Mary, Mother of God?

One of my readers wrote to me:

The early church most certainly did call Mary the Mother of God.

This same reader could only give me sitings from the catholic encyclopedia and catholic writers. Here is my response to you, dear reader, and I pray that you will take the time to read it.

Let’s go to the Bible for our answer. In searching the Scriptures, I discovered this about Mary:

Mat 1:16 And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.

Mat 1:20 But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.

Luk 2:5 To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child

Act 1:14 These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren.

How did Mary view herself? Most catholics have this section of Scriptures memorized. But let’s look to see what kind of attitude Mary had:

Luke 1:46-55 And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord, And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden: for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. For he that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy [is] his name. And his mercy [is] on them that fear him from generation to generation. He hath shewed strength with his arm; he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He hath put down the mighty from [their] seats, and exalted them of low degree. He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away. He hath holpen his servant Israel, in remembrance of [his] mercy; As he spake to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed for ever.

Mary viewed herself as a handmaiden and she feared God. This reveals to me a humble woman who would never have wanted reverence of any kind. She further states how God dealt with the proud so she would not want this kind of judgment on herself, now would she? She obviously knew the Scriptures and honored them because she refers to the fact that God spoke to fathers of her faith (i.e. Abraham). If Mary were anyone to be “honored” as the catholics honor her, surely Peter, Paul, Matthew, Luke, John, Jude, and James would have mentioned something about Mary in their writings.

Catholic apologists claim that “Jesus Christ is God, and his mother is Mary, so she must be the Mother of God.” Since this title isn’t found in Scriptures, the apologists go further to state that this is part of Sacred Tradition. I find this quite convenient. If it’s not found in the Bible, attach the belief to sacred tradition and it’s good to go!

This tradition came about from a bishop named Gregory Thaumaturgus around the year 260 AD, found in Ante-Nicene Fathers Volume VI:

And not only is it meet to marvel at the beauty of the Holy Mother of God, but also at the excellence of her spirit.

It took 230 years for this tradition to come about. It is never mentioned in the Scriptures yet the catholics contend that Jesus and His Apostles taught this. If the Apostles and Jesus taught this, the historians would have written of it. Word of mouth and witnesses were (and still are today) important in those days. Surely there would have been some mention of it prior to 230 AD. Like so many of the catholic dogmas, it is a tradition born of men, not of God. I can understand a minor belief (like head coverings) being overlooked by historians. But the doctrine of Mariology is one of the most important dogmas in the catholic belief system – surely there would have been record of it somewhere prior to 230 AD amongst the historians had the Apostles and Jesus actually taught it!