Scriptural Evidence: The Immaculate Conception Of Mary

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Are you suggesting that I believe we are?
Sorry for any confusion.

You spoke of plain statments.

I was simply pointing out a plain statement that some Christinas do not take literally like when Christ says this is my body, or when Gabriel says that Mary has found grace with God.
 
Echaritosen which Paul uses in his letter to the Ephesians is not used just to describe the Ephesians. Paul states the following and I’ll quote:

6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has made us accepted in the Beloved.
👍

His grace in which he graced us - says my translation. i.e. God has graced us including the Ephesians in the Beloved - Christ. My understanding is that with this verse there is no implication that those graced were graced in the past or will remain graced. If we recieve grace and sin, can we expect to remain in grace? The implication of Luke 1:28 is that Mary remained graced from the gracing throughout her entire life.
Justified does not mean to be freed from sin. Being justified simply means that before GOD we as sinners are made right by Christ. Christ does not make us sinless and the church never taught nor does it teach that. Accepting Christ fills us with grace (charis) which makes us holy.
Grace saves us from sin. If we sin we cannot expect to get into heaven.

Rom 6:14:For sin shall not have dominion over you: for you are not under the law, but under grace.

Rom 6:15 What then? Shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid!

In purgatory we are cleansed of our sins so that we are fit to enter into the heavnely kingdom.

Rom 6:23 For the wages of sin is death. But the grace of God, life everlasting in Christ Jesus our Lord.

1 Corinthians 3:14. If any mans work abide, which he built thereupon: he shall receive reward. 15. If any mans work burn, he shall suffer detriment: but himself shall be saved: yet so as by fire.
Incorrect. Kecharitomene literally translates to highly favored. It is the verb form of charis written as a perfect past participle. I explained this already. It has no implication of a fullness and does not mean she was full of favor. You can’t be described as being full of a verb. The verb is an action GOD took. Meaning HE favored Mary. The past participle describes that it was done in the past. Mary doesn’t develop more favor from GOD as time goes on. She was and is favored. Not full of favor.
The Greek literally says highly?
The Greek says favoured?

Kecharti****omene pleres charitos (full of grace) chariti (justified by grace)

The Greek from what I’ve read has verb and noun qualities.
They are not literal word for word translations. They are thought-based translations. And they are incorrect as well. This simply shows they do not understand the Greek. The NASB Bible which is accepted by the Catholic Church uses favored one. Any word for word translation will stay with favored one as this is the strict Greek interpretation.
Tyndale, the so-called ‘father of the English Bible’ doesn’t understand Greek?

Not having read it cover to cover I was under the impression Tyndale’s was literal and the Syriac too.

The Latin is indeed a literal translation.

LAT he did not know her…
NASB he kept her a virgin…

The Church has never approved the NASB. The Amplified Bible by the same company says lit. endued with grace. The heretical Recovery version says you who have been graced. The 1935 Westiminster (lit trans of Greek) says full of grace so does the Catholic edition of the RSV with many changes used in supsequent printings of regular editions.
There is no implication of fullness with the word kecharitomene. If you argue that Mary was full of favor then the same would apply in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians in which he says GOD favored us. But Paul uses present tense language which is why we see the word echaritosen instead of kecharitomene. But the root word charitoo is the same in both cases and is a verb.
Present tense meaning that they are graced with no implication they will remain graced.
Paul doesn’t use a pefect passive participle Luke does
Paul as you noted has chartioo but no Ke and mene
Charis is not the word used here. Charis is a noun. The verb form of charis was used which is charitoo. The noun charis is not used in reference to Mary. Charis is what John uses to describe Christ as being full of using the word Pleres. You are not understanding the Greek here and it is very obvious.
Charitoo - Mary
Chartios - Jesus
No Mary did not lose her grace and neither did we or anyone alive now or in the future on this earth. GOD’s grace applies to us all because Christ came to deliver that grace to us to make us holy before GOD. Christ is full of grace and is the only one in scripture to be described this way.
And Mary is the only one in scripture called Kecharitomene.

