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Greetings. If you read the Peshito -- the New Testament in Aramaic -- or the lectionaries of the Chaldeans or Syrian Orthodox, Christians the difference between Zechariah and Mary are clear. It can also be seen in the translations of the New Testament into Hebrew and into Arabic. Zechariah's expression contains an expression of doubt. Mary's expression contains a request for information. In English translations the distinctions are hard to see, but in the Semitic languages it is very clear indeed. Zechariah responds with doubt. Mary responds with a question. One deserves punishment. The other is a welcome inquiry. It is pretty simple really.

Are you seriously claiming a translation is more accurate than the original?

As for Mary's "question", a "welcome inquiry":

" And Mary said to the angel, "How shall this be, since I have no husband?"

And Zechariah's "response with doubt deserving of punishment", "How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years."

I agree, there appears to be very little, if any, difference of context in the English language translation. I wonder; however, why you find it necessary to use another language translation to "prove" the difference. We know there is no original Aramaic so resorting to "what it would be if...." appears to be somewhat disingenuous. What is wrong with using the original language?
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Paul's situation is really quite different, but he has a choice of whether or not to go into the city. He has a choice to go in faith and find what is promised, or he can literally wander blind for the rest of his life.

I don't see that he had any more choice than Mary or Zechariah. He was told what to do. "...but rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do." There was no offer of a choice and Paul doesn't appear to have given any thought to his actions. He simply did what he must do.

Thank you for your response. It is obvious we aren't in agreement but I welcome your thoughts.

If you want to see God telling them what to do, you will no doubt see that in very stark terms. That is not what the early Christians saw, nor is it what the living theologies of three of the most ancient Christian churches have to say.

The Peshitto and the lectionaries of the Syrian Orthodox and the Chaldeans are very venerable. And you will get vigorous arguments from their scholars as to which is more reliable - the Koine Greek text or theirs. Then there are the Armenians who are always ready to challenge the idea that Koine Greek is the most exact language and make a good case that their Armenian version is more reliable -- a version which also points up the difference in discourse between Zechariah and Mary. These many old translations provide multiple attestation in different locales of the same sense of the difference between Mary and Zechariah's response. You can also consult the sermons of the early church fathers and find this same distinction drawn.

All of that provides the background in which to understand a culture that is different from our own and which employed a language different than English and certainly different than NT Greek.

You won't find much in the early church fathers to support your view that God told them what to do and they obeyed. These three stories -- Zechariah, the Annunciation to Mary, and the Damascus Road experience of Paul all point to a theology of the person in the early church that can be summed up as a theology of participation. Under the Law, we were called to obey. Under the New Covenant, we are called to participate through the cleansing of the Blood of Christ and the enlightening power of the Holy Spirit.