Theology only makes sense when God is its center. Take for example the Immaculate Conception. Mary receiving this gift through her own goodness is an absurd notion. This line of thought is largely flawed because it takes God out of the center of theology, and places something else upon His throne. However,when we meditate on the Immaculate Conception, and our hearts are held captive by the gaze of our Creator, the theology begins to make sense; for is it not most fitting that Mary be without sin to receive her divine creator as God’s dwelling? Should God’s dwelling be without sin? In a similar manner,I will offer the following three explanations to develop a reasoning of why the Immaculate Conception should be given unto Mary.
Let us firstexamine the dual effects of sin. The firsteffect of sin is that it drives us away from God. Consider the exile of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden. Why were they exiled? Because they were physically brought to where they were spiritually. Ergo The LORD God then called to the man and asked him: Where are you? (Genesis 3: 9) not because there is a deficiency in God’s omnipotent, but rather it is an imagery for the reader to feel the separation caused by sin; that Adam and Eve walked away from God like a ship disappears beyond the horizon of sight. So sad is sin. The second effect of sin is that it wounds our relationship with God and introduces death. The killing effect of sin is clearly stated by Paul in his letter to the Romans, The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). And further more in Wisdom, For God formed us to be imperishable; the image of his own nature he made us. But by the envy of the devil, death entered the world, and they who are allied with him experience it (Wisdom 2: 23-24). Mary’s relation ship with our Lord manifest the fruits contrary to sin; for she is most close to God and bears Life itself in her womb. But how can it be that Mary could bear God if she was a sinner who distance herself from God? The two simple contradict each other. Rather, the opposite is true, Mary was conceived without sin as a gift that would prepare and enable her the possibility of conceiving Jesus. Thus this is not only a great honor for her, but is a vehicle to enables the incarnation of God.Thereby the spiritually force of separation and death are removed from Mary, and the whole human race benefits, for through God’s gift Mary has the possibility of saying yes to God so completely that she conceived Him.
Let us further mature our understanding with our second proof. It is fitting Mary be immaculately conceived to fulfill God’s plan to poetically undo Adam and Eve’s fall. Let us begin our understanding of Jesus as new Adam in Paul’s letter to the Romans.
Through one man sin entered the world, and through sin, death… But death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who did not sin after the pattern of the trespass of Adam, who is the type of the one who was to come… If, by the transgression of the one, death came to reign through that one, how much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of justification come to reign in life through the one Jesus Christ. In conclusion, just as through one transgression condemnation came upon all, so, through one righteous act, acquittal and life came to all. For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so, through the obedience of the one, the many will be made righteous. (Romans 5: 12-19).
Look at the close imagery with which Paul’s paints Adam and Jesus. Adam, who is the type of the one who was to come, and For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so, through the obedience of the one, the many will be made righteous. Our Lord takes upon himself the role of Adam and becomes the new head of mankind. By becoming the new head of humanity, Jesus regenerates His fallen creationand recreates man’s identityinto a child of God. But God’s generosity does not end here, for the whole story of the incarnation is fraught with overtures of extravagant love pored upon the fallen creature that he might come to know the God who is love. Consider the incarnation. What kind of heart does our Creator have to look upon the spiritually leprous creature that is fallen man, and joins its dyeing flesh to Himself? Not only did He allow the glory of His station as God to be hidden, but He took on our rotting humanity so as to heal it.
God is all powerful. He was not bound to the incarnation as a limitation of His power, but He chose it. Why? Because love freely chooses to better the beloved. God could have spoken our sins away, but he did not; for how would the source that caused Adam and Eve to sin be healed without this grate gesture of love? It was not temptation that caused Adam and Eve to fall, but it was distrust in the heart of their Creator. This is the pattern of sin that belongs to Adam and Eve. Distrust that God will fulfill His promises. Distrust that God truly wants that which is best for us. Distrust that God is love. For it is doubt in who God is, that allows the temptation of Satan to bear any poison. In order to heal this doubt, God shows us a love that kept nothing for itself in the incarnation. A love so potent that He willing enters into His Passion. A love so faithful, that at the moment of His murder, while hanging by his wounds, suffocating, and suffering most grievous spiritual attacks, He continues to plead to God on our behalf. It is only in Jesus’ life that we realize we have not been loved with the fickle heart of man, but with the torrents of the irrevocable Divine Love.
