R
roman_cat
Guest
Catholics believe that Mary is immaculately conceived as a matter of revealed Faith:
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.
—Pope Pius IX, Ineffabilis Deus, December 8, 1854[7]
This is the Immaculate Conception - a singular privilege and grace and hence a gift of God, to Mary making her free from all stain of original sin. She was made free form original sin , in virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ.
The answer is affirmative.
**The Enmity between the Serpent and the Woman **
In Genesis 3:15, we read:
“And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”
This prophecy is about the enmity between the Serpent and the Woman, between the serpent’s seed and her seed.
And for its fulfillment we have St. Paul saying in Rom 1:3
“Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed David according to the flesh; And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead:”
Clearly the seed of the woman- “her seed” is our Lord Jesus Christ. Being “seed of a woman” instead of “seed of man” is a reference to the Virgin Birth.
Now to be a “seed of a woman” is to be born of a woman. St. Paul said in Galatians 4:4–5:
“When the time had fully come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.”
If the seed, in “her seed” is our Lord Jesus Christ, then who is the fulfillment of “her”
(She who has enmity with the serpent) in “her seed”?
There can be no answer but Mary, the Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ.
It follows therefore that the prophecy about the enmity between the “woman” and serpent was fulfilled in the person of Mary since our Lord is seed of Mary.
Once more let us read Gen 3:15:
And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
About this “enmity” the translation notes of NetBible reads:
1 tn The Hebrew word translated “hostility” is derived from the root אֵיב (’ev, “to be hostile, to be an adversary [or enemy]”). The curse announces that there will be continuing hostility between the serpent and the woman. .” (emphasis mine)
net.bible.org/verse.php?book=Gen&chapter=3&verse=15
Thus the enmity between the Serpent and the woman is a “continuing hostility”.
The implication is revealing of the Immaculate Conception doctrine. As I will show below:
An “Enmity” according to Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary of American English is:
This definition is illustrated in Romans 8:7:
“Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.”
In Genesis 3:15, the enmity between the woman which is Mary and the serpent and between the serpent’s seed and her seed is IDENTICAL. This is proven by the fact that the word “enmity” is mentioned only on the first clause:
And I will put enmity between thee and the woman…
And sense of enmity is retained in the second clause:
and between thy seed and her seed
Had the word enmity is used in the second clause; it could be argued that they are not used in identical sense. However, the fact that the second clause referred to the first clause on the sense of enmity proves beyond all doubt that the enmity between the woman and the serpent and between the serpent’s seed and her seed is IDENTICAL.
Since we know that our Lord was never under the dominion of Sin in any manner or had any part of it in anyway whatsoever, it follows that this same\identical enmity must have had existed between her mother Mary and the Serpent.
Now if the enmity of woman’s seed- Christ with the Serpent’s seed is IDENTICAL with the Mary’s enmity with the Serpent, it follows that in no time in the entire duration of that Mary’s life is under the dominion of sin.
Given these premises- it follows that Mary was immaculately conceived for to be in original sin is to be under the dominion of sin.
It must be emphasized however that this is all based on the will of God not on the merit of Mary in any part. It is his decree that the enmity between the woman and the serpent is complete, fixed and continuing as the translation notes of NetBible indicates.
Roman_cat
February 11, 2010
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.
—Pope Pius IX, Ineffabilis Deus, December 8, 1854[7]
This is the Immaculate Conception - a singular privilege and grace and hence a gift of God, to Mary making her free from all stain of original sin. She was made free form original sin , in virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ.
The answer is affirmative.
**The Enmity between the Serpent and the Woman **
In Genesis 3:15, we read:
“And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”
This prophecy is about the enmity between the Serpent and the Woman, between the serpent’s seed and her seed.
And for its fulfillment we have St. Paul saying in Rom 1:3
“Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed David according to the flesh; And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead:”
Clearly the seed of the woman- “her seed” is our Lord Jesus Christ. Being “seed of a woman” instead of “seed of man” is a reference to the Virgin Birth.
Now to be a “seed of a woman” is to be born of a woman. St. Paul said in Galatians 4:4–5:
“When the time had fully come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.”
If the seed, in “her seed” is our Lord Jesus Christ, then who is the fulfillment of “her”
(She who has enmity with the serpent) in “her seed”?
There can be no answer but Mary, the Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ.
It follows therefore that the prophecy about the enmity between the “woman” and serpent was fulfilled in the person of Mary since our Lord is seed of Mary.
Once more let us read Gen 3:15:
And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
About this “enmity” the translation notes of NetBible reads:
1 tn The Hebrew word translated “hostility” is derived from the root אֵיב (’ev, “to be hostile, to be an adversary [or enemy]”). The curse announces that there will be continuing hostility between the serpent and the woman. .” (emphasis mine)
net.bible.org/verse.php?book=Gen&chapter=3&verse=15
Thus the enmity between the Serpent and the woman is a “continuing hostility”.
The implication is revealing of the Immaculate Conception doctrine. As I will show below:
An “Enmity” according to Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary of American English is:
- The quality of being an enemy; the opposite of friendship; ill will; hatred; unfriendly dispositions; malevolence. It expresses more than aversion and less than malice, and differs from displeasure in denoting a fixed or rooted hatred, whereas displeasure is more transient.
This definition is illustrated in Romans 8:7:
“Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.”
In Genesis 3:15, the enmity between the woman which is Mary and the serpent and between the serpent’s seed and her seed is IDENTICAL. This is proven by the fact that the word “enmity” is mentioned only on the first clause:
And I will put enmity between thee and the woman…
And sense of enmity is retained in the second clause:
and between thy seed and her seed
Had the word enmity is used in the second clause; it could be argued that they are not used in identical sense. However, the fact that the second clause referred to the first clause on the sense of enmity proves beyond all doubt that the enmity between the woman and the serpent and between the serpent’s seed and her seed is IDENTICAL.
Since we know that our Lord was never under the dominion of Sin in any manner or had any part of it in anyway whatsoever, it follows that this same\identical enmity must have had existed between her mother Mary and the Serpent.
Now if the enmity of woman’s seed- Christ with the Serpent’s seed is IDENTICAL with the Mary’s enmity with the Serpent, it follows that in no time in the entire duration of that Mary’s life is under the dominion of sin.
Given these premises- it follows that Mary was immaculately conceived for to be in original sin is to be under the dominion of sin.
It must be emphasized however that this is all based on the will of God not on the merit of Mary in any part. It is his decree that the enmity between the woman and the serpent is complete, fixed and continuing as the translation notes of NetBible indicates.
Roman_cat
February 11, 2010
I really thought I discovered something for my self