{"id":687,"date":"2021-05-21T16:41:06","date_gmt":"2021-05-21T16:41:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/angelobiblestudy.com\/?page_id=687"},"modified":"2021-05-21T16:45:49","modified_gmt":"2021-05-21T16:45:49","slug":"mary-catholicism-and-the-bible","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/angelobiblestudy.com\/?page_id=687","title":{"rendered":"Mary, Catholicism, and The Bible"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Mary, Catholicism, and The Bible<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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by Dave Miller, Ph.D.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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One unique feature of Catholicism is the role and status assigned to Mary. The official pronouncements of the Catholic Church are forthright and unreserved in declaring her to be the \u201cmother of God,\u201d and in sanctioning the offering of worship to her and assigning to her an intercessory role (see\u00a0Miller<\/a>, 2004). Catholics insist that Mary is deserving of respect that surpasses other fleshly mothers, in the same way that a person has greater respect for his or her own fleshly mother. But the New Testament does not make this analogy. While a person\u2019s own fleshly mother certainly deserves more respect than that given to other mothers, Mary is not the fleshly mother of humanity (cf. Genesis 3:20). She is not deserving of any more respect than any other mother. A child views his own mother as\u00a0the<\/b>\u00a0mother\u2014because she bore him. But Mary did not give birth to anyone living today. She is no more\u00a0the<\/b>mother than any other mother.<\/p>

The Catholic Church confuses Mary\u2019s\u00a0physical<\/b>\u00a0motherhood (which\u00a0is<\/b>\u00a0taught in Scripture\u2014earning for her the surpassing respect of her\u00a0physical<\/b>\u00a0children, including Jesus\u2019 respect for her) with an alleged\u00a0spiritual<\/b>\u00a0motherhood\u2014about which the Bible says\u00a0nothing<\/b>. Indeed, to embrace the Catholic view of Mary would require one to repudiate Jesus\u2019 own view of His fleshly mother. This view is accentuated in two separate incidents that occurred while Jesus was on Earth.<\/p>

On one occasion when Jesus was imparting spiritual teaching to a crowd, Mary arrived with her other children and sought to speak to Him:<\/p>

While He was still talking to the multitudes, behold, His mother and brothers stood outside, seeking to speak with Him. Then one said to Him, \u201cLook, Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside, seeking to speak with You.\u201d But He answered and said to the one who told Him, \u201cWho is My mother<\/b>\u00a0and who are My brothers? And He stretched out His hand toward His disciples and said, \u201cHere are My mother<\/b>\u00a0and My brothers! For\u00a0whoever does the will of My Father<\/b>\u00a0in heaven is My brother and sister\u00a0and mother<\/b>\u201d (Matthew 12:46-50, emp. added).<\/p><\/blockquote>

Observe that while Jesus was not being disrespectful to His physical mother, he was contradicting the very aspect of Mary\u2019s status that is advocated by Catholic dogma. Jesus clarified that while His fleshly mother certainly was deserving of respect (cf. Luke 2:51; Ephesians 6:1-3), nevertheless, Mary was secondary to His higher, spiritual concerns. Those who were attending to the assimilation of the spiritual principles that Jesus was imparting were held up by Him as transcending the physical\/blood ties associated with mere human relatives.<\/p>

Mark\u2019s account of this incident (3:31-35) is preceded by Jesus\u2019 family (identified in vss. 31-32 as his mother and brothers) questioning His sanity (3:20-21). The Catholic translation (NAB) renders the verses: \u201cHe came home. Again (the) crowd gathered, making it impossible for them even to eat. When his relatives heard of this they set out to seize him, for they said, \u2018He is out of his mind.\u2019\u00a0\u201d The critical notes that accompany the text of the Catholic Bible make the following comment on these verses: \u201cThere were those even among the relatives of Jesus who disbelieved and regarded Jesus as\u00a0out of his mind<\/i>\u00a0(21).\u00a0Against this background<\/b>, Jesus is informed of the arrival of\u00a0his mother<\/b>\u00a0and brothers [and sisters] (32)\u201d (1987, p. 1121, italics in orig., emp. added).<\/p>

