The Catholic Church has the most highly developed Mariology of any Christian church, and she is often criticized for it. Protestants claim that her Marian doctrines are blatantly anti-Scriptural, and one of the most often-used arguments is that they are nowhere to be found in Scripture. However, they fail to realize two main points: 1) We don't believe in sola scriptura, so not everything has to be explicitly taught in Scripture, and 2) Our Marian doctrines DO have a scriptural basis. In this essay I will focus on the second point, the scriptural basis of some our Marian doctrines.

Immaculate Conception

Mary was conceived without sin and remained sinless throughout her life. When the angel Gabriel greeted her to tell her that she would be the mother of Jesus, he said, "Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee" (Douay-Rheims). Some modern bibles translate Gabriel's greeting as something like "Rejoice, highly favored one," but that's inaccurate. The Greek word for "full of grace" is kecharitomene, which is derived from the word charis, which means "grace."

The Greek indicates a perfection of grace. A perfection must be perfect not only intensively, but extensively. The grace Mary enjoyed must not only have been as "full" or strong or complete as possible at any given time, but it must have extended over the whole of her life, from conception. That is, she must have been in a state of sanctifying grace from the first moment of her existence to have been called "full of grace" or to have been filled with divine favor in a singular way. Keating, Karl, Catholicism and Fundamentalism, (San Francisco, California: Ignatius Press, 1988), 269.

Also, notice that Gabriel did not address Mary by her real name; rather, he called her "full of grace." By using the term "full of grace" in place of her name, he was indicating that this perfection of grace was part of her character.

Mary was foreshadowed in the Old Testament by the Ark of the Covenant. Mary contained the Incarnate Word of God in her womb for nine months, and the Ark contained the written word of God. Mary contained the sacrificial Lamb of the New Covenant, and the Ark contained the items by which the Old Covenant was made. They are both places where God is especially present, and the connection becomes even clearer when we see the parallels between events in Mary's life and events in the Ark's "life."

Given the above, we can conclude that the Ark really DID foreshadow Mary. So, what significance does this have for her Immaculate Conception? The Ark of the Covenant was so holy that the Jews were not allowed to touch it (Numbers 1:51-53, 4:15); the penalty was death (2 Samuel 6:6-8). God even killed people for looking into it (1 Samuel 6:19)! If the Ark of the Covenant was this holy, it makes sense that Mary, the new Ark, would be just as holy (if not holier), which strongly supports the belief that she was sinless.

"And Mary said, 'My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior'" - Luke 1:46-47

Some Protestants use this passage to try and disprove Mary's Immaculate Conception. They misunderstand the doctrine and think that it means that Mary didn't need a savior, but that couldn't be further from the truth. Mary was sinless only because of God's grace and Jesus' sacrifice; she, unlike the rest of us, was saved from the moment of her conception.

"For there is no distinction, since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" - Romans 3:22-23

Protestants like to quote this verse and say, "Look, Paul says that ALL have sinned, so Mary must have sinned." There are two problems with this interpretation.

1) We can see from passages such as Matthew 2:3, 3:5, and 1 Corinthians 15:22 that when Scripture uses the word "all," it does not necessarily mean "every single one without exception."

2) If we take Paul hyper-literally, then we would conclude that unborn babies and babies below the age of reason (who are therefore incapable of sinning) have also sinned, but we know this is untrue. Since we know that there are some implicit exceptions, it's possible that Mary is also an implicit exception, so this passage doesn't disprove the Immaculate Conception.

Queenship

The fifth glorious mystery of the rosary is Mary's coronation as queen of heaven and earth. Mary is not equal to God, but she is the highest and most perfect of God's creatures. The biblical support for this belief comes from the Old Testament. Since the king had so many wives, his mother was the queen. If Jesus is truly the Messianic king (2 Samuel 7:12-14, Psalm 132:11-13), then His mother must also be the queen mother.