Luke could have called her merely favoured or even full of grace in a non permanant sense like St Stephen but instead he uses a word exculusivly for Mary and it becomes God’s very name for her.
In verse 30 the angel tells Mary that GOD has found favor with her. The greek there is Charis. But the angel does not say she is full of charis. The grace GOD found with Mary is the same grace HE finds with you and me. The implication of verse 30 is that Mary was considered holy already which would make sense given she would deliver the Messiah.
The word is charin which else where is translated as grace for e.g. John 1:16
 
Neither the Ark, nor the Temple, are types for Mary. I demonstrated this quite easily by simply quoting Ezekiel 44 in context, which you failed to do.
I don’t mean to be rude but Mary as the Ark doesn’t come from Ezekiel 44. Again, I don’t mean to be rude, but to deny Mary as the type of the Ark is almost laughable. I’ll post the brief reference piece again here. This was all in my first post in this thread. If you still reject Mary as the Ark after studying that, so be it!

p.s. Who says I accept the tense of kecharitomene has been refuted in this thread? You do. I don’t.
:tiphat:
 
If the church looked like it did in the 1st, 2nd, or even 3rd century, perhaps I would find this believe in it. It does not, however. The ever expanding storehouse of doctrines does not fit with the simplicity that I see in the Bible and very early on in Christianity. I actually have no problem with Tradition, per se, I simply have a problem with the claim that everything that is believed today was believed in the 1st century. Many doctrines may be reasonable, and even not totally incompatible with scripture, but that doesn’t make them right.
I see the early Church as very much today’s Catholic Church, except in its infancy. And if you reject the development of doctrine over time, this will be an obstacle for you in seeing Marian doctrines, among others, which actually include the Incarnation and Trinity…and perhaps even false doctrines like pre-trib rapture!
 
I agree with you and NDFan that “gratia plena” is not a literal translation of “kecharitomene”. But the thing is, “highly favored” is not a literal translation of “kecharitomene” either. It seems to me that the most reasonable approach is to consider them both to be permissible (albeit imperfect) translations.

BTW, it probably goes without saying but just for the record, I don’t automatically believe something just because St. Jerome believed it. (For example, St. Jerome had a rather dim view of the “Apocryphal” books, which I don’t share.)
I don’t have a problem with either translation. I’d simply say that neither suggest that Mary is sinless.
 
I don’t mean to be rude but Mary as the Ark doesn’t come from Ezekiel 44. Again, I don’t mean to be rude, but to deny Mary as the type of the Ark is almost laughable. I’ll post the brief reference piece again here. This was all in my first post in this thread. If you still reject Mary as the Ark after studying that, so be it!

p.s. Who says I accept the tense of kecharitomene has been refuted in this thread? You do. I don’t.
:tiphat:
Your acceptance is not required. Everyone else realizes your argument has been refuted except you. That’s fine by me. I’m interested in Truth, not holding on to blatantly false positions.
 
I see the early Church as very much today’s Catholic Church, except in its infancy. And if you reject the development of doctrine over time, this will be an obstacle for you in seeing Marian doctrines, among others, which actually include the Incarnation and Trinity…and perhaps even false doctrines like pre-trib rapture!
I reject the development of doctrines over time on the grounds that Jesus told the Apostles they would be led into all truth. All truth was revealed by the time of the death of the last Apostle. You can develop doctrines all you want, for as long as you want, but they shouldn’t be a test of one’s Christianity, nor should believing them be a requirement for salvation. The incarnation is explicit in scripture, and the Trinity is merely one logical step from scripture, whereas the Marian doctrines, for example, are not even hinted at.
 
I reject the development of doctrines over time on the grounds that Jesus told the Apostles they would be led into all truth. All truth was revealed by the time of the death of the last Apostle. You can develop doctrines all you want, for as long as you want, but they shouldn’t be a test of one’s Christianity, nor should believing them be a requirement for salvation. The incarnation is explicit in scripture, and the Trinity is merely one logical step from scripture, whereas the Marian doctrines, for example, are not even hinted at.
If revelation ceased by the death of the last Apostle (can’t find the Bible verse) why was it not until the 300s that we had the canon of the Bible?

