Charitoo
During some recent studies related to the Christmas story I came across a phrase used in the which we frequently hear used today amongst saints. That phrase is "highly favoured". How often do we hear others say, "I am blessed and highly favoured"?
Until just recently I always thought of that saying as just a religious cliche and never gave it much attention. After all, the term appears only one time in all of the. The angel Gabriel spoke those words to the virgin Mary as he was foretelling the birth of the Lord Jesus.
And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. But what I discovered is that this phrase "highly favoured" actually comes from the Greek word. "Charitoo". Charitoo has two definitions listed and apparently this word was only translated twice in all of the. The first definition, as previously mentioned is "highly favored" and was used to describe how Mary had indeed been blessed of the Lord.
However the second meaning for the word Charitoo is "make accepted". It was used only once in this definition in all of the: To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. So, in light of the multiple definitions of the word "Charitoo", I believe it would be "acceptable" to substitute definition one into this verse and read it as such: To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us highly favoured in the beloved. Now who was Paul writing this passage to?
1:1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus: Not only to the saints in Ephesus, but also to those that are faithful in Christ Jesus. Paul also tells us: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: That's just awesome to me. We have already been blessed with all spiritual blessings and they are in the spirit realm! I just love the entire book of Ephesians. Of course I love each and every word of God but Ephesians just seems to bring home the fact that we have already received all blessings, and all favour from the Lord.
I understand that there are certain sects of the Christian society that see Mary as some sort of deity. Some say that she herself lived a perfect sinless life and therefore she is to be glorified. While I do agree that she was a very special woman, even Mary needed a savior as indicated by her own words in Luke 1:47. She would have not called Him Saviour if she wasn't in fact a sinner herself. And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord, And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.
Mary was not the only one who is "highly favoured" and blessed. So are we, the faithful followers of Christ!
That's all I have to share on that subject for the time being. I just found that to be a very interesting truth and wanted to share it here with my readers. I am blessed and highly favoured!
And as a follower of Christ my friend, so are you! Praise God!
In love,
Michael
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