Good Fella,
I’ll wait.
Please ask your friend also if the word “full” was written in the original Greek text of Luke 1:28.
According to my acquaintance, a Catholic theologian, the word “full” is inclusive within one word ‘kecharitomene’ “Hail, full of Grace.” This is the perfect passive participle of a verb: having been graced. However, the Greek is not the sole authority. The early Church began to use Latin, the vernacular language of the Roman empire, and so translated Luke’s Greek into Latin according to the understanding of the passage in the Church by that time. Although translations are not inspired, the Holy Spirit continuously protects the scriptures so that no truths are completely lost or obscured.
Concerning Genesis 3:15, Jerome’s use of ‘ipsa’ is feminine, referring both to the woman Eve and the woman Mary, the New Eve: Jerome’s emphasis of how the Church had already viewed Mary in God’s plan of salvation. Some ancient manuscripts have the feminine and others the masculine. Both forms are correct. There is not one original Hebrew source. There are very many manuscripts of various biblical books, and they often disagree as to the exact wording. So either masculine or feminine forms of pronouns are correct, since the enmities are between the serpent and the woman, as well as between her offspring and the serpent’s offspring (original sin / followers of the devil). All followers of Jesus, including Mary, are at enmity with the devil.
As I understand, we see from the very beginning that God gives Mary a unique role in the history of salvation. God says, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your seed and her seed.” This refers to Jesus ( the “enmity”) and Mary (the “woman”). The phrase “her seed” (spermatos) is not seen elsewhere in Scripture. The new Adam is fashioned from the new Eve, indicating the start of a radical reversal in the state of mankind.
The Scriptures begin and end with the woman battling Satan. Eve did not battle with Satan but conceded. She is a type of follower of the devil. This points to the power of the woman with the seed and teaches us that Jesus and Mary are the new Adam and new Eve (Cf. Gen 3:15; Rev 12:1). Jerome was probably stressing this unveiled truth about Mary’s role in our salvation.
In John 2:4, 19:26, Jesus calls Mary “woman” as she is called in Genesis 3:15 and Revelation 12:1. Just as Eve was the mother of the old creation, Mary is the mother of the new creation. This woman’s seed will crush the serpent’s skull after the woman gives birth to her offspring. Mary is portrayed as our intercessor at the right hand of her Son at the wedding feast, and she is presented to us by her Son as our spiritual mother at the foot of the cross just before our Lord dies for our sins, finishing Satan’s reign on earth: the fulfillment of the prophecy in Genesis 3:15. So the feminine form of ‘ipsa’ is not inappropriate at all. Mother and Son are together at the start and end of Jesus’ divine mission. Revelation 12 depicts this divine scenerio.
They were overjoyed at seeing the star, and on entering the house they saw the child with Mary his mother. {Matthew 2:11}
Pax vobiscum
Good Fella
That the Spirit co-Authored some parts of them? My O my!