Was mary free from all sin???

[Mary Naeem]

WAS MARY FREE FROM ALL SIN???

Yes. Both Scripture and reason teach us that Mary would not have been worthy to be the Mother of God if she had ever sinned. First, because the honor of the parents reflects onto the child (Prov 17:6), and if Mary was a sinner, she would have reflected this shame onto Jesus. Second, because Christ who is the Light can have no association with darkness, for Scripture... reveals, “Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial?” (2Cor 6:14-15). Third, because Scripture says that Christ who is “wisdom will not enter a deceitful soul, nor dwell in a body enslaved to sin” (Wis 1:4; 1Cor 1:24).Thus, Scripture says of Mary, “You are all fair, my love; there is no flaw in you” (Sg4:7).The angel Gabriel confirms Mary’s sinlessness at the Annunciation. When Gabriel came to Mary, he called her “full of grace” (Lk 1:28). The Greek word for “full of grace”

(kecharitomene) means that Mary received a superabundant perfection of grace, which the Church calls the Immaculate Conception. We know that God granted others the privilege of being sanctified in their mothers’ wombs. For example, of the prophet Jeremiah, God says, “before you were born I consecrated you” (Jer 1:5). Of John the Baptist, Scripture says, “he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb” (Lk 1:15). If God chose to sanctify these men in the womb to become prophets of the Messiah, how much more would He free Mary from all sin from the moment of her conception to be the Mother of the Messiah? Thus, Job says, “Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? There is not one” (Job 14:4).


But doesn’t Scripture say “all have sinned”?

In his letter to the Romans, Paul says that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (3:23). However, this does not mean that Mary was a sinner. Why? For a number of reasons. First, “all have sinned” cannot include Jesus, so if Jesus is an exception then Mary can be as well. Second, in Romans 5:19, Paul says “many” (not all) were made sinners, which demonstrates that when Paul says “all,” he really means many. Third, the Greek word for “all” in Romans 3:23 is the same word that Paul uses in 1 Corinthians 15:22 when he says, “all have died.” But Scripture says Enoch and Elijah didn’t die but were translated into heaven, which means that when Paul says “all” he does not mean every single one.

Fourth, Paul cannot mean every single person born into the world has sinned because infants, the senile and the mentally handicapped cannot sin (or at least aren’t culpable for their sin). Fifth and finally, in Romans 3:23, Paul really means that all people are subject to Original Sin. The difference between us and Mary is that God chose to free Mary from Original Sin at the moment of her conception, while he frees us from Original Sin at the moment of our baptism. Mary’s redemption, like ours, is based entirely upon the merits of Jesus Christ, which God applied in advance to Mary, just as He did with the Old