Mary, Mother of God

CatholicExchange.com ^ | 12-31-06 | Marcellino D'Ambrosio, Ph.D.

[Salvation]

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Mary, Mother of God

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Marcellino D'Ambrosio

December 31, 2006

The mother of the Messiah has been called many things in the last 2000 years — the Virgin Mary, Our Lady, the Blessed Mother.  But call her "the Mother of God" and you'll see some Christians squirm.

This is nothing new.  One day in the early fifth century, a priest preached a stirring sermon in the presence of the patriarch of Constantinople.  His subject was the holy mother of Jesus.  The preacher continually referred to Mary as the "Theotokos" meaning "God-bearer" or mother of God.  This was no innovation — Christians had invoked Mary under this title for at least two hundred years.  Nevertheless, at the close of the sermon, the patriarch ascended the steps of the pulpit to correct the preacher.  We should call Mary the Mother of Christ, said Patriarch Nestorius, not the Mother of God.  She was the mother of His human nature, not the mother of His divinity.

His comment sparked a riot.  And the dispute rocked not only the congregation, but the entire empire.  Cyril, patriarch of Alexandria, Egypt, immediately recognized that Nestorius's Marian theology was a symptom of a much deeper problem, a problem with the incarnation itself.  For to deny Mary the title "Mother of God" makes of Jesus a dichotomy, a split personality.  It would mean that God had not really embraced our humanity so as to become human.  Rather, the humanity of Christ is hermetically sealed off from the divinity, as if Jesus were two persons, as if human nature were so distasteful that God, in Christ, had to keep it at arm's distance.  It is OK, according to Nestorius, to say that in Jesus, God raised Lazarus, or multiplied the loaves, or walked on water.  But it is not OK to say that in Jesus God is born or that God died.

Cyril, aware that this was a challenge to the heart of our faith, demanded that an ecumenical council be called to settle the matter.  So in 431, the Council of Ephesus met under Cyril's leadership and solemnly proclaimed that Mary is indeed rightly to be honored as the Theotokos, the Mother of God.  It proclaimed that from the moment of His conception, God truly became man.  Of course Mary is a creature and could never be the origin of the eternal Trinity, God without beginning or end.  But the second person of the blessed Trinity chose to truly become man.  He did not just come and borrow a human body and drive it around for awhile, ascend back to heaven, and discard it like an old car.  No, at the moment of His conception in the womb of Mary, an amazing thing happened.  God the Son united Himself with a human nature forever.  Humanity and divinity were so closely bound together in Jesus, son of Mary, that they could never be separated again.  Everything that would be done by the son of Mary would be the act both of God and of man.  So indeed it would be right to say that a man raised Lazarus from the dead and commanded the wind and waves, that God was born that first Christmas day and that, on Good Friday, God died.

The Council of Ephesus, once confirmed by the pope, became the third ecumenical council of the Catholic Church, and its teaching in this matter is dogma, truth revealed by God which all are bound to accept.

So why does the Roman liturgy celebrate the Octave of Christmas as the Feast of Mary the Mother of God?  Because this paradoxical phrase strikes at the very heart of Christmas.  The songs we sing and the cards we write extol the babe of Bethlehem as Emmanuel, God-with-us.  He is so with us that after Gabriel's visit to the Virgin of Nazareth, the Divine Word can never again be divided from our humanity.  What God has joined, let no man separate.

Dr. D'Ambrosio studied under Avery Cardinal Dulles for his Ph.D. in historical theology and taught for many years at the University of Dallas. He now directs www.crossroadsinitiative.com, which offers Catholic resources for RCIA, adult faith formation, and teens, with a special emphasis on the Year of the Eucharist, the Theology of the Body, the early Church Fathers, and the sacrament of confirmation.

(This article originally appeared in Our Sunday Visitor and is used by permission of the author.)

[Titanites]

versus verses

[Salvation]

**He replied, "Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it."**

Just like Mary did.

Read the article "The First Believer" above, please.

Also -- you are trying to argue and draw this thread away from the posted article. Please note the link of Mary as the Mother of God in the article.

[Global2010]

I don't mind the spelling correction. I am learning more now as a old gal then when spent dirsupting classes with clowning around as a kid.

So feel free to correct my grammer/spelling any time.

(I kinda miss the old dayz around here when we had posters do so on a regular basis)

I flunked sewing class/home making class to so I don't know how to alter a dress.

