Thanks for the link. I am familiar with the biblegateway web site and frequently refer to it. I did not search for the phrase “God the Son” because it was not my intent in using that phrase to directly quote from Scripture, and I knew that I would most likely not find it.
I agree that Mary is called the mother of Jesus in Scripture. I also agree that Mary is not called the mother of God in Scripture. The following if/and/then statement has been put forward many times.
If Mary is the mother of Jesus
And Jesus is God
Then Mary is the mother of God.
Reflecting on that statement, I did a search for the phrase “Jesus is God,” and there were 0 Bible results for NASB and KJV. This does not mean Jesus is not God. John 1 was given as a secondary result, and by reading this passage and others, it can be rightly concluded through several if/and/then statements that Jesus is God.
It can also be concluded, even though the phrase cannot be found in Scripture, that Mary is the mother of God.
What, you say? How can this be? How can Mary be the mother of our Lord and Creator?
I have a couple of thoughts on this.
First, it can be only through the will of the Father that a woman could become the mother of God. It was the will of the Father that the Spirit breathe on Mary. It was the will of the Father that God enter the womb of Mary in the person of Jesus. It was the will of the Father that Mary give birth to God in the person of Jesus. It was the will of the Father that Jesus tarry in Jerusalem to be about his Father’s business. And it was the will of the Father that God in the person of Jesus be subject to Mary and Joseph: “but his mother kept all these sayings in her heart.”
This belief can be held without following all of the other beliefs about Mary that are not specifically stated in Scripture. God could have chosen any woman. Mary could have said no and another could have become the mother of God in the person of Jesus. But Scripture tells us it was Mary.
My second thought has to do with the oneness of Jesus as God. From my earliest days, I was taught to bow my head at the name of Jesus. My guess is that this was derived from Philippians 2:9-11:
“Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
I have a neighbor who actually touches her knee to the ground at the name of Jesus. I don’t go that far, but to this day, at the age of 67, I still bow my head at the name of Jesus. It is ingrained on my heart that my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is God. So when I hear the name Jesus, to me it is identical to hearing the name God. And when scripture says Mary is the mother of Jesus, to me it is identical to saying Mary is the mother of God.
In my heart, Jesus cannot be separated from God; they are one and the same. So when it is said that Mary is the mother of Jesus and not the mother of God, I cannot for the life of me understand how Mary can be the mother of one and not the mother of the other. To me it is equivalent to saying Jesus is not God.
metmom, I mentioned it before, but one day when I told my Catholic Dad that I was praying that my Methodist Mom would become a Catholic like us, he chastised me, saying “Son, you better pray that you become as good a Christian as your Mom is.” My sister was raised Catholic and is now Methodist. My daughter was raised Catholic and is now a member of a Christian Church. They are both as close to Jesus as they ever were as Catholics. So, no, I am not one of those smarmy Catholics.
I realize that it is a difficult concept to grasp that God will allow a woman to be His mother, but it is even more difficult for me to understand how Jesus can be something while at the same time God is not that same thing.
CB, If you want to think I am twisting and turning this issue, so be it. I do not think that about you. I believe you are searching as honestly as you can for the truth, just as I am. And we have different understanding of that truth.
Only if you apply man's wisdom and not only twist what the Holy Spirit inspired to be written but put words in that the Holy Spirit did NOT use.
Second guessing the words the Holy Spirit inspired cannot turn out well for those who do it. It cannot be disputed that the Holy Spirit chose words for a reason.
Great post.
Nope because GOD has no mother.
Jesus did.
Mother of God does not say the same thing as mother of Jesus.
*Mother of God* fails to recognize His humanity and the Incarnation.
I can't help but think that the Holy Spirit knew what He was doing when He addressed her as *mother of Jesus* instead of *mother of God*.
So it gets back to the fact that the term *mother of God* is a man-made phrase, a human construct.