Was Mary sinless? Was she conceived without sin? In Luke 1:28 When the angel comes to Mary she is called κεχαριτωμένη, which is a perfect, passive, participle. This means she was already in a completed and enduring state of God given grace before the Angel Gabriel even spoke, and will continue to be in perfected God given grace. Titus 2:11–12 tells us “For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say ‘No’ to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives”. To be in a perfected state of that grace tells us our mother Mary, received this grace from God and abided in it. Grace is a cure for sin. Because perfected grace and sin cannot coexist, it logically follows that if Mary was truly and completely filled with perfected grace before and will continue to be after the Annunciation, then she could not have been in a state of sin at that time. And if she was already fully graced before Gabriel’s arrival, the most consistent conclusion is that God prepared her from the beginning of her existence. This reasoning is the foundation of the Immaculate Conception. Not that the word itself literally means “sinless,” but that the condition it describes, an unbroken and perfected state of grace bestowed by God, naturally excludes sin and points to Mary being preserved in grace from her earliest moment. In scripture we read Peter received enormous grace and still sinned (Galatians 2), Paul received extraordinary grace and still sinned (Romans 7), David received covenant grace and still sinned. If you look at the pattern none of them are in a full perfected state of grace. Another example if we take a look at Acts 6:8 when Stephen is called “full of grace” we see again this is contrary to Mary’s “kecharitomene”, because Stephen is called Pleres charitos, which means he was fully graced in that moment. Mary Received an unbroken and perfected state of grace bestowed by God, which naturally excludes sin and points to Mary being preserved in grace from her earliest moment.
This work represents a developing theological reflection written in fidelity to the Catholic Church. Revisions may occur as understanding deepens.
12/26/2025
Veiled Disciple 