Let's begin with Mary and this Roman Catholic idea of 'theotokos' and compare it to scripture:
"Mother of Jesus", or a
'theotokos'???
Let us take a look at the scriptural (KJB) “
Mary” [Matthew 1:16,18,20, 2:11, 13:55; Mark 6:3; Luke 1:27,30,34,38,39,41,46,56, 2:5,16,19,34; Acts 1:14], “
the mother of Jesus” [John 2:1,3; Acts 1:14; see also “
his mother” - Matthew 1:18, 2:11; Luke 2:34,43; John 19:25; and “
mother” - also John 6:42] who was “
espoused to Joseph”.
We are going to look at the scriptures in what they themselves have to say about her and what they do not say about her, for there is at this time a persistent theology which pervades much of the Christian world which claims to have support [from the Bible] for an idea that has been defined and termed as: “
theotokos” [literally “
God-Bearer”, or “
one who gives birth to God” and/or also loosely given as “
Mother of God”; being a “
title”].
Let us look very closely at the scriptures to see if this “
title” is accurate or is instead dangerous.
The first question that should be asked is this, “
Is the “title” “theotokos” ever itself given anywhere at all in any of the Scriptures by anyone?” Search as we will, the answer comes back to us as a plain, “
No.” Though not convincing in and of itself, let us remember this “silence” and come back to this point later.
The next question that should be asked is this, “
Is Mary ever called by the appellation or designated with the title of “Mother of God” [“God” being the English for the Greek [Tr.] word “Theos”] anywhere at all in any of the Scriptures by anyone?” Search as we will, the answer comes back as before to us as a plain, “
No.” Again not convincing in and of itself, but let us again remember also this “silence” and come back to this point later.
Let us now consider a few statements by the Roman Catholic theological position and teaching on this subject of the “
theotokos”, for it is said that:
"… Elizabeth is the first to call Mary by her most honourable title "Mother of God …" [Roman Catholic Online Encyclopedia; “V”; "The Blessed Virgin Mary"; subsection “The Visitation”] -
CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: The Blessed Virgin Mary
It is taught by
outward (catechumen) Catholicism that she is
not the 'mother of divinity' (well and good), yet there is more said
inwardly by the dogma, with hints all over the place at something more, and even openly stated with more:
"… As Mary was truly the mother of Jesus, and as Jesus was truly God from the first moment of His conception, Mary is truly the mother of God. … Theotokos …" [Roman Catholic Online Encyclopedia; “V”; "The Blessed Virgin Mary"; subsection “Mary's
divine motherhood”] -
CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: The Blessed Virgin Mary
Let us look at the first quote again and ask yet another question. “
Did Elizabeth [the cousin of Mary] ever call Mary by the “title” “Mother of God” in any part of the Scriptures?” Search as we will yet again, and the answer yet comes back to us as a plain, “
No.”
Where then does the Roman Catholic theological position obtain the slightest ground from Scripture to say that Elizabeth says such?
Luke 1:43 is quoted, so we had better be careful to look at it:
Luke 1:43
KJB - And whence [is] this to me, that
the mother of my Lord should come to me?
Luke 1:43
GNT TR - και ποθεν μοι τουτο ινα ελθη
η μητηρ του κυριου μου προς με
Luke 1:43
Stephen's 1550 TR kai poqen moi touto ina elqh
h mhthr tou kuriou mou proV me
Luke 1:43
Byzantine Majority TR - kai poqen moi touto ina elqh
h mhthr tou kuriou mou proV me
Luke 1:43
Alexandrian Greek - kai poqen moi touto ina elqh
h mhthr tou kuriou mou proV eme Luke 1:43
Luke 1:43
Douay Rheims - And whence is this to me, that
the mother of my Lord should come to me?
Luke 1:43 Clementine Vulgate - Et unde hoc mihi ut veniat
mater Domini mei ad me?
Does the text read from the English or Tr. Greek that Mary was designated with the “title” “Mother of God” by Elizabeth? [Remember, we are looking for the words “mhthr tou theou mou” [Theos/God].]
The text obviously
does not read the way it is claimed [intimated] that it does, for it plainly reads, “
...mhthr tou kuriou mou...” [“
...mother of my Lord...”]. This passage is supposed to be
the strongest support pillar upholding the “
theotokos” theological position, yet the pillar is
non-existent, as is the word “
theou”.
