You are referring to Romans 3:9-10. It says:
"What shall we conclude then? Are we any better? Not at all! We have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin. As it is written:
“There is no one righteous, not even one;
All have turned away,
they have together become worthless;
there is no one who does good,
not even one.”
You might also find this quote in Romans 3:23: “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”
So, according to your argument these passages clearly show that ALL have sinned and thus that Mary logically couldn’t be sinless.
Now, let’s look at this passage a little closer and examine what it actually says. I don’t know if you are aware of it but Paul in these verses is actually quoting the OT. The passage even suggests that when it says “As it was written”. So what do we do now? Let’s go back so we can get the OT context in order to make sure that we are not misinterpreting the NT context.
Let’s look at Psalm 14:1-5. It quotes:
“1 The fool [a] says in his heart,
“There is no God.”
They are corrupt, their deeds are vile;
there is no one who does good.
2 The LORD looks down from heaven
on the sons of men
to see if there are any who understand,
any who seek God.
3 All have turned aside,
they have together become corrupt;
there is no one who does good,
not even one.
4 Will evildoers never learn—
those who devour my people as men eat bread
and who do not call on the LORD ?
5 There they are, overwhelmed with dread,
for God is present in the company of the righteous.
(You will find a similar thing mentioned in Psalm 53)
It seems like Paul is really quoting the OT. So what do we read in these few verses? We learn that the passage is talking about evildoer, none of them do good, and that there are God’s people, the generation of the righteous. So the Psalm that Paul quotes, even though it says that there is no one that does good, is obviously not talking about all people but only those who are called evildoers. If it weren’t so and all indeed were evil doers, how come it also talks about the company of the righteous?
So now that we see the OT context lets go back and look at the NT context. Again, is Paul really saying that ALL men without ANY exception really committed sin when he says “all man have sinned (turned away)” even though the passage he is quoting is not talking about all men? Perhaps he is referring to the original sin – how we suffer under its burden – instead of about how we all commit personal sins?
So, let me ask you a question: do you believe there is really no exception? Do you believe that infants, young children or those severely mentally ill fall into that category as well? That they all commit personal sins? If you are quoting Paul and saying that all men without exception committed personal sin you logically have to also believe that infants and young children have committed personal sin. Bible cannot contradict the truth after all, can it? No, all these mentioned here have never committed personal sin and thus in order for this passage to make sense one really have to consider that this interpretation is wrong. As I said, Paul is not talking about personal sin but original sin.
Now, when let’s look even further into this issue. Luke 1:6 speaks about the parents of John the Baptist quotes: “And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.” Blameless? Blameless, meaning without personal sin.
Luke 1:15 speaks about John the Baptist: “For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother’s womb.” Can one who is filled with Holy Spirit even before he is born commit sin?
Revelation 14:3-5 says: “No one could learn the song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth. These are those who did not defile themselves with women, for they kept themselves pure. They follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They were purchased from among men and offered as firstfruits to God and the Lamb. No lie was found in their mouths; they are blameless.” And once again, could these blameless people actually commit sin?
And if the wages of sin is death as it is said in Romans 6:23, then don’t you think that it logically follows that Enoch and Elijah never sinned since they never died? We read that in Hebrews 11:5 and 2 Kings 2:11.
