Is Mary, the Mother of Jesus, the Immaculate Conception?

Question

In Luke 1:28, the angel greets Mary, "Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you." The phrase "full of grace" is a translation of the Greek word kecharitomene.

The traditional translation, "full of grace," is better than the one found in many versions of the New Testament, which state "highly favored daughter." Mary was indeed a highly favored daughter of God, but the Greek implies more than that and never mentions "daughter." Kecharitomene is a perfect passive participle of charitoo, meaning "to fill or endow with grace." Since this term is in the perfect tense, it indicates that Mary was graced in the past but with continuing effects in the present. So, the grace Mary enjoyed was not a result of the not a result of the angel’s visit. In fact, it extended over the whole of her life, from conception onward. She was in a state of sanctifying grace from the first moment of her existence.

In the second century, Justin Martyr and Irenaeus made a statement of implicit faith in the Immaculate Conception: Mary as the Second or New Eve. St. Justin Martyr was the first to make that parallelism (Dialogue with Trypho, 100 c. 150 AD) and St. Irenaeus (c. 180 AD) was influenced by him, stating:

"By disobeying, Eve became the cause of death for herself and for the whole human race. In the same way Mary, though she also had a husband, was still a virgin, and by obeying, she became the cause of salvation for herself and for the whole human race." (St. Irenaeus, Against Heresies 3:22 c. 180 AD)

St. Irenaeus would seem to interpret the high holiness of the Virgin as contrasted to Eve's betrayal into the snares of the serpent: the complete conformity of the all-pure Mary to the will of God effectively untied the knot of sin introduced by Eve. This contrast would be imperfect and its chief characters would be inadequately in opposition if Mary had herself been stained by sin.

St. Hippolytus (2nd Century, AD)insisted that Mary needed to be perfectly innocent because of the supreme sanctity of Him whom she begot. He compares the Messiah to an ark of incorruptible wood, formed from the stainless stock of Mary who gave to Him humanity and who knew no corruption herself. His soul, according to Hippolytus, was derived from hers; she too, must have been immaculate (Apud Theoderetum, in dialogo Eranistes, PG 10, 610).

Answer 1

Uh, WRONG Wanda. The poster is correct. Immaculate Conception refers to when Mary was conceived.

Answer 2

Yes Mary is the Immaculate Conception. She said this in Lourdes and billions of people know this is true. She was conceived without original sin by a special privilege given to her as the mother of God. So she had to be preserved from sin because sin and God cannot live together in one place. She was immaculately conceived and she was preserved from all stain of sin. This is why she is the powerful Queen of heaven and earth.

Answer 3

She is immaculate in the sense that she was free of sin, God had her so filled with grace from the inception of her life that she was the perfect cradle to carry the human and fully divine Jesus Christ. She is immaculate in the sense that she knew no man, in other words she had not nor did she ever enter enter into a relationship other than celibacy, fully in love with God, Christ and her mission in life. For these reasons and many more that I am sure you can find, she is the ultimate, the greatest disciple, our role model.
God bless and by the way, didn't recognize you with the different picture.

Answer 4

It is said that the Old Testament is discovered in the New and the New Testament is hidden in the Old. Let’s see if we can find a new antitype that fits-in with the Old Testament Ark of the Covenant type.

The Ark of the Covenant contained the Ten Commandment tablets, a golden pot containing some of the manna that fell from the sky during the 40 years of wandering the deserts after their liberation from the Egyptians, and the rod of Aaron.

Now, when we look for another container holding something similar yet greater than these objects, we can’t help but notice how Mary, the mother of Jesus, fits that description very well.

The Ark contained the Ten Commandments, the Word of God written by the finger of God on stone tablets. In Mary contained the Word of God made flesh, God incarnate.

The Ark also contained a pot of the miraculous bread that fell from the sky to sustain the wandering Jews after their liberation. In Mary contained the bread of life giving us spiritual life instead of merely physical sustenance.

And lastly, the Ark contained the rod of Aaron, the proof of true priesthood. In Mary’s womb is the true priest.

The fact that the Ark of the Covenant needed to be laden with gold inside and out, whose measurments for its dimensions are detailed twice in OT Scripture show how important God's container was, and no one was allowed to touch it unworthily for pain of death, wished to be as beautiful and perfect as can be. Mary parallels this idea perfectly seeing as she would be carrying God made man inside her. It makes perfect sense and quite fitting for Mary to be without blemish, ie immaculately conceived.

God Bless
Robin

Answer 5

+PAX

Yes, Mary is the Immaculate Conception as she was born without the stain of original sin so she could carry our Lord Jesus and give birth to him.

In Humility,
j

Answer 6

Prove it by quoting something from the early church writers (i.e. late first century or early second century) that shows she was given exhaulted status by these early believers. I'll help you -- it's not there.

EDIT: I agree with The Nolte on that one, Wanda. Not that I agree that she was immaculately conceived, mind you.

SECOND EDIT: Prove your assertion about Justin Martyr; please provide an exact reference. With regard to Irenaeus and Hippolytus, both are proto-gnostic writers. For example, Hippolytus taught that it was "apostolic tradition" that there must be en mass, nude adult baptisms; women having their periods couldn't be baptized; and that 3 years of instruction was needed before baptism -- which contradicts the actions of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch, who was baptized after hearing the gospel. Irenaeus taught some scary stuff, so before you try to bolster your argument by quoting him, please read the entirety of his writings.

Answer 7

jesus is the immaculate conception. mary was a sinner, just like the rest of us. And that scripture you quoted wasnt correct. The kjv says this....And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.

And mary wasn't a virgin her whole life either. She had other sons and daughters after the birth of Jesus Christ. [James (the writer of the book of James in the NT) and Judas (writer of Jude). They were only 2 of several brothers and sisters of Christ. ] Mary also died and was buried.

So, therefore she is not God. She is highly favored of God because of right standing with him,,,,however, she was not sinless. she had orginal sin like us all....Except Jesus.

Answer 8

no, honey, JESUS was the immaculate conception since He was conceived supernaturally .

Edit: being highly favored isn't the same thing as immaculate conception--Mary was indeed highly favored to be the mother of Jesus & she certainly would have to have been full of grace in order to endure the gossip & innuendo around being pregnant & un married, but if Immaculate Conception means she was born without sin, that's not possible.

2nd EDIT: Wow, a new personal record for thumbs down.
Opinions are like backsides, everybody's got one. Not trying to be offensive here, Y'all, just sayin'

Answer 9

IDK! SORRY, I WISH I COULD HELP!!