In their latest work of anti-Catholic theology-fiction, Tom Horn and Cris Putnam, who were recently featured on Sid Roth's program 'Its Supernatural," attack Saint Jerome's translation of the Greek kecharitomene because the great scripture scholar, who was highly proficient in both Latin and Greek, used the Latin circumlocution gratia plena - "full of grace." (Luke 1: 28).
These two confused souls write, "Official Roman literature states, 'In consequence of a Special Privilege of Grace from God, Mary was free from every personal sin during her whole life.' The only ostensibly scriptural argument given for this is from the Latin Vulgate rendering of Luke 1: 28 when the Angel addresses her, 'Hail, full of grace!' Farfetched as it seems, this is the basis ffrom which they argue, 'since personal moral defects are irreconcilable with fullness of grace' then she must be sinless...we..argue that the phrase 'full of grace' is an erroneous Latin rendering that is even corrected in the NAB to read simply 'favored one.' The Vulgate's distorted translation was the entire basis for the mistaken notion that sinless grace defined Mary's entire life. Exegetically, it is also quite clear in the context of the passage that it is only a reference to her state at that moment when the Angel spoke." (Petrus Romanus, pp. 324-325).
And Cris Putnam is touted by this book as a "respected theologian and apologist." Really? Did he take his degree from an institution which advertises on the inside cover of a matchbook? Luke 1:28 uses the perfect passive participle, kecharitomene. The perfect stem of a Greek word denotes "continuance of a completed action" (Blass and DeBrunner, Greek Grammar of the New Testament, 175); and "completed action with permanent result is denoted by the perfect stem" (Smyth, sec. 1852:b.).
As Father Mateo explains, "On morphological grounds, therefore, it is correct to paraphrase kecharitomene as 'completely, perfectly, enduringly endowed with grace'...gratia plena is not at all a mistranslation. It is a felicitous phrase, as close to the Greek as Latin can come and much to be preferred to modern efforts to improve it: 'favored one' (NAB [1986], RSV), 'highly favored' (NIV), and the monstrosity, 'highly favored daughter' (NAB [1970])...Catholics are not alone in this reading of kecharitomene. In his Personal Prayer Book (1522), Luther wrote, 'She is full of grace, proclaimed to be entirely without sin...God's grace fills her with everything good and makes her devoid of all evil...'
Dave Armstrong adds, "Another important aspect of Luke 1: 28 should be noted. The angel is here, in effect, giving Mary a new name ('full of grace')...It was as if the angel were addressing Abraham 'Hail, full of faith,' or Solomon 'Hail, full of wisdom' (characteristics for which they were particularly noteworthy). The biblical and Hebraic understanding of one's name was quite profound. God was very particular in naming individuals himself (e.g., Gen 17:5, 15, 19; Isa 45: 3-4; Matt 1: 21). God renamed persons to indicate regeneration (as in Gen 17: 5, 15; 32: 28) or condemnation (as in Jer 20: 3). For the ancient Hebrews, names signified the character, nature, and qualities of a person and were much more than mere identifying labels. Thus, God chose His Son's name (Matt 1: 21).
Tom Horn and Cris Putnam should refrain from writing about things of which they have little knowledge. They are only succeeding in making themselves look very foolish.
