Upvote:-2
Taking the cue words from @Sola Gratia stating the Greek sense of the word "grew in grace" as pertaining to "maturity", we can also relates & infer this interpretation to the Mystery of Finding Jesus in the Temple. Jesus eagerly wanted to do God's Will in redeeming mankind even at the young age of twelve. Imagine Jesus at that age calling the apostles come and follow me.
Gospel of Luke painted Jesus humanity still not matured spiritually as we can see in Luke 2:52. Jesus still needed to grow in wisdom and grace. Jesus needed 18 more years to become fully ready both physically and spiritually as a human being by living a life of submission and obedience to St.Joseph and Mary.
At the wedding in Cana, St.John gospel described Jesus still not ready to start his ministry at 30 years old saying;
"Woman, my hour has not yet come."( John 2:4 )
But Mary this time knew Jesus was already matured to start his saving ministry unlike before when he was only twelve years old. Mary knew it was already the right time. The Wedding at Cana is the 'fullness of time' for Jesus to start his redemptive mission.
And the Woman intercessory power was revealed and her docility to the voice of the Holy Spirit shines through instructing the servants;
"Do whatever he tells you."( John 2:5 )
This particular passage reveals Jesus and Mary's role as the New Adam and New Eve. The six jars represents six days of creation and Jesus promised that He will make all things new. A new creation by restoring Divine Life and offering immortality by giving Eternal Life thru partaking of the Holy Eucharist.
Gospel of John narrated Jesus only received the anointing of the Holy Spirit at the Baptism in the River Jordan. So, from 12 years old to 30 years old, St.Joseph and Mother Mary was helping in preparing Jesus for his redemptive mission.
On the other hand, it was angel Gabriel greetings prior to the Mystery of Annunciation that reveals the "fullness of time" had arrived in Luke gospel;
"Hail, Full of Grace.."( Luke 1:28 )
The "fullness of time" in Galatians 4:4 had arrived at the right time when the handmaid of the Lord had reach the maturity in faith. Her famous Fiat can only be uttered with full trust after she merited abundant graces from living a life of humility and obedience to God's Will. The ten years of services she offered at the Temple of God away from affairs of the world increases her holiness and perfected her virtues according to Eastern Tradition, and they acknowledge Mary as the "All Holy or Panagia".
Angel Gabriel had revealed the beautiful and perfect state of soul of the Blessed Virgin Mary and its now ready to fulfill Her role as the Theotokos. Blessed Virgin Mary was now fully matured in faith and responded with full trust to God's Will in the Divine Plan of Salvation, saying to Angel Gabriel her famous Fiat;
"Be it done unto me according to thy Word.( Luke 1:38 )
The answer is Yes! ,the "fullness of time" depends on Mary's state of grace.
Will God's infinite wisdom entrust the Logos to a corrupted vessel and to an ordinary woman who do not possessed holiness and perfected their virtues?
Divine Motherhood is not a simple task, it emcompases a royal dignity not just on earth but also in heaven. Mary is the cause of Man's salvation according to St.Irenaeus a Church Father.
Without the Fiat of the Blessed Virgin Mary there is No Redemption and there is No Salvation for all sinners.
Jesus needed a pure body and the Holy Spirit needed a sorrowful & immaculate heart and the Abba Father needed a humbled & surrended will.The Most Holy Trinity resided fully in the body,soul and heart of Mary, a perfect and complete union mystically.
Sweet heart of Mary be my salvation, is reflected in Book of Wisdom.
" Who has learned your counsel, unless you have given wisdom and sent your holy spirit on high?
And thus the paths of those on earth was set right, and people were taught what pleases , and were saved by wisdom."(Wisdom9:17-18)
The people are saved by Wisdom and Mary is the Seat of Wisdom.
"No Mary, No Jesus" (St.Mother Theresa of Calcutta)
EDIT: Clarifications on @Sola Gratia comment.
"Scripture doesnt say Jesus had no grace.. "
Scripture really stated Jesus had emptied himself ( Philippians2:7 ), even Jesus does not need "sanctifying grace to begin with". And the child Jesus to merit actual graces must obey and submit to St. Joseph and Blessed Virgin Mary. ( Luke 2:52 )
Jesus does not need sanctfying grace because his role is a Redeemer or a Saviour. But St. Luke specifically stated and described how Jesus humanity acquired actual graces and wisdom:
" Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. "( Luke2:51 )
Jesus humanity by living a life of humble obedience to St. Joseph and the Theotokos had acquired graces in preparation for His Redemptive Mission.
