Why won't Protestants call Mary "Mother of God"

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Therefore calling Mary the mother of God is a false title and terribly misleading.

Thank you, Nestorius! I believe that the ecumenical councils of Ephesus, Chalcedon, and Constantinople would like a word with you now… 👍
 
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justcatholic:
Mary is not the mother of God because God has no beginning and no end. God in his divine nature existed **before **Mary was born. Mary in scripture is called the mother of our Lord, but never the mother of God. There is a vast difference in that understanding.

Also, when Mary gave birth to Jesus, he already was the divine Son of God before he was in the womb of Mary. Mary in no way attributed to the deity that Christ had prior to his incarnation. Therefore calling Mary the mother of God is a false title and terribly misleading.
Sigh. With a handle like “justprotestant” instead of “justcatholic” you could come up with a decent defense of the title “Mother of God.” This is not one of the doctrines that divides us. It was the Council of Ephesus that gave us the title, and no serious Protestant rejects it. Now, a “me-and-Jesus-Bible-only” kind of guy might come up with an objection to it but the rejection of it is new – possibly 20th Century.

The doctrine distinguishes between “Mother of God” and “Mother of the divinity of God.” Mary is not the mother of divinity.
 
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justcatholic:
Mary is not the mother of God because God has no beginning and no end. God in his divine nature existed **before **Mary was born. Mary in scripture is called the mother of our Lord, but never the mother of God. There is a vast difference in that understanding.

Also, when Mary gave birth to Jesus, he already was the divine Son of God before he was in the womb of Mary. Mary in no way attributed to the deity that Christ had prior to his incarnation. Therefore calling Mary the mother of God is a false title and terribly misleading.
Hello Justcatholic

I don’t think that anyone is saying that Mary “attributed to the deity that Christ had prior to his incarnation” What we are saying is that since Jesus is fully divine and fully human that would truely make Mary the Mother of God.

I would like to ask how do you tell the differnce between Lord and God?

Monica
 
Mark 3:31Then Jesus’ mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him. 32A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, “Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you.” 33"Who are my mother and my brothers?" he asked. 34Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! 35Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”

someone describe what Jesus meant here and then you will have the answer to this post’s question
 
Actually, many Protestants have no problem according Mary her appropriate title. Mostly Evangelicals and Fundamentalists have this problem with calling her such believing it elevates her to the level of deity, which we all know is not true.
 
Robert in SD:
Protestants who refuse to call Mary the Mother of God make that decision because they are uncomfortable with the possibility of sounding “too Catholic.”

It’s ironic because any question over Mary’s motherhood of the Word made flesh calls Christ’s divine nature into question. Seems like a case of cutting off one’s nose to spite one’s face.

Any sincere protestant arguments to the contrary out there? What’s wrong with the title “Mother of God?”

-Peace
dont know about any sincere protestants but Jesus had no problem in doing that at all

Mark3:31Then Jesus’ mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him. 32A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, “Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you.” 33"Who are my mother and my brothers?" he asked. 34Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! 35Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”
 
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cornerstone:
Mark 3:31Then Jesus’ mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him. 32A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, “Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you.” 33"Who are my mother and my brothers?" he asked. 34Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! 35Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”

someone describe what Jesus meant here and then you will have the answer to this post’s question
He is not denouncing His mother here, He is extending His family to include us all. In the Gospel of John when Jesus gives Mary to John for him to care for Her it was at the same time a gesture of giving His Mother to care for us all because we are one in Christ. Hence the term “Notre Dame” (Our Lady)!
 
One former catholic turned protestant noted to me once that Mary is the mother of Jesus, but not of Christ.

That they use Jesus to refer to Him while on earth, but Christ after He assumed into heaven, and I guess before He came to earth through Mary.

So in that way they acknowledge Mary’s role in assisting God coming to earth as man, but do not give her recognition for being the mother of God made Man…I guess…

It was the first time I’d ever heard of a distinction between Jesus and Christ as I’ve always used them interchangeably. I was doing so in our conversation when she ‘corrected’ me by saying, “Oh, you mean Jesus, not Christ”…to which I asked, “What’s the difference?”
 
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justcatholic:
Mary is not the mother of God because God has no beginning and no end. God in his divine nature existed **before ** Mary was born. Mary in scripture is called the mother of our Lord, but never the mother of God. There is a vast difference in that understanding.
Code:
                     Also, when Mary gave birth to Jesus, **he already was the divine Son of God** before he was in the womb of Mary. Mary in no way attributed to the deity that Christ had prior to his incarnation. Therefore calling Mary the mother of God is a false title and terribly misleading.
None of your premises are controversial. So you should rethink how you get from your premises to your conclusion.

