Was Mary sinless? Was Mary without sin?

The spiritual teaching of this for us we have already referred to. But this chapter is especially important in these days, for it gives the lie to one of the latest authorised dogmas of the Church of Rome — the immaculate conception of the blessed Virgin Mary. Blessed she is, but immaculate was the Virgin at no time of her life, and the ordinance appointed in this chapter (12), to which the Evangelist Luke tells us she conformed, plainly proves it. Unclean according to the law for seven days after the birth of her son, she came at the expiration of the appointed forty days with two birds, the one for a burnt-offering, and the other for a sin-offering; and the priest, whoever he was, offered them to make atonement for her. The offerings she brought — two birds — attested her poverty on the one hand, and her condition as a sinful creature on the other. The low estate of David's royal house, and direct line told a tale of the failure, great and grievous, of his offspring, who had once sat on his throne. Her burnt-offering and sin-offering spoke clearly of her condition as a child of Adam, but also of God's grace, which could meet it by sacrifice. Her immaculate conception! How would she have recoiled at the bare idea of it! Mercy, favour too, unsought and undreamt of, she frankly and fully owned. But to the figment of her conception without a stain her offerings unmistakeably give the lie. What a position was hers that day. Her need of atonement by blood she confessed, as she stood before that altar and witnessed the death of the birds, but the occasion which thus called it forth was the birth of Him, by whom that atonement was to be really, fully, and finally accomplished. He was perfectly holy, and this law said nothing about the child. She was unclean as a mother, and nothing but blood-shedding could atone for her.

In the Temple. — The child born, the historian now directs our attention to Him, who henceforth becomes the prominent object in the foreground of the picture. He was first circumcised, and named. He was next presented before the Lord in the temple at Jerusalem in accordance with the word of Ex. 13:12-13; Num. 18:16. His mother at the same time brought the offering for herself prescribed in Lev. 12:8, a burnt offering and a sin offering, to make atonement for her, that she should be clean. For the male child, which opened the womb, no atonement was on such an occasion ever required, though every one but the Virgin's child was born in sin. God, however, had a claim on the firstborn which dated from the Exodus. That claim had to be met as the law appointed. Redemption by money, for every firstborn male of the twelve tribes, was a necessity. But this redemption by money was not redemption from judgment, with which it has been too often confounded. So from it the Lord Jesus was not exempted; as the historian's reference to the law (2:23) makes clear. And the law, it seems, made no difference in the money payment between a poor man's child and a rich one's son. On the other hand, Mary could avail herself of the provision in the law for those unable to bring a lamb, and so brought two birds. Her offering betokened her poverty. The object for which she brought them betokened her need as a sinful creature. How could that really be met? She surely little thought that the child she presented that day before the Lord was God's Lamb to meet the need of her soul. She was sinful. Her child was holy. But more. He would in due time give Himself as the ransom for His mother's soul.

For a trespass-offering a ram was required, whether the trespass was committed through ignorance or not (Lev. 5:15; 6:6; 19:22; Num. 5:8.) At the great festivals the sin-offering was a goat, offered up for all the congregation of Israel; so it was on the eighth day of Aaron's consecration when first a sin-offering was sacrificed for the people. For the Nazarite, or the one afflicted with an issue, the smallest offering in which blood was shed was appointed, even two turtle doves, or two young pigeons, because the defilement God could not overlook, it must be atoned for. In the case of the leper, and of the woman after childbirth, God considered their circumstances. For the woman a Iamb was the normal sacrifice, but, if she was too poor to procure it, the two birds already noticed were to be taken in its stead. It was of this gracious provision that Mary the Virgin availed herself — a declaration on the one hand of her poverty on earth, and on the other of her condition before God. For though she was well aware of the manner of her conception, and had been informed of the holy nature of her child, she could not assert for herself, what others have since done, her own immaculate conception; for the sacrifices she brought told a very different tale, as she offered the burnt-offering and the sin-offering to cleanse her from the issue of her blood, and to make atonement for her that she should be clean. (Lev. 12.) Thus over and over again God reminded Israel, that without shedding of blood is no remission (Heb. 9:22); for on one occasion only could an omer of fine flour be accepted as a sin-offering in lieu of an animal, and the sprinkling of its blood. But even then there was represented in type the judgment of God against sin, borne really by Him who was the true sin-offering, for a handful of the flour was burnt by the priest for a memorial upon the altar. Little probably did the offerer understand, as he availed himself of God's gracious provision on his behalf, and brought what he was able to get, that by the true sin-offering — nothing short of the full judgment of God against sin must be borne. In that case no alleviation could be permitted, for the question then settled was not simply what concerned the sinner, but what was due to the majesty and nature of God. This was taken up fully in type only on the great day of atonement.

We turn now to the side of the Ritualist. The Virgin Mary was born with a sinful nature. That she was the subject of the gracious work of the Spirit of God in her soul, there is no doubt. She was indeed a saint and a prepared vessel for this great honour put upon her. Her outburst of praise to God—a veritable mosaic of Old Testament quotations, proving her intimate knowledge of Scripture, in the presence of Elizabeth, the expectant mother of the forerunner of the Messiah, John, the Baptist, is a beautiful testimony to us.

