Speaker 1
Oh, jenny is asking, why does Luke say about Mary, she is full of grace, the favored one, when you say she was just a vessel? Minnie.
Speaker 2
Great. Thank you, Jenny. I really appreciate this question and opportunity to dive even deeper on the issue of Mary. We discussed her a couple of weeks ago and we especially focus on the part about Hail Mary and know why. We don’t think that means Mary should be venerated the way she does by.
Speaker 3
People, especially of the Catholic tradition.
Speaker 2
But Jenny is now asking about what about the words full of grace. So let’s dive into that. And this one we’re going to go a bit into, especially Greek, and we’re going to get a little technical. She specifically brought up a Greek word. You’ll see why we’re using PowerPoint? This is the exact reason why. So let’s dive in, let’s put up the PowerPoint and go through.
Speaker 3
So she asks, why does Mary, what.
Speaker 2
Does Luke say about Mary? And she is full of grace, the favored one, when you say she is just a vessel? Great question. Where does full of grace come from? So we see this. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women, blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for.
Speaker 3
Us, Jesus, now and at the hour of death. Amen. Where does this come from?
Speaker 2
Where do we see this in the Bible? The answer is, it’s not from the Bible, this is the Hail Mary. And I should clarify that some elements of this are biblical, they are from Luke, and we’re going to look at that. But this part here, specifically the full of grace, is a bit debatable.
Speaker 3
Whether that specifically is in the Bible.
Speaker 2
You will find this the full of.
Speaker 3
Grace, not in any English versions, but you will see it if you look.
Speaker 2
At the Latin Vulgate and the Syriac Bibles. But again, like the major versions of.
Speaker 3
English, you’re never going to see this in it.
Speaker 2
What are we going to see instead? So this is Luke 128. This is what the Hail Mary is.
Speaker 3
Based on, at least in large part.
Speaker 2
And it reads, and having come in, the angel said to her, rejoiced, highly favored one, the Lord is with you. Blessed are you amongst women.
Speaker 3
We don’t see full of grace, we.
Speaker 2
See highly favored one. And the highly favored one, there is that Greek word we were fumbling over.
Speaker 3
Earlier, which is breaking out kakaritomeni.
Speaker 2
Tomeni. I’m not even pronouncing it right.
Speaker 3
I realize that.
Speaker 2
And if we break it down, this is actually a verb that’s in the perfect passive participle, nominative singular feminine tense. Greek is conjugated very different than English.
Speaker 3
And actually the root word is Kakeri tahoe karitaho.
Speaker 2
And what does that mean? What is that word?
Speaker 3
It means to grace, to endue with.
Speaker 2
Special honor, make accepted to be highly favored. You can find this from strong’s definitions in the blue letter Bible App. You could also there they have the Theor’s Greek lexicon, which clarifies that this word means to make graceful, charming, lovely, agreeable to pursue with grace, compass with.
Speaker 3
Favor, to honor with blessing. And it’s important that as we’re looking.
Speaker 2
At this, what does the kakari tomeni mean? It’s meaning that some external force is causing someone to be graced. Someone is showing grace to another person. Someone is showing favor, conferring favor. So it’s not meaning that Mary from.
Speaker 3
Within her in of herself, has grace.
Speaker 2
So don’t just take my word for it. Let’s quickly go through. I mentioned all the different translations. KJV uses highly favored LSB, look use favored one.
Speaker 3
NASB 20, favored one.
Speaker 2
The RSV favored one.
Speaker 3
NIV you who are highly favored.
Speaker 2
Hniv, highly favored one.
Speaker 3
ASV thou that art highly favored, ESB favored woman, ESV favored one. Net favored one. The Young’s Literal Translation favored one.
Speaker 2
Dby the thou favorite one. And this is my favorite one, the.
Speaker 3
Better English Bible and Basic English sorry, Bible and Basic English, to whom special.
Speaker 2
Grace has been given.
Speaker 3
I think that really is a good
Speaker 2
Way to summarize what is trying to.
Speaker 3
Be conveyed in this verse. So why why is Mary the highly favored one?
Speaker 2
I think that’s sort of the essence of Jenny’s question. Real good question. Why is Luke saying that? Why is angel saying that? Let’s look at two verses down now.
Speaker 3
We’re now looking at Luke 130, and.
Speaker 2
Gabriel says, do not be afraid, Mary.
Speaker 3
For you have found favor with God. That word favor is Paris, which is.
Speaker 2
Actually even the more root word of the other words, we were looking at.
Speaker 3
Karis, and it means grace, goodwill, lovingkindness, favor. Thanks.
Speaker 2
And we see this throughout the Bible when we talk about God’s grace.
Speaker 3
God shows grace.
Speaker 2
So God has found favor, or you have found favor with God. God is showing grace to her. And the very next verse we get an understanding why or how is she being favored.
Speaker 3
Where is this favor coming from?
Speaker 2
So Luke 131, it says, and behold, you will conceive in your womb and.
Speaker 3
Bring forth a son and shall call his name Jesus. So she is going to have something very, very special.