And so we see that God’s plan to undo Adams sin is extravagant. But the question remains, if God would have a new Adam for the rebirth of humanity, whois the new Eve? Let us look to the beginning to better understandthe present.The man called his wife Eve, because she became mother of all the living(Gen 3: 20). So we see the position of Eve has a maternal relationship with the living. Thus if Mary is the New Eve, she must by necessity of this title have a motherly relationship with all the living. But how did Mary become mother of all the living, andwho are all of the living? This is revealed at the birth of the Church, during the crucifixion, When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved, he said to his mother, ‘Woman, behold your son’ and he said to the disciple ‘Behold, your mother!’(John 19: 25-27).
If Jesus called God the Father Abba, why did he call Mary “Woman”? Jesus uses the word “woman” because in Mary is the fulfillment of the prophecy in Genesis, I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; He will strike at your head, while you strike at his heel. (Genesis 3: 15). Why did John choose the words beloved disciple and not his own name? Because as Aquinas mentions in his commentaries on John’s Gospel, this is John who soars like an Eagle on the heights of contemplation. Furthermore, Thomas Aquinas sites Agustin in noting that John wrote his gospel to refute heresies at the behest of fellow Christians. Thus, John carefully chooses these words beloved disciple to reveal a deep theology. These words reveal two things. First, the Christian faith is a personal relationship where God searches, not as a fisherman who casts a net to recover the masses, but seeks His lost creation as a shepherd who has but one sheep gone astray. We have the attention of God on us. More than that, we have the loving gaze of God on us, as if we were His only singular creation. The God of heaven wishes to be in a relationship with you. To receive and reciprocate this divine love, is to become the beloved disciple. Second, if we choose to become a beloved disciple, Jesus shares with us, all Christian people, His mother Mary. Thus, Mary becomes Mother of all the living, not in the perishable life of the flesh as Eve, but Mother to those who live in Christ’s everlasting life in divine adoption.
Thus, Jesus is declaring Mary as the new Eve, the new Mother of All the Living. And as the new Eve, Mary would not take from the tree of life in disobedience and pride, but would undo Eve’s sin by humbly and obediently giving up the fruit of her womb, which was life itself, to be nailed on a tree. What a poetic undoing of humanities fall. It posits that in order to nurture the new life given by Christ, this Eve should be without the poison of sin so the children would not inherit death from their mother. And this is the second reason why it is fitting Mary be without Sin, and to remain without sin, in order to fulfill God’s plan to recreate His fallen creature.
The third explanation I offer, is that it was necessary that Mary be without sin for God’s plan of salvation. To clarify what this means we must turn back to Aquinas to see how he defines necessity. Aquinas offers two forms of necessity. The first is very familiar to us, as he defines necessity as a thing we need to exist. The second form of necessity, is something that becomes so expedient to the ends it accomplishing it becomes indispensable. Here Aquinas paints the imagery of needing a horse for preaching, as it allows the preacher to spread the Gospel in a much more expedient form. In the modern era, we can equate this to modern forms of travel as well. We can see in many cases public transit, cars, plans, and boats are necessary to us. Without such vehicles to brings us to our destinations we could still engage in travel. We could walk, but it would hinder our travel to such a degree that we could not operate in the modern world effectively. So we see, that travel can be accomplished without these things, but we find them necessary because they accomplish the end of travel expediently.
