The Immaculate Conception
One of the greatest arguments against the Immaculate Conception is that no one is perfect, as the Word of G-d states:
"Who can say, 'I have made my heart clean, I am pure of my sin?' " (Pr.20.9) Or as Job chastens, "can mortal man be righteous more than G-d? Can a man be pure more than his Maker?", Job 4.17
The answer our Church gives is that although they cannot cleanse themselves, as the Proverbs clearly states, G-d, through His grace, can cleanse them and this grace is not limited to those that existed since Yeshua paid the cost. After all, when Saint Paul sought an example of the power of grace in one life, it was Abraham our father and not Peter who was "justified by faith" (Rom.4.1-3). This is because the blood of the Lamb transcends time- meaning it saves both forward and backward into time. As for the words of Job, no one can be more pure than the Father, however His Son can match Him for they are One.
Perhaps the immortal words of Saint Paul, which is so often quoted by those that disagree with this Church doctrine, can help with this:
"For there is no distinction; since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of G-d, they are justified by His Grace as a gift, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, Whom G-d put forward as an expiation by His blood, to be received by faith." Rom.3.22b-25b
The Greek word used for sin in this case is hamartano and it literally means, "to miss the mark". It is a different form of sin from that of the next verse-
"This was to show G-d's righteousness, because in His divine forbearance He had passed over former sins".
In this particular case, the word for sins is hamartema which is "an act of disobedience to Divine Law".
We believe the Church doctrine of the Immaculate Conception speaks of the lack of sin in Mary as hamartema, and not hamartano. This is not to state that Mary possessed hamartano (venial sins), this isssue we leave to others wiser to prove, but rather the proof for the Doctrine of the Immaculate Conception is not dependent upon this secondary proof. Therefore, we will concentrate only on hamartema sins (acts of disobedience) and seek to prove Mary could not and did not ever commit this sin because to do so would make her ritually unclean and unable to hold something holy within.
We have lost much of our understanding about the things that are holy and the things which are common. Not only were people designated holy, like the Levitical priests that served the sanctuary, but also places and things. Some were so holy that to look at them could bring about death! (Num.4.20). To approach that which is holy in an unholy state is not allowed:
"If any one of all your descendants throughout your generations approaches the holy things, which the people of Israel dedicate to the L-rd, while he has uncleanness, that person shall be cut off from My Presence: I AM YHVH." Lev.22.3
Or even touch it:
"And when Aaron and his sons have finished covering the sanctuary and all the furnishings of the sanctuary, as the camp sets out, after that the sons of Kohath shall carry these, but they must not touch the holy things, lest they die." Num.4.15
However the holy anointing oil was special, for if a thing was anointed with it, this "thing" in turn would become holy and if anyone touched these things made holy through the anointing oil would themselves impart holiness, Ex.30.29 (thus by simply touching individuals, Yeshua Who was holy, could heal both sins and diseases).
Also the imparting of holiness occurred when anyone touch a holy offering or consumed it, Lev.6.18, 27 (the woman with the hemorrhage or the Eucharist, are examples)
Yet the previous quotes make it clear that although these things would bring holiness upon a righteous individual, they would bring death to the unrighteous individual (this is why Jesus so often said "by your faith you have been saved" and also why when Jesus handed Judas the Eucharist, satan entered Him while this same bread blessed the others with Him). So what does this have to do with Mary?
"And the angel said to her, 'The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will over shadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called HOLY, the Son of G-d." Lk.1.35
This was no normal child that rested in the womb of Mary. This child was Holy and that which is holy cannot rest or even touch that which is common! Therefore, we believe Mary could not possess mortal sin (sin of outright disobedience) because if she did so, her womb would be defiled and unable to possess the Messiah within it. We believe she would have died, like Aaron's sons who approached the sanctuary in a defiled state. And if she died, so too would have the Messiah within her womb!
Some may argue that Mary might have been cleansed by G-d just as the child entered her womb. We suspect however that the text does not support this. When the angel came to her he said:
"Hail, O favored one, the L-rd is with you." Lk.1.28
This L-rd "is" with you, not going to be with you (unlike former President Clinton, we do not question the meaning of "is"!). So we feel her purity was a preexisting state even though, being humble, Mary was troubled by this connotation made to her. Yet we do not believe that she would have been troubled to hear that G-d was going to make her holy. A righteous person would be overjoyed to hear this, not troubled. However, when the angel stated she was already pure ("the L-rd is with you"), this troubled her because such a connotation worked against her own humble view of herself.
What of the charges that it's impossible to be born this way. No one could be immaculately conceived! Actually, immaculate conceptions appear to have been in her family. Her baby cousin John was also conceived without sin:
". . . He will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother's womb." Lk.1.15
When we are reborn in the Spirit, we are "filled with the Holy Spirit". John experienced rebirth in the womb! If John could, so could Mary! (When do we baptize such children?)