“Yet even if Revelation is already complete, it has not been made completely explicit; it remains for Christian faith gradually to grasp its full significance over the course of centuries.” CCC 66

May I recomend the following fab article

totustuus.com/addto.htm
CAN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH ADD TO REVELATION?

The Marian doctrines are indeed hinted at. Mary as the Mother God - using one example - is seen in the first chapters of Luke and John for example.

Mary as Mother of God means (and always has) that Jesus is God 🙂

Elisabeth calls Mary the mother of my Lord. Lord in the NT is used for both the Father and the Son whom with the Holy Spirit are ONE God.

In the begining was the Word, the Word was God and the Word (i.e. God) was made flesh - born of Mary.

When you give birth to somone you become their Mother so Mary is Mother of God - in the flesh. God in the flesh is of course Jesus.

As for talk of Mary as the Ark, the following link has a word doc to download with **seven **pages of quotes from the Church fathers.

blog.catholic-convert.com/?p=278
Mary, the Ark of the New Covenant

St. Hippolytus (c. 170 - c. 236)
the Savior coming from the Virgin, the Ark,

St. Gregory Thaumaturgus (c. 213 - c. 270)
“The ark is verily the holy Virgin,
 
If revelation ceased by the death of the last Apostle (can’t find the Bible verse) why was it not until the 300s that we had the canon of the Bible?

“Yet even if Revelation is already complete, it has not been made completely explicit; it remains for Christian faith gradually to grasp its full significance over the course of centuries.” CCC 66
“Grasping its full significance” is completely different from adding new doctrines.
May I recomend the following fab article
totustuus.com/addto.htm
CAN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH ADD TO REVELATION?
Thanks, I’ll check that out.
The Marian doctrines are indeed hinted at. Mary as the Mother God - using one example - is seen in the first chapters of Luke and John for example.
Mary as Mother of God means (and always has) that Jesus is God 🙂
That was, of course, the original intent of “theotokos.” The problem is, the Chuch went from that being a statement about Jesus to inferring unscriptural (although, not necessarily contradictory to scripture) things about Mary, such as her being the Queen of Heaven, and her having some “special” influence if we pray “with” her.
Elisabeth calls Mary the mother of my Lord. Lord in the NT is used for both the Father and the Son whom with the Holy Spirit are ONE God.
In the begining was the Word, the Word was God and the Word (i.e. God) was made flesh - born of Mary.
When you give birth to somone you become their Mother so Mary is Mother of God - in the flesh. God in the flesh is of course Jesus.
I have no problem with calling Mary the Mother of God, in that she was the mother of Jesus, who is God.
As for talk of Mary as the Ark, the following link has a word doc to download with **seven **pages of quotes from the Church fathers.
blog.catholic-convert.com/?p=278
Mary, the Ark of the New Covenant
St. Hippolytus (c. 170 - c. 236)
the Savior coming from the Virgin, the Ark,
St. Gregory Thaumaturgus (c. 213 - c. 270)
“The ark is verily the holy Virgin,
The church father’s said many things that the Catholic church rejects. Let’s cut to the chase. Catholics believe simply because the church teaches it, not because they can find support for it in the church fathers.
 
“Grasping its full significance” is completely different from adding new doctrines.
Right. We Catholics believe that the Deposit of Faith does not and cannot change.

To quote Cardinal Newman “the proposition defined will be without any claim to be considered binding on the belief of Catholics, unless it is referable to the Apostolic depositum”. To put it another way, a “dogma” that wasn’t contained in the Deposit of Faith to begin with, would not really be a dogma.
 
That’s all you’re saying? :confused:
Sorry, I’m not sure why that would be confusing. My claims are pretty straightforward:

Scripture does not explicitly (I would also argue, implicitly) supports that Mary was Immaculately Conceived. If you want to affirm that, that is of course, your prerogative.