She exclaims, “My spirit has rejoiced in God MY Saviour” (Luke 1:47). Like all who are taught of God she recognised her sinful estate and that she needed a Saviour, and had found One in God Himself. How can such a dogma as the immaculate conception, viz: that the Virgin Mary was born sinless, be promulgated in the face of her own confession of sinnership in the finding of God as Saviour?

The Lord was sinless, though born of a Virgin, who needed a Saviour, as we have seen; He had no sinful father, but the Holy Ghost’s power came upon Mary so that it could be said to her, “That HOLY thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:35).

Mary's praise and adoration ascribed to the Lord is beautiful. She is a picture of the godly remnant of Israel, the mother of the man-child (Rev.12:1-6), and her language here will be that of the restored remnant of the Jews following the Great Tribulation. Her soul (the center of her emotions and affections) magnified the Lord, Jehovah. Her spirit (the center of her understanding and intelligence) rejoiced in God her Savior. Verse 46 indicates her submission to His authority when using the title Lord. Verse 47 shows her worship of the supreme God, yet who in grace became her Savior, for she knew herself to be a sinner who needed His salvation, just as we all do.

The marvelous outburst of praise which comes from Mary's lips is a beautiful echo of the Old Testament Scriptures. The pious Virgin knew the Word of God; her heart was filled with it and the Holy Spirit used the Word in the expression of her praise. Many Psalms are touched upon, but especially are we reminded of Hannah's inspired song. (1 Samuel 2.) Notice also Mary's deep humility and her acknowledgment of the need of a Saviour. The invention of Rome, of the sinless and immaculate person of Mary, is disproved by everything in the Word of God.

Modernists have sought to assail this great fact, and assert that it matters little if our Lord had a sinful father as well as mother. The Roman Catholics, on the other hand, believing in the Virgin Birth, have added an article of faith to their creed, viz., that of the Immaculate Conception. By this the Roman Catholic Church teaches that the Virgin herself was sinlessly conceived, a pure assumption, and without any support from Scripture.

Mary, the mother of our Lord according to the flesh, “blessed among women” surely, chosen for the highest honour possible in a woman, in her Magnificat says, “My spirit has rejoiced in God MY SAVIOUR” (Luke 1:47). Now, if Mary had been sinless she had no need of a Saviour, for surely need of a Saviour she had, like the rest of us.

But one verse of Scripture settles the point, and that the inspired record of what the Virgin Mary herself said in the joy of her heart, when the news of the high honour of becoming the mother of our Lord according to the flesh was brought to her. She exclaimed in great exultation:

Now if the Virgin, “blessed among women,” had a Saviour, she must have needed a Saviour. And if she needed a Saviour, she must have been a sinner, like every member of the fallen human race.

To be consistent, if Romanists believe the Virgin was sinless, then death could not have been her portion, for “the wages of sin is death.” So they claim that she miraculously ascended to Heaven without dying on the 15th August, A.D. 45. There is not a single line of Scripture for the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, nor for her translation to Heaven without dying.

"That holy thing that shall be born of thee shall be called the SON OF GOD." We have the birth of a Babe foretold here, conceived of the Holy Ghost, born of Mary the Virgin. He is here called Son of God as born in time. Though seen in the weakness of infancy, and so partaking in humanity perfectly, yet is He sinlessly holy; and He does not forfeit His Sonship by accepting human conditions. Had His mother been divine, He had not been human. She was woman, singularly favoured because chosen out of all the virgins of Israel to be the mother of the Lord; yet the more we make of Mary, the less do we make of the divine miracle of this holy birth. The body in which He appeared was prepared for Him (Heb. 10); and in it was He to effectuate all the will of God. It was guarded from every taint of sin in the Virgin's womb; not by any immaculate conception of the Virgin herself (as affirmed by Rome), which could be supposed to free her from taint of sin, but by the power and wisdom of God the Holy Ghost. The fable of the Virgin's immaculate birth, had it been true, would have required the same miracle in her parentage and birth which Scripture declares with regard to the Babe in David's royal city.

Such is the incalculable blessedness dependent on the Lord Jesus. It was not the law, though He came under it. It was not promise, though He was the accomplishment and accomplisher of promise. It was Himself, the Son, and the Son deigning to be veritable man. Only, as is said later in this Epistle, "In Him is no sin;" not merely that He did not commit sin, or as 2 Cor. 5:21 says, He knew no sin but no sin was in Him. His nature was holy and in no wise sinful. He was therefore born in a manner altogether singular. Without doubt He was born of the Virgin, but not this made Him sinless: for the Virgin was in herself sinful like any other. She was however a believer of remarkable simplicity too and purity of character; yet she needed a Saviour, and she had the same Saviour as we in her own Son. But well she knew that her Son was unlike any other son in the way in which He became flesh. It was by the power of the Holy Ghost. He, not she, was therefore immaculate. It is well to adhere to the truth. For in daring to add to revealed truth, superstition only invents a falsehood which gives Christ's unique place to another; and God will surely judge the blasphemy.