Is Mary the Mother of God

Is Mary the Mother of God?
In a word, no.
== The Affirmative Case ==
Catholics use the phrase "Mary, Mother of God" or similar such titles for Mary who gave birth to Jesus, the Christ, our Savior. They of course have their non-inspired "church fathers" which they will quote in volume, but I have no interest in those here in terms of discussing the authority for their claims. I will lay out a common series of verses they will use to make the claim from the Bible.
This was taken from a Catholic Apologist on X: https://twitter.com/Burgess7281975/status/1771673744131400158
(A) Marian Typology in the Old Testament 
* Genesis 3:15 “I will put enmity 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.” 
* 1 Kings 2:19-20 (Solomon institutes office of Queen Mother) 
* Psalms 45:9 “at your right hand stands the queen in gold at Ophir” 
* Psalms 45:13 “the daughter of the king . . . with gold woven robes” 
* Isaiah 7:14 “a virgin shall conceive and bear a son” 
* Luke 1 (compares Mary with the Ark of the Covenant - verse 35 with Numbers 9:15, verse 44 with 2 Samuel 6:14, verse 43 with 2 Samuel 6:9, verse 56 with 2 Samuel 6:11) 
(B) Mary Hailed as “Mother of Our Lord” 
* Matthew 1:23 “virgin shall . . . bear a son . . . shall be called “Emmanuel”” 
* Luke 1:35 “child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God” 
* Luke 1:43 “the mother of my Lord” 
* Galatians 4:4 “God sent forth His Son, born of woman” 
* John 19:27 “Behold your mother.” 
(C) Mary As Intercessor 
* John 2:1 (IHS works Miracle at Cana at Mary’s request) 
* See also Acts 1:14; 1 Timothy 4:16; Hebrews 4:16 
(D) Marian Assumption prefigured in OT and supported in NT 
* Genesis 5:23-24 (Mary’s Assumption prefigured through Enoch’s assumption) 
* Apocalypse of Saint John 12:1-12 (Woman in Heaven clothed with the sun, the moon under her feet, wearing a crown of twelve stars) 
(E) Mary’s Uniqueness in Creation 
* Genesis 3:15 (Total opposition to satan) 
* Luke 1:28 “Hail, full of Grace” 
* Luke 1:42 “blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb” 
* Luke 1:48 “behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed” 
* Luke 2:34-35 “ 34 And Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary his mother: Behold this child is set for the fall, and for the resurrection of many in Israel, and for a sign which shall be contradicted;  35 And thy own soul a sword shall pierce, that, out of many hearts, thoughts may be revealed.”
In addition to the above, I will also add the article from the following Catholic Apologist website: https://www.catholic.com/magazine/online-edition/mary-mother-of-god
The summary of this article can be stated in the following quote: "Good enough for me."
If other meaningful arguments arise, I will add them here.
== The Main Contention ==
Here are some statements that are true that must be acknowledged:
* Jesus is God. He is God the Son, the 2nd person of the Godhead.
* Mary is the mother of Jesus.
* Mary is called "the mother of our Lord" in reference to being the Mother of Jesus.
These can all be true and the statement "Mary the Mother of God" still be false.
The main issue that most who hear/see this phrase and object is initially instinctive. God is eternal! How can Mary, a mortal, be the mother of the eternal Creator of the Universe? But because the Catholics have been dealing with this reaction for centuries, they seem to have good answers against individuals who object. They call them fancy terms like Nestorians and Arians and then the objector back pedals not wanting to be associated with a heresy.
Except that their instinct is correct. Mary is not the Mother of the eternal God. Here is the proper reasoning.
God (Theos in the Greek/El or Elohim in the Hebrew) exists as three persons: God - the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Mary was not the mother of the three persons. She was only the physical mother of one of them. The phrase "Mary, the Mother of God" does not make proper differentiation between which person of the Godhead and so the phrase essentially declares her to be the mother of God the Father and God the Holy Spirit as well, making a mere mortal, created being superior to her Creator. That is not only illogical, its blasphemy.
* Blasphemy - an attempt to diminish the reverence for Yahweh; an attempt to turn the hearts of people from allegiance to Yahweh; any impious or profane speaking of Yahweh; reproachful, contemptuous, or irreverent words uttered impiously against Yahweh or His word.
In making Mary the mother of God (all three persons, two of whom were never incarnate), one makes Mary existent before and in a superior state to, a causal state to, the Creator of all that exists. It diminishes God, putting Him subject to a mortal woman. The doctrine is one of many that seek to direct us away from Christ, away from our God, and towards Mary. It is part of a vast body of dogma that is contemptuous of the scriptures, reading into them what is desired, playing fast and loose with them and drawing conclusions unwarranted by the evidence.
No, this does not make me a Nestorian (a false doctrine that attempted to state that Jesus was two distinct persons, the human Jesus and the divine Jesus. If interested in knowing more, there are plenty of places to research this heresy. I'm not arguing that Jesus had two natures and that Mary only gave birth to a physical Jesus. Jesus is one person. Mary gave physical birth to that one person. She is not the originator of that person. While we aren't privy to the mechanics of incarnation, we know that God the Son incarnating within Mary was an action completed with the Holy Spirit and the Father. Notice the precise differentiation that Luke makes here that the Catholics do not:
* Luke 1:35 - The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.
There isn't really any more that needs to be said. This is sufficient for us to make the case against calling Mary the Mother of God.
== The Negative Case Against the Affirmative ==
Coming.
== Conclusion ==
Coming.
Category:Denominationalism
Category:Catholicism