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Mary: Mother of God
Fundamentalists are sometimes
horrified when the Virgin Mary is referred to as the Mother of God.
However, their reaction often rests upon a misapprehension of not only
what this particular title of Mary signifies but also who Jesus was, and
what their own theological forebears, the Protestant Reformers, had to
say regarding this doctrine. A woman is a man’s mother either if
she carried him in her womb or if she was the woman contributing half of
his genetic matter or both. Mary was the mother of Jesus in both of
these senses; because she not only carried Jesus in her womb but also
supplied all of the genetic matter for his human body, since it was
through her—not Joseph—that Jesus "was descended from David
according to the flesh" (Rom. 1:3). Since Mary is Jesus’ mother, it must
be concluded that she is also the Mother of God: If Mary is the mother
of Jesus, and if Jesus is God, then Mary is the Mother of God. There is
no way out of this logical syllogism, the valid form of which has been
recognized by classical logicians since before the time of Christ. Although Mary is the Mother of God,
she is not his mother in the sense that she is older than God or the
source of her Son’s divinity, for she is neither. Rather, we say that
she is the Mother of God in the sense that she carried in her womb a
divine person—Jesus Christ, God "in the flesh" (2 John 7,
cf. John 1:14)—and in the sense that she contributed the genetic
matter to the human form God took in Jesus Christ. To avoid this conclusion,
Fundamentalists often assert that Mary did not carry God in her womb,
but only carried Christ’s human
nature. This assertion reinvents a heresy from the fifth century known
as Nestorianism, which runs aground on the fact that a mother does not
merely carry the human nature of her child in her womb. Rather, she carries the person
of her child. Women do not give birth to human natures; they give
birth to persons. Mary thus
carried and gave birth to the person
of Jesus Christ, and the person
she gave birth to was God. The Nestorian claim that Mary did not
give birth to the unified person
of Jesus Christ attempts to separate Christ’s human nature from his
divine nature, creating two separate
and distinct persons—one divine and one human—united in a loose
affiliation. It is therefore a Christological heresy, which even the
Protestant Reformers recognized. Both Martin Luther and John Calvin
insisted on Mary’s divine maternity. In fact, it even appears that
Nestorius himself may not have believed the heresy named after him.
Further, the church he founded has now signed a joint declaration on
Christology with the Catholic Church and recognizes Mary’s divine
maternity, just as other Christians do. Since denying that Mary is God’s mother implies doubt about Jesus’ divinity, it is clear why Christians (until recent times) have been unanimous in proclaiming Mary as Mother of God. The Church Fathers, of course, agreed,
and the following passages witness to their lively recognition of the
sacred truth and great gift of divine maternity that was bestowed upon
Mary, the humble handmaid of the Lord. "The Virgin Mary, being obedient
to his word, received from an angel the glad tidings that she would bear
God" (Against Heresies,
5:19:1 [A.D. 189]). "[T]o all generations they [the
prophets] have pictured forth the grandest subjects for contemplation
and for action. Thus, too, they preached of the advent of God in the
flesh to the world, his advent by the spotless and God-bearing (theotokos)
Mary in the way of birth and growth, and the manner of his life and
conversation with men, and his manifestation by baptism, and the new
birth that was to be to all men, and the regeneration by the laver [of
baptism]" (Discourse on the
End of the World 1 [A.D. 217]). Gregory the Wonderworker "For Luke, in the inspired Gospel
narratives, delivers a testimony not to Joseph only, but also to Mary,
the Mother of God, and gives this account with reference to the very
family and house of David" (Four
Homilies 1 [A.D. 262]). "It is our duty to present to
God, like sacrifices, all the festivals and hymnal celebrations; and
first of all, [the feast of] the Annunciation to the holy Mother of God,
to wit, the salutation made to her by the angel, ‘Hail, full of
grace!’" (ibid., 2). Peter of Alexandria "They came to the church of the
most blessed Mother of God, and ever-virgin Mary, which, as we began to
say, he had constructed in the western quarter, in a suburb, for a
cemetery of the martyrs" (The
Genuine Acts of Peter of Alexandria [A.D. 305]). "We acknowledge the resurrection
of the dead, of which Jesus Christ our Lord became the firstling; he
bore a body not in appearance but in truth derived from Mary the Mother
of God" (Letter to All Non-Egyptian Bishops 12 [A.D. 324]). "While the old man [Simeon] was
thus exultant, and rejoicing with exceeding great and holy joy, that
which had before been spoken of in a figure by the prophet Isaiah, the
holy Mother of God now manifestly fulfilled" (Oration
on Simeon and Anna 7 [A.D. 305]). "Hail to you forever, you virgin
Mother of God, our unceasing joy, for unto you do I again return. . . .
