Do you believe that God has existed incarnate eternally? God could only have depended on Mary if He didn't know how she would respond at the Annunciation. But God already knows our souls when he creates us, so He says through the Psalmist. In this way He predestines us to grace and glory. The Greek word for predestine in the NT means "to know in advance". It does not mean to predetermine. Protestants who reject Catholic Marian doctrines do so partly because of their novel and false idea of dispensationalism.
Did the Father use Jesus as a human vessel? If I recall, in the Letter to the Hebrews, Jesus' sacrifice is said to have been made perfect by his free obedience to the Father's will.
Did God use Adam and Eve to bring sin into the world according to the counsel of his will? Both Adam and Eve disobeyed God and sinned by their own free will. Their sin could only be undone by the free obedient acts of faith demonstrated by Jesus and Mary. it is in his humanity that Jesus acts as our principal mediator before God. Thus, we who partake in the divine nature as a kingdom of priests can by right of filial adoption participate in Christ's mediation in a subordinate capacity. In his Mystical Body, Christ is the head and his faithful disciples are its members. Jesus is the vine, and they are the branches (1 Pet. 2:4-5; 2 Pet. 1:4; 1 Cor. 12:27; Jn. 15:5).
God endowed Mary with the fullness of His grace (Lk. 1:28), so that she could be the advocate of Eve - most blessed among women (Lk. 1:42). Mary's act of faith informed by charity temporally vindicated Eve's transgression when the mother of our Lord gave her free salutary consent to be his mother. By default, the incarnation would not have happened if Mary refused to align her will with God's will as Eve had. The Early Church Fathers of the 2nd century tell us that. According to the Divine counsel, the original sin should be undone reciprocally (Gen. 3:15; Lk. 1:42, 45).
Then I suppose nothing we do has an affect on our salvation. But the Scriptures say that God shall judge every person according to their works. Our salvation does depend on how well we cooperate with God's actual graces (Rom. 2:6-10, 13); a person is saved (not just rewarded) through fire by a judgment of their works (1 Cor. 3:15); on the day of Judgment we are judged according to the deeds of our bodies, not by the faith we might have in Christ's merits (2 Cor. 5:10); whatever good anyone does, they shall receive the same from the Lord (Eph. 6:8); we shall receive due payment for the good we have done (Col. 3:24-25); indeed, God is not so unjust as to dismiss our good works done in grace and the love we have genuinely shown for His sake above all (Heb. 6:10); without holiness no living soul shall see the Lord. Holiness requires self-denial, personal sacrifice, and works of charity in grace. Thus God doesn't declare any human being holy simply by judging how much faith they have placed in the merits of Christ (Heb. 12:14); Jesus warns us that not everyone who says to him, "Lord, Lord," shall enter the kingdom of heaven (Mt. 7:21); a man shall reap whatever he sows. it isn't Christ who bears fruit and reaps for us as we fail to sow (Gal. 6:7-9); God judges us impartially according to our deeds. Salvation isn't reserved only for an elect group who have placed their faith in Christ's merits (1 Pet. 1:17); if we walk in the light as Jesus walked in the light, only then shall his blood cleanse us of all sin. Sanctification is the essence of justification. Conversely, the person who is personally and intrinsically unrighteous is unjustified (1 Jn. 1:7). God hears the prayers of the righteous. Their prayers are powerful and effective before God on account of their standing just before Him. Those who are in the state of sanctifying grace can temporally merit an increase in grace and charity for both themselves and others (Jas. 5:13-18); Jesus himself says that the faithful are repaid for the works they have done at the resurrection of the just by right of friendship with God. Good works lead to salvation, now that Christ alone has gained this gift for us by his merits in strict justice. Neither our faith nor good works are the principal cause of our salvation, since grace precedes our faith and good works, without which we can do nothing to merit our eternal reward. (Lk. 14:14; Eph. 2:10; Phil. 2:13).
Hence, Mary acted on our behalf, as well as for her own salvation, by declaring: "Let it be done to me according to your word" (Lk 1:38). In the grace of God, she temporally merited for us the coming of the Saviour into the world. God does not have to save us, but in His love and mercy He desires to save the whole world (1 Tim. 2:4). And God does not desire to save everyone by coercion or the imposition of a legal ordinance - not at any point. Human free will and charity are an essential part of the equation (Deut. 30:19; Hosea 6:6). Protestants who believe Mary had nothing to do with the salvation Christ had gained for us or couldn't have merited any reward from God both for herself and the human race, despite her plenitudes of grace, do so primarily because of their false idea of sola fide and its corollary sola Christo. These are doctrines that were unheard of in Christendom until the 16th century with the rise of Protestantism. None of the Church Fathers and Doctors of the Catholic Church taught these doctrines, which is evident in their Marian teachings. The idea of Mary being the new Eve and Mother of the Church, and the pure and undefiled Ark of the New Covenant, was explicitly taught in unanimity since the 2nd century by way of sacred Tradition.
