by Neibert David
In a post that was made on Facebook, someone responded with the following: “Your faith teaches that God has a mother. Holy Mary mother of God. Strange that one would believe that God has a mother.”
The person was referring to the Lord Jesus Christ. I said I would respond. It is a long read but necessarily so. Therefore, here goes:
Why is Mary Called the Mother of God?
To answer this question, we must start from the beginning to bring proper context. At the creation of man in Genesis 1:26, God says: “26 Then God said, “Let Us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
In this verse, when God said, let “Us” make man, therefore the plurality of God is established in Genesis 1:26. This means that God is more than One. Genesis 1:27 goes on to say: “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.”
This means that human beings are created in the image and likeness of God. When the Lord Jesus Christ came to the earth, He looked like any other human being because people are created in the image and likeness of God.
Although there is a plurality to God, the Lord God is One. The plurality of God represents God’s tri-partied Being. Deuteronomy 6:4 says: “4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is One.” God describes Himself as One even though in Genesis 1:26 He said “let Us make man”. The revelation that God is One is not a contradiction, but it is a deeper revealing of Who God is. In other words, God is an “Us”, yet that “Us” is “One”.
Therefore, we, as His creation, must also believe Him and describe Him as One just like He said. Additionally, there would be no need for God to say He is One if there were not more than One Person that makes up God or Who is commonly known as the Godhead.
God is One just like we as human beings are one. Yet, human beings have a spirit, a soul, and a body. The spirit, soul, and body make up the tri-partied being of humans. This tri-partied being resembles the tri-partied Being or nature of God.
The Tri-Partied Nature of God
There are three that makeup God or the Godhead. There is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Matthew 3:16-17 shows all three Persons of the Godhead in action.
Matthew 3:16 – “16 As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”
In these two verses, the Godhead is displayed as follows: Jesus is the Son; the voice from heaven is the Father, and the “Spirit of God” is the Holy Spirit. There are other examples in the Holy Bible of the three Persons of the Godhead, however, since we are discussing the deity of the Son, we will focus on this.
John 1:1-4 says: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.” These four verses introduced the Lord Jesus Christ by His Name the “Word.” They also highlight that He was with God in the beginning and that He was God.
Then John 1:14 says: “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” This verse is explaining that the Word is the Son, and He was sent by the Father into the world.
The Father sent the Son into the world for the following purpose: John 3:16 says: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” The Father sent His Son to die on behalf of everyone in the world. The Lord’s selfless act of dying for all people presented an opportunity for all people to be reconciled with the Father.
Why did the Son Need to Die?
The Son needed to die on behalf of all human beings because Adam and Eve disobeyed God, and in so doing they sinned. Instead of being obedient to God, they obeyed Satan, who was revealed in the serpent. That sin of disobeying God separated them from the holy God – see Genesis 3:1-8.
Their sin also caused them to willingly turn over to Satan their dominion and authority over the earth. Satan now had authority and dominion on the earth because Adam and Eve listened to him. Dominion and authority were gifted to them at their creation by God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) – see Genesis 1:28.
Yet, God had a solution to reconcile people back to Himself, and it included the shedding of innocent blood. In Genesis 3:15, God said to the serpent (who was the devil – Satan): “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”
The woman’s offspring that would crush the devil’s head was to be the Jewish Messiah. The Jews are still waiting for this Messiah to appear in human history. However, Christians believe that Messiah has already come, and He came in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ or Yeshua Hamashiach (His Jewish Name). Christians believe that the Lord Jesus Christ was the woman’s offspring who would crush the serpent’s head when He lived a sinless life, died for all people, and rose again from the grave.
Once Adam and Eve gave Satan dominion over the earth, and because Satan is evil, under his authority evil has been promoted on the earth, and it abounds today. Therefore, for human beings to be redeemed or be reconciled to God, they would need to be sinless. Each person would need to pay for their sins. This became necessary because of the sinful nature that was introduced to humans when Adam and Eve sinned.
Human beings inherited a sinful nature from Adam and Eve, and therefore they can never be sinless. But, a person who is sinless needs to pay the price for all people to be reconciled with God. This sinless person needed to die on behalf of all people. Christians believe the Person who accomplished this was the Lord Jesus Christ.
Did the Lord Jesus Christ Claim to be God?
The short answer is yes. The Lord Jesus Christ claimed to be God.
There are many Scriptures where the Jews understood that the Lord Jesus Christ was claiming to be God, but I will focus on two such Scriptures. I will also present another Scripture where the Father gave Peter the revelation of who the Lord Jesus Christ was.