Mary’s immaculate conception is necessary in this second form as it accomplishes God’s plan for redemption expediently to the ends of salvation. You already have the aforementioned ways in which it accomplishes God’s plan for salvation, but it is not limited to these. Mary’s immaculate conception also protects Jesus’ noble claim to divinity; for if Jesus was born to a lewd woman it would greatly hinder His ability to be recognized as divine. It fulfills the Psalmists words, Who may go up the mountain of the LORD?Who can stand in his holy place? “The clean of hand and pure of heart, who has not given his soul to useless things, what is vain. He will receive blessings from the LORD, and justice from his saving God. Such is the generation that seeks him, that seeks the face of the God of Jacob. (Psalm 24:3-6).The Immaculate Conception is also a consequence of Jesus fulfilling the law. “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter will pass from the law, until all things have taken place. (Matthew 5: 17-18). And if Jesus fulfills the law, should he not also fulfill one of the ten commandments,Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD, your God, has commanded you, that you may have a long life and that you may prosper in the land the LORD your God is giving you. (Deuteronomy 5: 16). For how can Jesus honor His mother, if he has the power to save her from sin but chooses not too? How could anyone honor their mother when they could prevent harm falling upon her, but choose not too? And even this does not exhaust the appropriateness of this gift.
Jesus could have dwelt in a proud sinful woman, for as the Almighty He is not limited by human weakness. However, this would be contrary to the rules He establishedfor The LORD is on high, but cares for the lowly and knows the proud from afar. (Psalm 138:6). He chooses to bestow lavishly His gifts of grace, so that the beginning of the New Covenant would make the start of an era of God’s utmost generosity. The beauty of this last proof, is that God did not have to make Mary Immaculate in order to accomplish His plan, but He freely chooses to do so too be consistent in His given word, and to fulfill all righteousness, and even this does not exhaust the appropriateness of the Immaculate Conception but I will stop here.
Let us turn now to the origins of Mary’s Motherhood. It must be noted that first and primarily Mary’s motherhood is a shear grace. That is to say Mary’s Motherhood is a pure gift from the ocean of God’s graciousness. This gift does not exist in isolation from God; for God did not randomly choose who would receive the honor of this gift, but sought to bestow it on the woman most befitting to become the Theotokos . So we note that Mary’s Motherhood finds its principle as a grace from God, and is fittingly bestowed on this singular woman. Thus we can say, Mary’s Motherhood, as well as all of her singular gifts, proceeds as a consequence from the Father’sdivine natureof love. To say Mary earned herself the position of Mother of God is absurd, and errant, but it is appropriate to say that she was a fitting recipient for such a precious gift.
A term I would use, is Mary merited this gift. However,to avoid confusion let us define these words; earned isright through realized ability ...for the laborer deserves his payment... (Luke 10: 7), andmerited is qualification through achievement. The worker earns his wages not only when he has the ability to accomplish the task at hand, but when he realizes this ability by completing those tasks demanded by his job. After the completion of these tasks, he has right to the wages agree upon, and can demand by right what was promised. So we see the nature of earning is transactional.
Merited however, has a more humble nature. One who merits is worthy of some particular good, but does not have right to the good itself. This can be clarified when looking at relationships. In good relationships, each person seeks the good of the other and as a consequence of love, many charitable actions are given. This exchange of loving actions is worthy of being recognized with gifts of various sorts: kind words, flowers, enduring an activity that the other enjoys but the giver does not. These gestures of love are merited, but if one acts as if they are earned and demands the receptions of these gifts, it shatters the harmony between them. Certainly, communicating wants and desires is good and healthy, but when gifts are demanded, the relationship becomes transactional and love begins to dim, because the chain of love turns into a market a favors. The nature of the relationship changes from honoring the person with actions, to using the person for benefit and gain. The labors of love do not seek to enrich the giver. For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. (Mark10:45). And so we see, merit in relationships depends on love and trust that the other will reciprocate that love.
