steveb1
Member
I was a Catholic for the first 28 years of my life, and so am familiar with genuine Catholic doctrine.
Some Protestants object to the Catholic statement that Mary is "God's mother".
They correctly reason that an eternal God cannot have a mother.
They further argue that the Catholic view is not only heretical, but that it is a borrowing from Pagan myths about gods who had mothers.
But there isreally not a valid issue here, for the simple reason that the Catholic Church does not teach that Mary is the mother of God Eternal.
On the contrary, and completely in line with standard Trinitarian christology, the Catholic Church teaches that Jesus, as the Second Person in the Trinity, is ontological God - "God of God's flesh", or better phrased, "of one substance with the Father".
Thus, in the Incarnation, God dwelled ("pitched his tent") among us in the person and the "flesh" or human nature of Jesus, and He accomplished this through the action of the Holy Spirit, who "overshadowed" Mary, thus causing her to become "with child". Mary was pregnant with Jesus - who is God, as the Second Trinitarian Person.
Therefore, Mary was the mother not of God Eternal, but rather of "God incarnate".
When this is rightly understood - as well it should be by all who profess Jesus to be God - then the semantic problem evaporates, and it becomes clear that the Catholic Church simply teaches the traditional view that Jesus, who is God, acquired a mother in the Incarnation, through the miraculous action of the Holy Spirit.
There is nothing heretical or Pagan about it. It has been the bedrock of mainstream Christian belief for centuries.
If non-Catholics could simply understand that the Catholic phrase "Mother of God" in reality means:
"Mary: the Mother of God incarnate" ...
... they would realize that there is nothing heretical or even controversial about the assertion.
Some Protestants object to the Catholic statement that Mary is "God's mother".
They correctly reason that an eternal God cannot have a mother.
They further argue that the Catholic view is not only heretical, but that it is a borrowing from Pagan myths about gods who had mothers.
But there isreally not a valid issue here, for the simple reason that the Catholic Church does not teach that Mary is the mother of God Eternal.
On the contrary, and completely in line with standard Trinitarian christology, the Catholic Church teaches that Jesus, as the Second Person in the Trinity, is ontological God - "God of God's flesh", or better phrased, "of one substance with the Father".
Thus, in the Incarnation, God dwelled ("pitched his tent") among us in the person and the "flesh" or human nature of Jesus, and He accomplished this through the action of the Holy Spirit, who "overshadowed" Mary, thus causing her to become "with child". Mary was pregnant with Jesus - who is God, as the Second Trinitarian Person.
Therefore, Mary was the mother not of God Eternal, but rather of "God incarnate".
When this is rightly understood - as well it should be by all who profess Jesus to be God - then the semantic problem evaporates, and it becomes clear that the Catholic Church simply teaches the traditional view that Jesus, who is God, acquired a mother in the Incarnation, through the miraculous action of the Holy Spirit.
There is nothing heretical or Pagan about it. It has been the bedrock of mainstream Christian belief for centuries.
If non-Catholics could simply understand that the Catholic phrase "Mother of God" in reality means:
"Mary: the Mother of God incarnate" ...
... they would realize that there is nothing heretical or even controversial about the assertion.