T
TriuneUnity
Guest
In the West there are four defined teachings regarding the Blessed Virgin. Two were defined by the undivided catholic Church, and two by the Roman Church alone. These teachings are often labeled as the ‘four Marian dogmas’. They have been dogmatically defined in that they have been declared by the Roman Church as authoritative and infallible teachings to which all the faithful must ascribe.
The four Marian dogmas are: Mary Mother of God, declared by the Third Ecumenical Council at Ephesus in 431; Mary Ever-Virgin, declared at the Fifth Ecumenical Council in Constantinople in 553; Mary’s Immaculate Conception, declared by Pope Pius IX in 1854; and the Bodily Assumption of Mary, declared by Pope Pius XII in 1950.
It is important to note that Mary Mother of God and Mary Ever-Virgin are clear teachings of the one holy catholic and apostolic church, in which all Lutherans profess belief when they confess the Nicene Creed. The Conclusion to the Augsburg Confession reminds us of the fundamental agreement of the Reformers with the traditional church:
“Only those things have been recounted whereof we thought that it was necessary to speak, in order that it might be understood that in doctrine and ceremonies nothing has been received on our part against Scripture or the Church Catholic. For it is manifest that we have taken most diligent care that no new and ungodly doctrine should creep into our churches.” (emphasis added)
Historically it was ‘schismatics’ and ‘sectarians’ (in Luther’s words) who first rejected Mary’s perpetual virginity as well as her title as the Theotokos, the same schismatics who, unlike Lutherans, also reject the historical creeds and the catholic church.
**I. Mary, Mother of God
**
The Book of Concord couldn’t be more clear on the matter of Mary Mother of God. The Formula of Concord (Epitome), Article VIII states:
“we believe, teach, and confess that Mary conceived and bore not a mere man and no more, but the true Son of God; therefore she also is rightly called and truly is the mother of God.”
The early Lutherans were in this way simply confessing the belief of the church catholic, defined in Ephesus in the year 431 (although the concept was in usage over 200 years earlier), and thus clearly establishing their continuity with the historic church. As stated in the first anathema decreed by the Council of Ephesus,
The matter at issue in Ephesus was a Christological one, not a Mariological one; did Mary give birth to two persons, the Word and Jesus, or to one? At Ephesus the church catholic clearly answered ‘one’. Mary gave birth to the God-man, one person not two. In this way it is perfectly appropriate to call Mary the Mother of God in that the Son of Mary was God, and Mary His mother. (Recall that the Bible itself calls Mary “mother of [the] Lord” (Luke 1: 43).) Some Protestants argue that since Mary is only the mother of Christ’s human nature, not his divine nature, she therefore should not be called the Mother of God. The church catholic responds that Mary gave birth not to natures, but to a person in which the human and the divine are fused without possibility of separation, a divine person who is God. Being the Theotokos does not mean Mary predates God or that Mary is the source of God. What it does mean is that Mary bore a person who is God.
Luther describes the point thusly:
“God did not derive his divinity from Mary; but it does not follow that it is therefore wrong to say that God was born of Mary, that God is Mary’s Son, and that Mary is God’s mother . . . She is the true mother of God and bearer of God . . . Mary suckled God, rocked God to sleep, prepared broth and soup for God, etc. For God and man are one person, one Christ, one Son, one Jesus, not two Christs . . . just as your son is not two sons . . . even though he has two natures, body and soul, the body from you, the soul from God alone.” (On the Councils and the Church, 1539)
Evangelical protestants often get hot under the collar at this point, for they assume that if one speaks of Mary as the Mother of God, they are at least guilty of elevating Mary too high, and probably are harboring the seed of paganism to boot. In reply, Lutherans must insist that the emphasis be always placed not on the Mother herself, but rather on the One who made the Mother. We should not flee from Mary Mother of God as the anabaptists do out of Protestant Mariophobia, but instead can and should take great comfort in Mary’s blessing and in her intimate contact with her Lord and Savior (Luke 1: 47). I offer Lutheran theologian Harding Meyer’s words which sum up well the importance of this doctrine for Lutherans:
“justification by faith alone is merely the expression of the fact that it is not we who must come close to God, but God has already come close to us for our salvation. The Theotokos stands for this advent of God and for this proximity of God to the human person.”
An understanding of Mary as Theotokos is the source of all proper understanding and devotion to the Blessed Virgin, for it is in being chosen by God the Father to bear His only Son that Mary is to be regarded at all. “He has looked upon his handmaid’s lowliness” (Luke 1: 48) confesses Mary, for she in no way merits or deserves this greatest honor. She has no power to extend grace to the sinner or surplus merit to get us into heaven. What she has done, however, is exhibit faith in God which no other person in human history has exhibited, for only Mary received and believed the word of the Angel Gabriel that she, a virgin, would conceive and bear a child who was truly the Son of God, and even God Himself. All other Marian doctrines derive from the Incarnation and Mary’s role as Theotokos. To bear the Son of God who is God the Son is an awesome thing.
