Chapter 1: What role did the Virgin Mary play in church history?
The main purpose of the affirmation credibly in church history of Mary's being the mother of God was motivated by the church's desire to say something more about Jesus than they were about Mary, to make clear their assertion and confession of the deity of this one who was born of Mary.
To bring up Mary among Protestants can easily stir up suspicion, questions, and controversy. In reaction to the errors of the Roman Catholic Church, we often prefer not to speak of Mary at all. That is, unless it's Christmas. Hi, I'm Nathan W. Bingham, and you're listening to the Tuesday edition of Renewing Your Mind.
Perhaps more often than any other time of the year, during Christmas, the Advent season, we hear sermons and maybe even sing songs that mention Mary.
Chapter 2: Why do Protestants often avoid discussing Mary?
But outside of Christmas, she's generally avoided. So as we approach the Advent season, let's consider the controversy surrounding Mary and ask the question, do we lose anything if we ignore a study of Mary? Today's message is from a series with R.C. Sproul simply titled, Mary.
Chapter 3: What does the term 'Mother of God' mean in Christian theology?
And you can learn how to request complete access to this series when you visit renewingyourmind.org. Well, here's Dr. Sproul to introduce us to the topic of Mary and to address whether it's ever appropriate to refer to her as the mother of God.
When I was a boy, I used to work in a shoeshine shop with a very dear friend whose name was Ned Barberich, and all the boys referred to Ned as Uncle Ned because he had such a wonderful influence on looking out for us in our youth. And Ned belonged to the local Roman Catholic Church, and every evening when I was shining shoes in his shop, he would have the radio on next to my shoeshine stand.
And devoutly and religiously, it was Ned's custom to listen to the broadcast of the rosary. And so, I would shine shoes, actually, in tempo with the recitation of the rosary, which as a Protestant, I didn't know before I had this job. And I would listen to this every night as the program would come on, and the person on the air would say the rosary.
And we begin with the words, Hail Mary, full of grace, blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Which words I trust we will recognize come directly from the pages of the New Testament itself, that portion of the Rosary. reflects the words that Elizabeth used when Mary visited her during both of their pregnancies.
Chapter 4: How does the concept of veneration differ between Catholics and Protestants?
The second portion of the Rosary goes something like this, Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and in the hour of our death. Amen. Now, that portion of the Rosary does not come directly from the pages of the New Testament and has been a point of dispute and controversy between Roman Catholics and Protestants for centuries, and I think we're all aware of that.
And I think that it's strange that when I hear Protestants object to it, The statement they object to, more than any portion of it, is the form of address in the rosary in which it is said of Mary, Holy Mary, Mother of God.
It's that phrase, mother of God, that often grates upon Protestant people, and it's a strange thing to me that there is that resistance because though the term or the title, mother of God, is not given directly to Mary in the New Testament. It is a well-attested and accepted descriptive term for Mary in historic Christianity.
The title Mother of God is expressed in the Greek by the word theotokos. and it is integral to the ecumenical creeds of the early church dating back as far as the fourth century.
Chapter 5: What are the distinctions between latria, dulia, and hyperdulia?
And historic Protestantism in its theology has always embraced the propriety of the use of this term theotokos, or the phrase mother of God, as applying to Mary. not in the sense, of course, that Jesus derived his divine nature from his mother. Protestants have never believed that, nor has the Roman Catholic Church ever taught the deity of Mary and that Jesus received his divine nature from her.
Rather, the phrase mother of God and the term theotokos in the Greek refers to this simple affirmation that the child, that Mary bore was indeed God incarnate, that the child Mary nurtured and reared in Nazareth was indeed God incarnate, and Jesus had a mother. Even though Jesus was God incarnate, he had an earthly mother, and his mother's name was Mary.
And she was, in this sense and in this relationship, genuinely the mother of God. And I have to say, parenthetically here, that the main purpose of the affirmation credibly in church history of Mary's being the mother of God
Chapter 6: How has the role of Mary evolved in church doctrine over time?
was motivated by the church's desire to say something more about Jesus than they were about Mary, you know, to make clear their assertion and confession of the deity of this one who was born of Mary. And so, I would say to my fellow Protestants that we ought not to be in opposition to this use of the phrase, mother of God.
