What do evangelicals think of Mary’s title of “Mother of God”?

QUESTION:

What is the attitude of evangelicals toward the title given to Mary as “Mother of God”? Is it right to call her that?

Because the Lord Jesus is God, and because after the flesh he was born of the virgin Mary, there seems to be nothing wrong with calling him “Mother of God.” However, we must make some very important explanations so that we do not make serious theological mistakes. When you say that she is a “Mother of God” you can imply that the virgin Mary is above God, that through her God was born and therefore, God did not exist before he was born of the virgin Mary. Maybe that’s why we never find the expression “mother of God” to be attributed to Mary in the pages of the Holy Scriptures. In the Gospel of Luke 1:43, Elizabeth called her “the mother of the Lord,” but we find nowhere in the Scriptures that the virgin Mary is called “the mother of God” or the “one who gave birth to God.” That is why evangelicals, who base their Christian faith and practice only on biblical teaching, do not refer to Mary using the term “mother of God.” Here are some very important things that anyone who wants to know how the Virgin Mary relates to the Lord Jesus Christ should know.

Mary was created by God through Jesus Christ

At the beginning of the Gospel of John, the Lord Jesus is called the Word and tells us the following about our Savior:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him not even one thing came into being that has come into being. (John 1: 1-3 NASB)

The Bible says that the Word, that is, Jesus, who is God, was in the beginning. He did not appear in the beginning, but was in the beginning, because He is eternal. All things were made by Him, and because there is no exception, that is, nothing was made without Him, the Virgin Mary is no exception. She was also made, that is, created by God through the Lord Jesus Christ.

Through the virgin Mary the Savior became incarnate

The same chapter 1 of the Gospel of John tells us the following:

And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us; and we saw His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14 NASB)

Through the Virgin Mary, the Lord Jesus, who was in the beginning and through whom all things were created (including Mary), chose to incarnate, to come to live among us humans, and to bring us salvation. Let no one believe that Jesus appeared only when he became the flesh of the virgin Mary. The Savior existed before the world was created because He is the eternal God.

Jesus takes precedence over all things

In the Epistle of the Apostle Paul to the Colossians it is written:

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation: for by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, or dominions, or rulers, or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. He is also the head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything. For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross. (Colossians 1:15-20 NASB)

This text once again emphasizes the truth that Jesus is the firstborn of all creation. This does not refer to His birth according to the flesh. The text emphasizes once again that all things (including Mary) were made by Him and for Him. Christ is before all things, and therefore before the virgin Mary.

In Jesus dwells all the fullness of the divinity

Only about Jesus Christ is it written in the Holy Scriptures that in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead. This is not written about the Virgin Mary, so let us not believe that the Virgin Mary is God or part of the deity, when we call her “Mother of God.” Unfortunately, this is exactly what happened over time. Some so-called theologians have deified the virgin Mary and raised her to the position of Savior, saying that she has the role of “intercessor to Jesus Christ, her Son after the flesh.” Scripture says very clearly and categorically:

For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus. (1 Timothy 2: 5 NASB)

Let us endeavor to search the Holy Scriptures and believe in the truth revealed by God in them. Let us not add anything to what is written in God’s Word.

Translated by Ina Croitoru