We can see the same effect when looking at the negative. When we sin we earn death, and merit hell. What does this mean? Through sin we make death our right and lay claim to our right, and consequently merit the everlasting flames of hell. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.(Romans 6:23). So in earning death, we begin to take on death, and this takes on an immediate spiritual affect in our lives; all the while the achievement of our in sin makes us qualified to reside in hell. Thus, we earn death, have right to death, and begin to poses death; while meriting eternal hell we do not poses the eternal flame, nor are we given it in this life (but after death we certainly can). This is why the old Mosaic Law could not save and heaven was close until Jesus; for one sin brings us death and by our own corrupted nature we do not have the ability to gain heaven, since no human being will be justified in his sight by observing the law; for through the law comes consciousness of sin. (Romans 3: 20) and further,all have sinned and are deprived of the glory of God. They are justified freely by his grace through the redemption in Christ Jesus. (Romans 3: 23-24). It is only in God’s mercy through Jesus that man has a path to acquittal. So he who sins merits death, and he who cooperates with God’s graces merits redemption, and he who struggles along the path should take comfort in the words For Love is strong as Death, longing is fierce as Sheol. Its arrows are arrows of fire, flames of the divine. Deep waters cannot quench love, nor rivers sweep it away. Were one to offer all the wealth of his house for love, he would be utterly despised. (Song of Songs 8: 6-7) and the knowledge that Jesus has risen from death as its victor and conqueror.
Now that an understanding of the natures of earned and meritedare established, let us turn to the origin of this explanation; how did Mary merit our Lord? The full threads of our lives are sown into the tapestry of all creation. God seated on His throne in eternity sees this complete tapestry, not excluding Mary’s life. God seeing all of who Mary is, and how she would never fail to accept all the invitations of our Lord, merited for herself the singular gift of being the Theotokoes. God gave first and freely, and Mary always reciprocate that love. Look at how she received the compliments of Elizabeth,And Mary said: “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my savior. For he has looked upon his handmaid’s lowliness; behold, from now on will all ages call me blessed. The Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name.(Luke 1:46-49).
And this is how Mary’s Motherhoodis a consequence ofGod’s divine law of love. That God is never out done in generosity, and that for every step Mary took towards our Lord, God crossed an infinity towards her to the point that the two communed with each other as Mother and Child. And so, a Holy exchange was unbroken throughout Mary’s life and she found herself in the closest of relationships with our Lord. In this way Mary is the jar that allows herself to be lowered in the Divine well of the Trinity to the point she encounters communion with the Eternal Fount of God and is filled with the Living Waters of Jesus. God then raises this earthen vessel which pours forth this living water to all who thirsts, that they might have living water welling up inside them to eternal life. This is the mystery of the incarnation.
Let us examine scripture to see how Mary came to become the Mother of God, in how our Lord answers the question Who is my mother? And Who are my brothers… For whoever does the will of my heavenly Father is my brother, and sister, and mother.(Mark 3: 31-35). As the truth, He dispels the darkness of false notions. As the way, He reveals to us the path, or means, of how we are to be a beloved child of God. Jesus here is showing exactly how Mary became the Theotokos, For whoever does the will of my heavenly Father is my brother, and sister, and mother. If Jesus declares to us that doing the Father’s will is the way of becoming a member of His family, then it must posit that Mary in her life became Mother of God through an obedience unlike any other. For surely the Eternal Word would already poses these words when He chose His mother from among all creation. This most wondrous gift would not be give at random or by chance, but would rather be given in righteousness to the woman who would perfectly fulfill, whoever does the will of my heavenly Father is my brother, and sister, and mother; and so all glory belongs to God and Mary merited to become the Mother of Jesus.
Mary’s beauty can be likened to the stained glass of a church. It was made for the light of the sun and if isolated from the light, it remains incomplete. It was created for the light, and only when you look at it within the church towards light, does its beauty fill the eye. So too with Mary, she does not create a beerier between us and God, but God’s great gifts shine through her thus relieving the brilliants of the artisan by the beauty of the art. All the beauty of Mary is God’s glory, to speak kindly of Mary, is to praise God, for her goodness is God’s goodness cooperated with in harmonious humility. Thus, Mary’s honor not don’t exist apart from God in isolation. See what Saint Pope Pius the VI has to say about Mary as mother of the head of the church, and thus is mother of its body, Mary is indeed the Mother of Christ who, at the moment He assumed human nature in her virginal womb, joined to himself, as Head, his Mystical Body, which is the Church. Mary, therefore, as Mother of Christ, must also be regarded as Mother of all the faithful and Pastors alike, that is to say, of the Church. If we really are Christ’s body, and Christ is our head, then God is our Father and Mary is our mother; the first by adoption through Christ, the later by a profound mystery of love that lifts all things heavenward.
