Distinction From Other Doctrines
The virginal conception of Jesus by Mary is at times confused with the Roman Catholic Church teaching of her "Immaculate Conception", namely Mary's conception by her mother and father in the normal way, but free from original sin. While the Virgin birth of Jesus relates to the nativity of Jesus, the Immaculate Conception relates to the nativity of Mary. The Roman Catholic doctrine of Mary's Immaculate Conception has been defined as follows: "The most Blessed Virgin Mary was, from the first moment of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of almighty God and by virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, Saviour of the human race, preserved immune from all stain of original sin."
The doctrine of the virgin birth of Jesus is also distinct from the more general doctrine of the perpetual virginity of Mary which refers to her virginity for her entire life and thus subsumes the teachings on the virgin birth.
Read more about this topic: Virgin Birth Of Jesus
Famous quotes containing the words distinction and/or doctrines:
“What! Would you make no distinction between hypocrisy and devotion? Would you give them the same names, and respect the mask as you do the face? Would you equate artifice and sincerity? Confound appearance with truth? Regard the phantom as the very person? Value counterfeit as cash?”
—Molière [Jean Baptiste Poquelin] (1622–1673)
“To punish a man because he has committed a crime, or because he is believed, though unjustly, to have committed a crime, is not persecution. To punish a man, because we infer from the nature of some doctrine which he holds, or from the conduct of other persons who hold the same doctrines with him, that he will commit a crime, is persecution, and is, in every case, foolish and wicked.”
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