"So Bathsheba went to King Solomon, to speak to him on behalf of Adonijah. The king rose to meet her, and bowed down to her; then he sat on his throne, and had a throne brought for the king's mother, and she sat on his right." - 1 Kings 2:19

From this passage we can clearly see what being the queen mother entails. While she was not equal to the king, he still honored her by bowing down to her and having her sit at his right.

"Jehu met relatives of King Ahaziah of Judah and said, 'Who are you?' They answered, 'We are kin of Ahaziah; we have come down to visit the royal princes and the sons of the queen mother.'" - 2 Kings 10:13

"Say to the king and the queen mother: 'Take a lowly seat, for your beautiful crown has come down from your head.'" - Jeremiah 13:18

Here we again see mention of the queen mother.

Another interesting connection between Mary and the queen mothers of ancient Israel is that neither Jesus nor the kings would refuse their mothers' requests.

"Then Adonijah son of Haggith came to Bathsheba, Solomon's mother. She asked, 'Do you come peaceably?' He said, 'Peaceably.' And now I have one request to make of you; do not refuse me.' She said to him, 'Go on.' He said, 'Please ask King Solomon-he will not refuse you-to give me Abishag the Shunammite as my wife.' Bathsheba said, 'Very well; I will speak to the king on your behalf.'" - 1 Kings 2:13, 16-18

Here we see that Solomon would not refuse the requests of his mother Bathsheba. Compare this with Mary and Jesus at the wedding at Cana:

"When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, 'They have no wine.' And Jesus said to her, 'Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.' His mother said to the servants, 'Do whatever he tells you.' Now standing there were six stone water-jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to them, 'Fill the jars with water.' And they filled them up to the brim. He said to them, 'Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward.' So they took it." - John 2:3-8

Here we see that Jesus honored Mary's request even though He initially didn't want to do it.

Mother of God

First, let me start off by saying what "Mother of God" does NOT mean.

1) It does NOT mean that Mary came before God or created Him.

2) It does NOT mean that Mary is superior to God.

3) It does NOT mean that Mary gave Jesus His divine nature.

4) It does NOT mean that Mary is herself divine.

With this in mind, we can now understand what the title "Mother of God" IS. It means that the person Jesus Christ is God with two natures and that Mary is His mother. The logic is quite simple: Jesus is God, Mary is Jesus' mother, so therefore, Mary is the mother of God. Her cousin Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, called her "the mother of my Lord" (Luke 1:43).

Some Protestants object to this title because they say that Mary was only the mother of Jesus' human nature, not His divine nature. There is a kernel of truth in this. Mary gave Jesus His human nature, but His divine nature came from God. However, Mary did not give birth to His human nature only; she gave birth to the person Jesus Christ who is both God and man. Mothers give birth to people, not natures. When Mary gave birth, the person Jesus Christ (with both His divine and human natures) came out; to say otherwise would be to separate Jesus' two natures into two people.

Another common Protestant objection goes like this: God is a Trinity, so if Mary is the Mother of God, then she must also be the mother of the Trinity. However, this shows a misunderstanding of the Trinity. When one Person of the Trinity does something, we can say that God did it, even though the other two Persons did not. An example of this is the Incarnation. We can say that God became man even though the Father and the Holy Spirit did not. In the same way, we can say that Mary is the Mother of God, even though she is not the mother of the Trinity.

Spiritual Motherhood

In addition to being the mother of Jesus, Mary is also the spiritual mother of all Christians.

"A great portent appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pangs, in the agony of giving birth. Then another portent appeared in heaven: a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads. And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron. But her child was snatched away and taken to God and to his throne�The great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world-he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, proclaiming�'But they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb'�So when the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. But the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle, so that she could fly from the serpent into the wilderness, to her place where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time. Then from his mouth the serpent poured water like a river after the woman, to sweep her away with the flood. But the earth came to the help of the woman; it opened its mouth and swallowed the river that the dragon had poured from his mouth. Then the dragon was angry with the woman, and went off to make war on the rest of her children, those who keep the commandments of God and hold the testimony of Jesus." - Revelation 12:1-3, 5, 9-11, 13-17

Here, we see Jesus (the male child) being born of a woman, and the first conclusion that comes to mind is that the woman is Mary. However, if the woman is Mary, then she is the spiritual mother of all Christians ("the rest of her children"), so Protestants interpret the woman as being symbolic of Israel. So, how do we decide who this woman is?

