Non-Christians and Christian Fundamentalists are sometimes horrified when the Virgin Mary is referred to as the Mother of God. However, their reaction often rests upon a misapprehension of not only what this particular title of Mary signifies but also who Jesus was, and, in the case of fundamentalists, what their own theological forebears, the Protestant Reformers, had to say regarding this doctrine.
A woman is a man's mother either if she carried him in her womb or if she was the woman contributing half of his genetic matter or both. Mary was the mother of Jesus in both of these senses; because she not only carried Jesus in her womb but also supplied all of the genetic matter for his human body, since it was through hernot Josephthat Jesus "was descended from David according to the flesh" (Rom. 1:3).
Since Mary is Jesus' mother, it must be concluded that she is also the Mother of God: If Mary is the mother of Jesus, and if Jesus is God, then Mary is the Mother of God. There is no way out of this logical syllogism, the valid form of which has been recognized by classical logicians since before the time of Christ.
Although Mary is the Mother of God, it does not mean that she is older than God or the source of her Son's divinity, for she is not. Rather, we say that she is the Mother of God in the sense that she carried in her womb a divine per¬sonJesus Christ, God "in the flesh" (2 John 7, cf. John 1:14)and in the sense that she contributed the genetic matter to the human form God took in Jesus Christ.
To avoid this conclusion, Fundamentalists often assert that Mary did not carry God in her womb, but only carried Christ's human nature. This assertion reinvents a heresy from the fifth century known as Nestorianism, which runs aground on the fact that a mother does not merely carry the human nature of her child in her womb. Rather, she carries the person of her child. Women do not give birth to human natures; they give birth to persons. Mary thus carried and gave birth to the person of Jesus Christ, and the person she gave birth to is God.
The First and most fundamental teaching of the Catholic Church about Mary is based on her relationship with Jesus, that of being the mother. Jesus, 'Son of Mary' (Mk 6:3) is God; therefore, Mary is the Mother of God. The doctrine that the Blessed Virgin Mary is truly the Mother of God (Theotokos) was defined by the Council of Ephesus in A.D. 431. This does not mean that Mary, who was herself a creature of God, in any way produced or pre-existed the divinity. By her complete acceptance of God's plan, Mary became mother in time of the God who existed before time was. Christ took his human body, his human nature, from his mother, Mary. He was truly the son of Mary. Called in the Gospels "the mother of Jesus," Mary is acclaimed by Elizabeth at the prompting of the Holy Spirit and even before the birth of her son, as "the mother of my Lord." The one whom Mary 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 Catholic Church confesses that Mary is truly "Mother of God."
During the first few centuries of the growth of the Church, there arose three Christological heresies which bear on the issue of the divine maternity. The first was Docetism (A.D. 110), which, while acknowledging the divinity of Christ, rejected the reality of his human nature. Arianism (A.D. 230), the second heresy, on the other hand, accepted Jesus' humanity but denied that he was the son of God, the second person of the Blessed Trinity. Both of these heresies repudiated the dual nature of Christ and the mystery of the incarnation. If Docetism was correct, Mary could not be called the Mother of God, since she would not be the mother of God the son incarnate. If Arianism were true, Jesus was not divine, and Mary could not be considered the mother of God. At the first Council of Nicaea (A.D. 325), the first ecumenical council convened by the Church, both of these positions (Docetism and Arianism) were condemned, and the reality of Jesus as true God and true man was infallibly defined. The creed which the Council of Nicaea gave to the Church is known as the Nicene Creed.
After Nicaea a third Christological heresy arose, called nestorianism (A.D. 428), which proposed two persons in Christ, rather than two natures in one person. If Nestorianism was correct, Mary would then be the mother of the human person of Christ only and therefore not the mother of God. Nestorianism was condemned by the third ecumenical council held in Ephesus (A.D. 431). In substance, the council infallibly declared that Jesus was "according to his divinity, born-of-the Father before all ages, and in these last days, according to his humanity, born of the Virgin Mary for us men and for our salvation: A union was made of the two natures. In accordance with this understanding of the unconfused union we confess that the Holy Virgin is the Mother of God (Theotokos, God Bearer) through God the Word's being incarnate and becoming man, and from this conception, His joining to Himself the temple assumed from her."