The problem I have is when we dogmatically define a thing and make it the test of one’s Christianity, i.e. I cannot be a Catholic if I do not affirm, or if I deny, that Mary was Immaculately Conceived. That whole “ascent of the mind” thing that (I think) Joshua pointed out to me.
 
I reject the development of doctrines over time on the grounds that Jesus told the Apostles they would be led into all truth. All truth was revealed by the time of the death of the last Apostle.
And I agree with the other poster. Who says all truth unfolded explicitly within the lives of the Apostles? The Spirit who would reveal “all truth” would be with the Church “until the end of the age.” The other poster made a good point about the canon of Scripture.
 
Grasping its full significance" is completely different from adding new doctrines.
What new doctrines have been added?

Transubstantation for e.g. is in the Bible, Augustine descrbies it in all but name.

Purgatory is in the Bible, Clement of Alexandria talks about it in all but name.

Peter prays for a dead lady in Acts, there is a prayer to Saint Joseph dating to the 1st Century.

Some Jews used a larger OT canon, Jerome said what sin had he comitted by following the decision of the churches - in reference to his use of the longer Greek Daniel.
Thanks, I’ll check that out.
Cool 🙂
I have no problem with calling Mary the Mother of God, in that she was the mother of Jesus, who is God.
😃
The church father’s said many things that the Catholic church rejects. Let’s cut to the chase. Catholics believe simply because the church teaches it, not because they can find support for it in the church fathers.
In a sense true, but the fathers are a witness to Chuch teaching and while some will be at odds, sometimes because a dogma is not offically defined, in totality they seem to back up Catholic belief - though admittedly I have not read every Church father.
 
Right. We Catholics believe that the Deposit of Faith does not and cannot change.

To quote Cardinal Newman “the proposition defined will be without any claim to be considered binding on the belief of Catholics, unless it is referable to the Apostolic depositum”. To put it another way, a “dogma” that wasn’t contained in the Deposit of Faith to begin with, would not really be a dogma.
If that were the case, you would not have half the doctrines that you do. One could reasonably say that anything that was orally received from the Apostles by the church would have been written down by someone by the second century. In fact, I think it is completely unreasonable to say that there is presently such a thing as an oral tradition in the church, or that there has been for at least the last 1500 years. If it’s not written down by the time the third century rolled around, it is highly unlikely it was ever a belief in the early church.
 
What new doctrines have been added?

Transubstantation for e.g. is in the Bible, Augustine descrbies it in all but name.
Quote? If you’re referring to what I think you are, his words are pretty clearly figurative.
Purgatory is in the Bible, Clement of Alexandria talks about it in all but name.
Purgatory is not in the Bible. This has been beaten to death, but you can start another thread or we can discuss this in PM.
Peter prays for a dead lady in Acts, there is a prayer to Saint Joseph dating to the 1st Century.
Really? Peter certainly raised the dead, but I don’t recall him praying for the dead. Reference for St. Joseph prayer?
Some Jews used a larger OT canon, Jerome said what sin had he comitted by following the decision of the churches - in reference to his use of the longer Greek Daniel.
My views on the Canon are pretty well in line with Catholicism.
In a sense true, but the fathers are a witness to Chuch teaching and while some will be at odds, sometimes because a dogma is not offically defined, in totality they seem to back up Catholic belief - though admittedly I have not read every Church father.
Me neither. I was just pointing out that Catholic appeals to the Church Fathers are somewhat of a selective process. It is certainly convenient if a Church Father can be quoted as supporting Catholic doctrine, but that is not why Catholics believe it.
 
If it’s not written down by the time the third century rolled around, it is highly unlikely it was ever a belief in the early church.
How many of the Apostles wrote things down?
  • St Jude gives us one letter
  • Peter the Rock give us 2 letters
  • There are four gospels but 3 cover similar teritory (called by some the synoptic gospels)
  • None of them give an explicit teaching on the trinity though a core belief
The pirinting press was invented about 1.5 milleniums after Christ’s passion.

Due to the persecution of the Church by the Roman emptire writing stuff down was not so easy. There are lost of writings from 300+ but not so much before then it seems.

