How could Mary be acceptable to birth Jesus if she was born into sin?
The Virgin Mary was born into sin and shaped in iniquity-- how could she be acceptable to birth Jesus?
{I believe that The Holy Spirit indwelled Mary through supernatural means. Just trying to understand if that rendered Mary "holy", as well.}
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Asked February 11 2015
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joyce chism
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For follow-up discussion and general commentary on the topic. Comments are sorted chronologically.
Robert Broyles
Let's look at the following verses and their meaning:
"For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are--yet he did not sin." Heb 4:15 NIV
Jesus, as the son of man, was tempted "just as we are" tempted. How are we tempted? That's how Christ was tempted, yet "He did not sin." Christ never yielded to temptation, not even by a thought. He said "I have kept my Father's commandments" John 15:10
That is to say Christ was tempted by "our" fallen nature because as the Son of God, via the incarnation, He had assumed our fallen humanity, from the womb of Mary, so as to legally redeem us from under the curse of the law. Thus the Son of God took upon Himself our humanity and became the son of man.
"Such a high priest truly meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens." Heb 7:26 NIV
What is the subject in the above verse? The writer of Hebrews (probably Paul) was not dealing with Christ as "the son of man" according to the seed of David, but Christ in His glorified state as our high priest after the resurrection. So we can't use this verse when dealing with questions about "the son of man" and His assumed humanity.
Robert Broyles
Keep in mind that Christ is,
1] "The Son of God" .
2] and was "the son of man" according to the seed of David.
3] And is now our "High Priest".
Robert Broyles
Here are some more verses that folks have used to promote the idea that Christ's assumed humanity did not contain our fallen nature:
1 Peter 2:22 "He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth."
All this verse is stating is that Jesus never sinned. He never transgressed the law of God. Jesus, through the Spirit, defeated "sin in the flesh" (Rom 8:3) He was tempted as we are (by our nature), but without sin.
2 Cor 5:21 "For our sake he (God the Father) made him to be sin (as the son of man) who knew no sin (as the Son of God), so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."
When Paul states that God made Christ, as the son of man, "to be sin" it doesn't mean that God made the son of man a sinner. God united the Deity of Christ to our fallen corporate life in order to legally rewrite our history from condemnation to justification of life. Christ as the son of man took our condemned humanity in it's fallen condition so as to redeem mankind from under law to under grace.
1 John 3:5 "You know that he (Christ) appeared to take away sins, and in him there is no sin."
Again, this is stating that "in Christ" - that is, in His performance, He had no sin. If you think that it means He didn't have our nature to contend with then how was He tempted as we are? We are tempted from within....We are tempted by our fallen natures.