-=Explaining some Mariology=-
It seems that for some people, the word 'Catholic' conjures up some strange things about Mary. But the truth is, Catholics do not believe...
Naturally though, Catholics have beliefs about Mary which protestants are unfamiliar with. And the following is a short and fake dialogue on what Catholics actually believe about Mary.
I understand that Catholics believe Mary is very important. But I was wondering where in the BIBLE it says the things like:
...that she was without sin
...that she stayed chaste during her life..
...and that she ascended into heaven.
Well, first I'd like to say this: To be sure, everything about Mary ultimately points back to Christ :) I'll do my best to explain how.
The bible (more than implicitly) mentions several things about her. Mary's role is prophesied in Isaiah 7:14 with the reference to the child being born of the virgin. Her role is also implied in Gen 3:15. The "woman's seed" is Mary's seed: Christ. We also believe that she is considered 'blessed among women' (Luke 1:42), which suggests she is more than just any other woman. Scripture also teaches that from her generation and onward, all generations will call her blessed (Luke 1:48). This is why Catholics honor her: We bless her.
Things like that she was without sin
The is specifically known as the immaculate conception. This will take a REALLY long time to explain, but I'll give the 'not-so-good' response, since it's nice and quick. Luke 1:28 says that Mary is 'highly favored'. Other translations say 'favored one'. But Catholics translate it as 'full of grace'. There's some reasons based on the Greek but I won't get into it. You can check out Catholic.com's article to get a better explanation. Click here for analysis in the greek. The Greek bible is very useful, and this homily does a good job explaining it as well.
Basically, 'full of grace' means she's at a point where she doesn't need any more grace, as if she's fully sanctified and somehow spotless, in other words, not sinful. Eastern Orthodoxy actually affirms this much! However, Catholics say this implies Mary was born without sin. That's the quick answer. I'll explain the longer answer later.
and that she stayed chaste during her life
It's often believed that Jesus had brothers. However, brothers in Jewish terminology doesn't necessarily mean physical brother, rather it can mean cousin. Fortunately, St. Jerome addressed this issue well over 1500 years ago in giving his letter 'Against Helvidius'
Also, many often look at Matt 1:25 and think that it means Mary and Joseph had sexual relations after Jesus was born. But when understanding Jewish terminology, the word 'until' didn't necessarily mean the same thing it means in English. In other words, St. Paul wasn't telling Timothy to stop reading scripture forever once he would visit him (1 Tim 4:13).
All of these factors would suggest that Mary was in fact a virgin all her life. :)
..and that she ascended into heaven.
This isn't in the Bible, however, there are accounts of people who were taken to heaven: Elijah and Enoch for example (2 Kings 2:1, Heb 11:5). So it's not a foreign concept. In addition, the Church Fathers also testify to Mary's ascension into heaven. It's also important to note that these churchmen were the same guys who put the bible together.
-=Some related thoughts=-
Catholics believe that scripture isn't the final authority. We believe in Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture. Both are mentioned in 2 Thess 2:15. Basically, for about 3 centuries there wasn't a new testament which we read, nor were the majority of the people literate. They also didn't have printing presses. So teachings were primarily passed down by word of mouth and writings. These writings of course, were copied and handed down, just as spoken teachings are orally trasmitted to one another. That's what 2 Thess 2:15 is referring to. I know Sacred Tradition might be hard to accept, but to accept the Bible is basically trusting the judgment of a bunch of church guys who believed that Sacred Tradition (preserved in the Church, by the Holy Spirit) determines the content of the NT books. In other words, we believe the NT is actually a Catholic book put together in 382 AD. This means we believe every protestant is relying upon the Catholic Church for their NT.
-=On the immaculate conception=-
In relation to what was said earlier.....
W
hile Mary's immaculate conception isn't explicitly stated in scripture, the testimony of the early church fathers stand to this day on the belief of the doctrine. In fact Luther believed in it as well...But anyway, the reason for her immaculate conception has to do actually very little about Mary, but a TON about Jesus: Jesus was born without sin. For the eternal God-man to be born of a sinful being would suggest Jesus would inherit it via original sin. So Jesus would have to be born of a spotless virgin in order for him to be spotless.
So, when Luke 1:47 says that Mary calls God her savior, Catholics teach she was 'preserved' from sin. In this sense, she was 'saved' long before and this is actually a very important point because it doesn't suggest she saved herself as if she's taking away from God's glory. She isn't some kind of redeemer or a covenant mediator between man and God. Terms like 'mediatrix and co-redemptrix' are ascribed to her in the Catechism, but those are latin words that are often misleading terms for non-Catholics. Perhaps they're more like mistranslations from latin. I won't get into them though.
-=Typological argument=-
I mentioned how in Catholic thought, Mary would have to be sinless in order for the Son of God to be sinless in the flesh. This can be typologically understood in light of the holiness of the ark of the covenant. When I say 'typologically' I'm referring to things like 'last adam', which typologically implies Adam was a 'type' of Christ (1 Cor 15:45). Or the 40 days of Moses in the wilderness which points to the 40 days of Christ in the wilderness. Just as Moses lead his people out of bondage, Jesus is also called the 'new moses' because he lead his people out of spiritual bondage.
