An interesting thing I find about God and His way is that it both parallels and reverses expectations. I’ll explain:
Jesus the Christ was unique; He was both God and Man. True God and True Man. Before He came, there was God, and there was man, but there was never a God-Man; and as a God-Man, Jesus reigns still. His role wasn’t completed on the cross; He intercedes for us still.
Likewise, Mary was unique; she was a perfect human, and is our nature’s solitary boast. Like her Son, she was unique - she was both a Virgin and a Mother. Before she was, there were virgins and there were mothers, but there was never a Virgin-Mother; the solitary uniqueness of this role would be diminished if she ceased being a virgin. She would no longer be a Virgin-Mother, but only a mother (which, don’t get me wrong, is a
very high calling). However, God chose her to be unique in such a way as to manifest the absolute uniqueness of His Son.
Parallels and reversals: God likes to take our expectations and flip them 180 degrees (the wisdom of God is foolishness to men). Take the beatitudes, for example: who would expect the persecuted to be blessed or those who mourn to be blessed? For a better presentation of these, listen to this
lecture (it’s worth your time, I assure you).
So how does the parrallel / reversal manifest itself here? Adam and Eve. Christ is the new Adam (
Romans 5:12, ****1 Corinthians 15:2, ****1 Corinthians 15:45), ****
1 Timothy 2:14), and Mary is the new Eve. How is this? Let’s turn to Genesis 3:15:
I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed: she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel.
Now some translations render it “he shall crush thy head”, but there are
many lengthy threads about that point on these forums if you’re interested. Suffice it to say that there is some relation between the Woman, the Man, and the serpant. Truthfully, it’s not that relevant to the discussion, but you should be aware of the fact that the manuscript evidence goes both ways. In any case, the key part here is “between thee and the woman, and thy seed and
her seed”. This is interesting because there is no other place in the Bible where the offspring is called a “woman’s seed” - it’s always the seed of the man.
How does this relate now? Just as Eve was formed
from Adam, so shall the new Adam be formed
from the new Eve. Parallel / reversal. It’s also interesting to note that before the fall, Eve is only referred to as “woman”, and how does Jesus refer to His mother? Woman. It isn’t until after the fall that Eve is first called Eve. This point is important because God calls the perfect woman without original sin and prior to sin “woman” (Eve) and also calls His mother the same until His death on the cross (
John 19:26). Furthermore, the Protestant objector must answer why, in this first mention of God’s divine plan of salvation, He chose to discuss Mary (who is unquestionably “the woman”).
For further reading, you may be interested in
this and
this. In closing, I’ll simply quote a Father of the Church:
St. Ireneaus:
“Consequently, then, Mary the Virgin is found to be obedient, saying, ‘Behold, O Lord, your handmaid; be it done to me according to your word.’ Eve, however, was disobedient, and, when yet a virgin, she did not obey. Just as she, who was then still a virgin although she had Adam for a husband…having become disobedient, was made the cause of death for herself and for the whole human race; so also Mary, betrothed to a man but nevertheless still a virgin, being obedient, was made the cause of salvation for herself and for the whole human race. . . . Thus, the knot of Eve’s disobedience was loosed by the obedience of Mary. What the virgin Eve had bound in unbelief, the Virgin Mary loosed through faith” (Against Heresies 3:22:24 [A.D. 189]).
Please let me know if I am not answering your question.
God Bless,
RyanL
. I’m at work now and shouldn’t be spending much time on this, but I’ll be anxious when I get home to listen to the Kreeft audio you recommend. He’s difficult for me to comprehend, but I’ll try. I’m an aspiring theologian, but it’s hard.