[GourmetDan]

2 Timothy 2:15, "Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth."

[Pyro7480]

LOL!

[GourmetDan]

"Just like Mary did."

I believe that point of those scriptures would be that everyone who hears the word of God and obeys it enjoys that position, not just Mary.

That should be in the context of the article.

[Blogger]

Not directly related to the incarnation, but it is related to Catholicism and grace and Mary's being "full of grace" ( a translation of Charitou which I have only seen in the Douay Rheims Bible).

Mary remained full of grace because she had learned the art of resting in God’s providence. was taken from an earlier paragraph. Mary had to rest in God in order to remain full of grace per that paragraph. There are also other practices in Catholicism where special graces are given based upon something the Catholic does. This is NOT the understanding of grace according to Protestantism. Protestantism teaches that God decides to give His grace to those unworthy of it based upon His good pleasure alone. We dont' get more grace by performing some act. He gives more grace out of His mercy to us. It is unmerited favor; whereas receipt of grace is dependent upon the object of grace in at least some aspect in Catholicism. Do penance to receive grace. Be confirmed and receive a special grace. It is more a power in Catholicism than an act of mercy in Protestantism. Yes, power is involved in God's grace, for He gives grace to His children in times of trouble. But it isn't the same understanding of grace in spite of some interesting wording in certain articles quoted.

[Mad Dawg]

By calling Mary the mother of Jesus, you firmly place Mary as Christ's biological mother and then can define Christology not upon whom Mary was, but who Christ is.

Jesus was incarnate God- eternally preexistent and the Savior of Mary and all Christians. He was Mary's Lord as well as Elizabeth's and ours. Jesus was God incarnated into human flesh. Mary gave birth to Jesus, yet, he brought His Godhood with him. He did not get it from her.

We never stopped defining Christology on who Christ is, and we never stopped basing Mariology on who Christ is.

It sounds like you're saying that it's okay to think "Theotokos" as long as we don't say it.

MacQuarrie, a Scottish Presbyterian (in the '70s - who knows what church he goes to now) who wrote some decent works on Systematic theology once cranked through what he considered the undeniable term "Theotokos" to the point where he said is you said one, you might as well say the other, namely "Mother of God". I don't remember the argument and I looked for the book earlier in the evening when I saw this conversation looming up, and couldn't find it.

I would say in general the the saddharma, the perfect teaching of Christianity is always misunderstood. You can say again and again that God created dthe world and saw it good and that he commanded us to multiply, and you will still find (a)people who think sex is original sin; and (b) People who think sex is so good you can break nearly every social convention and every principle of morality as long as it's so you can have some more with whoever catches your fancy -- and do whatever you can to make sure it doesn't invovle anything that looks like sommitment or responsibility.

IN othere words, yeah, it's dangerous. It's more dangerous not to say it. If you say "Mother of Jesus" and "Jesus is God", how can you avoid "Mother of God"? I think I just have to say it and then slog through the inevitable questions ...

[fkabuckeyesrule]

I heard someone say today that Mary is mentioned more in the Koran than she is in the Bible.

[Running On Empty]

Which means....?

[Mad Dawg]

Actually I thought the actual word kecharitomene, perfect.

But I'm trying not to get sucked into a general defence of all Marian doctrine. I get that you disapprove. Noted.

[Mad Dawg]

Well, that's nice. It's not exactly an answer to my question, but it's nice.

[Blogger]

I don't necessarily even like the thought of thinking it. I think it isn't worth spending much energy on. God incarnated Himself through the human woman, Mary. On earth, she was His mother. But, He eternally preexisted her and was Her Savior.

The "full of grace" aspect of Mary is a big area of disagreement, for the same basic word (with a different tense) is translated elsewhere as highly favored (another translation of the Luke passage) or made accepted (Ephesians 1:6). It goes to her sinlessness, which Protestants do not believe in. Mary, in Catholic Mariology, is at least in some respects full of grace due to her own good works and inherent virtue. She was born without original sin (a thought not hinted at in Scripture) and was without sin (even though she died- which was the punishment for sin for all mankind).

As anectdotal evidence (sp? I'ts late-), if you go to a typical Catholic store on the web, there is much more focus on Mary than on Jesus. She is given titles of Christ for herself. All of this is very disturbing. There are even movements within Catholicism, which thusfar haven't been officially dealt with though there may be some unofficial displeasure, that want to make her deity - a 4th member of the trinity.

