You’re presuming that just because she did NOT sin, that she did not have free will to sin. Lacking original sin (because she had a savior in Christ Jesus), she did not suffer the same inclination and temptation to sin as others, but she still had every amount of free will to choose sin. In the same way, she had every ability to refuse Jesus entering the world through her womb, and yet she chose to carry that honor.
Mary had no power what so ever!! Mary was human just like you and I. Her saviour is God the one and only king!!
I wouldn’t exactly say that. After all, there’s only one person in the bible who’s refered to as the Mother of God, and that’s Mary. I’d say “Mother of God” is a pretty distinct title that renders her not “just like you and I.”
Mary was sinless because, WITH GRACE, she CHOSE not to sin. That has been the constant teaching of the Church, not only with regards to Mary, but to any who is able to resist sin (even momentarily). We believe that Mary was SO devoted to God, that she would not sin (note: I didn’t say she COULD not sin).
So outside of original sin, she would not have needed a savior?
no she had the same condition as Adam and Eve, freedom from original sin and from its concupiscence, yet they were tempted and fell by sinning, she did not. She had the same free will they did.
Thank you.
If Adam and Eve had obeyed, and every single human being since then had obeyed, no savior would be required.
Every human being needs a savior. In Mary’s case, Jesus saved her before she sinned. In our case, He saves us after we sin. Mary was born without original sin because it was God’s will. It was His doing, not hers.
I just had an ideaThe one and ONLY source of the Grace of sinlessness (the same Grace we receive at Baptism) is the one Sacrific of Christ. Simply put, the Grace Mary received at the moment of her conception, is the same Grace that we receive at Baptism.
That would be incorrect. Mary needed the Grace she received at her conception in order to be sinless. She could not by any means be sinless by her own power. Her sinlessness was a constant free-will response to the Grace she received at her conception. As Jesus taught us, without Him, we can do nothing.
but like Job, by her actions she was blameless.
Here’s an even better example of God doing something for His purpose to someone before they were born.
Romans 4:3
What does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”
James 2:21-22
Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did.
Luke 1:45
Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!"
Mary was credited as righteousness because she believed, and for the actions to be accomplished she needed to be credited. Her faith was made complete by what she did.
All we need is an example of God doing something for His purpose to someone before they were born…
John 9:2-3
His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, "but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.
Praise God!
I might make a thread about this
If anyone was considered blameless in Scripture, it could not have been anything but by the Grace of God. No man can do anything on his own apart from God.
That’s good. Tradition normally regards St. John to have been filled with the Holy Spirit during Mary’s visitation of Elizabeth, as Scripture records (the baby leapt in her womb upon hearing Mary’s greeting).