If Mary Was Born Without Sin (“Immaculate Conception”), Did She Need a Savior?

I received an e-mail from an Evangelical saying: “Mary needed a Savior.” Catholics are in complete agreement; it is a fundamental dogma.

“Christ, as the Church teaches, ‘has conquered the enemy of the human race alone (solus)’ (D711). In the same way, He alone has acquired the grace of the Redemption of the whole human race, including Mary”... (Dr. Ludwig Ott, Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma, 212-13)

Catholics believe that Mary was saved by God, but in a special way. Art Sippo describes it this way:

Catholic Christianity believes that Mary was also a sinner. NOT a sinner IN FACT, but POTENTIALLY, who was redeemed by God from the moment of her conception so that she would never fall into sin. So yes: Mary was redeemed, but she was predestined by God to be the mother of His Son, and therefore she was preserved from sin.

Martin Luther, the Protestant reformer, said:

“… so that while the soul was being infused, she at the same time was cleansed from original sin… and then, at the very moment when she began to live, she was free from all sin.” (Martin Luther’s Works, vol. 4, p. 694)

“God formed the soul and body of the Virgin Mary full of the Holy Spirit, so that she would be free from all sin” (ibid., vol. 52, p. 39)

“. . . She is full of grace, proclaimed to be entirely free from sin… the grace of God fills her with every good and makes her free from every evil… God is with her means that everything she did or left undone is divine and the action of God in her. Moreover, God has protected and guarded her from everything that could harm her.”
(Ref.: Luther’s Works, American edition, vol. 43, p. 40, ed. H. Lehmann, Fortress, 1968)

Before explaining what the Immaculate Conception is, let us take a look at what it is not. The Catholic doctrine of the Immaculate Conception does not mean that Mary was conceived in the same way Jesus was. That would mean that her parents had not had sexual relations. There was nothing special about the way her parents conceived her; they did so in the ordinary way.

It is very difficult to speak about the Immaculate Conception without understanding Catholic beliefs about Baptism. Most Evangelicals think that “separation from God” is the result of personal sin and therefore believe that before the age of reason we are all bound for heaven. This sounds to me as if many Evangelicals believe that all of us were conceived without sin and only begin to sin when we reach an age of discernment. Even so, there is an immediate rejection when a Catholic mentions that Mary was conceived without sin.

Catholics believe that the “separation from God” of all humanity is the result of the “original sin” of Adam and Eve, our first parents. Catholics believe that we are all born with the mark of that “original sin”. If original sin is the source of our condemnation, we cannot think that children do not need the grace of Jesus. This is why Catholics baptize their babies “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit”.

The role of Baptism in the Catholic Church is fundamentally to cleanse us from original sin, which began when Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit in the garden of Eden, causing the fall of the human race and the introduction of death into the world. Catholics baptize shortly after birth to cleanse original sin and to infuse the child with the grace of the Holy Spirit. What the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception says is that, in Mary’s case, this effect of baptism was anticipated at the moment of her conception. Thus, the effects of original sin never affected her. Here is what the doctrine says:

We pronounce and define the doctrine which holds that the Most Blessed Virgin Mary was, by a singular grace and privilege of God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the human race, preserved immune from every stain of original sin from the first instant of her conception. (Pope Pius IX)

We see a couple of things here. It was the merits of Jesus that cleansed her. Now, someone might say: “hey, but Jesus had not yet been born”. Of course that is true, but Jesus was the rock that provided water in the desert for the Israelites when they were fleeing Egypt, long before His birth (Ex 17:6). John says: “In the beginning He was with God… All things were made through Him” (Jn 1:2-3). Jesus is not a slave of time.

In the section Mary in the Bible I show how, from the first centuries of Christianity, Catholics have compared Mary (the Mother of the Living) with Eve (the mother of the dead). Mary’s “yes” to the Archangel Gabriel undid Eve’s “yes” to the fallen archangel Satan. Eve’s cooperation with Satan led Adam to introduce death into the world; Mary’s cooperation with God introduced Jesus, Life, into the world. The Scriptures tell us that Eve was conceived without sin. The Church has always believed that this fits with the fact that the New Eve (Mary) should also be born without sin. If she had been conceived with sin, Jesus, who is immaculate, would have been the enemy of His mother from the very moment of her conception.

Catholics believe that when the Archangel Gabriel said “Hail Mary, full of grace” (Lk 1:28), he was saying much more than: “Hey Mary, how’s it going, you’re very cool”. Catholics believe that Gabriel was saying something about Mary’s nature that Christians would recognize until the end of time. The Greek words used in this phrase are: “Chaire, kecharitomene!” “kecharitomene”. [Caire, kecaritomene!]. Let us look briefly at the grammar of this phrase. John Pacheco says the following:

“kecharitomene” is a perfect passive participle. It means that someone favored her with grace in a “permanent way of perfection”. According to Greek grammar dictionaries, this verbal tense implies the “perpetuation of a permanent result or of an action that has been completed”.

Catholics believe that Gabriel chose these words carefully. His greeting to Mary was very different from his greeting to Zechariah, whom he called by name. Catholics believe that Mary was addressed by her title.

Catholics believe this because, in order for Mary’s soul to glorify the Lord (Lk 1:46), her soul needs to be without sin.

Some Evangelicals have become angry because it took the Church 1800 years to define this doctrine of the Immaculate Conception. In any case, this belief has been part of the earliest times of the Church.

Remember us, you who are near Him who has given you all graces, because you are the Mother of God and our Queen. Help us through the merits of the King, the Lord and Good Master who was born of you, and therefore you are called the “full of grace…” (373 A.D., St. Athanasius)

Blessed Virgin, immaculate and pure are you, the sinless Mother of the Son, the Mighty Lord of the Universe. You are holy and inviolate, the hope of the hopeless and of sinners; we sing your praises. We praise you as the one full of all grace because you bore in your womb the God-Man. We all venerate you, invoke you, and implore your help… Holy and immaculate Virgin… be our intercessor and advocate at the hour of death and judgment… you are holy in the presence of God, to whom be honor, glory, majesty, and power forever and ever. (373 A.D., St. Ephrem of Edessa)

You alone and your Mother are more beautiful than all others, for there is no blemish in you nor any stain upon your Mother. (St. Ephrem, Nisibene Hymns, 27:8, 370 A.D.)

The Immaculate Conception was defined as a pious belief in 1453 and declared a doctrine by Pope Pius IX in 1854.

Conclusion

So there is “big stuff” about Mary — issues that irritate some Evangelicals. I am not an apologist. Much more could be said here in defense of these doctrines (you can see in the links on my page a list of apologetics sites that love to deal with this kind of thing). This article is meant to be a sample of why the Church believes what it believes about Mary. Beyond all this doctrine and all the fuss, the reason I believe Mary is in heaven helping us is that I personally had an experience with Mary that I cannot deny. No one can tell me that She is dead. To me it is as clear as day. She is a friend who prays for me and has shown me truly cool things about her Son, Jesus. I believe that if I am a better Christian today, it is because of Mary.

If you are afraid to speak to Mary, I invite you to pray to Jesus about Mary. I am sure any Evangelical will say that it is perfectly safe to pray to Jesus about anything. Ask Jesus what is going on with Mary and give Him time to answer. I pray that you may have the same experience that has led me to my powerful convictions about the validity of Mary as help of the helpless and great prayer warrior.

Author: David McDonald

Source: Davidmacd.com

©2002 David MacDonald

Spanish translation: Margot Zunino

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