My argument is going to be extremely simple and I hope that you engage this argument in good faith with me. If you are Catholic, know that I love you but believe your theology to be in error here.
Now, I know that typically the Catholic response is that there is no Mary worship whatsoever going on and I would argue that even protestants can be guilty of hero worship when it comes to Luther or Calvin and so by no means am I discouraging an honoring of Mary or an honoring of the reformers or any hero in church history, my point is we must all be careful not to place more emphasis on created beings or things than warranted and that those affections that well up in is for their faith must not be so all encompassing that we lose sight of Christ.
I am not going to spend time psychoanalyzing any particular person or claim to know things about a heart I could not possibly know but I do think that my argument from the scriptures will be helpful. Let's turn to Matthew 22:41-45 .
[41] Then, surrounded by the Pharisees, Jesus asked them a question: [42] “What do you think about the Messiah? Whose son is he?” They replied, “He is the son of David.” [43] Jesus responded, “Then why does David, speaking under the inspiration of the Spirit, call the Messiah ‘my Lord’? For David said, [44] ‘The Lord said to my Lord, Sit in the place of honor at my right hand until I humble your enemies beneath your feet.’ [45] Since David called the Messiah ‘my Lord,’ how can the Messiah be his son?”
From what I can tell the argument that God is presenting is as follows.
Premise 1: David calls the Messiah that comes from his bloodline Lord.
Premise 2: David is talking to the Messiah present tense before His birth
Conclusion: Therefore the Messiah predates David
Now Catholics should be in full agreement with me that Jesus is God and that He is the second member of the Holy Trinity, but for non-Cathilics who may happen across this article I will lay down a simple argument from the scriptures for His divinity.
7 “After that, in my vision at night I looked, and there before me was a fourth beast—terrifying and frightening and very powerful. It had large iron teeth; it crushed and devoured its victims and trampled underfoot whatever was left. It was different from all the former beasts, and it had ten horns.
8 “While I was thinking about the horns, there before me was another horn, a little one, which came up among them; and three of the first horns were uprooted before it. This horn had eyes like the eyes of a human being and a mouth that spoke boastfully.
9 “As I looked,
“thrones were set in place,
and the Ancient of Days took his seat.
His clothing was as white as snow;
the hair of his head was white like wool.
His throne was flaming with fire,
and its wheels were all ablaze.
10 A river of fire was flowing,
coming out from before him.
Thousands upon thousands attended him;
ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him.
The court was seated,
and the books were opened.
11 “Then I continued to watch because of the boastful words the horn was speaking. I kept looking until the beast was slain and its body destroyed and thrown into the blazing fire. 12 (The other beasts had been stripped of their authority, but were allowed to live for a period of time.)
13 “In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man,[a] coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. 14 He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.
Daniel 7:7-13
“I am the LORD; that is my name! I will not give my glory to anyone else, nor share my praise with carved idols.
Isaiah 42:8
“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.
Deuteronomy 6:4
If God does not share His glory with anyone then why does He share His glory with this Son of Man in verses Daniel 7:13-14? Either God is contradicting Himself or this Son of Man is also God. If God is one then we have a hint of the Trinity in the Old Testament and any time Jesus uses the term “Son of Man” in the gospels He is claiming divinity. The Pharisees understood this.
61 But Jesus remained silent and gave no answer.
Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?”
62 “I am,” said Jesus. “And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.”
63 The high priest tore his clothes. “Why do we need any more witnesses?” he asked. 64 “You have heard the blasphemy. What do you think?”
They all condemned him as worthy of death. 65 Then some began to spit at him; they blindfolded him, struck him with their fists, and said, “Prophesy!” And the guards took him and beat him.
Mark 14:61-65
22 Then came the Festival of Dedication[b] at Jerusalem. It was winter, 23 and Jesus was in the temple courts walking in Solomon’s Colonnade. 24 The Jews who were there gathered around him, saying, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.”
25 Jesus answered, “I did tell you, but you do not believe. The works I do in my Father’s name testify about me, 26 but you do not believe because you are not my sheep. 27 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all[c]; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. 30 I and the Father are one.”
31 Again his Jewish opponents picked up stones to stone him, 32 but Jesus said to them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?”
33 “We are not stoning you for any good work,” they replied, “but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God.”
John 10:22-33
The Lord Jesus also received and allowed others to worship Him.
[35] When Jesus heard what had happened, he found the man and asked, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” [36] The man answered, “Who is he, sir? I want to believe in him.” [37] “You have seen him,” Jesus said, “and he is speaking to you!” [38] “Yes, Lord, I believe!” the man said. And he worshiped Jesus. [39] Then Jesus told him, “I entered this world to render judgment—to give sight to the blind and to show those who think they see that they are blind.”
John 9:35-39
Finally, Jesus calls Himself God explicitly by calling Himself the I Am which provoked the people to try and stone Him since He claimed to be the God that spoke to Moses, using His name.