MARY THE NEW EVE Irenaeus

Consequently, then, Mary the Virgin is found to be obedient, saying, “Behold, 0 Lord, your handmaid; be it done to me according to your word.” Eve . . . who was then still a virgin although she had Adam for a husband — for in paradise they were both naked but were not ashamed; for, having been created only a short time, they had no understanding of the procreation of children . . . having become disobedient [sin], was made the cause of death for herself and for the whole human race; so also Mary, betrothed to a man but nevertheless still a virgin, being obedient [no sin], was made the cause of salvation for herself and for the whole human race. . . . Thus, the knot of Eve’s disobedience was loosed by the obedience of Mary. What the virgin Eve had bound in unbelief, the Virgin Mary loosed through faith (Against Heresies 3:22:24 A.D. 189]).

MARY IMMACUALTE Origen

This Virgin Mother of the Only-begotten of God is called Mary, worthy of God, immaculate of the immaculate, one of the one (Homily 1 [A.D. 244]).

If the written epistle continues, why not the spoekn word? - stand fast and hold the traditions which you have learned whether by word OR by our epistle - 2 Thess 2:14

If the Church is the pillar and foundation of truth according to St Paul and the gates of hell will never prevail against the Church as St Matthew’s gosepel tells us, how can the oral word not sustain?**
 
How many of the Apostles wrote things down?
  • St Jude gives us one letter
  • Peter the Rock give us 2 letters
  • There are four gospels but 3 cover similar teritory (called by some the synoptic gospels)
  • None of them give an explicit teaching on the trinity though a core belief
The Trinity, as it is currently understood, wasn’t a core of belief until the fourth century. If it was, there wouldn’t have been a debate. If anything, the fact that there was little written by the Apostles themselves only supports the idea that not many complicated doctrines are required to be a disciple of Christ.
The pirinting press was invented about 1.5 milleniums after Christ’s passion.
Due to the persecution of the Church by the Roman emptire writing stuff down was not so easy. There are lost of writings from 300+ but not so much before then it seems.
Writing stuff down after the invention of the printing press was still not that easy, due to the persecution of people who wanted to write it down by the Roman Catholic Church. Ironic, isn’t it?
MARY THE NEW EVE Irenaeus
Consequently, then, Mary the Virgin is found to be obedient, saying, “Behold, 0 Lord, your handmaid; be it done to me according to your word.” Eve . . . who was then still a virgin although she had Adam for a husband — for in paradise they were both naked but were not ashamed; for, having been created only a short time, they had no understanding of the procreation of children . . . having become disobedient [sin], was made the cause of death for herself and for the whole human race; so also Mary, betrothed to a man but nevertheless still a virgin, being obedient [no sin], was made the cause of salvation for herself and for the whole human race. . . . Thus, the knot of Eve’s disobedience was loosed by the obedience of Mary. What the virgin Eve had bound in unbelief, the Virgin Mary loosed through faith (Against Heresies 3:22:24 A.D. 189]).
What can we really deduce from this? He seems to be stating things that are pretty reasonable and factual. I don’t have a problem with this, but I would treat it as I treat a modern commentary. Interesting, enlightening, and pretty much unnecessary.
MARY IMMACUALTE Origen
This Virgin Mother of the Only-begotten of God is called Mary, worthy of God, immaculate of the immaculate, one of the one (Homily 1 [A.D. 244]).
If the written epistle continues, why not the spoekn word? - stand fast and hold the traditions which you have learned whether by word** OR by our epistle - 2 Thess 2:14
When the Apostles were still alive, they would have still been in the process of learning “all truth” from the Spirit.
If the Church is the pillar and foundation of truth according to St Paul and the gates of hell will never prevail against the Church as St Matthew’s gosepel tells us, how can the oral word not sustain?
Because the written word would eventually take its place.
 
Sorry, I’m not sure why that would be confusing. My claims are pretty straightforward:

Scripture does not explicitly (I would also argue, implicitly) supports that Mary was Immaculately Conceived. If you want to affirm that, that is of course, your prerogative.
You just proved my point: you are not just saying that God didn’t need Mary to be immaculate.
 
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