Part III Mariology Series: MARY AS MOTHER OF GOD
Mary as revealed through the Scriptures from The Old Testament to The New Testament
Welcome to part three of the Mariology Series. In today’s study, we will be going through Mary’s identity as the Mother of God; the Messiah.
Matthew 1 starts with the Genealogy of Jesus, his identity as the long awaited Messiah.
Genealogies were about who someone’s identity was by taking a look at someone’s lineage. In this genealogy, Matthew wanted to give a clear account about what Jesus’ identity was. Genealogies were a very important part of ancient Judaism as it detailed who your family was and Jesus’ was the most important of all. If he was the Messiah, this lineage would confirm what the prophecies said in ancient times.
Genealogies were usually kept for 2 types of people; priests and kings. Matthew’s account was a royal genealogy because Jesus’ family came from a royal line. In order for him to be the king of Israel, he needed to be a descendant of King David. He needed to be a part of David’s family.
Joseph was David’s descendant ⥃ Mary was David’s descendant
Although they were royalty, because of Herod being king, he was a carpenter. The Jews were waiting for the King to arrive. Not only was Jesus from a royal lineage, he was also divine in nature. The chosen deliverer, the Christ.
Christos: Messiah, anointed one, Christ. This word comes from the Greek ΧÏιÏÏÎ¿Ï (Christos) which means "anointed". This is derived from ÏÏÎ¹Ï (chrio) meaning "to anoint". This name was given to Jesus by early (Greek-speaking) Christians. It is a translation of the Hebrew word ×ָשִׁ××ַ (pronounced mashiyach), which is commonly spelled in English as messiah, which also means "anointed".
Not many were prophesied about in the Old Testament. Most prophecies were about Christ. One in the book of Malachi was about John the Baptist and Mary was also prophesied about which again shows that she wasn’t just an ordinary woman. If you got prophesied about in the Old Testament, that meant you were a pretty big deal.
Let’s take a look at 2 prophecies of Mary:
First Prophecy: Isaiah 7:10-14 NLT (prophesied in the 8th Century B.C.)
‘Later, the Lord sent this message to King Ahaz: “Ask the Lord your God for a sign of confirmation, Ahaz. Make it as difficult as you want—as high as heaven or as deep as the place of the dead.” But the king refused. “No,” he said, “I will not test the Lord like that.” Then Isaiah said, “Listen well, you royal family of David! Isn’t it enough to exhaust human patience? Must you exhaust the patience of my God as well? All right then, the Lord himself will give you the sign. Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel (which means ‘God is with us’).’
Virgin in this context is written differently than other passages about a woman who hasn't had sexual relations. In this verse the word ‘ALMAH is used.
'ALMAH (×¢ַ×ְ×ָ× 'almÄh, plural: ×¢ֲ×ָ××ֹת 'ÄlÄmÅṯ) comes from a root implying the vigour of puberty. It is a Hebrew word for a young woman of childbearing age. Although almah does not implicitly denote virginity, it is never used in the Scriptures to describe a "young, presently married woman.
PARTHENOS = a virgin
Second Prophecy: Micah 5:2-3 NLT
‘But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, are only a small village among all the people of Judah. Yet a ruler of Israel, whose origins are in the distant past, will come from you on my behalf. The people of Israel will be abandoned to their enemies until the woman in labor gives birth. Then at last his fellow countrymen will return from exile to their own land.’
This is about the future King that will come from the small town called Bethlehem (David’s town).
Old Testament scholars show that Micah’s prophecy is a reflection on Isaiah’s earlier prophecy on the birth of Immanuel. Study the Old Testament in light of Ancient Jewish Tradition and Christian Tradition. What did the early Jews and Church believe?
New Testament: Matthew 1:18-23 NLT
‘This is how Jesus the Messiah was born. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. But before the marriage took place, while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit. Joseph, to whom she was engaged, was a righteous man and did not want to disgrace her publicly, so he decided to break the engagement quietly.
As he considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. “Joseph, son of David,” the angel said, “do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit. And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
All of this occurred to fulfill the Lord’s message through his prophet:
“Look! The virgin will conceive a child!
She will give birth to a son,
and they will call him Immanuel,
which means ‘God is with us.’”
Here, Matthew recites Isaiah 7 to show that Christ is the Messiah and Mary is his mother. Mary was betrothed to Joseph but had not yet come together. First century Jewish context of marriage was different than it is now. Betrothed was the equivalent of a legal marriage. Once you were betrothed to someone, you were husband and wife. It wasn’t like an engagement. However, what was different about betrothal in the first century Judaism and marriage today, is that after that legal marriage had taken place in the betrothal, the husband and wife would live apart for a time; usually six months to a year. It is during this time that the husband would go out and build a home for his wife to bring her into the home. This is where the wedding ‘ceremony’ would take place. This feast (party) was a 7 day celebration.
