Is Mary the Mother of God?

This is our Understanding the Scriptures segment, we are in Matthew chapter 1, and last week I went through the genealogy of Jesus, and we got to verse 17.So we will pick up with verse 17:“So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David until the carrying away into Babylon are fourteen generations; and from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are fourteen generations.”

Dave:

Now Tom, I don’t know why, I don’t know the significance of fourteen generations, but maybe you do, Tom, but it shows a pattern, it shows that God was in charge, He knows what’s happening.Now you couldn’t say more than that.

Tom:

“Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise:When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.”I think that’s pretty straight forward, it was a virgin birth, that Joseph, her espoused, had nothing to do with it.

Dave:

Yeah, we have this again in Luke.The Bible is very clear.Now, Catholicism-well, Jesus was born of a virgin, but Jesus was the only child that Mary had, and we’ll get there in a minute, but let me just look ahead.Verse 25, that’s how the chapter ends:He knew her not—okay, we know what that means.Joseph had no sex with her—until she had brought forth her only son?No, the Bible talks about “your only son.”God tells Abraham, “Take now thy son, thine only son—this is in Genesis 22—Isaac.So it tells us Ishmael was not looked upon as a son, your only son is Isaac.So, it could have very easily said, she brought forth her only son, because we want you to understand she remains a virgin the rest of her life.No, it says, He knew her not until she brought forth here firstborn son:and he called his name Jesus.And of course we know that Jesus had a number of half-brothers, and there were some half-sisters, the brothers are named, and Catholics try to say well, they were cousins, and so forth.But anyway, I pushed us ahead, Tom, but it’s apropos to what we are talking about here.

Tom:

Right.Dave, what about the virgin birth?I remember you talking about Norman Vincent Peale, way back.There are some doctrines, some issues that people write off and say well, it’s just not important.Is the virgin birth all that important, is it essential, or should we just kind of let anybody think what they want?

Dave:

Well, Peale didn’t seem to think so.

Tom:

No.

Dave:

Is it essential?Well, the Bible tells us, if we went back to Isaiah:9:6For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
See All... and 7: “…unto us a child is born (that’s the babe born in Bethlehem)…unto us a Son is given.”Now, Jesus was the eternal Son of God, and he came into this body that was given him.The Catholics talk about the, mother of God.Well, isn’t Jesus God?Yes, but you’re not the mother of God.He is eternal.God was around a long time before Mary came on the scene.She is the mother of the body that was prepared—we go to Hebrews where it quotes the Psalms:“A body hast thou prepared me.”Okay?Now, if Jesus was born, if He were just a man, well, He could be filled with the Holy Spirit like John the Baptist, and so forth, but He has to be infinite, because the penalty for sin that He is going to pay is an infinite penalty.He has to be God in order to die for the sins of the world, and He couldn’t be a sinless man because it says all have sinned.Mary confesses that she’s a sinner; Joseph certainly was, so how could we have the spotless Lamb of God, who bears away the sin of the world if He is just a mortal man?It wouldn’t work.Furthermore, the Bible is very clear, beginning in Genesis:3:15And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
See All...:“The seed of the woman…”that’s a rather striking statement—“…the seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent’s head.”That’s the first indication of the virgin birth.

Tom:

And Dave, as you’re indicating here, if you don’t believe that, then you have to throw some things out of the Bible.I’m looking at Luke chapter 1, verse 34.This is Mary speaking to the angel:“How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?And the angel answered and said unto her.The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.”So, I just have to throw that out if I don’t believe in it.

Dave:

Well, we have to throw what we just read in Matthew out, and of course we would have to throw salvation out, because no mere man could save us.And there is no way that any mere man could be kept from sin, although the Catholic Church tries to tell us that about Mary.No, we’ve got a little problem there, Tom, and I think we can take a minute to deal with it.They call this the Immaculate Conception.That’s not, as an ex-Catholic, you know, that’s not talking about the conception of Jesus.

Tom:

Well, the Catholic Church doesn’t call it that, but many people misunderstand when they hear about the Immaculate Conception, they think that’s what’s being addressed here in Luke.

Dave:

Absolutely not, the Immaculate Conception was Mary’s Immaculate Conception.Because the Catholics say, well, she would have to be conceived without sin in order to give birth to Jesus without a sinless being.But wait a minute!Now we’ve got a problem.Well then for her to be without sin, be conceived without sin, here parents would have to be without sin.Now, all the way back to Adam and Eve—oh, I guess Adam and Eve didn’t really sin?No, so Tom, why do we talk like this?Because this is the Bible!You don’t play fast and loose with the Bible!It’s such in integrated Book, you move one thing out, move one block out of its spot and the whole thing is going to collapse.So, we have to be very careful, we handle God’s Word reverently and carefully, and we believe it and it all ties together, and you can’t pull something out and it will not remain intact.

Tom:

Dave, going back to the question that somebody wrote in: What about guidance in our life?If this is going to be my map, well, wait a minute, if some things here are in error or some things here we could just dispense with right away, what kind of guidance is this going to give me?It’s kind of a cafeteria type of thing—yeah, I’ll pick some of this and some of that.I know you’ve said over and over again, if I’m willing to accept, or disagree with the church in some issues, why am I willing to accept the church—I’m talking about the Roman Catholic Church—why am I willing to accept its offers of salvation and so on when I’m disagreeing with other aspects of it?But with the Bible, it’s a complete package; you take it as a whole.

Dave:

Absolutely.

Tom:

Matthew:1:19Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a publick example, was minded to put her away privily.
See All..., “Then Joseph, being a just man, and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privily.”

Dave:

Well, he has heard from relatives or from someone, hey, this lady’s pregnant, what did you do, and he knows it’s not from him, it must be somebody else.But, you know, he’s not going to make a public example out of her.So, he’s going to kind of let this thing go, he’s got a dilemma.And that’s when the angel appears in verse 20:“But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.”

Tom:

So Dave, if I don’t believe in the virgin birth, hey, I’m just going to cut that line right out.

Dave:

Tom, you’ve got to cut everything out, because the Bible is one Book and it all hangs together.