Get links to my best stuff in your inbox

 

Home

Immaculate Conception Or Deception?

On December 8, 1854, Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti “” known to the Roman Catholic world as Pope Pius IX, announced the doctrine known as the “Immaculate Conception.” According to this teaching Mary, the mother of Jesus, was conceived in the womb of her own mother without inheriting the sin of Adam, an inheritance often referred to as “original sin.”

This doctrine was deemed necessary by Pius IX as an answer to the question, “How could Jesus be without sin, since man’s sinful nature is hereditary?” The Catholic Church proclaimed, “Because His mother was without sin before Him, He had no sin to inherit.”

The biblical answer to this question that baffles Catholicism, is much simpler than the contrived fable of so-called “Immaculate Conception.” Jesus was without sin because He never sinned (1 Peter 2:21-22). No such inspired statement is ever made concerning Mary or any other human being listed in the Bible record.

The root of Pius’s problem in this regard is his incorrect and false assumption that sin is passed from parent to child. Ezekiel Chapter 18 refutes the notion of inherited sin in clear and certain terms: “The soul who sins shall die” (Ezekiel 18:4; Ezekiel 18:20).

Ezekiel describes the circumstance of a man who is just and does what is lawful and right. If he continues to walk in God’s statutes and keep His word faithfully, “he is just; he shall surely live says the Lord God” (Ezekiel 18:5-9). However, if this man’s son disobeys God, “he shall surely die; his blood shall be upon him” (Ezekiel 18:10-13). On the other hand, if this wicked man has a son “who sees all the sins which his father has done, and considers but does not do likewise,” this third generation individual “shall not die for the iniquity of his father; he shall surely live!” (Ezekiel 18:14-17).

The bottom line is found in Ezekiel 18:20:

“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.“

Could God be any more definitive? Sin is not inherited.

But one might ask, “What about the concept of original sin? Don’t we all suffer and die because of Adam’s sin?” Yes, we do in a physical sense: “By man came death …. in Adam all die” (1 Corinthians 15:21-22). We die physically because when Adam was cast out of Eden, he cut himself and all mankind off from the tree of life. Adam’s body began to die the moment he stopped eating of that wonderful tree (Genesis 3:22-24).

But for our own sins and its result ending in spiritual death (Isaiah 59:1-2; Romans 6:23), we can each blame no one but ourselves. Paul writes:

“Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned” (Romans 5:12).

We are judged worthy of the wages of sin not because of the sins of Adam or of anyone else, but because of our own sin: “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).

Dear reader, let us not be deceived by the false teaching of the “immaculate conception” of Mary. Jesus once declared concerning little children: “…. of such is the kingdom of God” (Luke 18:16).

While no child was ever a “born sinner,” no child (including Mary) has ever remained “immaculate” after reaching accountable maturity, with the exception of One — Jesus Christ, who knew no sin but “to be sin for us” in order to save us as sinners (2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 John 3:5; cf. Isaiah 53:5-6).