Speaker 2
Of all the created beings of all time in the whole world, the whole universe, how many will give birth to God? Maybe like Tina, Wendy, Chiming.
Speaker 3
Of all the created beings, only one.
Speaker 2
Only one. I mean, think about it. This is so profound. Only one created being ever, anywhere will ever give birth to God.
Speaker 3
I mean, I’m pretty confident about this. Not going to hear about Jesus being.
Speaker 2
Reincarnated again and again and know, no.
Speaker 3
He was made flesh one time and.
Speaker 2
Only one time, and that was through Mary. What an incredible special honor.
Speaker 3
She had to be the mother of God.
Speaker 2
So was Mary highly favored by.
Speaker 3
I.
Speaker 2
Mean, we can’t downplay the significance of this. But again, she was still human. She was still like one of us.
Speaker 3
And that’s still important.
Speaker 2
That’s how Christ’s coming was significant because.
Speaker 3
He also became one of us and.
Speaker 2
Yet he’s still God. Yes, but didn’t transmute Mary into something.
Speaker 3
Other than know jesus was really everybody.
Speaker 2
Has been waiting for him through all generations. Jesus is called the desire of all nations. Since Eve, the human race has been waiting for the Messiah to come, the one who will smash the head of the serpent.
Speaker 3
The seed that will come from Eve. So was Mary full of grace? I would say only when Jesus was in the womb because it wasn’t her grace.
Speaker 2
It wasn’t grace in of herself.
Speaker 3
It was grace of Jesus who is.
Speaker 2
Full of grace according to the Bible. We see it in John 114. It says, and the word became flesh.
Speaker 3
And dwelt among us, and we beheld the glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
Speaker 2
Is there any other time in the Bible where we hear a lot of.
Speaker 3
Talk about glory, grace, truth? Where do we see these words? Very significant. We see this all the way back in Exodus 34 when God shows himself to Moses and proclaims his name. And this is what we read, exodus 34 six and the Lord passed before.
Speaker 2
Him and proclaimed the Lord the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long suffering and.
Speaker 3
Abounding in goodness and truth.
Speaker 2
We see there, look, merciful and gracious.
Speaker 3
That gracious actually is very important. That’s Hanun. And this word is only used with respect to God. As Brown driver Briggs lexicon says gracious only used as an attribute of know.
Speaker 2
It’s not saying that there aren’t gracious humans, but this is a very special gracious. And I mean, we’re talking about only God is as merciful as God is like we are not on par with Him whatsoever.
Speaker 3
And so when we say Jesus is full of grace, I think John is.
Speaker 2
Pointing back to here talking about Jesus being merciful and loving and gracious and giving and showing favor to people on a level that none of us ever can or ever will.
Speaker 3
It’s a trait of God. Let’s look at grace, though.
Speaker 2
Grace is still something that God gives to all of us. So many people have misconceptions of grace, or should say a very narrow view.
Speaker 3
Of what grace is.
Speaker 2
Grace could be mercy, it could be in a form of God’s forgiveness to us. But there’s another grace of how God.
Speaker 3
Gives certain types of gifts to us, spiritual gifts.
Speaker 2
And we read about this in Ephesians four seven. It says, but to each one of.
Speaker 3
Us, grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.
Speaker 2
You’re getting a good idea. It’s kind of like a thing that.
Speaker 3
God gives to everybody potentially.
Speaker 2
This is why it says when he ascended on high, he took many captives.
Speaker 3
And gave gifts to his people. We jump ahead a little bit.
Speaker 2
It says so Christ himself gave And I think the better way to in terms of tenses is has given. He doesn’t stop giving.
Speaker 3
He’s still giving the Church, the Apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers to equip his people for works.
Speaker 2
Of service, so that the body of.
Speaker 3
Christ may be built up until we.
Speaker 2
Reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole.
Speaker 3
Measure of the fullness of Christ.
Speaker 2
I love this.
Speaker 3
We are supposed to be becoming mature.
Speaker 2
Spiritually to point where we are filled with the fullness of Christ.
Speaker 3
We are full of Christ. And if we think about that, if.
Speaker 2
Christ is full of grace, what will it be like when we are full of Christ? So I believe we should all be full of Christ. And when we are, we are going.
Speaker 3
To be full of grace.
Speaker 2
And it’s not grace that’s attributable to.
Speaker 3
Us, it’s not our grace, but we.
Speaker 2
Will be full of grace.
Speaker 3
So just as Mary can give birth to the Messiah, we can have the Spirit of God reborn us to make.
Speaker 2
Us be born again.
Speaker 3
It says, Bear God within us and.
Speaker 2
God working through us will fill us.
Speaker 3
With grace, fill us with wisdom, fill.
Speaker 2
Us with knowledge, fill us with love, fill us with all these traits that again have nothing to do with us. They’re external, they’re given, they come to us because God’s showing special favor to.
Speaker 3
Us, just like he shows special favor to Mary.
Speaker 2
And so this is a critical, important.
Speaker 3
Distinction to understand the differences between, let’s say, Catholic traditions where things could be.
Speaker 2
Intrinsic within a person, goodness is within a person, and they have special merit that then they could pass.
