Roman Catholics believe Mary was born without original sin and lived a sinless life. They call it the “Immaculate Conception.” The Bible says otherwise.
The Immaculate Conception
The origin of the false doctrine of the Immaculate Conception dates back to sometime during the progressive development of Roman Catholic tradition. Early church fathers stopped short of calling her “sinless,” but some insisted on her purity and proffered the belief that she was the “second Eve.” Over time, beliefs about Mary’s origin and character devolved to what is now called the Immaculate Conception.
Pope Pius IX officially declared and defined the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, in 1854.
“The blessed Virgin Mary to have been, from the first instant of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of Almighty God, in view of the merits of Christ Jesus the Savior of Mankind, preserved free from all stain of original sin” (Pope Pius IX, Ineffabilis Deus, December 1854).
Rome’s Eisegetical Support
The Roman Catholic Church points to two Bible verses to support the heretical tradition of the sinlessness of Mary. They are Genesis 3:15 and Luke 1:28.
“I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel” (Gen. 3:15).
The Roman Catholic Church forces its tradition upon the text by arguing that the woman in Genesis 3:15 is Mary. Since the first Eve was not stained by original sin, the second Eve would likewise be immaculate (“without stain”).
The problem with the Roman Catholic position, in part, is that the reference to “the woman” is not a reference to Mary in particular, but a reference to women in general.
According to theologian Albert Barnes:
“We cannot pass over this part of the sentence without noticing the expression, ‘the seed of the woman.’ Does it not mean, in the first instance, the whole human race? Was not this race at enmity with the serpent? And though that part only of the seed of the woman which eventually shared in her present feelings could be said to be at enmity with the serpent spirit, yet, if all had gone well in Adam’s family, might not the whole race have been at enmity with the spirit of disobedience? Was not the avenue to mercy here hinted at as wide as the offer of any other time? And was not this universality of invitation at some time to have a response in the human family?”
The other verse to which the Roman Catholic Church points to support the religion’s tradition regarding Mary is Luke 1:28.
“And he came to her and said, ‘Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you’” (Lk. 1:28)!
The Greek word translated “O favored one” could also be translated “favored with grace” or having been much graced.” So, the Roman Catholic Church takes this to mean that God endowed Mary with a superabundance of grace. And it was because God bestowed on her a superabundant amount of grace that she had to be sinless. But the verse says nothing about the sinlessness of Mary.
According to Jamieson, Faussett, and Brown:
“Highly favoured—a word only once used elsewhere (Eph 1:6, ‘made accepted’): compare Lu 1:30, ‘Thou hast found favour with God.’ The mistake of the Vulgate’s rendering, ‘full of grace,’ has been taken abundant advantage of by the Romish Church. As the mother of our Lord, she was the most “blessed among women” in external distinction; but let them listen to the Lord’s own words. ‘Nay, rather blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it.’ (See on Luke 11:27).
And Benson wrote:
“Blessed art thou among women — That is, according to the Hebrew idiom, thou art the happiest of all the women that ever lived. It must be observed, that this salutation gives no room for any pretence of paying adoration to the virgin; as having no appearance of a prayer, or of worship offered to her. Besides, similar expressions are applied to others. Hail, is the salutation used by our Lord to the women after his resurrection: thou art highly favoured, or, hast found favour with God, is no more than was said of Noah, Moses, and David. The Lord is with thee, was said to Gideon, Jdg 6:12; and, Blessed shall she be above women, of Jael, Jdg 5:24. ‘The Church of Rome,’ observes a pious writer, ‘saying ten Ave Marias for one Pater Noster, idolatrously uses these words as a prayer to the holy virgin, whereas they are only a salutation, declaring that she above all women had the honour freely conferred by God upon her, to be the mother of the Messiah. The original word, κεχαριτωμενη, signifies, not full of grace, but freely beloved. Compare Mary with other renowned women, and what had she, besides this favour, more than they? Had she the spirit of prophecy? so had they. Had she the spirit of sanctification? so had they: and she had no more immunity and freedom from sin and death than they. Accordingly the angel says, Blessed art thou among women, not, Blessed art thou above women. How senseless are they, 1st, In turning a salutation into a prayer! In making use of these words upon every occasion, which were spoken by an angel upon a special occasion! In applying these words to her now in heaven, which suited with her only when she was here on earth, saying, Full of grace, to her who is full of glory, and, The Lord is with thee, to her who is with the Lord!'”