[13] But Moses protested, “If I go to the people of Israel and tell them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ they will ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what should I tell them?” [14] God replied to Moses, “I Am Who I Am. Say this to the people of Israel: I Am has sent me to you.”
Exodus 3:13-14
[54] Jesus answered, “If I want glory for myself, it doesn’t count. But it is my Father who will glorify me. You say, ‘He is our God,’ [55] but you don’t even know him. I know him. If I said otherwise, I would be as great a liar as you! But I do know him and obey him. [56] Your father Abraham rejoiced as he looked forward to my coming. He saw it and was glad.” [57] The people said, “You aren’t even fifty years old. How can you say you have seen Abraham?” [58] Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, before Abraham was even born, I Am!” [59] At that point they picked up stones to throw at him. But Jesus was hidden from them and left the Temple.
John 8:54-59
Now that the theology of Jesus being both God and man is out of the way let's go back to the original argument and formulate another based on the conclusion.
Premise 1: David predates Mary who calls the Messiah that comes from his bloodline Lord.
Premise 2: David is talking to the Messiah present tense before His birth and Mary, coming from David's bloodline gives birth to Him
Premise 3: The Messiah is the Creator God
Conclusion: Therefore the Messiah created both David and Mary.
If the Messiah created both king David and Mary and Jesus is the Messiah, then how can He really be David or Mary's Son when they are dependent on Him for their existence?
[1] In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. [2] He existed in the beginning with God. [3] God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him. [4] The Word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone.
John 1:1-4
Consider the following statement from the Lord when His family came to do a wellness check on Him.
[46] As Jesus was speaking to the crowd, his mother and brothers stood outside, asking to speak to him. [47] Someone told Jesus, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, and they want to speak to you.” [48] Jesus asked, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” [49] Then he pointed to his disciples and said, “Look, these are my mother and brothers. [50] Anyone who does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother!”
Matthew 12:46-50
It seems to me that the Lord Jesus had a different conception of who His family is. Now please don't misunderstand me, I'm not saying that the Lord didn't have any affection for His mother, in fact as He is nearing His last breaths on the cross He commissions the apostle John to look after her.
25 Now there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother, and His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing by, He said to His mother, “Woman, behold your son!” 27 Then He said to the disciple, “Behold your mother!” And from that hour that disciple took her to his own home.
John 19:25-27
However at the same time He also actively discouraged any focus on His mother and redirected people to focus back on God and His will.
[27] As he was speaking, a woman in the crowd called out, “God bless your mother—the womb from which you came, and the breasts that nursed you!” [28] Jesus replied, “But even more blessed are all who hear the word of God and put it into practice.”
Luke 11:27-28 NLT
So why the statues? Why the rosary? Why the prayers to Mary? As far as I can tell I can see no justification in the scriptures in my personal study of the Bible for any of these practices as Mary will not save any of us on judgment day (For, There is one God and one Mediator who can reconcile God and humanity—the man Christ Jesus. 1 Timothy 2:5) and in fact the Bible even implies that she is a sinner in need of salvation as well!
For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God's glorious standard. Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins.
Romans 3:23-24
Do you really think it's likely the Holy Spirit would forget to inspire the apostle Paul to include the sinlessness of Mary when hitting that particular part of scripture down? I would expect to see something, “For everyone has sinned… except Mary, she was totally awesome”... but that's not what scripture says, everyone means everyone and even Mary indicates her need of salvation.
And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name.
Luke 1:46-49
So to conclude, Mary is no more than a created being like everyone else who sinned against God and needed a Savior and Christ atoned for her sins on the cross as well. She is a hero of the faith, chosen by God to be the vessel from which He would come into the earth as a Man but is not someone that should be prayed to and not someone that can mediate between God and man.
Furthermore, I believe that since Mary was chosen for her humility and devotion to God, she would be horrified walking into any church that had statues of her and would abhor any prayers of adoration to her and would tearfully point you to the Lord Jesus her Savior. Think about this as well. If the Lord Jesus discouraged veneration of His mother then what better way for Satan to taunt God than exalt the person to godlike status He chose because of her humility? Something to consider but all things considered, Mary is just a very blessed woman who received an extraordinary honor but was a sinner just like everyone else and needed Christ to pay her sin debt as well. We should remember her and call her blessed but never take her to the extreme and keep her in her proper place. Just another sinner saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.
I love you and God Bless you.
Also, the protoevangelium of James is nonsense. Mary had sex with her husband Joseph. Seriously, the text is clear.
24 When Joseph woke up, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded and took Mary as his wife. 25 But he did not have sexual relations with her until her son was born. And Joseph named him Jesus.
Matthew 1:24-25
I mean come on guys seriously! Don't be such a prude! Sex is a good thing, read the entire book of Song of Solomon. Why it bothers anyone that a married woman would have sex with her husband is beyond me. Some things people build entire doctrines on are just silly!
Until next time! God Bless
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