A final reflection, what is our relationship with this Heavenly Mother. We learn in John’s gospel, that at the very scene of our crimes Jesus gave us his mother to all Christians, “When Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing near, he said to his mother, ‘Woman, behold, your son!’ Then he said to the disciple, ‘Behold, your mother!’ and from that hour, the disciple took her to his own home.” And how beautiful a mother we have, for what kind of heart could not only forgive those who murdered their child, but adopt those murders, love them, and care for them with a mother’s care. I again return to Saint Pope Pius the VI, She who once gave us Jesus, the fount of heavenly grace, cannot fail to offer her maternal help to the Church. What are we to do with such love? Then he said to the disciple, ‘Behold, your mother!’ and from that hour, the disciples took her to his own home. We are to take her into the home of our heart. Mary is not to be a distant mother, and she desires very dearly for us to be with her and her son. Just as in the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, she uses her most noble gifts as a means to bring a foreign people close to her. She uses all the gifts of her royalty not to show her own greatness and grandeur, but she again lowers herself, and uses these gifts as a great invitation to a foreign people to become Christ’s family.
So let us entrust ourselves to our loving mother in heaven without fear; for we do not have to fear honoring Mary more and more. Brothers and sisters, are we not called to imitate Christ? Do you think that Christ loved his mother less than you do today? Then why would you worry about increasing your love for Jesus’ Mother, Mary? Love like Christ loves, let your heart be inflamed by love until it looks like our Lord’s most sacred heart. I believe Saint Pius is VI to be affirming my words when he says, Herein lies the reason why we, though unworthy and weak, yet in a spirit of trust and with ardent filial love, raise our eyes to her. Let us imitate Mary and say “Yes” to to God’s great invitations. Let us learn to imitate Christ by reflecting and calling upon our mother in heaven as Saint Pius the VI said: Consequently, the universal Church, while she lives out the many facets of her life and in her active zeal, draws from the Virgin Mother of God the peerless example of how to imitate Christ perfectly.
Response
Why would Mary need her sin removed to be close to God? Jesus often associated with sinners in the Gospels, and so was God not close to sinners? And furthermore, what if after mass someone commits a serious sin? Then wouldn’t this also be an example of how God dwells in a sinner, and Mary could have God residing in her, and be full of sin.
Answer
The relationship we receive now from God is fundamentally different from Mary’s relationship with God, for she was under the Mosaic Law and the super abundant grace and generosity that we have in the New Covenant were not yet available. The full breath of grace we experience today was only made available after Jesus’ death. When the designated time had come, God sent forth his Son born of a woman, born under the law, to deliver from the law those who were subjected to it, so that we might receive our status as adopted sons. (Galatians 4:4-5).Jesus himself points out the difference of the two Covenants when He says: No one sews a piece of unshrunken cloth on an old cloak. If he does, its fullness pulls away, the new from the old, and the tear gets worse. Likewise, no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the skins are ruined. Rather, new wine is poured into fresh wineskins. (Mark 2 : 21-22)
Furthermore, Paul also shows us the difference in the Mosaic Law and the New Covenant when he says: It was not through the law that the promise was made to Abraham and his descendants that he would inherit the world, but through the righteousness that comes from faith. For if those who adhere to the law are the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. For the law produces wrath; but where there is no law, neither is there violation. For this reason, it depends on faith, so that it may be a gift, and the promise may be guaranteed to all his descendants, not to those who only adhere to the law but to those who follow the faith of Abraham, who is the father of all of us. (Romans 4:13-16)
Why does Paul say that the law produces wrath? Because the Mosaic Law is based on adherence to God’s revealed justice. Ergo Paul states, What advantage is there then in being a Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision? Much, in every respect. [For] in the first place, they were entrusted with the utterances of God (Romans 3:1-2), and so those under the law are bound to justification on their adherence to God’s revealed utterances. However, when those under the law fall short and fail to complete what is in the law, they are condemned because they have knowledge of God’s ways and acted contrary. Thus, this is how the law produces wrath. You who boast of the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law? (Romans 2: 23). Well, then, are we better off? Not entirely, for we have already brought the charge against Jews and Greeks alike that they are all under the domination of sin (Romans 3:9).
