1 John 3:9, "He who is born of GOD does not commit sin."
©
Written by Bob Stanley, August 3, 1999
Updated June 14, 2003
Updated December 24, 2008
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All Have Sinned
Romans
3:23
"...as all have sinned and have need of the glory of
GOD."
Rom 3:23
Non-Catholics point to this verse as 'proof' against
the Immaculate
Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Immaculate Conception means
the Blessed Virgin Mary was conceived and born without original sin. However
this verse does not even address 'Original Sin', which is imputed to almost all
of mankind by the sin of Adam and Eve. I said almost all, simply because a few
did not have original sin imputed to them, namely Adam, Eve, Jesus Christ, and
the New Eve, Blessed Mary.
Romans 3:23 addresses only the sins that we commit of our own free will.
Are there any exceptions to the word 'All'?
What about Jesus Christ? Did He
in His humanity ever sin?
What about babies and those with a mental
retardation who have no reasoning power? Have they sinned? Have children below
the age of reason sinned? Have comatose and senile people sinned? As you can
see, there are exceptions.
Luke 1:6, regarding Zachary and Elizabeth, the
parents of John the Baptist, "Both were just before GOD, walking blamelessly in
all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord".
Luke 1:15, regarding
John the Baptist, "For he shall be great before the Lord; he shall drink no wine
or strong drink, and shall be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mothers
womb".
Do these verses sound as if Zachary, Elizabeth, and John the
Baptist have sinned?
You can readily see that there are many exceptions
to the term 'All have sinned'. Since I have shown there are many exceptions to
the word 'ALL', why then should anyone not allow one more exception, the Mother
of GOD?
The Greek word, 'PAS', meaning 'ALL', can have different meanings as shown in
other verses of Holy Scripture.
John 12:19, "The entire world has gone
after him!" Did everyone in the entire world really go after Christ?
Mt
3:5-6, "Then went out to Him Jerusalem, and ALL Judea, and ALL the region about
the Jordan; and they were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins."
Were all of the people of Judea, and the region about the Jordan baptized?
The phrase 'the whole world', does not really mean everybody in the
world. The words 'whole world' and 'all' are used in several different senses of
Scripture, and seldom do they literally mean all persons.
Rom 11:26,
"ALL Israel shall be saved." We know for certain that 'ALL' in Israel will not
be saved.
Rom 15:14, "...you yourselves are full of love, filled with
'ALL' knowledge..." Here we know for sure that the only person filled with 'ALL'
knowledge is GOD Himself.
The Greek word 'pas' in many verses in
Scripture simply means a 'great number', or 'a lot'. Since there are exceptions
for Jesus Christ, and for others as shown above, the meaning could be seen as,
'ALL are subject to sin'. In the case of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a prevention
of sin was brought about by a special grace from GOD.
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