Why do Catholic Bibles translate "Most Favored Daughter" into "full of grace"?

Question

And where else have they twisted the Word of God to conform to their "cult"?

They use New Jerusalem Bible

Answer 1

let's see .... Protestants use the KJV, RSV, NKJV, and dozens of others. Catholics use these as well, but they follow the scriptures of the Early church which include a few books that protestants thought too tough for them. True, some protestants when choosing a canon that would allow them to toss out difficult passages, even fought to toss out the book of James, which says "Faith without works is dead".

I like the way that protestants wishing to remain blind will look at the KJV and think that it is more accurate than the original Greek and Hebrew manuscripts.

I like the way that protestants will argue Sola Scriptura, but that NOWHERE in their Bible is there any list of what books constitute that "scriptura". They say their only reliance is on the word of God, but God never enumerated which books were to be contained in his word. They complain about the Catholic scripture which has stood as it is since about 300 AD, yet place their faith in a list compiled perhaps 1000 years afterward!

I like the way that protestants say that Catholics don't follow scripture and pick and choose, yet they ignore the words of Christ who said "This is my body" and "this is my blood".

I like the way protestants can complain about Catholics ignoring the word of God, but they happily ignore the verse that said "Confess your sins one to another", and that Jesus told the apostles that they had the authority to forgive sins.

These people who claim Catholics aren't Christians have ignored so much of scripture as to make it a completely different Gospel. They have by fiat tossed out books of scripture that were used by the early church and for over 1000 years by Christians as something other than Christian. In fact, the books that they've tossed out were still used as late as the 18th century by our Nations founding fathers as valid Christian doctrine, but of course if they wish to view the Catholic church as evil, they can't have that.

These folk think that the right way to interpret scripture is to read the KJV, and to ignore the words and meanings of the original texts. We all know that God meant to have the KJV, and anything else is a distraction. If anyone really wants to know what God meant, they should be able to understand plain English ...forget about the Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic crap.

I'll tell you one thing. Fundamentalists are one of the major reasons I'll never be a Christian. I love Christ, but his self-proclaimed hate-filled bilious army makes him look like a vile creature.

You are supposed to be ambassadors. You are supposed to plant seeds. Unfortunately the only seeds you plant by bashing fellow ... yea your original followers are the seeds of discontent and disdain toward your God.

Jesus said that if anyone caused one of his little ones to fall away, that it would be best if they were not born. I tell you lawyers and hypocrites that you have caused many to fall away through misrepresentation of the Gospel. I've read your Bible many times, and Christ never sewed the seeds you sew now.

You ignore his word. You vilify true believers. You tear the church of your God apart, and then try to convince us non-Christians that you have a God of love, truth and justice.

Who doesn't sound like the saved Christian? Is it the ones who have been following the same scripture for thousands of years? Is it the ones who remember the writings of the Bible which said to follow what has been taught by word and by letters (tradition and scripture)? Is it the ones who take Christ as a speaker of truth? Or rather is it the ones who created a new Bible some 1100 or 1200 years later? The ones who have decided that Christ didn't really mean what he said?

You tell me. If I'm going to look for a Christian, it's certainly not going to be a person carrying a Chick tract, or someone accosting me on a sidewalk telling me that Catholics are evil (and thus trying to divide the Church of Christ asunder).

So go ahead and tear the church your God founded apart. Call Christ a liar. If there is such a thing as a heaven and a hell, I bet you get one of the "warm" seats.

Answer 2

I can't believe I'm actually answering this; you've already made up your prejudiced mind. "Cult", indeed.

However. "They", Catholics use:
The New American Bible
The Douay-Rheims Bible
The Ignatius/Revised Standard Bible
The Navarre Bible
in addition to the NJB. And pretty much any other translation we wish to walk into a store and purchase, though they are incomplete without the seven O.T. books the revisionist Reformers jettisoned.

Translation of the phrase in Luke 1:28 in the NAB, which is the translation used for all Mass readings in the U.S., is "Hail, favored one".

It is translated "full of grace" in many non-Catholic translations including the Wycliffe New Testament.

So much for your assertion that Catholics "twist" the Bible.

A little homework is in order. Look up the meaning of the Greek word "kecharitomene".

Have a good day.

Answer 3

The Greek -- which is the oldest manuscript we have -- does NOT say "most favored daughter." Even one semester studying Greek will give you enough information to know that.

"Hail, Mary, Who Has Been Given the Fullness of Grace" is a very accurate translation -- there is no perfect translation because Greek structure is different from English, but that's the gist. The most important thing about this phrase is that it is a TITLE. It's not just words, but it is a title that carries a great deal of significance.

Given = past tense, the work is already done

Fullness of Grace = complete salvation/sanctification, not just a "downpayment" like the rest of us receive according to the Epistle to the Hebrews.

Only Mary is given this title and only Mary gives birth to the Christ, so there is a great deal of importance to this.

Answer 4

The word here is Chairo which is "to Rejoice in Relation to Charis, that is from "Grace" (Unmerited Favor) a Gift dispensed by God. Joy as a Direct Result of Gods' Grace. Although there are many Worse Examples of "Re-Writing" Scripture by the catholics, this is not really significant. The Real Prolem here is that our Prayers are to be Directed Only to God the Father, and when they incorporate this Scripture into a "Prayer to Mary" they are Wrong & Encourage Idol Worship no matter what they try to say to the contrary. John

Answer 5

To support their placing of Mary on the same level as Christ. "highly favored" (KJV) means:

charitoō
khar-ee-to'-o
to grace, that is, indue with special honor: - make accepted, be highly favoured.

Yes, she was highly favored because she would carry the body of the Messiah, but that is all. She was a sinner, had a sin nature and died like all others.

Luk 1:47 and my spirit exulted in God My Savior.
If she were without sin, she would not need a savior.

The only person in Scripture who is called "full of grace" is Christ.

Joh 1:14 And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us. And we beheld His glory, glory as of an only begotten from the Father, full of grace and of truth.

Answer 6

Because that's the correct translation. Do your research.

The traditional translation, "full of grace," is better than the one found in many recent versions of the New Testament, which give something along the lines of "highly favored daughter." Mary was indeed a highly favored daughter of God, but the Greek implies more than that (and it never mentions the word for "daughter"). The grace given to Mary is at once permanent and of a unique kind. 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 angel’s visit. In fact, Catholics hold, 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.
http://www.catholic.com/library/Immaculate_Conception_and_Assum.asp

Answer 7

From m-w.com definition of "grace"
Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Latin gratia favor....

Paraphrase from me:
Grace is unmerited favor.
Mary was favored by God through no merit of her own. She just got tagged, and then she did a most wonderful thing - She said "Yes" (another paraphrase)

edit -- Oooh! I see from previous answers that I'm not the only one who thinks of unmerited favor as definition for grace :)

Answer 8

It comes from the original Greek.

My religion is not a cult. I wonder why it is okay to offend a Catholic's point of view. Being full of grace means God wanted to fill someone with grace. The view of some anti-Catholic thought would have you believe Catholics believe Mary filled herself with her own grace. The reality is Catholics believe God is Grace itself. And He just decided to come in a form of a child orginating from a human womb. It is a Grace bestowed upon the human race and of course, we are not gods because of it.

Answer 9

Everyone is entitled to their own interpretation of anything, much less of ancient texts.

If your question hadn't included the bigoted "detail" (where is the "grace" in that?), I would not have thought much of it, but, clearly, you have an agenda, and will probably not have a good experience on this website.

Answer 10

The New American Bible, which is used in Catholic liturgies has the following verse, "And coming to her, he said, "Hail, favored one! The Lord is with you.""