For the law brings knowledge of God and His ways but not the remission of sin, for without Jesus there is no forgiveness of sins. But now we are released from the law, dead to what held us captive, so that we may serve in the newness of the spirit and not under the obsolete letter. (Romans 7:6) For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has freed you from the law of sin and death. (Romans 8:6). Indeed, if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, how much more, once reconciled, will we be saved by his life. Not only that, but we also boast of God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. (Romans 5:10-11). This is why all who died under the Law did not enter heaven, but had to wait for the coming of our Lord Jesus.
Thus, Mary who was born under the Mosaic Law was subject to the Law until Jesus fulfilled the everlasting covenant promised by God the Father. And so she was bound to obey and fulfill all of the Mosaic Law, or she would incur the curses of breaking the Mosaic Law All who sin outside the law will also perish without reference to it, and all who sin under the law will be judged in accordance with it. For it is not those who hear the law who are just in the sight of God; rather, those who observe the law will be justified.(Romans 2: 12-13). Thus Mary’s Immaculate Conception is needed as a vehicle to enable the incarnation for being subject to the Law of Moses, Mary would still need her sin removed to be able to approach God. Then I said, “Woe is me, I am doomed! For I am a man of unclean lips, living among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!” Then one of the seraphim flew to me, holding an ember which he had taken with tongs from the altar. He touched my mouth with it. “See,” he said, “now that this has touched your lips, your wickedness is removed, your sin purged.” Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?” “Here I am,” I said; “send me!” (Isaiah 6: 5-8). Consider how Isaiah was dismayed at simply seeing God, and having unclean lips. Furthermore when the angels hear Isaiah, they do not correct and console him, but they acknowledge his sin and his peril, by providing him the a life saving remedy from God. And so by God’s grace Isaiah was made sinless so as to see God face to face now that this has touched your lips, your wickedness is removed, your sin purged. How much more would Mary need to be sinless to receive God in her womb. Like Isaiah, it was God who cleansed Mary from her sins; then through obedience under the Law, she brought the Word of God to the world, and brought all Christians today Jesus, who established the eternal covenant which gives us grace upon grace. And this is why Mary would need to be sinless to be able to receive her Son, for she was under the Mosaic Law and subject to it.
Second Objection
Mary could not have fulfilled the Mosaic Law for Paul said, all have sinned and are deprived of the glory of God. They are justified freely by his grace through the redemption in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as an expiation, through faith, by his blood, to prove his righteousness because of the forgiveness of sins previously committed, through the forbearance of God—to prove his righteousness in the present time, that he might be righteous and justify the one who has faith in Jesus. (Romans 3: 23-26)
Response
This is the easier of the two to answer. This line of thinking takes Paul’s words out of context, for just after this Paul says, What occasion is there then for boasting? It is ruled out. On what principle, that of works? No, rather on the principle of faith. (Romans 3: 27). Paul is attempting to take the source of boasting away from the Romans by use of hyperbole. His intent is to show that the Roman’s spiritual disposition should be reliance on God’s grace, and that Jesus has purchased for them their salvation. Paul uses these strong words of hyperbole to show them the truth.
Jesus himself uses the same teaching tactic in (Luke 14: 26) when he states, If any one comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.In this case, Jesus uses this strong language to penetrate our hearts that God must come first, and if we are choosing anything before God we are not fit to be His disciples. And we know that this is hyperbole because of (Matthew 19: 16-19) Now someone approached him and said, “Teacher, what good must I do to gain eternal life?”He answered him, “Why do you ask me about the good? There is only One who is good. If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.”He asked him, “Which ones?” And Jesus replied, “‘You shall not kill; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal; you shall not bear false witness; honor your father and your mother’; and ‘you shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” In these cases where the teachers wishes to use hyperbole to emphasize an important point, it is fault for the listener for not seeing the whole of the message and to interpret literally that which is made to be an emphasis.