It is clear from the statement of the Council Fathers that the Catholic Church calls Mary the Mother of God because Jesus, her son, is truly God. Those who claim that Mary is not the Mother of God are saying simply that Jesus is not God. Such is the position of people like Mr. Joseph Akaluso who, writing in the Guardian on Sunday of June 20,1999 under the title "Mary, not mother of God", claimed that although Jesus Christ possessed supernatural powers when he was on this earth, "He was not God,'' Jesus according to him, was God before he became man. "At the time the word was made flesh, he (Jesus) ceased to be God..." A fundamental truth of the Christian religion is the divinity of Christ. Christ is not only a perfect man but also true God. Hence denial of the divinity of Christ is certainly one of the gravest sins that any Christian can commit.
It should be noted however that the teaching of the Church that Mary is truly the Mother of God did not originate from the Council of Ephesus. Prior to Ephesus, the Church Fathers had taught that Mary is the Mother of God.
St. Iranaeus (A.D. 202) Bishop of Lyons and pupil of Polycap, St. John's disciple, declared: "The Virgin Mary being obedient to His word, received from the angel the glad tidings, that she would bear God."
Ephraim the Syrian affirmed his belief in the Virgin birth of our Lord as follows: "Though still a virgin she carried a child in her womb, and the handmaid and work of his wisdom became the Mother of God" (Songs of Praise 1:20 [A.D. 351]).
St. Alexander (A.D. 328), Bishop of Alexandria and a key figure at the Council of Nicaea wrote that "Jesus Christ ... bore a body not in appearance but in truth, derived" from the Mother of God."
St. Gregory of Nyssa (A.D. 371) proclaimed the virginity of Mary, referring to her as "Mary, the Mother of God."
St. Athanasius (A.D. 373) secretary and successor of Alexander reflected upon "the Word begotten of the Father on high," who "inexpressibly, inexplicably, incomprehensibly; and eternally, is he that is born in time here below of the Virgin Mary, the Mother of God."
According to Gregory of Nazianz, "If anyone does not agree that holy Mary is Mother of God, he is at odds with the Godhead" (Letter to Cledonius the Priest [A.D. 382]).
St. Cyril (A.D. 386), Bishop of Jerusalem referred to "the Virgin Mother of God".
St. Epiphanius (A.D. 403) Bishop of Salamis writes of the "Holy Saviour who came down from heaven, took on humanity along with His divinity, incarnate among us, not in appearance but in truth ... from Mary, the Mother of God."
"I have been amazed”, says Cyril of Alexandria, “that some are utterly in doubt as to whether or not the holy Virgin is able to be called the Mother of God. For if our Lord Jesus Christ is God, how should the holy Virgin who bore him not be the Mother of God?" (Letter to the Monks of Egypt [A.D. 427]). Later in A.D. 430, he wrote: "If anyone will not confess that the Emmanuel is very God, and that therefore the holy Virgin is the Mother of God, inasmuch as in the flesh she bore the Word of God made flesh [John 1:14]: let him be anathema" (Third Letter to Nestorius [A.D. 430]).
The message of the birth of Christ was heralded over the plains of Judea by messengers from heaven over two thousand years ago. On Christmas Day, we commemorate the coming on earth of God in human form, Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour, the Prince of Peace. With the Shepherds let us sing the praise of God and with the angels the song of thanksgiving: Glory to God in the highest and peace to men of good will. "Hail O Mary, Mother of God! Through you came to us the conquerer and triumphant vanquisher of hell”. Mary, Mother of God, pray for us.
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