How Was Mary Made Worthy?

Q

I love your site and may the Lord bless you and your ministry. My question surrounds Mary, the mother of Jesus. I understand that, since the Fall in the garden of Eden, all of mankind is born with a sinful nature. Although physically a virgin, can you tell me how Mary was “purified” to make her worthy to give birth to the Messiah? Some scriptural references would help immensely.

A

This has been the focus of no little controversy over the years, but I believe the answer can be found in Exodus 20:5. There the Lord speaks of visiting the sins of the fathers on the children. I believe this is a hint that our sin nature is inherited from our earthly father, not from our mother. If so then even though all mothers have a sin nature, theirs is not passed to their children, only the father’s. That means that Jesus, while born of a human mother, did not inherit Mary’s sin nature. And since His Father was without sin, so was He.