Furthermore, we know that this is hyperbole because of what Paul says later on in Romans. Therefore, just as through one person sin entered the world, and through sin, death, and thus death came to all, inasmuch as all sinned-for up to the time of the law, sin was in the world, though sin is not accounted when there is no law. But death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who did not sin after the pattern of the trespass of Adam, who is the type of the one who was to come. (Romans 5: 12-14). First, if all sinned why would Paul make a distinction when he says, death came to all, inasmuch as all sinned.If all truly sinned there would be no need to say inasmuch as all sinned, Paul would only have to say death came to all. Yet this is not what scripture says. Paul is saying these wordsto teach us death is proportional with sin, and if we want life we must avoid sin. Furthermore, we have the examples where death did not rain over Enoch and Elijah, but they were taken up into heaven. Thus, either Paul is wrong, or we are wrong in how we listen. But our proof does not end here, because further on Paul states. But death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who did not sin after the pattern of the trespass of Adam.Again is Paul wrong? Were Enoch and Elijah fables? Or should we have our ears tuned to God’s ways, and listen to the message of what is being said.
Lastly, see what I can take out of context in the later words of Paul. I would give the ludicrous example that Jesus is not needed for me to be saved because Paul said For a dead person has been absolved from sin.(Romans 6: 7). Thus, all who died are saved, and Jesus is not necessary.I could only accomplish this feat by ignoring the whole message. I can prove my opinion by taking a thread of truth and sowing it into self-deception. But my misguidance is shattered if what Paul is saying is taken as one complete message.We know that our old self was crucified with him, so that our sinful body might be done away with, that we might no longer be in slavery to sin. For a dead person has been absolved from sin. If, then, we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him.(Romans 6: 6-9)
Appendix A
From the Address of Pope Saint Paul VI, at the conclusion of the third session of the Second Vatican Council
(November 21, 1964: AAS 56 [1964], 1015-1016)
Mary, Mother of the Church
“Taking into consideration the close ties by which Mary and the Church are bound together, to the glory of the Blessed Virgin and for our consolation, We declare Mary Most Holy to be Mother of the Church, that is, of the whole Christian people, faithful and Pastors alike, who invoke her as their most loving Mother; and We establish that by this sweetest of names the whole Christian people should henceforth give still greater honor to the Mother of God and offer her their supplications.
Venerable Brothers, this concerns a title by no means new to Christian piety; indeed the Christian faithful and the universal Church choose to invoke Mary principally by the name of Mother. In truth, this name belongs to the genuine nature of devotion to Mary, since it rests firmly on that very dignity with which Mary is endowed as the Mother of the Incarnate Word of God.
Just as the Divine Motherhood is the basis both for Mary's unique relationship with Christ and for her presence in the work of human salvation accomplished by Christ Jesus, so likewise, it is principally from the Divine Motherhood that the relationships which exist between Mary and the Church flow. Mary is indeed the Mother of Christ who, at the moment he assumed human nature in her virginal womb, joined to himself, as Head, his Mystical Body, which is the Church. Mary, therefore, as Mother of Christ, must also be regarded as Mother of all the faithful and Pastors alike, that is to say, of the Church.
Herein lies the reason why we, though unworthy and weak, yet in a spirit of trust and with ardent filial love, raise our eyes to her. She who once gave us Jesus, the fount of heavenly grace, cannot fail to offer her maternal help to the Church, especially at this time in which the Spouse of Christ strives with greater zeal to fulfill her salvific mission.
These closest of bonds between our heavenly Mother and the human race urge Us, moreover, to foster and further strengthen this confidence. Even though she has been enriched with superabundant and wondrous gifts from God so as to be made worthy to be Mother of the Incarnate Word, nevertheless, Mary is very near to us. Like us, she is a child of Adam and so too our sister on account of our common human nature; she was preserved from the stain of original sin by reason of the future merits of Christ, but she added to these gifts received from on high the example of her own perfect faith and so merited the proclamation in the Gospel: ‘Blessed are you who have believed.’