With the misinterpretation by the Roman Catholic Church of these two verses, coupled with church tradition, you have the religion’s doctrine the Immaculate Conception.
The Bible Says Mary Was a Sinner
When addressing the heresy of Mary’s sinlessness, the Christian can legitimately go to several places in Scripture.
“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). The verse does not say that everyone but Mary has sinned.
“None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one” (Romans 3:10-12). The passage does not say Mary was good, but no one else was or is.
“And my spirit rejoices in God my savior” (Luke 1:47). Mary admitted her need for a savior. Had Mary been sinless, she would have no need for a savior.
But the coup de grace, the death blow to the Roman Catholic Church’s false notion that Mary was sinless is found in Luke 2:48.
“And when his parents saw him, they were astonished. And his mother said to him, ‘Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been searching for you in great distress’” (Luke 2:48).
Mary Panicked
Joseph and Mary “were astonished.” According to Thayer’s Greek Lexicon, the Greek word translated as “astonished” in the ESV was “common in Greek from Homer down; properly, to strike out, expel by a blow, drive out or away; to cast off by a blow, to drive out; commonly, to strike one out of self-possession, to strike with panic, shock, astonish; passive to be struck with astonishment, astonished, amazed; absolutely.”
Finding Jesus in the temple casually, but respectfully conversing, maybe debating with the religious elite of her culture did not result in Mary simply being surprised. It wasn’t the amazement that comes as a result of seeing a beautiful sunrise or recognizing a movie star standing in front of you in line at Starbucks. It wasn’t the simple relief of finding your glasses and the amazement of realizing they were atop your head the whole time. After a full day of travel in the Judean desert and realizing her son–the one miraculously born to her after being told by an angel that He is the Son of God who would eternally reign as King (Luke 1:26-38)–was missing, and then finding him safe and sound a day later, does anyone really think she said with playful, positive excitement, “Oh, look, Joseph, there’s Jesus?”
You moms know what I’m talking about.
You’re shopping at your local Walmart. You have your kids in tow. You’ve assigned one of the older kids to keep an eye on the youngest. With your eyes focused on the shelves as you move from aisle to aisle, you occasionally glance from side to side and behind you to do a headcount. So far so good.
A few minutes later you glance again, but this time the count is off. The youngest isn’t where he’s supposed to be.
What’s going through your mind, mom? Dad?
Your pulse and respiration quicken. The handlebar on the grocery cart is now wet from the sweat on your palms. You start barking questions at the other kids. You ask strangers in the aisle, “Have you seen my little boy?”
Moments later, you look down the next aisle and there he is, looking at the back of his favorite sugary cereal box.
In those few moments of not knowing where your son was, would your panic be understandable? Yes. But it would still be sinful. As understandable as it might be, your panic would still run contrary to God’s multiple admonitions to not worry, not to be anxious, not to be fearful (Matthew 6:25-34; Philippians 4:6-7; John 14:27).
And once you found him what would your amazement be like? Relief? Yes. Would you cry out to God with thanksgiving? Maybe. Oh, and that taste of lead in your mouth? That’s adrenalin. Realizing your son was safe, what would your amazement be like then? How might you think of your wandering son?
Be honest.
Mary’s panic was sinful. Her astonishment was more than just surprise at finding her son safe in the temple. It was more than a surprise to find him not panicked himself as a 12-year-old presumably lost and away from mama in a big city. It was an astonishment with a sinfully accusatory foundation.