The other incident in the life of Jesus that illustrates His true assessment of His physical mother occurred as He responded to His critics. Some accused Him of casting out demons by the power of Beelzebub, while others tested Him by challenging Him to produce a sign from heaven. Knowing their thoughts, Jesus gave His usual masterful rebuttal. \u201cAnd it happened, as He spoke these things, that a certain woman from the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, \u2018Blessed is the womb that bore You, and the breasts which nursed You!\u2019\u00a0\u201d (Luke 11:27). This unnamed woman in the crowd likely did not intend to accentuate the person of Mary, but simply was expressing her wish that she could have produced such a fine son herself, thereby fulfilling the prophecy of Luke 1:48.<\/p>

Nevertheless, her statement expresses the viewpoint of the Catholic Church in its veneration of Mary. If this attitude and emphasis were proper, one would have expected Jesus to give a response that confirmed, bolstered, and sanctioned her declaration. One would have expected that Jesus would have said something to the effect that\u2014<\/p>

Yes, you are right. The one who bore Me and nursed Me is the \u201cmost holy Mother of God\u201d who will be \u201chonored with special reverence\u201d by the Church throughout the centuries, \u201cvenerated under the title of \u2018God-bearer,\u2019\u00a0\u201d and the faithful will \u201cpour forth persevering prayer to the Mother of God and Mother of men,\u201d venerate \u201cimages of Christ, the Blessed Virgin, and the saints.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>

Why would one expect Jesus to have made comments along these lines? Because the portions of this imaginary response that are in quotes are taken directly from the official pronouncements of the Catholic Church at Vatican II (Abbott, 1966, pp. 94-96).<\/p>

Did Jesus give a response to the woman that in any way resembled these sentiments? Absolutely not! To the contrary, He declared: \u201cMore than that, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!\u201d (Luke 11:28). Instead of \u201cmore than that,\u201d the\u00a0NAB\u00a0renders it \u201crather<\/b>\u201d (cf.\u00a0ASV,\u00a0NIV,\u00a0RSV)\u2014further underscoring the contrast He was making. The\u00a0NASBmakes the Greek even more vivid: \u201cOn the contrary<\/b>, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it.\u201d As University of Cambridge Greek professor C.F.D. Moule noted,\u00a0menoun<\/i>\u00a0in Luke 11:28 functions as \u201can introduction to a new statement\u00a0correcting or modifying<\/b>\u00a0a foregoing statement\u201d (1977, p. 163, emp. added). Nicoll was inclined to agree: \u201cCorrection<\/b>\u00a0probably was uppermost in Christ\u2019s thoughts. Under the appearance of approval the woman was taught that\u00a0she was mistaken<\/b>\u00a0in thinking that merely to be the mother of an illustrious son constituted felicity\u201d (n.d., 1:550, emp. added). Dana and Mantey also agree: \u201cIn Lk. 11:28…the expression contains both\u00a0contrast and emphasis<\/b>, with the significance of\u00a0in fact<\/i>,\u00a0rather<\/i>\u201d (1927, p. 261, italics in orig., emp. added). In essence, Jesus was contradicting the woman and pointing her to the correct focus and object of commendation: not the physical mother of Jesus, but those who obey God\u2019s Word.<\/p>

THE PRIMARY PASSAGE<\/b><\/h2><\/div>

The premiere passage of Scripture that is offered to sustain the view that Mary was assigned a special role in the practice of the Christian religion is the statement that Jesus made from the cross:<\/p>

Now there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother, and His mother\u2019s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing by, He said to His mother, \u201cWoman, behold your son!\u201d Then He said to the disciple, \u201cBehold your mother<\/b>!\u201d And from that hour that disciple took her to his own home (John 19:25-27, emp. added).<\/p><\/blockquote>

