Did Mary know that Jesus was God?

[deb1]

The angel came to Mary and through divine intervention she was impregnated. Her own words prove that she was not naive about procreation, she knew for instance that because she had not been with a man she could not get pregnant. It would have been unlikely that she would have viewed her pregnancy as anything other then a miracle from God. The KJV says that the angel tells her that her baby shall be called the Son of GOd. You can’t get much more direct then that.

 

[deb1]

Matt16_18:

God spoke the word, and all of creation came into being. Surely Mary, a Jew familiar with the creation accounts, could think that by God merely speaking the word, that she could have the Messiah gestating in her womb. Why would she necessarily jump to the conclusion that the Messiah was going to be God incarnate?

So she grew up with the same stories that we all have. I don’t see anywhere in the OT where the Holy Spirit impregnantes a woman.

 

[Axion]

Well, Mary certainly seemed to know at the wedding in Cana.

 

[Princess_Abby]

Fidelis:

This is one of the reasons it always burns my toast to hear that song at Christmas, “Mary, Did You Know?” I always want to shout out, “Of course she knew!”

oh my gosh…FINALLY…someone understands!!!

 

[feather]

The angel Gabriel came to tell Mary she was to give birth to the Son of God. She said “thy will be done” as a faithful believer so she would have knowledge but having knowledge does not always mean knowing. The idea was for God to be born a man with a mother and a father(adoptive). They were a family and for Jesus to be like us, I believe neither He nor Mary knew He was the Son of God or He would not be the same as us. We know of His birth and baptism perhaps and nothing then until the temple and it says He went home with them and was their dutiful Son, as it had to be. There is nothing on His life from then until He was 30 and He was out and about, got baptised etc. and then the wedding feast by which time I would say by then He knew and she had more knowledge or knew.

Jeannette

 

[losav]

Hi guys,

As I was searchng the web for more information about Catholic teachings on Mary, I bumped with another website that dares any CAtholic Apologetic to debate with the owner.

Decide whether this guy deserves our two cents.

evangelicaloutreach.org/catholic.htm

 

[Matt16_18]

deb1:

It would have been unlikely that she would have viewed her pregnancy as anything other then a miracle from God.

I have no doubt at all that Mary, of all people, knew that her pregnancy was a miracle of God! I just see no good reason to assume that Mary immediately believed that she was pregnant with God. In fact, I see scriptural evidence against making the assumption that a Mary knew that the promised Messiah in her womb was God incarnate. No Jew of her era believed that the Messiah was going to be God incarnate.

The KJV says that the angel tells her that her baby shall be called the Son of GOd. You can’t get much more direct then that.

Talking about a “son of God” to a Jewish woman of that era would not likely have been construed as a direct refernce to a man being God incarnate.

 

[edwinG]

Fidelis:

This is one of the reasons it always burns my toast to hear that song at Christmas, “Mary, Did You Know?” I always want to shout out, “Of course she knew!”

Hi Fidelis,
I hate waste. I love meat and bread. This unnecessary burning of toast is upsetting. Maybe if you regard the question as rhetorical the toast will be saved and hopefully you will enjoy the song. Me, I dont think I have ever heard the song, but I do eat toast.
walk in love
edwinG

 

[edwinG]

carol marie:

Based on your what’s been already said I think it’s pretty clear that she had to have known - but I wonder why in Luke chapter 2 when Jesus stayed behind at the temple to teach & his parents came looking for him he said, “Did you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” And then it goes on to say, “But they did not understand what he was saying to them.” v.50 I wonder why they would not have understood?

Hi carol marie,
Possibly they did not understand that Jesus had left them without mentioning this to them. They did not understand that at this age of reasoning one may come under the leading of the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit separated the leading of Jesus from the leading of Joseph and Mary so that we might learn.
The leading of the Holy Spirit is what they did not understand, for it was He who led Jesus.
walk in love
edwinG

 

[edwinG]

Axion:

Well, Mary certainly seemed to know at the wedding in Cana.

Hi Axion,
Not necessarily. The bible has many examples of people speaking prophecy unintentionally. The Holy Spirit just directs your speech. Mind you satan can do this also, so beware.
walk in love
edwinG

 

[slinky1882]

feather:

The angel Gabriel came to tell Mary she was to give birth to the Son of God. She said “thy will be done” as a faithful believer so she would have knowledge but having knowledge does not always mean knowing. The idea was for God to be born a man with a mother and a father(adoptive). They were a family and for Jesus to be like us, I believe neither He nor Mary knew He was the Son of God or He would not be the same as us

Hey Jeannette,
While possible that Christ did not fully understand at a young age being both God and man, that does not mean that if He did His humanity would have been denied or not “be the same as us”. For at His Death and Ministry of the last three years, He was aware of the Divinity yet shared human nature. Thanks and God Bless.

 

[edwinG]

Matt16_18:

I have no doubt at all that Mary, of all people, knew that her pregnancy was a miracle of God! I just see no good reason to assume that Mary immediately believed that she was pregnant with God. In fact, I see scriptural evidence against making the assumption that a Mary knew that the promised Messiah in her womb was God incarnate. No Jew of her era believed that the Messiah was going to be God incarnate.

Talking about a “son of God” to a Jewish woman of that era would not likely have been construed as a direct refernce to a man being God incarnate.