1. John 8:56-59 – “56 Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad.” 57 “You are not yet fifty years old,” they said to him, “and you have seen Abraham!” 58 “Very truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!” 59 At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds.”
Exodus 3:14 – “14 God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’””
In John 8:56-59, the Lord Jesus told the Jews that Abraham longed to see His day. He told them that before Abraham was born, “I Am”. When He said this, He was making a direct reference to Exodus 3:14, where God identified Himself as “I Am.” We know this reference is true because the Jews reacted viscerally and tried to stone the Lord.
In the book of Exodus, “I Am” performed many miracles and displayed His glory to move His people out of Egypt. These people were the forefathers of the Jews. The Jews all knew the story of the exodus from Egypt. Therefore, the hearers of the Lord’s claim would have known that He was making Himself equal with the God of the Old Testament, hence they reacted to His claim by trying to stone Him.
John 10:22-33 – “22 Then came the Festival of Dedication 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; 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.”
In this portion of Scripture, again, the Jews who are listening to the Lord Jesus Christ reacted by wanting to stone Him. They did this because He said, “I and the Father are one.” The Jews said that the Lord was claiming “to be God.” Contextually, the Jews of His day knew that He was making Himself equal with God – the Father. They considered His claim to be blasphemy, therefore they wanted to stone the Lord.
1. Matthew 16:13-20 – “13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” 14 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” 16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” 17 Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. 18 And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” 20 Then he ordered his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.”
In this portion of Scripture, the Father in Heaven supernaturally reveals to Peter that the Lord was indeed the Messiah and the Son of the Living God. In V17, the Lord noted that “flesh and blood” meaning human beings did not give this revelation to Peter. The revelation came from the invisible realm. It came from the Father in Heaven.
There are many more Scriptures, especially in the four gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, where the Jews wanted to stone the Lord Jesus Christ because they understood that by the things that He was saying, He was making Himself equal with God. He was claiming to be God.
The Jews thought that they had gotten rid of Him when He was placed on the cross of Calvary, but when He resurrected, it was the ultimate proof that He was God. His resurrection proved that He was the sinless Person that needed to die on behalf of all people who have ever lived and will ever live on earth. If He were sinful, He would not have risen from the grave. The rest of us, human beings, will die and STAY in the grave! All other persons in history have died and stayed in the grave. No one else was resurrected.
How Can God (Jesus Christ) Have a Mother?
At the appointed time (only God knows when the appointed time is) to fulfill the plan from Genesis 3:15, where the woman’s offspring will crush the devil’s head, the Father sent His Only Begotten Son – the Lord Jesus Christ into the world for a purpose. As was discussed before, the purpose for which He came was to die for the sins of all human beings so that they will have an opportunity to be reconciled with the Father. This was necessary after Adam and Eve sinned.
Luke 1:26-35 notes – “26 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” 29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.” 34 “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” 35 The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.”
These Scriptures detail that the Lord Jesus Christ was conceived when Holy Spirit overshadowed Mary; a virgin. Holy Spirit did not have s-x with Mary. Because God – the Holy Spirit is creative, He somehow overshadowed the virgin Mary and she became pregnant. How this happened is a mystery to us as human beings.
The Scriptures show that the Lord Jesus Christ did not have an earthly father, like all other human beings. His divine nature was mixed with Mary’s human nature for Him to be born. Why would God go to such lengths to have His Son born as a human? Because only a human being can pay the price for the sins of other human beings. Therefore, through His life, suffering, death, resurrection, and ascension, the Lord Jesus Christ paid the price for all people to be reconciled with God – the Father.
The Lord Jesus Christ had an earthly mother. This was necessary for Him to be a human being. His earthly mother’s name was Mary. But just like the rest of us, when Mary died, she stayed in that grave. Was Mary divine? The answer is No! Mary was fully human, while her firstborn Son was divine and human at the same time. Only God can do such a creative miracle!
Conclusion
At the appointed time, God used the “yes” of a virgin girl to send His Only Begotten Son to the earth to die for the sins of all human beings. Mary was not divine. However, will God continue to honor Mary’s willingness to partner with Him to send His Son to the earth? The answer is yes, He will!
Yet, the bottom line is this: the Lord Jesus Christ came and died for all people. He satisfied all the requirements for reconciliation with the Father. The price, for all people, has already been paid in full! Therefore, will you accept the free gift of the Father’s Son?