Upvote:0
Does the "fullness of time" in Galatians 4:4 depends on Mary's state of grace?
The answer is No.
Mary was not yet full of grace, before God sent Archangel Gabriel to anoint Her, as their Queen of all the Heavenly Host, and Virgin Priest for humanity, and a Royal Queen, for the King of Kings.
Fullness of time means, a time for giving birth. But, what kind of birth, are we talking about? St.Augustine has the answer, he saw a Woman pregnant, about to give birth is the fullness of timem but not in the pure womb of Mary, not yet, but in the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
"Mary conceived first the Logos in Her heart, before She conceive the Logos in Her womb."-St.Augustine
If Mary had conceived the Logos in Her Immaculate, there will come a time, that Her desire to become the Mother of the Messiah will reach the "fullness of time", meaning Her desire to become the Theotokos is so strong, it penetrates the Heaven, and Almighty can no longer resist the pleading of Her beloved daughter.
St.Montfort teaches that for over 4000 years, there's no woman that was able to penetrate the heart of God, only Mary had done a humble pleading for God to send the Messiah, and She offered Her pure body, Her consecrated virginity, as a pleasing sacrifice to God, to become the Mother of Messiah.
Mary was pregnant in Her Immaculate Heart, and Her Heart was about to give birth, is the fullness of time. We can see this from the writing of Mary of Agreda's vision.
"Three drops of blood came out of the heart of Mary, that the Holy Spirit had use to to give face to the Logos, the face of Christ."-Mary of Agreda
Fullness of time, means, Mary's heart was pregnant with Her desire to become the Mother of the Messiah.
AVE!
Upvote:2
But when the fullness of time came, ...
The German translation uses some expression here that can be found in many other verses of the bible that say:
"When the time was right", "At the right time" or "At the time when God wanted it".
... born of a woman ...
In the German translation, Galatians 4:4 and 4:5 are not two sentences. Both verses form one single sentence.
Reading this sentence completely I have no doubt that Paul wants to display Mary as "ordinary" women in this verse and not as a "special" woman, who distinguishes from other women.
Otherwise, the content of Galatians 4:5 would make absolutely no sense:
The entire sentence (Galatians 4:4-5) is saying that Jesus has been born by a woman because he should rescue all the other people who also were born by women. Or in other words: Paul writes that Jesus should rescue all the people who have a mother like Mary.
In the next sentence (Galatians 4:6) Paul writes that the readers (the Galatian Christians) are meant. However, this implies that Paul's belief is that Mary is not a special woman, but that there is no difference between Mary and all the mothers of the members of the Galatian parish.
I assume the same is case for the Greek original and the English translation.
This means that Paul's belief obviously differs from most Catholics today in this point.
Does the "fullness of time" mean God had to wait ...
Are you aware that this idea contradicts with the first statement in the creed and therefore the most important assumption of Christian belief?
The first statement says: "We believe in one God, the Father Almighty ..."
However, if God is almighty, he does not have to wait for something but he can do whatever he wants and whenever he wants to do it.
This means that you do not believe in an almighty god if you really believe that God had to wait for some event to occur.
If you believe that God is almighty, you will believe that some things (e.g. the birth of Mary) happens when God wants it. So God will not wait for the event to happen, but he will decide when the event happens.
EDIT
I'd like to do some clarifications because of your comments:
Did St. Paul said in Gal4:6 that Mary is not a special woman and are just the same with the Galatians mother?
Let's only look at Gal 4:4-5, not at Gal 4:6.
First let's assume that Paul wants to say that Mary was a special woman. In this case Gal 4:4-5 has the following meaning:
Only the brothers and sisters of Jesus (like apostle Jacob) can become Christians because only people having a mother who is "special" in the same way as Mary can become Christians.
This means that we (you and me) cannot be Christians because we don't have a "special" mother.
However, if Paul wants to say that Mary is just a "regular" woman, Gal 4:4-5 has a completely different meaning:
People who has as mother like Mary can become Christian. Because everybody has a mother like Mary, everybody can become a Christian.
Are you contradicting God Almighty when all scriptures, apostolic teaching and church fathers and universal church acknowledge Mary as God Masterpiece?
You are contradicting God Almighty when you say that God "has to" do something.
... or if you say that God "has to" wait for some event to happen.
And you were asking if God "had to" wait for Mary to be born.