Hi Matt16_18,
I have read your 3 posts. I like what you say. There is understanding and there is deeper understanding. Your posts to me say that Mary did not have this deeper understanding of the role of Jesus. We can all hear the words and say Yeah Great stuff, and understand, but later the full meaning can come to us.
I agree with you and like the way you put your point of view.
walk in love
edwinG

 

[feather]

slinky1882:

Hey Jeannette,
While possible that Christ did not fully understand at a young age being both God and man, that does not mean that if He did His humanity would have been denied or not “be the same as us”. For at His Death and Ministry of the last three years, He was aware of the Divinity yet shared human nature. Thanks and God Bless.

Hey slinky

You only quoted part of my post. You left out the part where I was in agreement with you that when Christ began His Father’s work in full around age 30, He knew and Mary probably knew then too - as in the difference in having knowledge and knowing. There is something not quite right in part quoting of a post and commenting and the thread of thought is lost. Quite difficult for the one who has been part posted. Something like working on half truths. I am not into that kind of thing.

feather

 

[cleofet]

edwinG:

Hi Fidelis,
I hate waste. I love meat and bread. This unnecessary burning of toast is upsetting. Maybe if you regard the question as rhetorical the toast will be saved and hopefully you will enjoy the song. Me, I dont think I have ever heard the song, but I do eat toast.
walk in love
edwinG

Hi edwinG
You made me laugh out loud. Thanks. God bless all of you guys!

 

[Jew_Man_73]

Matt16_18:

I have no doubt at all that Mary, of all people, knew that her pregnancy was a miracle of God! I just see no good reason to assume that Mary immediately believed that she was pregnant with God. In fact, I see scriptural evidence against making the assumption that a Mary knew that the promised Messiah in her womb was God incarnate. No Jew of her era believed that the Messiah was going to be God incarnate.

Talking about a “son of God” to a Jewish woman of that era would not likely have been construed as a direct refernce to a man being God incarnate.

I don’t really know anything about this (That’s why I’m reading this thread! ), but I have to say that this is a good point. Jews then and now didn’t/don’t believe that the Messiah will be divine. The traditional Jewish teaching is that he’ll just be a mortal man.

 

[Evan]

Jews lived and died to support the truth of the monotheistic God. For a Jew to accept Jesus as God a tremendous theological shift of the understanding of God must take place. For a man to claim to be God would not be acceptable. But even more unacceptable is for a man to claim to be God and NOT the Father. That would imply two Gods!

I don’t know if Mary had thought through what was implied by such a claim, but a ‘Son of God’ was easy. Angels and people had been given such titles all through Israel’s history.

Jesus was not called ‘Emmanuel’ during his time on earth, rather he was called ‘Jesus’. Only later do we recognize he was God With Us.

I don’t think the apostles accepted Jesus as God till after the resurrection. They were constantly trying to understand who he was. A prophet? an angel of God? But an incarnate person of a trinity may have been outside their conception of God.

 

[RobbyS]

Evan:

Jews lived and died to support the truth of the monotheistic God. For a Jew to accept Jesus as God a tremendous theological shift of the understanding of God must take place. For a man to claim to be God would not be acceptable. But even more unacceptable is for a man to claim to be God and NOT the Father. That would imply two Gods!

I don’t know if Mary had thought through what was implied by such a claim, but a ‘Son of God’ was easy. Angels and people had been given such titles all through Israel’s history.

Jesus was not called ‘Emmanuel’ during his time on earth, rather he was called ‘Jesus’. Only later do we recognize he was God With Us.

I don’t think the apostles accepted Jesus as God till after the resurrection. They were constantly trying to understand who he was. A prophet? an angel of God? But an incarnate person of a trinity may have been outside their conception of God.

Her knowledge was intuitive rather than intellectual, so it it impossible to know how she would have answered such a question if it had been put to her.
The dogma of the triune God is a formula developed by the Church to explain the mystery of the Incarnation. But so far as Mary is concrned, it seems to me that she had a private revelation that was not shared with the others until the Resurrection.

 

[slinky1882]

feather:

Hey slinky

You only quoted part of my post. You left out the part where I was in agreement with you that when Christ began His Father’s work in full around age 30, He knew and Mary probably knew then too - as in the difference in having knowledge and knowing. There is something not quite right in part quoting of a post and commenting and the thread of thought is lost. Quite difficult for the one who has been part posted. Something like working on half truths. I am not into that kind of thing.

feather

feather,
I apologize that I did not quote you in full and here’s your quote in full:

The angel Gabriel came to tell Mary she was to give birth to the Son of God. She said “thy will be done” as a faithful believer so she would have knowledge but having knowledge does not always mean knowing. The idea was for God to be born a man with a mother and a father(adoptive). They were a family and for Jesus to be like us, I believe neither He nor Mary knew He was the Son of God or He would not be the same as us. We know of His birth and baptism perhaps and nothing then until the temple and it says He went home with them and was their dutiful Son, as it had to be. There is nothing on His life from then until He was 30 and He was out and about, got baptised etc. and then the wedding feast by which time I would say by then He knew and she had more knowledge or knew.

Jeannette

Again, I apologize for only pulling part, but I was addressing the last line of the partial. I think you may have misunderstood my reply as I was not commenting on your post as a whole, but one aspect of it. I was trying to say that Christ could have known as a child that He was Divine and still “be like one of us”. My point was that since Christ had human nature at 12 years of age and at 30 years of age, He could have known about His Divinity since He shared in human nature (i.e. the “like us” I believe you were referring to.) at both ages. Chirst could have known from childhood and still would have “been like us”. I was not posting “half-truths” (nor am I into them), but my clarity may have been lacking. Hope this helps. Thanks and God Bles.