Is Mary the Mother of God?

Pastor Marshall: Our next question is from Chris in Florida. Chris in Florida, you’re on Bible Answers Live with Pastor Doug.

Chris: Hello.

Pastor Doug: Hi Chris, you're on the air.

Chris: Yes, thank you very much Pastor. How are you doing? Thank you very much. My question is simply about when Jesus was born of Virgin Mary, was he a human only or God and human at the same?

Pastor Doug: All right. You're asking a big question about what the Bible defines as a mystery. There are a couple of mysteries in the Bible. The Bible talks about the mystery of iniquity. You'll find also that in Revelation 17, that harlot's got a paragraph on her forehead that says, "Mystery, Babylon." Then you've got the mystery of godliness. Paul said that it is a mystery how God becomes a man. How Jesus could be 100% man? What I mean by that is, when Jesus was a baby, he needed to be fed like a baby. He needed his diaper change like a baby. He needed to learn to walk like a baby. Jesus was 100% human in those respects.

But probably around the time he was 12 years old and he went to the temple, he became aware through the Spirit of God of his divine mission. That's why he told his parents,"I must be about my father's business." There was an enlightenment that happened at some point in his life. There was something divine about him. Jesus was God in Man. The Bible says, "God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself."

It's difficult for us to comprehend the incarnation. Incarning means the flesh, how Jesus entered human flesh and became a human. How can a person be 100% human and 100% God? That ends up with 200%. It doesn't add up for us but the Bible teaches that somehow God did that in Jesus.

Chris: The reason I'm asking that question is that, someone on the radio said I was raised Catholic. There was a prayer that Catholics say to Mary mother of God that, "Mary mother of God pray for us." He said that there is nowhere in the Bible that says that Jesus, once he was born of virgin Mary was actually God, but only a human.

Pastor Doug: Yes, you don't find the phrase, and Pastor Marshall is here, but I don't think you find the phrase, "Mother of God" in the Bible. As she is always called Jesus' mother. Mary, when she gave birth to Jesus, it was a natural birth as far as we know. Supernatural, in that the angels came, shepherds came and later the wise men came. Jesus, in those respects, he acted like a normal baby. As he grew, he understood his divine mission and he was filled with the Spirit of God. He was anointed with the Spirit of God, that's what Christ means.

It can give people the wrong impression when we refer to Mary as the mother of God. With a Catholic background, you know this, and I used to go to Catholic school, that there's an effort to deify Mary. They pray to Mary, and they make Mary almost like a mini-god. There's a big emphasis on the Mother of God part.

Pastor Marshall: I was just thinking, Pastor Doug. We have two free offers actually that probably deal with this. One of those is, Down from His Glory. The second one is, Christ's Human Nature. You can get those at our resource line. 1-800-835-6747. They're just offers 154 and 703.

Pastor Doug: That'd be perfect. Read those and it goes into the divine and human nature of God. You'll enjoy that, Chris. Thank you for your call from Florida.