Since “The words of the LORD [are] pure words: [as] silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.” [Psalms 12:6] and “All Scripture [is] given by inspiration of God, and [is] profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:” [2 Timothy 3:16] and “...the scripture cannot be broken...” [John 10:35;p] and we are admonished to “Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar.” [Proverbs 30:6], it then behooves us to take special and careful attention to then heed what the words plainly say without having to add anything to them.
As we have seen by the Scriptures, Mary is called the “
mother of Jesus” [John 2:1,3; Acts 1:14] but
never once designated with the “
title” “mother of God”.
Titles carry weight. For instance, Jesus is called “
the Son of Man” and “
the Son of God”, among many others, and in scripture these “
titles” relate something extremely important. Jesus has two natures, first, that of “
God” being unborrowed, underived and having eternal life with Himself, as the Scripture says of His Divinity, “
... without mother ...” [Hebrews 7:3;p]; “
...from everlasting...” [Micah 5:2;p etc] even “
...to everlasting...” [Psalms 90:2;p etc] and also eternally existing with the “
Father” [ref: John 1:1, 17:5] and “
Holy Spirit” before all things. Secondly, at the moment of His incarnation and from then on, eternally, that of “
man”.
To give the title “
mother of God” to Mary is
unbiblical, and she herself would have
never have wanted it, being the humble handmaiden and servant of God. Many women, who believed in scripture, were blessed (Genesis 1:22, etc).
Some may quote:
Luke 11:27 KJB - And it came to pass, as he spake these things,
a certain woman of the company lifted up her voice, and said unto him,
Blessed [is] the womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked.
However, what did Jesus say in reply to this?
He says, “
yea rather...” and drew everyone's attention to the “
word of God” instead and that they should “
keep it”:
Luke 11:28 KJB - But he said,
Yea rather, blessed [are] they that hear the word of God, and keep it.
Jesus just shut down
all exaltation of Mary, and
exalted the word of God, as prophesied He would:
Psalms 138:2 KJB - I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name.
Jesus never sought to draw anyone's attention to Mary, but rather to Himself:
Isaiah 45:22 KJB -
Look unto me, and
be ye saved,
all the ends of the earth: for
I am God, and there is none else.
Psalms 98:3 KJB - He hath remembered his mercy and his truth toward the house of Israel:
all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.
John 12:32 KJB -
And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.
They take glory which belongs to Jesus alone "full of grace" and try to give to to this woman.
Jesus also later directly asks so that there was no confusion regarding His mission,
"Who is my mother? and who are my brethren?" (Matthew 12:48; Mark 3:33)
Jesus tells us the answer to the question,
"And he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren!" (Matthew 12:49; Mark 3:34)
What does even the Angel Gabriel say in the Gospel of Luke?
Gabriel says of Mary,
"... Mary: for thou hast found favour with God." (Luke 1:30) [many have found favour with God, for He is gracious, merciful, loving]
Gabriel says of Jesus,
"...holy thing..." (Luke 1:35) (Compare Acts 4:27,30,
"Holy Child Jesus")
What does Mary herself say?
Mary says of herself:
"...Behold the handmaid of the Lord..." (Luke 1:38)
(""handmaid", "doulē", "δούλη", female - servant, slave, bondmaid, handmaid" (Strong's Concordance)),
"...My soul doth magnify the Lord..." (Luke 1:46) and
"For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden..." (Luke 1:48)
("low estate", "tapeinōsis", "ταπείνωσις", lowness, low estate, spiritual abasement, lamenting of moral littleness and guilt (Strong's Concordance))
Notice, of “
moral littleness and guilt”.
What does Mary say of
God,
"...he that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy (is) his name." (Luke 1:48).
1. We see that it is
God who is great (Luke 1:32),
not Mary.
2. We see that it is
He that has accomplished (Luke 1:35,
'power of the Highest'),
not Mary.
3. We see that
it is God/Jesus that is Holy (Luke 1:35,48,
'that holy thing'; 'holy (is) his name'),
not Mary.
4. We see that
it is God that is magnified (Luke 1:46;
'My soul doth magnify the Lord'),
not Mary.
5. We see that
it is God who is exalted (Luke 1:32-33;
'of his kingdom there shall be no end'), and
not Mary.
Mary declares her low position while glorifying God in all things.
Not once is she designated,
'mother of God' and
not once is she called
'Holy Mary', but rather it is Christ Jesus, God the Father, Holy Ghost who are all
explicitly called
"Holy".
Mary specifically says that Jesus Christ is her
'Saviour', which means
she was a sinner in need of salvation like everyone else:
"...my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour." (Luke 1:47) and we see that this is in the very context of her “
moral littleness and guilt” [vs 48].