What was different between Mary's answer and Zacharias' answer to the angel Gabriel when he told them they would each have a son?
When the angel Gabriel told them they were going to each have a son, they seemed to be both doubtful, yet only one was reprimanded for their disbelief. Why? What was the difference in their answers?
Luke 1:1 - 80
ESV - 1 Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us. 2 Just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered them to us.
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Asked November 02 2015
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Anonymous
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Tim Maas
In my opinion, Mary was treated differently because she asked a natural question, since what she had been told would happen to her (a virgin giving birth) was unprecedented. The fact that she readily agreed to what Gabriel had told her (after Gabriel had responded to her), with no further question, was the decisive consideration. Zacharias, on the other hand, was given no indication of such a supernatural conception for John. Although Zacharias and Elizabeth were both of advanced age, Zacharias should have been aware (particularly since he was a priest who was presumably versed in Scripture) of at least one prior instance (Abraham and Sarah) where a woman who had been past "normal" child-bearing age in human terms had conceived naturally in God's planned time. As such, and especially in view of the fact that it was an angel who informed Zacharias of what would take place (indicating God's direct involvement in the situation), he should have just accepted the angel's words, and not questioned or doubted what he had been told.
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