Did Mary need a Savior? Mary answered that question herself in fewer than ten words. But whether she ever sinned takes a little more investigation. Mary herself said:
My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.
Luke 1:46–47
In our last study, we asked whether Mary is the mother of God, and we studied a principle: the most respectful thing you can do for Mary is take her at her word. So let’s do that in this study, because there’s more to this question than most people realize.
In 1854, Pope Pius IX defined the Immaculate Conception as Catholic dogma. It teaches that from the first moment of her conception, Mary was preserved from Original Sin, another Catholic doctrine.1 The Catechism of the Catholic Church says that, by God’s grace, Mary never committed a personal sin for her entire life.2
If a Catholic believes Mary never sinned, how do they reconcile the fact that Mary called God her Savior? They provide this illustration: One person falls into a pit, and someone pulls him out. Another person is about to fall in, and someone catches her before she does. Both were saved. We were pulled out. Mary, on the other hand, was caught.3
It’s a thoughtful answer. But the question isn’t whether God could do that. Of course He could. The question is whether He did and whether or not Mary was completely sinless. It’s telling that Catholic priest Dwight Longenecker said, “We admit that this doctrine is not stated explicitly in the Scriptures.”4
The Catholic Church does not build this doctrine on the Bible. Instead, they present the doctrine as truth on the authority of the Catholic Church. In other words, “It’s true because we said so.” But if we’re going to take Mary at her word, we have to start with her words and God’s word.
Many Catholics know the angel’s greeting in Luke 1:28 as “Hail, full of grace,” and it’s one of the main verses offered in support of Mary’s sinlessness.5 Most Bible translations, instead of saying “full of grace,” say, “highly favored.” The Greek word comes from the noun χάρις (charis), meaning grace, good will, and thanks. The verb appears precisely two times in the New Testament. Here and with the word “accepted” in Ephesians 1:6, which says that God has “made us accepted in the Beloved.”6
The same Greek verb is used of all believers in Ephesians 1:6. So the word itself cannot mean “a person who has never committed a personal sin.” It means that someone has been graced by God. If being graced by God means Mary was sinless for life, it would make every Christian also sinless for life. But we don’t have to speculate and turn to other passages to know what the angel meant when he called Mary “full of grace” or “highly favored.” Just two verses later, the angel says:
Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.
Luke 1:30
That’s not the same as saying, “You have never committed a personal sin.”
When Scripture teaches the sinlessness of Jesus, it does so explicitly.
For He made Him [Jesus] who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
2 Corinthians 5:21
[Jesus] committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth.
1 Peter 2:22
Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.
Hebrews 4:14–15
Scripture never uses this language about Mary. The one thing Mary did say about herself is that God is her Savior.
This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.
1 Timothy 1:15
It is those who have sinned who need a Savior.
All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
Romans 3:23
The biblical evidence gives us no reason to exempt Mary from the universal problem of human sin. Mary needed a Savior, Scripture never calls her sinless, and unlike Jesus she is never identified as one who “knew no sin.” That’s not meant as an insult. It’s simply understanding what Scripture says about all people who know the difference between right and wrong. We shouldn’t shy away from coming to grips with just how powerful the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus is! Jesus died for His own mother, like He did for all sinners.
The Catholic Church teaches the doctrine of Original Sin, which says that every human being inherits sin from conception. But they claim that Mary was an exception in the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception. Some have assumed that the Immaculate Conception doctrine is about the conception of Jesus, but it’s not. It’s about Mary’s conception, and it claims that God intervened to cause Mary to be sinless from her conception.7 Both of these doctrines are completely absent from Scripture. But notice how one unbiblical premise creates the need for another exception. Although all humans are affected by the sin of Adam, and death reigns over the earth (see Romans 5:12–21), Scripture never says that guilt is inherited from Adam in such a way that every newborn bears personal guilt, and Scripture never says Mary was uniquely exempted from that condition. We’ve covered the doctrine of Original Sin in other studies. John gives us a simple definition of sin:
Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness. And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin.
1 John 3:4–5
Sin is something committed, not inherited. Ezekiel 18:20 says:
The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.
Since this is true, there’s no need to invent the doctrines of Original Sin or the Immaculate Conception. We are guilty because we sin, and that is why every one of us needs a Savior. Without inherited guilt, the Immaculate Conception is an answer to a question that the Bible never raises. It is a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist, built to protect a claim the Bible never makes.
So, did Mary need a Savior? Yes. Not in some special, preventive way that Scripture never mentions, but the same way you and I do. That isn’t an insult to Mary. It shows that God is able to use an imperfect, favored person to help carry out His eternal plan. She was a sinner saved by the grace of God, rejoicing in her Savior. And she was willing for God to use her to bring about His saving work.
If Mary needed a Savior, so do you and I. The same Jesus Mary rejoiced in died for your sins and rose again. He calls you to believe in Him, repent of your sins, confess His name, and be baptized into His death (Romans 6:3–4). My prayer is that you’ll rejoice in God your Savior too.
In the next study, we’ll tackle another teaching about Mary: that she remained a virgin for her entire life. Along the way, we’ll ask a bigger question: Is lifelong virginity really holier than marriage? Study that question here.
- Pius IX, Ineffabilis Deus (December 8, 1854), in Heinrich Denzinger, Compendium of Creeds, Definitions, and Declarations on Matters of Faith and Morals, ed. Peter Hünermann et al., 43rd ed. (San Francisco: Ignatius, 2012), no. 2803. An English translation is available at https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/teachings/pius-ixs-ineffabilis-deus-defining-the-immaculate-conception-153. ↩︎
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd ed. (Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1997), §§491–493. ↩︎
- Jimmy Akin, “How to Defend the Immaculate Conception,” Catholic Answers Magazine, December 8, 2016, https://www.catholic.com/magazine/online-edition/how-to-defend-the-immaculate-conception. ↩︎
- Dwight Longenecker, “Debate with Bob Jones Grad on the Immaculate Conception,” https://dwightlongenecker.com/debate-with-bob-jones-grad-on-the-immaculate-conception/. ↩︎
- Akin, “How to Defend the Immaculate Conception.” ↩︎
- Frederick W. Danker et al., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), s.v. “χαριτόω.” In the New Testament the verb occurs only in Luke 1:28 and Eph 1:6. ↩︎
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd ed. (Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1997), §§490–93. ↩︎