The four Marian dogmas are: Mary Mother of God, declared by the Third Ecumenical Council at Ephesus in 431; Mary Ever-Virgin, declared at the Fifth Ecumenical Council in Constantinople in 553; Mary’s Immaculate Conception, declared by Pope Pius IX in 1854; and the Bodily Assumption of Mary, declared by Pope Pius XII in 1950.
It is important to note that Mary Mother of God and Mary Ever-Virgin are clear teachings of the one holy catholic and apostolic church, in which all Lutherans profess belief when they confess the Nicene Creed. The Conclusion to the Augsburg Confession reminds us of the fundamental agreement of the Reformers with the traditional church:
“Only those things have been recounted whereof we thought that it was necessary to speak, in order that it might be understood that in doctrine and ceremonies nothing has been received on our part against Scripture or the Church Catholic. For it is manifest that we have taken most diligent care that no new and ungodly doctrine should creep into our churches.” (emphasis added)
Historically it was ‘schismatics’ and ‘sectarians’ (in Luther’s words) who first rejected Mary’s perpetual virginity as well as her title as the Theotokos, the same schismatics who, unlike Lutherans, also reject the historical creeds and the catholic church.
**I. Mary, Mother of God
**
The Book of Concord couldn’t be more clear on the matter of Mary Mother of God. The Formula of Concord (Epitome), Article VIII states:
“we believe, teach, and confess that Mary conceived and bore not a mere man and no more, but the true Son of God; therefore she also is rightly called and truly is the mother of God.”
The early Lutherans were in this way simply confessing the belief of the church catholic, defined in Ephesus in the year 431 (although the concept was in usage over 200 years earlier), and thus clearly establishing their continuity with the historic church. As stated in the first anathema decreed by the Council of Ephesus,
The matter at issue in Ephesus was a Christological one, not a Mariological one; did Mary give birth to two persons, the Word and Jesus, or to one? At Ephesus the church catholic clearly answered ‘one’. Mary gave birth to the God-man, one person not two. In this way it is perfectly appropriate to call Mary the Mother of God in that the Son of Mary was God, and Mary His mother. (Recall that the Bible itself calls Mary “mother of [the] Lord” (Luke 1: 43).) Some Protestants argue that since Mary is only the mother of Christ’s human nature, not his divine nature, she therefore should not be called the Mother of God. The church catholic responds that Mary gave birth not to natures, but to a person in which the human and the divine are fused without possibility of separation, a divine person who is God. Being the Theotokos does not mean Mary predates God or that Mary is the source of God. What it does mean is that Mary bore a person who is God.
Luther describes the point thusly:
“God did not derive his divinity from Mary; but it does not follow that it is therefore wrong to say that God was born of Mary, that God is Mary’s Son, and that Mary is God’s mother . . . She is the true mother of God and bearer of God . . . Mary suckled God, rocked God to sleep, prepared broth and soup for God, etc. For God and man are one person, one Christ, one Son, one Jesus, not two Christs . . . just as your son is not two sons . . . even though he has two natures, body and soul, the body from you, the soul from God alone.” (On the Councils and the Church, 1539)
Evangelical protestants often get hot under the collar at this point, for they assume that if one speaks of Mary as the Mother of God, they are at least guilty of elevating Mary too high, and probably are harboring the seed of paganism to boot. In reply, Lutherans must insist that the emphasis be always placed not on the Mother herself, but rather on the One who made the Mother. We should not flee from Mary Mother of God as the anabaptists do out of Protestant Mariophobia, but instead can and should take great comfort in Mary’s blessing and in her intimate contact with her Lord and Savior (Luke 1: 47). I offer Lutheran theologian Harding Meyer’s words which sum up well the importance of this doctrine for Lutherans:
“justification by faith alone is merely the expression of the fact that it is not we who must come close to God, but God has already come close to us for our salvation. The Theotokos stands for this advent of God and for this proximity of God to the human person.”
An understanding of Mary as Theotokos is the source of all proper understanding and devotion to the Blessed Virgin, for it is in being chosen by God the Father to bear His only Son that Mary is to be regarded at all. “He has looked upon his handmaid’s lowliness” (Luke 1: 48) confesses Mary, for she in no way merits or deserves this greatest honor. She has no power to extend grace to the sinner or surplus merit to get us into heaven. What she has done, however, is exhibit faith in God which no other person in human history has exhibited, for only Mary received and believed the word of the Angel Gabriel that she, a virgin, would conceive and bear a child who was truly the Son of God, and even God Himself. All other Marian doctrines derive from the Incarnation and Mary’s role as Theotokos. To bear the Son of God who is God the Son is an awesome thing.