<\/div>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/572\/2023\/07\/MaryCranach-239x300.jpg\")
<\/a><\/div>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/572\/2023\/07\/MaryCranach.jpg\")
<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Lots of people (and angels) have been without sin: if not always, at least for a time or season. Adam and Eve before they fell were sinless; had never sinned until they rebelled. If we consider all creatures, two-thirds of the angels are not only sinless now, but always have been so. Even Satan and the fallen angels were sinless before they rebelled. Some have argued (even some Protestants, I believe) that the prophet Jeremiah and\/or John the Baptist may have possibly been sinless:<\/div>\n
*<\/div>\n
\nJeremiah 1:5<\/strong> (RSV) \u201cBefore I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.\u201d<\/div>\n*<\/div>\nLuke 1:15<\/strong> for he will be great before the Lord, . . . and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother\u2019s womb. (cf. Mk 6:20: \u201cJohn . . . was a righteous and holy man\u201d)<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n*<\/div>\nJob is described by God as follows:<\/div>\n*<\/div>\n\nJob 1:8<\/strong> And the LORD said to Satan, \u201cHave you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?\u201d (cf. 1:1; 2:3)<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n*<\/div>\nMoses wrote that Noah was \u201ca righteous man, blameless in his generation; Noah walked with God\u201d (Gen 6:9). The Bible states that \u201cthe heart of [King] Asa was blameless all his days\u201d (2 Chr 15:17).<\/div>\n*<\/div>\nThe word \u201cblameless\u201d appears forty times in the Old Testament in the RSV and twelve more times in the New. Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth, the parents of John the Baptist, are described in inspired revelation as \u201crighteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless\u201d (Lk 1:5-6).<\/div>\n*<\/div>\nChildren under the age of reason are basically sinless, as are those without the mental or intellectual capacity to make moral judgments. All of us are sinless every night when we sleep (excepting a wicked dream, which is only half-willing at best). After receiving absolution in sacramental confession, a person is sinless: at least until such time as he or she decides to sin again. All who make it to heaven will be sinless for all eternity.<\/div>\n*<\/div>\nSt. Paul urges us to \u201cbe holy and blameless before him\u201d (Eph 1:4). Sure, it\u2019s an extremely high ideal or goal, but Paul acts as if it is at least potentially possible. He didn\u2019t say (as Protestants would): \u201cno one can ever possibly be blameless; so don\u2019t even try; don\u2019t even begin the attempt. It\u2019s foolish to believe such a thing.\u201d<\/div>\n*<\/div>\nNo! Paul appears to believe that it can hypothetically be done, by God\u2019s grace. Paul didn\u2019t just say this once, but eight times: \u201cthat you . . . may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ\u201d (Phil 1:10); \u201cthat you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish\u201d (Phil 2:15); \u201cYou are witnesses, and God also, how holy and righteous and blameless was our behavior\u201d (1 Thess 2:10); \u201cMay the God of peace himself sanctify you wholly; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ\u201d (1 Thess 5:23); \u201cif they prove themselves blameless let them serve as deacons\u201d (1 Tim 3:10); \u201ca bishop, as God\u2019s steward, must be blameless\u201d (Titus 1:7; cf. 1:6).<\/div>\n*<\/div>\nSee also passages about righteousness<\/a>; for example: \u201cput on the new nature, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness\u201d (Eph 4:24); \u201caim at righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness\u201d (1 Tim 6:11; cf. 2 Tim 2:22); etc., and passages about being holy<\/a>: for example, \u201cFor God\u2019s temple is holy, and that temple you are\u201d (1 Cor 3:17); \u201cGod\u2019s chosen ones, holy and beloved\u201d (Col 3:12); \u201cwho saved us and called us with a holy calling\u201d (2 Tim 1:9), etc., and about holiness<\/a>: for example, \u201cin holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our life\u201d (Lk 1:75); \u201clet us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, and make holiness perfect in the fear of God\u201d (2 Cor 7:1); \u201cGod has not called us for uncleanness, but in holiness\u201d (1 Thess 4:7); \u201cthat we may share his holiness\u201d (Heb 12:10); \u201cStrive . . . for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord\u201d (Heb 12:14); \u201cwhat sort of persons ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness\u201d (2 Pet 3:11).