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GUEST ARTICLE
IS
MARY THE MOTHER OF God?
The Catholic church
has given hundreds, even thousands of titles to Mary the
Mother of Jesus. Of all of them, Mother of God is
one of the most common. In fact, some Catholics like to
just use the impressive, synonymous term theotokos when
referring to Mary. This title seems logical when one considers
that Jesus is God and Mary gave birth to him. In
other words, from a Catholic’s perspective a syllogism
could be erected to read as follows:
Jesus is God.
Mary is Jesus’ mother.
Therefore, Mary
is the mother of God.
Jesus is both
God and Man
If Mary is not
the mother of God, then that syllogism is flawed
somehow, but where? Let’s look at the Scriptures to gather
more information. First of all, regarding Jesus’ identity,
we learn that he is both God and man. (Because
Jesus’ deity is not questioned among Catholics, only proof
for his humanity will be cited here.) Please note the following
Scriptures which state Jesus is man:
For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man
Christ Jesus (1
Tim 2:5)
But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass
of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift
that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow
to the many! Again, the gift of God is not like the result
of the one man’s sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought
condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought
justification. For if, by the trespass of the one man, death
reigned through that one man, how much more will those who
receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift
of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus
Christ. (Rom 5:15-17)
It can also be
easily proven that Jesus was man because he got
hungry, thirsty, slept, etc. just like all other men. God
became flesh is
what the Bible teaches. Ponder this passage:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the
Word was God. He
was with God in the beginning. Through him all things
were made; without him nothing was made that has been
made. In him was life, and that life was the light of
men. The
Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. (John
1:1-4, 14)
The whole of Scripture
shows Jesus
is God, who became a man. This
truth is the simple answer to the syllogism error, as cited
earlier. Hence,
it should be revised in the initial premise to read: Jesus
is God, who became man. But
by stating only a partial truth about Jesus’ identity people
have gotten a fallacious idea about Mary. This in turn
has led to the unscriptural title about Mary being the mother
of God and worse—trusting in her for salvation. This
additional fact about Jesus being man helps us to rightly
conclude that Mary was the mother of his humanity or of the man Christ
Jesus. This
is why we never read in the Bible that she is the mother
of God, but only that she is Jesus’ mother or
the mother of Jesus, as
identified in Scripture:
Then Jesus’ mother and
brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in
to call him. (Mark 3:31)
Now Jesus’ mother and brothers came to see him, but they were not
able to get near him because of the crowd. (Luke 8:19)
They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and
Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers. (Acts
1:14)
Jesus Existed Before His
Birth in Bethlehem
One should also
logically reject the Catholic concept that God could or
does have a mother based on the fact that such
a mother would have to be in existence before God, which
is impossible. The Bible states that God is eternal and
had no beginning. God can have no mother and still be God.
Also, there can be no person who existed before God.
I still remember, as a former Catholic, the surprise I had when I learned
from reading the Bible, that Jesus existed before he was
born in Bethlehem. I wonder how many Catholics are aware
of this precious truth. Ponder a few Scriptures which show
this:
“I tell you the truth,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!” (John
8:58)
Jesus existed
before Abraham, who was a character from Genesis! To be
more precise, Jesus stated his eternal existence
in John 8:58 by using the words I am, which refer
back to Exodus 3:14 and YHWH describing himself. Another
verse which shows Jesus existed before his human birth
is Micah 5:2:
But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the
thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come
forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose
goings forth have been from of old, from
everlasting.
So, there are
irreconcilable problems with the unscriptural title given
to Mary as mother of God. If Mary is the mother
of God, then how could he have been in existence before his
mother? Impossible. Jesus has always been God from
the very beginning who became man when born in Bethlehem.
Jesus only got his humanity from Mary and, therefore,
she can’t be correctly labeled Mother of God. The
aforementioned syllogism is in error.
The Mary of Catholicism is not the Mary of the Bible. They are totally
two different characters, with the similar trait of bearing
the man Jesus. Once we realize this it will be much easier
for us to extend a 100% trusting-submitting faith in Jesus
alone for our soul’s salvation, as the Bible teaches
to be saved. Jesus is the all-sufficient Savior, who needs
no help from another to save us. In fact, to believe on
Jesus and Mary for salvation, as some do, is to be
in disobedience to what the Bible teaches and will not bring
true salvation.
Dan and Cheryl Corner
Evangelical Outreach
PO Box 265, Washington, PA 15301
http://www.evangelicaloutreach.org/motherofgod.htm
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