First of all, nowhere in Scripture is Israel described as a woman, and nowhere is Israel said to have given birth to the Messiah. Mary, however, IS said to have given birth to Jesus (Isaiah 7:14, Matthew 1:25, Luke 2:7). Secondly, Israel never fled into the wilderness to escape from Satan (Revelation 12:6), but Mary did. In Matthew 2:13-15, Herod wanted to kill Jesus (which matches with Revelation 12:4), but an angel tells Joseph to bring Mary and Jesus to Egypt. Third, we can see that the woman is Mary by comparing Revelation 12 with Genesis 3:15.

"I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will strike your head, and you will strike his heel." - Genesis 3:15

This is the punishment that the serpent received after tricking Eve into eating the forbidden fruit. The literal meaning of this passage is that humans and snakes won't like each other, and humans will strike snakes on the head but only get bitten on the heel. However, there is a deeper, prophetic meaning. God refers to the woman and her male offspring; why did He not refer to the man (Adam) and his offspring? Adam was the one through whom sin came into the world (Romans 5:12, 14), so why didn't God refer to him instead of Eve? This would make more sense, especially considering that ancient Jewish society was patriarchal. The offspring that will crush his head is Jesus (notice that God uses the singular "he"), and the woman is Mary. Since Genesis 3:15 refers to Mary, the parallels between Genesis 3 and Revelation 12 make a strong case for the Catholic interpretation of Revelation 12.

By comparing the two passages, we can see that the woman in Revelation 12 is the same woman of Genesis 3:15. Since the woman of Genesis 3:15 is Mary, then so is the woman of Revelation 12. Revelation 12:17 says that those who follow Jesus are the woman's children, so Mary must be the spiritual mother of all Christians.

Protestants often point out that the woman in Revelation experienced birth pains, which was a punishment given by God for original sin (Genesis 3:16). If Mary experienced birth pains, then she wasn't immaculately conceived, so either she's not the woman of Revelation 12 or she wasn't immaculately conceived. Either way, we Catholics are in a dilemma. So, how do we explain this?

Birth pains do not necessarily refer to physical birth pains; rather, they can refer to other types of pain, as shown by Paul's description of his own "pain of childbirth" in Galatians 4:19. So, what other "birth pains" did Mary experience? In John 19:26-27 (which I will explain later in more detail), Mary became the mother of all Christians (who are the body of Christ). It was this second, spiritual birth in which Mary suffered greatly while watching Jesus die on the cross in agony.

"When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother, 'Woman, here is your son.' Then he said to the disciple, 'Here is your mother.' And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home." - John 19:26-27

Here, Jesus makes Mary the mother of all Christians (symbolized by John). Some Protestants object that this is an arbitrary interpretation and that we have no way of knowing if that's what Jesus was really doing. However, this is not an arbitrary interpretation. Notice the similar phrasing of Jesus' words to both John and Mary: "Woman, here is your son," and "Here is your mother." Also, Jesus calls Mary "Woman," which is a reference to Genesis 3:15. In ancient times, "woman" was a title of honor much like "lady" is today, but there is no mention in either the bible or any rabbinical writings of anyone calling his mother "woman." And this makes sense; no one today would call his mother "lady." Because of these two points, it seems like this passage contains some symbolism. By referring to Mary as "Woman," Jesus was indicating that Mary had a role that only she could fulfill (she is the "woman" of Genesis 3:15). John, on the other hand, symbolized all Christians. It would have made no sense for Jesus to make Mary the mother of only John (as opposed to all Christians), and it would have been equally absurd for Jesus to refer to Genesis 3:15 and say that Mary is John's mother just to tell John to take care of her. Consequently, we can conclude that Jesus was making Mary the Mother of all Christians.

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