<\/div>\n*<\/div>\nSee also the passages about being godly<\/a>; for example, \u201cgodly and respectful in every way\u201d (1 Tim 2:2); \u201cdesire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus\u201d (2 Tim 3:12); \u201clive sober, upright, and godly lives\u201d (Titus 2:12); and about godliness<\/a>; for example, \u201cTrain yourself in godliness; . . . godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come\u201d (1 Tim 4:7-8); \u201cHis divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness\u201d (2 Pet 1:3). We also have passages about being perfect<\/a>; for example, \u201cYou, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect\u201d (Mt 5:48); \u201cIf you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess\u201d (Mt 19:21); \u201cthat you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing\u201d (Jas 1:4);<\/div>\n*<\/div>\nWe have also many scriptures about being sanctified<\/a>; for example, \u201call those who are sanctified\u201d (Acts 20:32); \u201cthose who are sanctified by faith in me\u201d (Acts 26:18); \u201cthose sanctified in Christ Jesus\u201d (1 Cor 1:2); \u201cyou were washed, you were sanctified\u201d (1 Cor 6:11); \u201cFor this is the will of God, your sanctification\u201d (1 Thess 4:3); \u201cMay the God of peace himself sanctify you wholly\u201d (1 Thess 5:23); \u201csaved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth\u201d (2 Thess 2:13); \u201cthose who are sanctified\u201d (Heb 2:11);\u00a0 \u201cchosen and destined by God the Father and sanctified by the Spirit\u201d (1 Pet 1:2).<\/div>\n*<\/div>\nLastly, we have many passages about sin itself<\/a>; for example, \u201cSin no more\u201d (Jn 5:14); \u201cgo, and do not sin again\u201d (Jn 8:11); \u201cDo not yield your members to sin as instruments of wickedness, but yield yourselves to God as men who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments of righteousness . . . sin will have no dominion over you\u201d (Rom 6:13-14); \u201cnow that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the return you get is sanctification and its end, eternal life\u201d (Rom 6:22); \u201cCome to your right mind, and sin no more\u201d (1 Cor 15:34); \u201cwhoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin\u201d (1 Pet 4:1); \u201cif we walk in the light, . . .\u00a0 the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin\u201d (1 Jn 1:7); \u201cI am writing this to you so that you may not sin\u201d (1 Jn 2:1); \u201cNo one born of God commits sin; for God\u2019s nature abides in him, and he cannot sin because he is born of God\u201d (1 Jn 3:9); any one born of God does not sin\u201d (1 Jn 5:18).<\/div>\n*<\/div>\nThe Blessed Virgin Mary was sinless, due to an extraordinary, miraculous act of grace by God at her conception. We know this from the meaning of kecharitomene<\/em> (\u201cfull of grace\u201d): which is how the angel Gabriel described her in inspired revelation (Lk 1:28). I\u2019ve constructed an argument for her sinlessness solely from Scripture<\/a>, based on Luke 1:28 and its implications, in conjunction with Paul\u2019s teaching on the antithetical nature of grace and sin.<\/div>\n*<\/div>\nRelated Reading<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n*<\/div>\nThe Bible: Mary Was Without Sin<\/a>\u00a0[4-1-09]<\/div>\n*<\/div>\nSinless Mary: Dialogue\u00a0w\u00a0OT Professor<\/a>\u00a0(Dr. Jonathan Huddleston) [12-8-14]<\/div>\n*<\/div>\n\u201cArmstrong vs. Geisler\u201d #6: Sinless Mary\u00a0<\/a>[3-1-17]
\n*<\/div>\nScripture, Through an Angel, Reveals That Mary Was Sinless<\/a>\u00a0[National Catholic Register<\/em>, 4-30-17]
\n*<\/div>\n\u201cAll Have Sinned\u201d vs. a Sinless, Immaculate Mary?<\/a>\u00a0[1996; revised and posted at\u00a0National Catholic Register<\/em>\u00a0on 12-11-17]<\/div>\n*<\/div>\nWhy Would a Sinless Mary Offer Sacrifices?<\/a>\u00a0(vs. Matt Slick) [10-29-20]<\/div>\n*<\/div>\nSinless(?) Joseph, John the Baptist, Anne, & the Incarnation<\/a> (7-18-23)<\/div>\n*
\n***<\/div>\n*<\/div>\n\nPractical Matters<\/em><\/strong>: Perhaps some of my 4,300+ free online articles (the most comprehensive \u201cone-stop\u201d Catholic apologetics site) or\u00a0fifty-three books<\/a>\u00a0have helped you (by God\u2019s grace) to decide to\u00a0become Catholic<\/a>\u00a0or to\u00a0return to the Church<\/a>,\u00a0or better understand some doctrines and\u00a0why<\/em>\u00a0we believe them<\/a>.<\/div>\n*<\/div>\nOr you may believe my work is worthy to support for the purpose of apologetics and evangelism in general. If so, please seriously consider a much-needed financial contribution. I\u2019m always in need of more funds: especially\u00a0monthly<\/em>\u00a0support. \u201cThe laborer is worthy of his wages\u201d (1 Tim 5:18, NKJV). 1 December 2021 was my 20th anniversary as a\u00a0full-time Catholic apologist<\/a>, and February 2022 marked the 25th anniversary of my blog.<\/div>\n*<\/div>\nPayPal donations<\/a>\u00a0are the easiest: just send to my email address: apologistdave@gmail.com. You\u2019ll see the term \u201cCatholic Used Book Service\u201d, which is my old side-business. To learn about the different methods of contributing, including 100% tax deduction, etc., see my page:\u00a0About Catholic Apologist Dave Armstrong \/ Donation Information<\/a>.\u00a0Thanks a million<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0from the bottom of my heart!<\/div>\n