In this mortal life she embodied the perfect form of a disciple of Christ, she was the mirror of all virtues, and in her manner of life exemplified fully those beatitudes proclaimed by Christ Jesus. Consequently, the universal Church, while she lives out the many facets of her life and in her active zeal, draws from the Virgin Mother of God the peerless example of how to imitate Christ perfectly.”
Appendix B
From a letter by Saint Cyril of Alexandria, bishop (Epist. 1: PG 77, 14-18, 27-30) Defender of the divine motherhood of the Virgin Mary That anyone could doubt the right of the holy Virgin to be called the mother of God fills me with astonishment. Surely she must be the Mother of God if our Lord Jesus Christ is God, and she gave birth to him! Our Lord’s disciples may not have used those exact words, but they delivered to us the belief those words enshrine, and this has also been taught us by the holy fathers. In the third book of his work on the holy and consubstantial Trinity, our father Athanasius, of glorious memory, several times refers to the holy Virgin as “Mother of God.” I cannot resist quoting his own words: “As I have often told you, the distinctive mark of holy Scripture is that it was written to make a twofold declaration concerning our Savior; namely, that he is and has always been God, since he is the Word, Radiance and Wisdom of the Father; and that for our sake in these latter days he took flesh from the Virgin Mary, Mother of God, and became man.” Again further on he says: “There have been many holy men, free from all sin. Jeremiah was sanctified in his mother’s womb, and John while still in the womb leaped for joy at the voice of Mary, the Mother of God.” Athanasius is a man we can trust, one who deserves our complete confidence, for he taught nothing contrary to the sacred books. The divinely inspired Scriptures affirm that the Word of God was made flesh, that is to say, he was united to a human body endowed with a rational soul. He undertook to help the descendants of Abraham, fashioning a body for himself from a woman and sharing our flesh and blood, to enable us to see in him not only God, but also, by reason of this union, a man like ourselves. It is held, therefore, that there are in Emmanuel two entities, divinity and humanity. Yet our Lord Jesus Christ is nonetheless one, the one true Son, both God and man; not a deified man on the same footing as those who share the divine nature by grace, but true God who for our sake appeared in human form. We are assured of this by Saint Paul’s declaration: When the fullness of time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law and to enable us to be adopted as sons
Appendix C
From a discourse by Saint Andrew of Crete, bishop
(Oratio 1: PG 97, 806-810)
The old has passed away: all things are made new
The fulfillment of the law is Christ himself,who does not so much lead us away from the letter as lift us up to its spirit. For the law’s consummation was this, that the very lawgiver accomplished his work and changed letter into spirit, summing everything up in himself and, though subject to the law, living by grace. He subordinated the law, yet harmoniously united grace with it, not confusing the distinctive characteristics of the one with the other, but effecting the transition in a way most fitting for God. He changed whatever was burdensome, servile and oppressive to what is light and liberating, so that we should be enslaved no longer under the elemental spirits of the world, as the Apostle says, nor held fast as bondservants under the letter of the law.
This is the highest, all-embracing benefit that Christ has bestowed on us. This is the revelation of the mystery, this is the emptying out of the divine nature, the union of God and man, and the deification of the manhood that was assumed. This radiant and manifest coming of God to men most certainly needed a joyful prelude to introduce the great gift of salvation to us. The present festival, the birth of the Mother of God, is the prelude, while the final act is the fore-ordained union of the Word with flesh. Today the Virgin is born, tended and formed and prepared for her role as Mother of God, who is the universal King of the ages.
Justly, then, do we celebrate this mystery since it signifies for us a double grace. We are led toward the truth, and we are led away from our condition of slavery to the letter of the law. How can this be? Darkness yields before the coming of the light, and grace exchanges legalism for freedom. But midway between the two stands today’s mystery, at the frontier where types and symbols give way to reality, and the old is replaced by the new. Therefore, let all creation sing and dance and unite to make worthy contribution to the celebration of this day. Let there be one common festival for saints in heaven and men on earth. Let everything, mundane things and those above, join in festive celebration. Today this created world is raised to the dignity of a holy place for him who made all things. The creature is newly prepared to be a divine dwelling place for the Creator.
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