No one thinks that Jesus derives His divinity from Mary (OK, while in Russia I met an old Orthodox guy whom my then-Protestant Russian friend *said *believed that Mary was pre-existent, but I don’t know Russian, and it’s possible she misunderstood him; ironically she has now returned to the Orthodox Church, but that’s another story.) That’s not in dispute, because no church teaches it. Maybe you should be asking why most Christians since the fifth century have called Mary the Mother of God?

Some Protestants, such as the historian Philip Schaff (who was actually put on trial by his denomination for being too Catholic, ironically–not for this issue of course), have argued that the Orthodox/patristic term Theotokos is correct but the translation "Mother of God’ is at best misleading. I disagree with Schaff, but perhaps this is a starting point.

Theotokos means “God-bearer.” Could you agree with this term? Mary gave birth to God. That is what “Mother of God” means. I like the term “Mother of God” because it reminds us that Mary was not simply a vessel through whom Jesus passed. But essentially “Mother of God” and “Theotokos” mean the same thing.

Catholics, correct me if I’m wrong here!

Edwin
 
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cornerstone:
Mark 3:31Then Jesus’ mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him. 32A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, “Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you.” 33"Who are my mother and my brothers?" he asked. 34Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! 35Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”

someone describe what Jesus meant here and then you will have the answer to this post’s question
I think you need to remember that Jesus came for all of us. Mary was already a part of his spiritual body, now he wants us to be apart of it as well. Mark 3 : 35 is an invitation for all of us to join this wonderful family, not a denial of his mother. After all how do you explain the fourth commandment, did Jesus feel that he didn’t have a need to follow this rule?

Monica
 
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cornerstone:
Mark 3:31Then Jesus’ mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him. 32A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, “Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you.” 33"Who are my mother and my brothers?" he asked. 34Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! 35Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”

someone describe what Jesus meant here and then you will have the answer to this post’s question
Dear cornerstone;
This is a discussion about the validity of Mary’s title as the Mother of God. Nothing in the passage you have quoted seems to contradict the fact that Mary gave birth to Jesus the Christ. At best this passage calls into question the issue of Mary’s perpetual virginity. A topic for another thread. Here, Jesus is not denouncing his mother in this passage, or denying her giving birth to him. Instead, he is using the opportunity to teach his disciples about the family of God. (Read the passage in context with the entire chapter.)

Ignatius Bible (RSV:CE) said:
[1]
Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there who had a withered hand.
[2] And they watched him, to see whether he would heal him on the sabbath, so that they might accuse him.
[3] And he said to the man who had the withered hand, “Come here.”
[4] And he said to them, “Is it lawful on the sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?” But they were silent.
[5] And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored.
[6] The Pharisees went out, and immediately held counsel with the Hero’di-ans against him, how to destroy him.
[7] Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the sea, and a great multitude from Galilee followed; also from Judea
[8] and Jerusalem and Idume’a and from beyond the Jordan and from about Tyre and Sidon a great multitude, hearing all that he did, came to him.
[9] And he told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, lest they should crush him;
[10] for he had healed many, so that all who had diseases pressed upon him to touch him.
[11] And whenever the unclean spirits beheld him, they fell down before him and cried out, “You are the Son of God.”
[12] And he strictly ordered them not to make him known.
[13] And he went up on the mountain, and called to him those whom he desired; and they came to him.
[14] And he appointed twelve, to be with him, and to be sent out to preach
[15] and have authority to cast out demons:
[16] Simon whom he surnamed Peter;
[17] James the son of Zeb’edee and John the brother of James, whom he surnamed Bo-aner’ges, that is, sons of thunder;
[18] Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Cananaean,
[19] and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him. Then he went home;
[20] and the crowd came together again, so that they could not even eat.
[21] And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for people were saying, “He is beside himself.”
[22] And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, “He is possessed by Be-el’zebul, and by the prince of demons he casts out the demons.”
[23] And he called them to him, and said to them in parables, "How can Satan cast out Satan?
[24] If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.
[25] And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand.
[26] And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but is coming to an end.
[27] But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man; then indeed he may plunder his house.
[28] “Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they utter;
[29] but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin” –
[30] for they had said, “He has an unclean spirit.”
[31] And his mother and his brothers came; and standing outside they sent to him and called him.
[32] And a crowd was sitting about him; and they said to him, “Your mother and your brothers are outside, asking for you.”
[33] And he replied, “Who are my mother and my brothers?”
[34] And looking around on those who sat about him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers!
[35] *Whoever does the will of God is my brother, and sister, and mother.” * (Mk 3:1-35).