So, while Mary may be a wonderful role model in Scripture for us to consider in our devotions - she should never be the main object of focus and would never have drawn focus to herself but would insist on focus to God. Such was her attitude in the annunciation and such was her attitude in the magnificat.

[Global2010]

According to the Priest who taught me Brother = brethren.

Not genetically as in brother.

Jesus was concieved by the Holy Spirit and I was taught Mary remained a Virgin her whole life never having marraige relations with Joseph.

Hope I got that correct in his teaching me.

[Blogger]

Kecharitomene doesn't mean perfect in the sense that a person has never sinned. It means that one has been given favor, been graced, or has been made accepted. In God's eyes, because of Christ's sacrifice, we have been made accepted (Ephesians 1:6- which is the only other place the same word used for describing Mary in Luke is found). In that case, we have had acceptance imputed to us by Christ. Because His blood covers our sins, we are accepted. Same with Mary. She was a sinner as all humans are. NOTHING in scripture indicates that she wasn't. In fact, she called God her Savior. Savior from what? The Roman empire? No. She was a humble woman whom God bestowed favor upon. Faithful? Yes! Admirable, yes! Lovely, yes! Perfect, no.

We got into another discussion over her other children on the other thread and it quickly became apparent that one reason that it is claimed that Mary had no other children is because having any sort of physical relationship with Joseph would have sullied her. We Protestants disagree and believe that the Bible does teach that Mary had other children.

Again, this really has nothing to do with Mary, Mother of God. However, when one opens up the Mary can of worms, then you can expect this sort of discourse :)

[Blogger]

The following is not the Protestant understanding of Grace

Merit
2010 Since the initiative belongs to God in the order of grace, no one can merit the initial grace of forgiveness and justification, at the beginning of conversion. Moved by the Holy Spirit and by charity, we can then merit for ourselves and for others the graces needed for our sanctification, for the increase of grace and charity, and for the attainment of eternal life. Even temporal goods like health and friendship can be merited in accordance with God's wisdom. These graces and goods are the object of Christian prayer. Prayer attends to the grace we need for meritorious actions.
2016 The children of our holy mother the Church rightly hope for the grace of final perseverance and the recompense of God their Father for the good works accomplished with his grace in communion with Jesus.70 Keeping the same rule of life, believers share the "blessed hope" of those whom the divine mercy gathers into the "holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband."71(emphasis ours)
Catechism of the Catholic Church

[Global2010]

Amazing isn't it?

And yet Mary had the free will to turn from God.

As I know I have many many times turned from God.

So to even try and imagine Mary's obediant life is awesome and it helps me to work at my own short comings with more strength with role models like her and some of the Saints I have gotten to know.

And I will still fall in to disobediance hopefully not so blindly and hard though.

[Zuriel]

**For a kindly discussion....**

Might I kindly say that deity cannot die. That the fleshly tabernacle was what God used Mary to help bring forth. That tabernacle did indeed die. The Spirit of Christ was/is eternal and never has, and never will, die.

John 3:34 "For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God GIVETH not the Spirit by measure unto him."
God gave him (the tabernacle) his Spirit, removed his Spirit from him (the tabernacle), and put it back in him (the tabernacle).

The Spirit performed all the miracles, left him while he was on the cross,....so he COULD die.

Yet, since the resurrection ("him hath God raised from the dead"), all power is given him in heaven and earth. The fullness of the Godhead IS all in him.

The phrase "the Son of God" is scriptural.
The phrase "God the Son" is not.

Mary was mother to God's sinless sacrifice, but she was not the mother of God.

It's the revelation of Jesus Christ; simple as that.

[RobbyS]

What astonishes me is how you could fail to notice that HER relationship with the Lord was unlike any other. Sometimes I think that subliminally protestants don't really believe in the Virgin Birth .

[adiaireton8]

Scripturally, she is called the Mother of Jesus.

Nowhere in Scripture does it say that every Marian title must be taught formally in Scripture, so the 'sola scriptura' premise underlying your claim fails its own test and is thus self-contradictory.

Base your Christology on whom Jesus is, not on whom Mary was.

The Docetists and Nestorians would stand and applaud.

-A8