MorganParadise said:
Rom 3:10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:
Rom 3:12 They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
Rom 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
For the love of all holiness, let's go through Romans 3 again. Please read the verse again carefully in light of what I have to say.
We know Paul is not speaking of actual sin but original sin because not all people born into this world will commit a personal sin.
Next, if
no man can seekth after God then why did Moses? Why did Abraham? Why did Mary say she was the handmaiden of the Lord?
These and many others indeed sought after God. So we know Paul does not mean all people can not seek after God because we can read that many of them did.
Looking at this from the perspective of predestination, God does elect people and rises them up for certain roles he destined them to have and they are given special graces in order to seek after God so Gods plan of salvation can be fulfilled. Mary was no exception, just as Moses wasnt, just as Abraham wasnt.
So when Paul said all Paul was NOT being literal.
What Paul meant was mankind is fallen from grace and mankind needs a savior. He is talking to the JEWISH converts.
They did not have a concept of original sin, why they could not keep the law and why the animal sacrifices was never enough.
Because they had a underlying sin- Adams sin. That nothing, not the law, no sacrifice ever could remove, because it wasnt their sin, it was Adams sin.
They
could not atone for it no matter if they did keep the law perfectly, no matter how perfect a sacrifice they gave, no matter how contrite their repentance was, they could not make an atonement for original sin.
Christ came and diagnosed the problem as well as fixed it. This is what Paul is explaining to these Jews.
We are no longer under the law but grace. Only Christ is our atonement for original sin, a concept that was foreign to the Jews until Paul made them aware.
So the solution is we have to be born again to be in Gods grace permanently. No law, no good Jew can put us in a state of grace, we have to
redeemed by Christ.
And MARY was.