It is during this time, that the Angel comes to Mary and the Holy Spirit overshadows her. The virginal conception of Jesus through Mary is clearly articulated by Matthew as a miracle. This is a miracle of divine power. This was met with so much opposition from both Jews and Gentiles.
Defining Mary’s title: Mother of God
Ancient Christians put together the term ‘THEOTOKOS’, literally meaning ‘God-bearer’, and referred to her in this way from there forward. We now call her Mother of God because of changes in translations through the ages.
Greek ⇢ Latin ⇢ English
Matthew was written in Koine Greek. We miss the ‘Mother of God’ in the english translation because it is not the original language it was written in it.
Matthew 1:22-23 RSVCE
“Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear (tiktÅ) a son, and his name shall be called Emman′u-el,” which means, God (theos) with us.
This was a direct reference of Mary as the Mother of God. If Mary is called the Mother of Jesus, and Jesus is God, then there is no question that she is the Mother of God (Son). The belief that Mary was merely a vessel that God used to become man, ask yourself this, if we were able to do a DNA test on Mary and Jesus, would there be a match? Would they be related? If your answer is yes, then there we have it. If your answer is no, then you can stumble into a heresy that denies the Incarnation of Jesus. In order to believe in his incarnation, we must understand how Mary was related to him.
All things considered, how could Jesus be conceived and born of a woman (Gal. 4:4) and resemble us in everything aside from sin (Heb. 4:15) if he was not hereditarily and genetically related to his mother? If he is a descendant of King David, wouldn’t that mean that royal blood had to run through his veins? Now, wouldn't this be due to his mother’s line of royalty and it gives them a genetic relation to each other?
Anyone that states Mary only gave birth to Christ's physical body or only his "humanity" and not his divine part, must expressly or certainly, also guarantee that the second person of the Holy Trinity never existed in Mary's womb, never went through her birth canal, and was just united to the body of Jesus at some point after his birth into the world. This is an absurd way of thinking.
Athanasius of Alexandria, Against the Arians, 3.29
‘Holy Scripture… contains a double account of the Saviour; that He was ever God, and is the Son, being the Father’s Word and radiance and wisdom.; and that afterwards for us He took flesh of a Virgin, Mary bearer of God (theotokos), and was made man… as it is written, ‘Behold, the Virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth (tiktÅ) a son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel, which by being interpreted, is God (theos) with us.’
How about the Church today? Does the Church still teach the same thing? YES! YES! YES!
The Catholic Church's teaching on this has not changed since the beginning. The Catechism of the Catholic Church says this about Mary's virginity:
CCC 496 - 497
‘From the first formulations of her faith, the Church has confessed that Jesus was conceived solely by the power of the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary, affirming also the corporeal aspect of this event: Jesus was conceived "by the Holy Spirit without human seed". The Fathers see in the virginal conception the sign that it truly was the Son of God who came in a humanity like our own. Thus St. Ignatius of Antioch at the beginning of the second century says:
You are firmly convinced about our Lord, who is truly of the race of David according to the flesh, Son of God according to the will and power of God, truly born of a virgin,. . . he was truly nailed to a tree for us in his flesh under Pontius Pilate. . . he truly suffered, as he is also truly risen.’
‘The Gospel accounts understand the virginal conception of Jesus as a divine work that surpasses all human understanding and possibility: "That which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit", said the angel to Joseph about Mary his fiancee. The Church sees here the fulfillment of the divine promise given through the prophet Isaiah: "Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son."
Anonymous Christian Prayer, 3rd - 4th Century A.D. (Trans. Luigi Gambero & Thomas Buffer)
We take refuge in your mercy, Mother of God (Theotokos).
Do not disregard our prayers in troubling times, but deliver us from danger,
O only pure one, only blessed one.
The importance of Mary’s divine motherhood (her being the Mother of God) is solely for the divinity of Jesus.
Gregory Nazianzen, 4th Century A.D.
‘If anyone does not admit that Holy Mary is Mother of God (Theotokos), he is cut off from the Godhead.’
Council of Ephesus, 431 A.D.
‘Therefore, because the Holy Virgin bore in the flesh God who was united hypostatically with the flesh, for that reason we call her Mother of God (Theotokos).’
When we confess her as Mother of God, we protect the truth of Jesus’ divinity and incarnation. What we believe about Mary Mother of God, flows from what we believe about Jesus. God man who has come in the flesh.
Mariology + Christology = Are one. They work together.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church says this about Mary's divine motherhood:
CCC 495
‘Called in the Gospels "the mother of Jesus", Mary is acclaimed by Elizabeth, at the prompting of the Spirit and even before the birth of her son, as "the mother of my Lord". In fact, the One whom she conceived as man by the Holy Spirit, who truly became her Son according to the flesh, was none other than the Father's eternal Son, the second person of the Holy Trinity. Hence the Church confesses that Mary is truly "Mother of God" (Theotokos).’
Jesus = The Father’s eternal Son. The second person of the Trinity (Godhead). Making Mary ‘Theotokos’, Mother of God.
For additional reference on this topic, visit the following links.
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