I recently decided to invest in Robert Sungenis’s 4-volume commentary on the New Testament, and was curious as to how he would defend the Immaculate Conception of Mary based on Luke 1:28. I was really surprised to see Sungenis accept the common belief that Mary took a vow of virginity before Gabriel’s appearance to her. Anyway, here are the relevant excerpts form his commentary on Luke:
On Luke 1:28:
The angel’s address to her as κεχαριτωμενη is certainly
not frivolous or superfluous for Mary has indeed been filled with grace. In the
Greek, κεχαριτωμενη literally translates as “having been fully graced” or
“having been filled with grace.” Since χαιρε in Koine Greek is a form of
address, this means Mary is addressed, by name, with a perfect passive
participle, perhaps similar to how Indian tribes traditionally named their
children, e.g., “running deer,” “leaping water,” “dancing with wolves.” Since χαιρε
is an address to a dignitary, Gabriel is saying, “Hail, You Having Been Fully
Graced,” or “Hail, Immaculate One,” which essentially becomes Mary’s spiritual
name. This fact of Greek grammar is in line with the fact that in addressing
Bernadette, Mary said, “I am the Immaculate Conception,” instead of “I am
Mary.” Since κεχαριτωμενη is a perfect tense, it means the bestowal of grace
happed at one time in the past and has continuing effects in the future; while
the passive voice means it was a grace given to her by an outside agent. These
grammatical dimensions coincide with the Catholic dogma that Mary was
immaculately conceived without the stain of Original Sin. (Robert A. Sungenis, Commentary
on the Catholic Douay-Rheims New Testament from the Original Greek and Latin,
4 vols. [State Line, Pa.: Catholic Apologetics International Publishing, Inc.,
2024], 2:19-20 n. 41)
On Luke 1:30:
Mary’s misapprehension of the “grace” title then forced
Gabriel to make the address less formal and simpler, namely, that Mary had
already been the recipient of God’s grace at some point in the past and now God
is calling upon Mary to be exercised by that grace. Since the aorist tense of
the verb points to one specific time in the past when sanctifying grace was
bestowed upon Mary, this again points to her Immaculate Conception as the only
logical place. (Robert A. Sungenis, Commentary on the Catholic Douay-Rheims
New Testament from the Original Greek and Latin, 4 vols. [State Line, Pa.:
Catholic Apologetics International Publishing, Inc., 2024], 2:22 ν. 43)
On Luke 1:34:
“I know not man”:
επει ανδρα ου
γινωσκω, the verb γινωσκω (“know”), a present active indicative, means Mary is
cognizant that her present betrothment to Joseph does not include sexual
relations and consequently she knows of no other way she can become pregnant;
and that she had previously made a vow of virginity that would not allow her to
have sexual engagement with Joseph or any man. (Robert A. Sungenis, Commentary
on the Catholic Douay-Rheims New Testament from the Original Greek and Latin,
4 vols. [State Line, Pa.: Catholic Apologetics International Publishing, Inc.,
2024], 2:23. n. 47)
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