Elizabeth also saw something special in our Blessed Mother:
"Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! . . . And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the L-rd." Lk.1.42, 45
The important word here is "believed". She had faith in the fulfillment of the prophecies of the Messiah and in the words of the angel. And to borrow from Paul, her faith "was reckoned unto her as righteousness". It is this faith in the kingdom of G-d we believe that would be ushered in formally by her Son that fulfilled the words of the prophet Isaiah, "Behold a virgin will conceive and carry a Son . . ." We are saved by this faith and Mary, the mother of Jesus, had it before the angel came. It was for this reason she was favored because we see within these words that she possessed a pure heart and body that could hold a Holy Child. This is why she never questioned whether it would happen, but only wondered how, Lk.1.34. Zechariah, on the other hand questioned as did Sarah (Abraham's wife) and this shows that even among good people,hearts like Mary's were not common in the face of miracles. A study of the Exodus will show exactly how uncommon these hearts are.
So she was the first in the New Testament to say, "Here am I". By doing so we believe she set the ball in motion for which all good things would later flow. No she did not die for our sins, this was done by her Son, but without a pure heart and simple faith, Jesus would not have had a womb to be born out of (the arguments that G-d could have found another are moot because He didn't). This is why we suspect our Church call her "co-redeemer", not because she redeems us from our sins (this is only done through the blood of the Lamb), but because she was the first pure of heart and she did this not because she saw or heard of it, as we did, but because of the promises alone, like Abraham! Did not her Son, Jesus later say:
"Have you believed (Thomas) because you have seen Me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe." Jn.20.29
This is why Elizabeth, full of the Holy Spirit said, "Blessed are you among women . . " and why we in the Catholic Church place her in such high esteem.
According to Isaiah, this simple virgin through her childlike step in faith actually birthed the kingdom of G-d. This argument is transported from the text of our exegeses on Isaiah 7-14. In in brief, we state:
First it was an "almah" which Matthew tells us should be interpreted as "virgin". This virgin, as we are told, would conceive a son (the Son of G-d) and his name shall be called Imman'u-el. Critics charge, when did Mary call Jesus, Imman'u-el: G-d is with us? Well, there is no evidence that she did, however when Jesus rose from the dead and breathed life into His Church, she (the Church) grew from this breath and called these times (with the Holy Spirit), "G-d is with us". Jesus in turn called this time "the kingdom of G-d." Now comes the charge we often hear: "she isn't Miry, but the Church, so it doesn't count because Mary isn't the Church". Well, no. But the Son wasn't born when the child conceived either. Perhaps there lies the answer.
"Behold, an almah shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Imman'u-el (G-d {is} with us)."It was Mary that was the first to walk in faith by accepting the impossible at face value and only asking how. If Ahaz had shown such childlike innocence he may have been blessed, but Jesus’ mother 'beat him to the punch'. Mary, then, is the first in the New Testament to walk in faith, and it was this simple faith that birthed the Church. Peter showed it when he said, "You are the Messiah the Son of G-d". All those that followed Him also did this when He taught of the Eucharist. They stayed while the others walked away. So when asked if they will also go, Peter said, "L-rd, to Whom shall we go. You have the Words of eternal life; and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of G-d" and not "This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?" That was other folks in the crowd. Did they say this because they understood? By no means, but rather like Mary, it was enough that the Master had said so. In fact, by this we can safely say that Mary was the first faithful member of the "Kingdom of G-d". So this faith ushered in, not the church, but the "kingdom of G-d", which is faith! Mary and Joseph would oversee the Kingdom of G-d in the Child they would care for and raise. In time, the Messiah would be called by His Father to usher in its fullness and then leave His steward (Peter, the Church) in charge when He left. So the child conceived and born (the Son given) is the kingdom of G-d founded by the literal Son that G-d had placed within the virgin's womb!
And it was all done because a simple virgin said "Behold, I am the handmaid of the L-rd; let it be to me according to Your Word." Lk.1.38
The faith of the virgin (“almah”) was the sign, for the child was not yet visible or known. But within her womb the child now lived and breathed with her breath and ate what her body gave Him. Only by G-d’s promise that this child would be born for the rise and fall of many in Israel; that this child would save His people, and that this child was the one He had Promised as the seed to Abraham that Mary would be accepted and not stoned.
As the Messianic Jews rightly scold Judah, a young woman getting pregnant isn't a sign, however a virgin, who risks stoning and who relies on a promise that few fully understood, including herself (this is why she pondered so much in her heart) yet still says, “Here I am, L-rd”, despite the risks is truly a sign; a sign for all time that if we but believe we might be saved. And this simple childlike faith is the essence of the Kingdom of G-d! And this too we believe is the root and essence of the Doctrine of the Immaculate Conception.
And grace covered all, both before and after it was sealed.