Hail, you fount of the Son’s love for man. . . . Wherefore, we pray
you, the most excellent among women, who boast in the confidence of your
maternal honors, that you would unceasingly keep us in remembrance. O
holy Mother of God, remember us, I say, who make our boast in you, and
who in august hymns celebrate your memory, which will ever live, and
never fade away" (ibid., 14). Cyril of Jerusalem "The Father bears witness from
heaven to his Son. The Holy Spirit bears witness, coming down bodily in
the form of a dove. The archangel Gabriel bears witness, bringing the
good tidings to Mary. The Virgin Mother of God bears witness" (Catechetical
Lectures 10:19 [A.D. 350]). Ephraim the Syrian "Though still a virgin she
carried a child in her womb, and the handmaid and work of his wisdom
became the Mother of God" (Songs
of Praise 1:20 [A.D. 351]). "The Word begotten of the Father
from on high, inexpressibly, inexplicably, incomprehensibly, and
eternally, is he that is born in time here below of the Virgin Mary, the
Mother of God" (The
Incarnation of the Word of God 8 [A.D. 365]). Epiphanius of Salamis "Being perfect at the side of the
Father and incarnate among us, not in appearance but in truth, he [the
Son] reshaped man to perfection in himself from Mary the Mother of God
through the Holy Spirit" (The
Man Well-Anchored 75 [A.D. 374]). Ambrose of Milan "The first thing which kindles
ardor in learning is the greatness of the teacher. What is greater than
the Mother of God? What more glorious than she whom Glory Itself
chose?" (The Virgins 2:2[7] [A.D. 377]). "If anyone does not agree that
holy Mary is Mother of God, he is at odds with the Godhead" (Letter
to Cledonius the Priest 101 [A.D. 382]). Jerome "As to how a virgin became the
Mother of God, he [Rufinus] has full knowledge; as to how he himself was
born, he knows nothing" (Against
Rufinus 2:10 [A.D. 401]). "Do not marvel at the novelty of
the thing, if a Virgin gives birth to God" (Commentaries
on Isaiah 3:7:15 [A.D. 409]). "When, therefore, they ask, ‘Is
Mary mother of man or Mother of God?’ we answer, ‘Both!’ The one
by the very nature of what was done and the other by relation. Mother of
man because it was a man who was in the womb of Mary and who came forth
from there, and the Mother of God because God was in the man who was
born" (The Incarnation 15
[A.D. 405]). "I have been amazed that some are
utterly in doubt as to whether or not the holy Virgin is able to be
called the Mother of God. For if our Lord Jesus Christ is God, how
should the holy Virgin who bore him not be the Mother of God?" (Letter
to the Monks of Egypt 1 [A.D. 427]). "This expression, however, ‘the
Word was made flesh’ [John 1:14], can mean nothing else but that he
partook of flesh and blood like to us; he made our body his own, and
came forth man from a woman, not casting off his existence as God, or
his generation of God the Father, but even in taking to himself flesh
remaining what he was. This the declaration of the correct faith
proclaims everywhere. This was the sentiment of the holy Fathers;
therefore they ventured to call the holy Virgin ‘the Mother of God,’
not as if the nature of the Word or his divinity had its beginning from
the holy Virgin, but because of her was born that holy body with a
rational soul, to which the Word, being personally united, is said to be
born according to the flesh" (First
Letter to Nestorius [A.D. 430]). "And since the holy Virgin
corporeally brought forth God made one with flesh according to nature,
for this reason we also call her Mother of God, not as if the nature of
the Word had the beginning of its existence from the flesh" (Third
Letter to Nestorius [A.D. 430]). "If anyone will not confess that
the Emmanuel is very God, and that therefore the holy Virgin is the
Mother of God, inasmuch as in the flesh she bore the Word of God made
flesh [John 1:14]: let him be anathema" (ibid.). "Now, you heretic, you say
(whoever you are who deny that God was born of the Virgin), that Mary,
the Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, cannot be called the Mother of God,
but the Mother only of Christ and not of God—for no one, you say,
gives birth to one older than herself. And concerning this utterly
stupid argument . . . let us prove by divine testimonies both that
Christ is God and that Mary is the Mother of God" (On
the Incarnation of Christ Against Nestorius 2:2 [A.D. 429]). "You cannot then help admitting
that the grace comes from God. It is God, then, who has given it. But it
has been given by our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore the Lord Jesus Christ
is God. But if he is God, as he certainly is, then she who bore God is
the Mother of God" (ibid., 2:5). "We confess, then, our Lord Jesus
Christ, the only begotten Son of God, perfect God and perfect man, of a
rational soul and a body, begotten before all ages from the Father in
his Godhead, the same in the last days, for us and for our salvation,
born of Mary the Virgin according to his humanity, one and the same
consubstantial with the Father in Godhead and consubstantial with us in
humanity, for a union of two natures took place. Therefore we confess
one Christ, one Son, one Lord. According to this understanding of the
unconfused union, we confess the holy Virgin to be the Mother of God
because God the Word took flesh and became man and from his very
conception united to himself the temple he took from her" (Formula of Union [A.D. 431]). "Nestorius, whose disease is of
an opposite kind, while pretending that he holds two distinct substances
in Christ, brings in of a sudden two persons, and with unheard-of
wickedness would have two sons
of God, two Christs,—one, God, the other, man; one, begotten of his
Father, the other, born of his mother. For which reason he maintains
that Saint Mary ought to be called, not the Mother of God, but the
Mother of Christ" (The
Notebooks 12[35] [A.D. 434]). (Source: www.catholiconline.org) |
 St. Michael the Archangel St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle; be our safeguard against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray. And do you, O prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God, cast into Hell Satan and all the evil spirits who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen. Copyright © 2002 Saint Michael Center for the Blessed Virgin Mary. |