The passage is a pretty good refutation of sola fide. But I’ll bet you didn’t intend to use it for that, right? :rotfl:
 
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YinYangMom:
One former catholic turned protestant noted to me once that Mary is the mother of Jesus, but not of Christ.

That they use Jesus to refer to Him while on earth, but Christ after He assumed into heaven, and I guess before He came to earth through Mary.

So in that way they acknowledge Mary’s role in assisting God coming to earth as man, but do not give her recognition for being the mother of God made Man…I guess…

It was the first time I’d ever heard of a distinction between Jesus and Christ as I’ve always used them interchangeably. I was doing so in our conversation when she ‘corrected’ me by saying, “Oh, you mean Jesus, not Christ”…to which I asked, “What’s the difference?”
Here is the Ecumenical Council of Ephesus that deals with people who talk like that. It is kind of a long read, but its worth it.

ewtn.com/library/COUNCILS/EPHESUS.HTM
 
Peace to you!

The Virgin Mary is the mother of the INCARNATED God. She’s not the mother of God, for, no need to say, God doesn’t have a mother.

If you believe God is the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, you would not say that Mary is mother of God.

If you believed that we have ONE God, the Father, and ONE Lord, Jesus Christ, you would not say Mary is mother of God. She’s the mother of the ONE Lord, Jesus Christ.

By the way: Lord is not always used in the New Testament as meaning God.

THEOPHILUS†
 
THEOPHILUS†:
Peace to you!

The Virgin Mary is the mother of the INCARNATED God. She’s not the mother of God, for, no need to say, God doesn’t have a mother.

If you believe God is the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, you would not say that Mary is mother of God.

If you believed that we have ONE God, the Father, and ONE Lord, Jesus Christ, you would not say Mary is mother of God. She’s the mother of the ONE Lord, Jesus Christ.

By the way: Lord is not always used in the New Testament as meaning God.

THEOPHILUS†
Theophilus, please review the rationale for this doctrine. As many have cited here, the title, “Mother of God,” does not claim that God, in himself, has a mother. All of the reformers accepted this title/doctrine, as do most mainstream Protestant denominations today. The title “Mother of God” protects the doctrine of the hypotatic union.

Do check the link provided just above. You’re a smart guy. Theologically astute Protestants and Catholics are not at odds on this issue.
 
Catholic Dude:
He is not denouncing His mother here, He is extending His family to include us all. In the Gospel of John when Jesus gives Mary to John for him to care for Her it was at the same time a gesture of giving His Mother to care for us all because we are one in Christ. Hence the term “Notre Dame” (Our Lady)!
Yes…and it is also pointing to His mother’s fiat! 👍
 
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mercygate:
Theophilus, please review the rationale for this doctrine. As many have cited here, the title, “Mother of God,” does not claim that God, in himself, has a mother. All of the reformers accepted this title/doctrine, as do most mainstream Protestant denominations today. The title “Mother of God” protects the doctrine of the hypotatic union.

Do check the link provided just above. You’re a smart guy. Theologically astute Protestants and Catholics are not at odds on this issue.
What does the blessed Virgin Mary have to do with the hypostatic union??

Philosophy is not the Bible. The Bible doesn’t talk about anything like the hypotatic union. You don’t need to call Mary with false name, contradicting the BIBLICAL doctrine of the Trinity, just to defend a hypothesis.

THEOPHILUS†
 
THEOPHILUS†:
What does the blessed Virgin Mary have to do with the hypostatic union??

Philosophy is not the Bible. The Bible doesn’t talk about anything like the hypotatic union. You don’t need to call Mary with false name, contradicting the BIBLICAL doctrine of the Trinity, just to defend a hypothesis.

THEOPHILUS†
If you believe in the Holy Trinity, you believe in the hypostatic union.
 
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mercygate:
If you believe in the Holy Trinity, you believe in the hypostatic union.
🙂 Well, then why do you have to call Mary “mother of God”?
 
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mercygate:
Did you read those links?
You mean about the Council at Ephesus? Well, I know about it. But that doesn’t answer my question: Why do you HAVE to call Mary “mother of God”? Don’t you believe that God is the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit?

 
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