Hail the One Filled with Grace!
Table of Contents
Luke records the words the angel Gabriel uttered to the holy Mother of Christ as he came to announce the glorious and blessed Incarnation of our Lord:
“And he came to her and said, ‘Hail (Chaire), full of grace (kecharitomene), the Lord is with you!’” Luke 1:28
The word Chaire appears four other times, always in reference to the Lord Jesus Christ:
“And he came up to Jesus at once and said, ‘Hail (Chaire), Master (rabbi)!’ And he kissed him.” Matthew 26:49
“and plaiting a crown of thorns they put it on his head, and put a reed in his right hand. And kneeling before him they mocked him, saying, ‘Hail (Chaire), King of the Jews!’” Matthew 27:29 – Cf. Mk. 15:18; John 19:3
The interesting aspect about this word is that it is immediately accompanied by a title, i.e., “Hail, Rabbi,” Hail, King of the Jews.”
This seems to suggest that the Greek phrase that Luke employed to translate the word spoken of Mary by Gabriel, namely kecharitomene, should also be seen as a title given to her. I.e., Mary will now be known and referred to as the grace filled One or she who is filled with grace.
As one Protestant commentator puts it:
Gabriel’s opening words to Mary – “Rejoice, favored one!” – are related by alliteration in the Greek and by their conjoining of two motifs interwoven throughout the Gospel: God acts graciously, people respond (appropriately) with joy and praise. Many translations read the initial word as a common greeting rather than as an invitation to rejoice, and this is possible.
However, apart from the use of the word in openings to letters intended for Greek audiences in Acts 15:23; 23:26, Luke uses the Semitic term “peace” as a formula for greeting. This suggests that this greeting fills in further the picture of rejoicing that will pervade the Third Gospel (e.g., 1:14, 47, 58; 2:10).
Moreover, his greeting is reminiscent of Zeph 3:14-15; Zech 9:9; Joel 2:21, where the formula is found: rejoice! + address + reference to the divine action or attitude which joy is the proper response. “Favored one,” then, functions as a name for Mary, designating her as the object of divine benefaction.
This reality is accented and clarified by its repetition in v. 30, then celebrated (with rejoicing! – v 47) by Mary in v 48. God has given his favor to one who had no claim to worthy status, raised her up from a position of lowliness, and has chosen her to have a central role in salvation history.
This message is confirmed by the angel’s declaratory promise, “The Lord is with you.” This is much more than a greeting, for this language is purpose in salvation history; in such contexts this phrase assures human agents of divine resources and protection. (Joel B. Green, The New International Commentary on the New Testament: Luke [Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand Rapids, MI/Cambridge, U.K. 1997], pp. 86-87; emphasis mine)
Another important aspect of this particular Greek term is that it is the perfect passive form of the verb charitoo. This lays stress on the fact that Mary had already been completely filled with this quality of grace at some point in her past, and that this act done to her would continue to have an abiding affect upon her life.
To know what the results were of this past act of her being completely filled with God’s grace, we now turn to the only other place in the Holy Bible where a form of this exact verb appears:
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless before Him in love; He predestined us to adoption as sons to Himself through Jesus Christ according to the good pleasure of His will, 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace which He graciously (echaritosen) bestowed on us in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood and the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace,” Ephesians 1:3-7
The graciousness of God, which the inspired Apostle refers to, is that which results in God choosing to freely make everyone who is united to Christ blameless and holy, since this is what the blood of Christ accomplishes. I.e., the beloved Son of God came to shed his blood for the express purpose of redeeming believers from their sins.
What makes this amazing is that the very flesh, blood and body, which the Son of God assumed for this specific task of offering himself as a sacrifice for sin, were all taken from the holy body of Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit!
Now the example from Ephesians shows that the grace which Mary had been filled with is that exact same graciousness which makes a person holy and sinless.
Therefore, God already did for Mary what he eventually intends to do with all believers who endure till the end or until Christ returns. The holy Mother was already made pure and blameless even before the end of the age when Christ physically descends to usher in the new creation.
The reason God did this in advance for Mary is obvious.
No other human being besides Mary would be given the honor of having the infinitely, perfectly holy and glorious God dwelling in her in all his fullness in order to become Man by taking flesh of her flesh and bones from her bones.
In virtue of this, it only makes sense that God would have perfectly cleansed the blessed Mother of any stain of sin and impurities since the all pure and ever holy God cannot and will not tolerate sin to remain in his radiant and glorious presence:
“If I see wickedness in my heart, The Lord will not hear;” Psalm 66:18
“Behold, the hand of Yahweh is not so short That it cannot save; Nor is His ear so dull That it cannot hear. But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, And your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.” Isaiah 59:1-2
“Your eyes are too pure to see evil, And You cannot look on trouble. Why do You look On those who deal treacherously? Why are You silent when the wicked swallow up Those more righteous than they?” Habakkuk 1:13
“Then they will cry out to Yahweh, But He will not answer them. Instead, He will hide His face from them at that time Because they have practiced evil deeds.” Micah 3:4
This explains why the ancient, historical Churches have named Christ’s blessed Mother “the All-Holy One” (Gr. panagia) and/or “the Immaculate One” (Lt. Immaculata). Taking their cue from what Gabriel said in Luke 1:28, and what the holy mother herself prophesied,
“And Mary said: ‘My soul magnifies the Lord, And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. For He has looked upon the humble state of His slave, For behold, from this time on, all generations will count me blessed.’” Luke 1:45-48
These ancient apostolic Churches realized that these are titles that befit what the Lord Jesus has graciously done for the blessed Woman whom he chose and created to be his beloved and glorious Mother.
Further Reading
PROTESTANT SCHOLARSHIP ON LUKE 1:26-56 AND MARY AS GOD’S ARK (https://answeringislam.blog/protestant-scholarship-on-luke-126-56-and-mary-as-gods-ark/)
NOTES FOR THE DISCUSSION ON THE MARIAN DOCTRINES (https://answeringislam.blog/notes-for-the-discussion-on-the-marian-doctrines/)
NOTES FOR THE ANTHONY ROGERS’ REBUTTAL (https://answeringislam.blog/notes-for-the-anthony-rogers-rebuttal/)
Answering Islam – Sam Shamoun Theology Newsletter
Join the newsletter to receive the latest updates in your inbox.