How would you know? In the OT, Daughter Zion foreshadows the Church as Mother (See Isaiah 66). Catholics regard Jesus as the Head of the Church. Mary is the neck in his Mystical Body, we are its lower members in the order of grace. All the signal graces we receive from the Head are channelled through the neck. In our own physical bodies, the neurological signals are transmitted through the neck. Mary is Mother of the Church (Jn. 19:26-27). By the way, sola Scriptura isn't in the Bible.
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"Do you believe that God has existed incarnate eternally?"
I am not sure. But I do believe that Jesus has eternally existed. Is my understanding a pre-requisite of God's truth? No. Do I have a whole lot to learn about God? Absolutely, yes.
"Protestants who reject Catholic Marian doctrines do so partly because of their novel and false idea of dispensationalism."
I disagree. Protestant reject Marian dogmas and doctrines because there is no biblical support of them. We believe the Bible is the inerrant and all sufficient word of God. And when man teaches a doctrine that is not found to be in the Bible, that doctrine is suspect as being the truth, because it comes from fallible man. Additionally the early church followed nothing of the modern day Roman Catholic Marian dogmas and doctrines.
"Did the Father use Jesus as a human vessel?"
Jesus is fully God and fully Man. He was not merely a vessel. He is God.
"it is in his humanity that Jesus acts as our principal mediator before God. "
This sounds good, but I would remove "principal" and replace it with "only". Jesus is the only mediator between God and man. Mary is not a co-mediatrix. This is a false doctrine of the Roman church, with no biblical support.
"so that she could be the advocate of Eve"
There is no biblical support of this thought.
"when the mother of our Lord gave her free salutary consent to be his mother."
I disagree that Mary gave her consent as if God needed Mary's permission. That would mean Mary has a higher authority than God. That would be idolatry.
"By default, the incarnation would not have happened if Mary refused to align her will with God's will as Eve had."
That is a moot point, since Mary submitted to God's will. She did not necessarily "align" her will with God, she obeyed God's will. It was not synergism.
"Then I suppose nothing we do has an affect on our salvation. But the Scriptures say that God shall judge every person according to their works. Our salvation does depend on how well we cooperate with God's actual graces (Rom. 2:6-10, 13) "
But you cannot read a passage in isolation. The rest of the chapter, Paul refers to an inward change ("circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter" (Romans 2:29). Salvation is not of works, so that none may boast (Ephesians 2). Works are the fruit of salvation, not the root. The root of salvation is solely in God's grace and the fruit does not exist without the root. Yes, everyone will be judged according to their works and by their works (if they are not in Christ), they will be condemned.
"Hence, Mary acted on our behalf, as well as for her own salvation"
I see no support of Mary acting on our behalf, in the scriptures. She was obedient to God, but she was not our representative.
"In the grace of God, she temporally merited for us the coming of the Saviour into the world."
This language ("merited for us"), again, is not supported in scripture.
"God does not have to save us, but in His love and mercy He desires to save the whole world (1 Tim. 2:4)"
Meaning His elect, according to His will, His nature, His desires. This does not mean every single human being that has ever lived.
"Protestants who believe Mary had nothing to do with the salvation"
This is a bit of a false characterization. Mary had a very important role. But salvation comes from Jesus Christ and Him alone. If God had chosen another means to save mankind, He could have easily done so. There was no absolute dependence on Mary. She was merely a sinful fallen human like all of us. But God chose her according to His will and His grace, not because of anything special in Mary, in and of herself.
"Mary is the neck in his Mystical Body"
Again, there is no Biblical support of this.
"Mary is Mother of the Church (Jn. 19:26-27)"
John 19:26-27 is in no way appointing Mary as "Mother of the Church". Jesus is simply commanding John to take care of Mary. Joseph was dead at this time, so with the death of Jesus, Mary would have had nothing, since women were not allowed to own property at that time, and she had no husband. It was not establishing Mary as Mother of the Church.
"By the way,
sola Scriptura isn't in the Bible."
Actually, it is.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, (17) that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
But don't misunderstand this passage. This is not saying that there is no place for Church authority. But Church authority is secondary and must come under submission, to the word of God, since the church is made up of fallible men.