Anyway, the ark of the covenant was the vessel that carried the 'testimony' aka ten commandments (Ex 25:16). In Old Testament days, if some people touched the ark of the covenant, they'd die, unless they were ordained by God to carry the ark (1 Chr 13:9-10, 2 Sam 6:7). Clearly this ark wasn't just some mere box, it was holy, so much so that merely touching it could mean death. I'd recommend reading the context of either of those passages. The ark was falling and Uzzah tried to keep it from falling, next thing the passage says is that God was angry at him and KILLED him as he was trying merely keep it from falling as if it was a noble act! That's some extreme holiness!
In addition, the glory of the lord was heavily associated with the ark of the covenant. See 1 Sam 4:21-22.
Now let's compare this ark with Mary:
Unlike the ark, which was the vessel that carried the 10 commandments, Mary is the vessel that bore the eternal word of God: the logos, our lord (John 1:1,14). In fact if we compare passages from Luke 1 and 2 Sam 6, we'll see some fascinating parallels:
Luke 1:39 - Mary arose and went
2 Sam. 6:2 - David arose and went
Luke 1:41 - John the Baptist leap for joy before Mary
2 Sam. 6:16 - King David leaps for joy before Ark
Luke 1:43 - How can the Mother of the Lord come to me?
2 Sam. 6:9 - How can the Ark of the Lord come to me?
Luke 1:56 - Mary remained in the house for about three months
2 Sam. 6:11 - the Ark remained in the house for three months
*note* - the parallels are brought out better using more literal translations like NASB, KJV, and NKJV.
While these parallels are not exact, nor in chronological order, I think it's clear there's seriously something going on here. This is precisely why Mary is often called the ark of the New Covenant.
This might sound strange but when we look back at the usage of those words in Luke 1/2 Sam 6 and compare then with something St. John says, we see something fascinating:
"Then the temple of God was opened in heaven, and the ark of His covenant was seen in His temple. And there were lightnings, noises, thunderings, an earthquake, and great hail. Now a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a garland of twelve stars." (Rev 11:19-12:1).
Keep in mind that there weren't any verse markers or even chapters in Revelation, so Rev 11:19 and Rev 12:1 are back to back.
So we see all sorts of apocalyptic imagery with lightnings, noises, thunderings, etc which is reminiscent of Moses meeting God up at Mount Sinai (Ex 19:16), or with God revealing his presence to Elijah (1 Kings 19:11-12). Naturally, anyone familiar with the Old Testament would look at this passage and expect that the presence of God would be revealed, especially with the ark of the covenant.
But what do we see? We first see a woman.... as if St. John completely forgot to write about the ark of the covenant, which obviously had significant meaning for the Jewish readers! It's like John was teasing his audience by saying, "It's thundering, lightning, the ground's shaking, tons of hail too.....and I saw the ark of the covenant" and then fails to describe it...it seems to lead to a sort of climax. With all the apocalyptic things going on related with God's presence, it's expected that one would see something incredible like a fuller description of the ark of the covenant since it's heavily associated with God's glory.
But he goes on to talk about woman....as if he left his readers hanging?? Rather, he's describing the ark of the covenant as a woman:
And she's giving birth to a male child who would rule all the nations with an iron rod (Rev 12:5). This is our lord Jesus Christ.
Mary is the Ark of the New Covenant, which seriously suggests Mary must've been preserved from original sin: This explains how Catholics believe it's not possible for a human and sinless Jesus to be born of a sinful Mary since Jesus is that holy.
-=Honoring Mary: Repeating some older thoughts=-
Just as we become brothers and sisters in Christ, Catholics believe that we become Mary's other offspring. So Mary is our spiritual mother in Christ (Rev 12:17).
It's also belief that John 19:26-27 was when Mary became the mother of all Christians, even though it's merely implied in the text.
Also, scripture says Christ fulfills the law (Matt 5:17). This naturally includes the 10 commandments. One of them is to honor one's mother. And Christ apparently did that perfectly (Matt 5:17). And since Mary is our mother in Christ, we honor her just as Christ did. This fulfills Luke 1:48 when it says all generations shall call her blessed. And again, ultimately, Mary points back to Christ (Luke 1:46).
So there's a special relationship between Christ and Mary: Christ called her mommy! Imagine.....the Son of God, in the flesh...calling Mary 'mommy!' :) Talk about humility!!
And for the Catholic, we are her children (as explained before). Also, to get a better understanding of this, I'd recommend comparing the three characters mentioned in Gen 3:15 with Rev 12. Both have a 'woman, a child, and a snake' (Gen 3:15, Rev 12:5,8). The look to be directly parallel. Whereas Eve screws up and brings sin into the world, Mary obeys God in humility (Luke 1:38) and gives birth to the savior of the world. Thus, when Eve is called the 'mother of all living' (Gen 3:20), we believe that Mary is the new Eve, the 'mother of all living in Christ!' (as implied in Rev 12:17).