not Cathollic, but I have a question

ArmyofUs

I'm not trying to start an argument! I thought I should make that clear.
I have a boss who's Catholic.  He made a comment about how Mary, Jesus's mom, never sinned.  I didn't know that.  I believed that she had to sin because in Luke it states that she had to offer a "sin offering" after Jesus was born and in Romans it states that ALL have sinned.  I was just wondering if the Catholic bible/teachings had any changes on those topics.  I'm not saying one is right or the other is wrong, I just like to know about different religions.
TIA!

ootmother2

Perhaps your boss is referring to the Immaculate Conception of Mary?

That's often  misunderstood because it means that Mary was conceived without original sin which all humans are born with.

Is that what he meant?

ETA:  I've never heard of a "sin offering", either in the bible or in ordinary Church teaching

agapecarrie

Mary was without sin her whole life.  Any "sin offering" was made in accordance with Jewish law. (I'm not familiar with this, but Mary did follow Jewish laws).

The scripture you are referring to is talking about Mary as a creature, ..she was saved by Christ, as all are, however, the salvation was applied to her before her conception (God is outside of time) so she was prevented from having original sin...and suffering the effects of it personally. She couldn't have sinned because she was fully integrated body and soul as the "new eve" and the ark of the covenant.

And also, to clarify, it wasn't until the reformation that any teachings got changed, and they weren't by the Catholic church.

Hope61

Yes, we believe that Mary was conceived without sin and never sinned in her lifetime. The offering made in the Bible after Jesus' birth was not a sin offering (do you have a quote for that? The version I just looked up does not call it that.) but a sacrifice to the temple. In Jewish custom, a woman is considered unclean for 40 days after the birth of a son and must go to the temple when that time is completed. As we believe Mary to be sinless, she was not "unclean", but as a good Jewish woman she followed the laws of her faith and presented in the temple as all did.

ArmyofUs

(Luke 2:22-24) When the time of their purification according to the Law of Moses had been completed, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord She must also bring to the priest a lamb for a burnt offering and a dove for a sin offering. The priest will then offer them to the Lord to make atonement for her.

mica178

The sin offering was something offered by all good Jewish women after they gave birth.  The act of birth made them unclean but was not considered a sin.  The sin offering made them clean again.  The terminology is confusing.

katetw

Agreeing with mica -- translation (often many times over) is usually the culprit in confusing situations like this one. It was Jewish law, but doesn't mean Mary actually sinned.

Hope61

"(Luke 2:22-24) When the time of their purification according to the Law of Moses had been completed, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord She must also bring to the priest a lamb for a burnt offering and a dove for a sin offering. The priest will then offer them to the Lord to make atonement for her."

(For some reason it won't let me "quote" that, sorry.)

As a sort of sidenote... the first part of that is Luke 2:22, the italicized part is Leviticus 12:8. The rest of the passage in Luke says this: "(as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord”), ²⁴ and to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the Law of the Lord: “a pair of doves or two young pigeons.”^" (NIV)

ArmyofUs

Wow...that's odd...but thatk you for setting me straight.