Speaker 3
On to others versus the Protestant view.
Speaker 2
Of the Bible is the Bible is.
Speaker 3
Teaching us that we have a direct.
Speaker 2
Relationship with God, that God is working powerfully within us. When we give Him the chance, when.
Speaker 3
We have the relationship with Him and.
Speaker 2
All the good, all the love, all the wisdom, all those things are going to be attributable to Him.
Speaker 3
We are cooperating. We have a role, yes, but as.
Speaker 2
Paul talks about, he says, I don’t have reason to boast because it really.
Speaker 3
Is God working in us and it.
Speaker 2
Should give us hope because again, we don’t have to have anybody between us and God.
Speaker 3
It means these things, these attributes come.
Speaker 2
From us having a direct relationship with God. No middle people, no middlemen no middle.
Speaker 3
Women, no marrying, no saints.
Speaker 2
We go straight to God Himself and God comes straight to us and into us.
Speaker 3
And this is why it’s such a.
Speaker 2
Special, special thing that the Bible teaches that I don’t think we see in any other religion.
Speaker 3
This is the power of Christianity and.
Speaker 2
To put division between us and God.
Speaker 3
Really denies the power of it. So this is why to me, it’s a big deal.
Speaker 2
And I’m not against Mary. I think she’s amazing woman and definitely.
Speaker 3
Favorite beyond any other. But the concept of way she’s venerated.
Speaker 2
And put in position that’s just not true, denies so much power of the.
Speaker 3
Gospel, and that’s why we protest. So, Tina, Wendy, any.
Speaker 4
Know as far know the tradition, know mary is somehow holds divinity within herself. And I understand I have family who’s Catholic, and I totally respect anybody who’s of the Catholic faith and who holds this position. But it comes down to, do you believe the Bible is true or what will you choose? Will you choose what the Bible says to be true, or will you choose a tradition? And let me show you one quick verse that jay, I think everything you’re saying is spot on, but just to show you one quick verse that really shows Mary there is no divinity in and of herself. As much as, yes, she was favored as far as, yeah, God favored her. That know, she’s going to be my chosen vessel, and she’s going to hold the Son of God within her for a period of time, but that doesn’t mean that she had any divinity within herself to do that. And if you look at the Book of Isaiah, chapter seven, verse 14, this is a messianic prophecy. So this is a prophecy that God gave many hundreds of years before Jesus came to this earth. And if you look at Isaiah 714, it says, therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign.
Speaker 4
Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Emmanuel. So it’s just saying a virgin. Not the virgin, not the Mother of God. The Bible never uses a phrase mother of God. It never uses the phrase queen of heaven. It never uses those phrases ever. Just in pointing to what Mary’s job would be, it said a virgin. There was no sign of divinity in that at all. And so I think that’s where it gets a little bit dangerous when we start giving to people the attributes of divinity, because we cannot put our trust in people. We have to put our trust only in Know, and she’s going to bring forth Emmanuel, which is God with us, which is Jesus Christ, of course. So we need to just put our trust in Jesus and the Father who sent him, and just really be careful that, again, we’re not putting our trust in people that really don’t have that authority or power, because as much as I respect Mary, I cannot even imagine being put in her position. She was highly honored, and God definitely saw her as a very special vessel for his.
Speaker 4
You know, I have the highest respect for her, but I think it’s very dangerous to go to the point of worship because that’s where God holds very sacred. He says, I will not share my glory with another. I will not share my worship with another. God is very specific that he only wants us to worship Him and Him alone. And that’s the very first commandment. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. There is nobody in heaven besides God, period. And so, again, as much as I respect Mary and this theology yeah. We have to point ourselves back to the Bible and say, what does the Bible say? Not what we feel or what we think or what we’re brought up with, but rather what does God’s word truly say? Thank you. Sorry. I feel passionately about this as well. So sorry about that.
Speaker 2
Yeah, I’m very passionate about it too. And it’s nothing gets it’s. It’s the philosophy that it could be any other person in that position, and that shouldn’t be.
Speaker 4
Exactly. And there’s nothing against people who hold know who’ve been raised that way. I respect and love all people, and I just pray that we all continue to grow, like you’re saying, in the fullness of Christ, getting to know God and His Word better. And as we do, I think we’re going to be led to all. So anyways, I know I see some comments.
Speaker 2
Yes. Facebook user says has a good comment.
Speaker 3
On point right here.
Speaker 1
Yes. The Facebook user says Mary called God her savior.
Speaker 4
That’s very true. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1
She herself did not put herself on the same level as God.
Speaker 4
No, she really didn’t. And the thing was, with in Jesus’s ministry, there was a time where Jesus even had to rebuke her because she, you know, and he even said, like, hey, she’s not even my mom. Who’s my mother? Those who do my will. And so he was very clear, like, hey, in an earthly sense, yes, in a physical sense. But spiritually speaking, no. Spiritually speaking, she was in the wrong at that moment, and she needed correction. And so as much as I know he did respect his mother, I believe he did obey the Ten Commandments. She was never his spiritual mother. She doesn’t hold divinity within herself.
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