHARITO-MENE can be translated as
COMPLETELY-WITH_GRACE-ENDOWED_PERSON
E-CHARITO-SEN on the other hand has the suffix SEN, meaning “By-Him” This changes the main objective of the word towards the giver rather than the person who has received the gift.
E-CHARITO-SEN then must be translated
GRACE-ENDOWED_BY-HIM
This produces a very significant difference in meaning. Echaritosen does NOT indicate sinlessness. Kecharitomene DOES
Modern scholarship has dismissed the translation “full of grace” as a nonviable rendition of the phrase in question. Is it not interesting to note that the most recent standard Catholic translations, the NAB and the JB, have followed suit in their renditions (NAB, "Oh highly favored daughter; JB, "So highly favored").
Not true at all. “Highly favoured” was invented by the KJV translators specifically to try to reduce Mary’s status. It is unfortunate that some Liberal translators have used this formulation since. But good translations use Full of Grace - as does the Liturgy.
The Greek word used by the angel is Kecharitomene. The root of this word is Charis, meaning Grace. The prefix Ke means that the grace was already perfectly present before the angel appeared. The suffix mene means that Mary was the recipient of this grace.
Now **Charis ** can also be translated simply as
favour. So Highly-favoured could be a conceivable translation - but this would only be acceptable if the word “favour” were used as a translation for “Charis” everywhere else in the New Testament. But THIS DOES NOT HAPPEN. Even those bibles which translate “Charis” as Favour" when referring to Mary, translate it as “Grace” everywhere else. So translating the word any differently is wrong. The correct translation is rightfully “Full of Grace”.
There is good reason for rejecting “full of grace”- it makes little sense in context. The word is further explained in Luke 1 verse 30: ***“you have found favor with God.” ***Contextually, the reason Mary is “highly favored” is because she “has been elected by God to conceive the Messiah”, not because of some intrinsic and permanent quality og grace within Mary!
This disproves your case. The angel is not repeating himself, and He uses a different word.
To quote modern academic sources>
“…Highly favored as in Luke 1:28 meaning to bestow grace upon…it really does not mean to show favor, but to give grace to” [Lexicon To The Old and New Testaments, edited by Spiros Zodhiates, TH.D, 1988 Iowa Falls, Iowa, World Bible Publications Inc.Pg. 1739]
"The fifth century scholar Jerome was correct in translating the Greek to gratiae plena ‘full of grace’, even the translators of 1611 King James Version show there approval of this in the Margin with “Much Graced” [A Look at the Greek Scriptures, 1984, New York, Garretson Cox & Company Pg. 123 ]