The fact that Jesus was referring strictly to the physical care for his earthly mother after His death\u2014and not to an alleged spiritual role that Mary was to fill in Christ\u2019s religion\u2014is evident from the context. Jesus spoke the directive\u00a0to John<\/b>\u2014not to everyone else present on that occasion, let alone to everyone since. Jesus simply was turning the care of His fleshly mother over to John, since her husband was already deceased and her other children were likely still unbelievers (Mark 3:21; John 7:5). The\u00a0very verse<\/b>\u00a0that refers to this oral utterance of Jesus regarding care of His fleshly mother\u00a0contains proof of its intended meaning<\/b>: \u201cAnd from that hour that disciple took her to his own home\u201d (John 19:27).<\/p>

Consider the following three observations: First, Jesus did not entrust the care of His mother\u00a0to Peter<\/b>! But if Peter were the first pope, Jesus surely would have linked Mary to Peter in order to establish her official spiritual status for all time. Second, Jesus did not arrange to have Mary circulated to the homes of\u00a0all<\/b>\u00a0of the disciples, but only to\u00a0John\u2019s<\/b>\u00a0home. Jesus knew that the \u201cdisciple whom Jesus loved\u201d would see to it that she received adequate care in His absence. Third, John took her to \u201chis own\u00a0home<\/b>,\u201d i.e., he was attending to her physical needs! He did not take her to any \u201cHoly Shrine of the Blessed Virgin,\u201d or to any other location that would have confirmed a unique role. Indeed, absolutely nothing in this verse leads the objective reader to think that Jesus was assigning a significance or role to Mary that the Catholic Church has since assigned her\u2014\u201cthe\u00a0Mother<\/b>\u00a0of us all\u201d!<\/p>

Interestingly, if when Jesus said to John, \u201cBehold your mother!,\u201d He intended to call for the veneration of Mary, then the immediately preceding statement directed to Mary pertaining to John, \u201cWoman, behold your son!\u201d (John 19:26), would necessitate\u00a0the veneration of John<\/b>\u00a0by both Mary and everyone since!<\/p>

The fact of the matter is that the Bible makes no provision for worship, adoration, or veneration to be directed to Mary. The Bible\u00a0forbids<\/b>\u00a0offering praise to\u00a0any<\/b>\u00a0human being. All praise, worship, and adoration belongs to God alone (Matthew 4:10; Acts 10:25-26; 14:14-15; Revelation 19:10; 22:9). To extend veneration to other humans ought to be as horrifying to us as it was to Paul and Barnabas (Acts 14:14-15). Indeed, when Herod accepted such veneration, he was struck dead by God and eaten with worms (Acts 12:23).<\/p>

REFERENCES<\/b><\/h2><\/div>

Abbott, Walter, ed. (1966),\u00a0The Documents of Vatican II<\/i>\u00a0(New York, NY: America Press).<\/p>

Dana, H.E. and Julius Mantey (1927),\u00a0A Manual Grammar of the Greek New Testament<\/i>(Toronto, Canada: Macmillan).<\/p>

Miller, Dave (2004), \u201cMary\u2014Mother of God?\u201d [On-line],\u00a0URL:\u00a0http:\/\/apologeticspress.org\/articles\/2234<\/a>.<\/p>

Moule, C.F.D. (1977 reprint),\u00a0An Idiom-Book of New Testament Greek<\/i>\u00a0(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, second edition).<\/p>

Nicoll, W. Robertson (no date),\u00a0The Expositor\u2019s<\/i>\u00a0Greek Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans).<\/p>

New American Bible<\/i>\u00a0(1986), (Nashville, TN: Catholic Bible Press).<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mary, Catholicism, and The Bible by Dave Miller, Ph.D. One unique feature of Catholicism is the role and status assigned to Mary. The official pronouncements of the Catholic Church are forthright and unreserved in declaring her to be the \u201cmother of God,\u201d and in sanctioning the offering of worship to her and assigning to her […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-687","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","wpbf-post"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t