Mary’s False Accusation
Did Mary pull the young Jesus close to her? Did she take him by the shoulders and lock eyes with him? Were tears rolling down her cheeks? Did she feel faint? We don’t know. The Bible doesn’t tell us.
But we do know what she said. “Son, why have you treated us so?”
Mary’s amazement, her astonishment, her anxiety-driven panic now morphed into an exasperated, accusatory rebuke. She accused her son of doing something wrong. She accused God in the flesh of intentionally defying her and causing her emotional pain.
In accusing Jesus of wrongdoing Mary judged Him by appearances.
Years later, Jesus said:
“If on the Sabbath a man receives circumcision, so that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me because on the Sabbath I made a man’s whole body well? Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment” (John 7:23-24).
Albert Barnes wrote:
“Judge not according to the appearance – Not as a thing first offers itself to you, without reflection or candor. In appearance, to circumcise a child on the Sabbath might be a violation of the law; yet you do it, and it is right. So, to appearance, it might be a violation of the Sabbath to heal a man, yet it is right to do works of necessity and mercy.”
Mary couldn’t find her son. Her son never told her he was going to stay behind in Jerusalem. So, she assigned a sinful motive to Jesus’ actions. She assumed he had no good reason to stay behind in Jerusalem and his actions resulted in her distress. When she found Jesus sitting in the midst of the teachers, it in some way validated her anxiety and her judgment that Jesus must have been wrongly unconcerned. In doing so, Mary judged her son by appearances.
Mary’s Unbelief
And how quickly she forgot what God had done when Jesus was only a couple of years old.
“Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, ‘Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.’ And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, ‘Out of Egypt I called my son’” (Matt. 2:13-15).
In her distress, in her anxiety, in her anger, Mary had forgotten the promises of God and the faithfulness of God. Was she genuinely concerned for her son? Of course. No more reasonable assumption could be made, considering the circumstances. But her concern included selfishness. “Jesus; look how you made me feel!”
Like everyone reading this, Mary was a sinner. The Bible tells us so.
Conclusion
To my Christian brethren:
I hope this brief exposition of Luke 1:48 better equips you to talk to your Roman Catholic friends, family, and the stranger on the street—particularly if the subject of Mary comes up.
Let Mary’s sinful response to Jesus’ unannounced absence serve as a reminder that in those times when you are anxious or distressed it is evidence that we have, at least for the moment, stopped believing God. We have forgotten His faithfulness. We have dared to suggest or even accuse God of doing something wrong—something wrong to us.
Remember: even now, just as He was at the age of 12, Jesus is about His Father’s business (Luke 2:49). His business now, in part, is to constantly, perpetually, eternally intercede for His people (John 17)—Christians. No matter what the circumstances might be, Jesus is right where He is supposed to be, doing exactly what He should be doing. And whatever He either allows or prevents in your life is exactly what is best for you at that moment.
So, if you find yourself anxious or distressed; if you find yourself on the verge of asking God where He’s at or what He’s doing or why He’s doing it; repent and believe. Learn from Mary’s sin. Take God at His Word. Trust Him. And remember that He is neither absent nor lost.
To the Roman Catholic who might read this:
Contrary to the tradition of your religion, Mary (like you and me and every other person) was born with a sinful nature. She was born with original sin. As such, she was a sinner, just like you and me. And, just like you and me, Mary needed a savior. Praise God, Mary knew it (Luke 1:46-47). And praise God, Mary would repent and believe the gospel of her Lord and Savior and be numbered among those who comprised the early church (Acts 1:12-14).
This is my hope for you. Your religion cannot save you. Your good works cannot save you. Mary cannot save you. She cannot help you in any way whatsoever.
The only one who can save you from the just punishment for your sins against God is the same one who saved Mary.
Jesus Christ the Lord.
Please, if you’re still here, CLICK HERE to learn how you can receive forgiveness for your sin (something no penance, no priest, no pope can give you), reconciliation to the God you have spent your life offending by your sin, and the assurance of eternal life. Please, CLICK HERE.
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