The most Blessed Virgin Mary was, from the first moment of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of almighty God and by virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, Savior of the human race, preserved immune from all stain of original sin.
Christians of all traditions believe that Jesus Christ was without sin. A problem occurs, however, as each one of us is born with the stain of original sin as result of our connection to our first parents, Adam and Eve. Since we believe that Jesus is fully God and fully man, and born of a woman, our blessed Mother Mary, how did Jesus remain sinless even concerning original sin.
In many Protestant traditions, the answer to this question is quite fuzzy. Maybe God created a 'Holy Spirit bubble' to protect Jesus from acquiring the stain of original sin?
The Catholic doctrine of the Immaculate Conception seeks to explain how Jesus was free from original sin. Mary was preserved from the stain of original sin from the moment of her conception. Although this is a distinctively Catholic solution to the problem of how Jesus could be born without original sin, we all need an answer to this puzzle.
One might ask, is the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception scriptural? Obviously, the phrase “Immaculate Conception,” is not found in Scripture, but the same could easily be said for the word ‘Trinity’ or for that matter the word “Bible.” In fact, today’s Gospel reading gives us some strong hints, which Catholic tradition has developed.
To understand fully, we need to examine carefully the words of the Annunciation in Luke’s Gospel. Unfortunately, many modern translations obscure the true meaning of this passage. According to the RSVCE, the Angel Gabriel says; "Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you!" (Luke 1:28). This is also how our lectionary translates the passage. If you look this up in the Catholic NABRE Bible, it says, “Hail, favored one!” instead of “full of grace.” This is confusing. I believe the lectionary translation is more correct, but let us look at the entire passage.
The Angel Gabriel’s greeting begins with the Greek word chaire or “rejoice.” In Latin, this would be “Ave” which we traditionally translated “Hail.” This greeting is filled with Old Testament connotations. In many Old Testament passages, Zion is invited to rejoice in the coming messianic joy of the Kingdom (Joel 2:21-23; Zeph 3:14; Zech 9:9). There is a clear echo in Gabriel’s greeting of Zephaniah 3:14-15.
The Jerusalem Bible preserves the poetry of Zephaniah;
Shout for joy, daughter of Zion;
Israel shout aloud!
Rejoice, exalt with all your heart,
daughter of Jerusalem!
Yahweh has repealed your sentence;
he has driven your enemies away.
Yahweh, the king of Israel, is in your midst;
you shall have no more evil to fear.
The words “the Lord, the king of Israel is in your midst” draws a connection with the incarnation of our King, in Mary’s womb. The Angel Gabriel continues, "Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you!" (Luke 1:28, RSVCE).
The Greek word behind the translation “full of grace” is kecharitōmenē. This is a mouth full! In Greek, the simple root of the word charitoō meaning “grace,” is adapted by adding grammatical information both before and after the root word. This word in effect becomes a sort of forty-dollar word packed with information. Furthermore, this word is extremely rare in the Bible, only found in two places, here in Luke, and in Ephesians.
In an exhaustive study of this word, one Catholic scholar, Fr. Ignace de la Potterie, has shown that the verb used here is from a special class of verbs, which, when used in a religious context express the transforming of the person, by the action of the verb. With this verb in particular, the effect that grace has on someone. The various parts added to this verb in Luke 1:28 make the verb a perfect passive participle.
Each aspect of the action of this verb carries further nuance. The normal sense of the passive voice means that Mary is being “acted upon” by grace from an external source. The basic meaning of the perfect tense has to do with time. This action took place at some point in the past. Greek participles are verbs, which are often translated into English, by adding ‘ing” to the verb. For example in the word, “transforming.”
Adding up all this grammatical information, an awkward but extremely accurate translation would be, "Rejoice in the transforming grace you have received, for the Lord is with you!” A much more succinct translation would be “Hail, full of grace” or adding 'Mary' as the subject of our prayer, "Hail Mary, full of grace."
When translating Greek participles one can emphasize either the verbal aspect as I have in the awkward translation I just shared, or one can turn the action into a title. This could then be translated, “The-one-having-been-transformed-by-the-grace-you-have-received.” This explains the NAB translation, which renders the verse, “Hail, favored one! The Lord is with you.”
Yet following the NABRE it is difficult to communicate the full impact of the Greek verb in the title “favored one.” Mary is the “favored one” because God has chosen to transform her at some point in the past with his grace to prepare her for the incarnation.
The Church has supplied the exact moment that Mary received this transforming grace as ‘the moment of conception’, and Luke 1:28 clearly points us back to this moment without being that specific.
The perfect tense of the verb above indicates that at some point prior to Mary receiving the angel’s greeting, she had already been transformed by grace in preparation for the incarnation. The formal definition of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, simply clarifies the details of the Gospel regarding the nature and timing of this grace;
The Church has supplied the exact moment that Mary received this transforming grace as ‘the moment of conception’, and Luke 1:28 clearly points us back to this moment without being that specific.
The perfect tense of the verb above indicates that at some point prior to Mary receiving the angel’s greeting, she had already been transformed by grace in preparation for the incarnation. The formal definition of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, simply clarifies the details of the Gospel regarding the nature and timing of this grace;
The most Blessed Virgin Mary was, from the first moment of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of almighty God and by virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, Savior of the human race, preserved immune from all stain of original sin.
Luke 1:28 is clearly a strong scriptural support for this doctrine.
Holy Mary, Our hope, Seat of Wisdom, pray for us!
Notes:
De La Potterie, Ignace. "Κεχαριτωμένη En Lc 1,28 Étude Philologique." Biblica 68, no. 3 (1987): 357-82. Accessed July 14, 2021. http://www.jstor.org/stable/
De La Potterie, Ignace. "Κεχαριτωμένη En Lc 1,28 Étude Exégétique Et Théologique." Biblica 68, no. 4 (1987): 480-508. Accessed July 14, 2021. http://www.jstor.org/stable/
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