Now, the rest of the verse, of course, does have considerable controversy in it. The appeal to Mary to be an intercessor for us, to pray for us now, to pray for us at the hour of our death. That's linked to the broader controversy of the intercession of the saints and so on that has been an ongoing debate between historic Roman Catholicism and Protestantism.
But it is not our view today to get into that question. Rather, we're focusing our attention today and in the days to come on the biblical role of Mary and Mary as an exemplar for Christian imitation.
that Mary gives us an example of godliness as a woman, as a mother, and as a human being that transcends even the distinctions between man and woman and mother and father, but as a person, as a human person, she is a marvelous model of godliness for our consideration.
Now, I will spend some time today looking at some of the other areas of great controversy, however, about Mary, which I believe, sadly, has caused a woeful neglect among Protestants of the value of Mary as a model for our behavior. So often this happens in controversies that we literally throw out the baby with the bathwater.
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Chapter 7: What controversies surround the Immaculate Conception of Mary?
because we disagree with the Roman Catholic Church's view of one aspect of Mariology, that therefore we tend to react to the other extreme and almost have a negative view of Mary, which is totally inconsistent with the biblical paradigm.
Now, in the 16th century, at the time of the Reformation, one of the chief issues focusing on the role of Mary was the question of the propriety of the so-called veneration of Mary. And Protestant theologians were very jealously concerned to bring reform to worship in the church.
And understanding that one of the greatest threats to pure worship that is rooted in Old Testament history and is seen as one of the primary and fundamental sins of human nature is the distortion of worship that involves any kind of idolatry. And idolatry has to do with the ascribing of worship to anyone or anything that is less than the only true God.
And often, Protestants accuse the Roman Catholic Church of committing idolatry with respect to the veneration of Mary. And often, in derogatory terms, use such language to describe this as marialatry. Now, listen carefully to that word, marialatry. This term, marialatry, would describe a practice of an idolatrous worship of Mary. The Roman Catholic Church has never embraced marialatry
Chapter 8: Why is Mary considered a model of godliness for Christians?
you know, in any formal or official way, they do have Mariola G. And there's a big difference between the tree and the G here. Mariola G simply refers to the study of Mary, her identity, her role in the life of the church. Mariola tree is the charge that she is venerated to the point of idolatry. Now, the Roman Catholic Church,
made the distinction very clear in her history between worship and service, appealing to two different Greek words that are very important, and I want to take the time to go over those words. There is, first of all, the word latria, L-A-T-R-I-A, and latria is the Greek word for worship. And the word idolatry comes from the Greek idolatria, or the giving of worship to idols.
Now, the term doulia comes from the Greek word for service. The noun doulos refers to a servant, a bondservant, or to a slave. Now, what the Roman Catholic Church has taught historically is that Mary is not to be venerated in the sense that she is to receive Latria. Latria is to be given to the triune God alone. But Mary is to receive Dulia. a kind of service from the people of God.
And in terms of the churches explaining the function of the saints, they have maintained that dulia is to be ascribed to all of the saints. but not Latria.
That is, the church does not sanction the worship of saints or the worship of Mary, but that there is a certain honor that is to be given to the saints, an honor that rises above normal levels of respect, a special honor that is to be given to the great saints of the ages,
who have contributed merit to the treasury of merits and can participate in intercession for us, all of which was controversial in the 16th century and still is. But the point is, this function is determined or defined by the Roman Catholic Church in terms of being a kind of service or dulia before the saints. Now, with respect to Mary, she's not only a saint,
but she is, in a sense, a super saint. And the service that is to be given to Mary is a kind of super service that we owe to her. And so, the Roman Catholic Church has a third distinction here. In addition to the distinction between latria, which is worship, and dulia, which is service, There is also the concept of what is called by Rome hyperdulia.
Oh, I think you all know what the prefix hyper means. It's a matter of intensity. It's a matter of emphasis, of speciality, so that the point of the church's view is that Mary is to be honored not only by receiving the dulia of the people, but she is to receive hyperdulia, which is more than dulia, but less than latria.
I mean, sometimes people get annoyed with these fine distinctions that are made in theology, but this is an important distinction that we need to be aware of. Now, the magisterial reformers of the 16th century We're not satisfied with this. Calvin, for example, argued that the distinction for practical purposes between hyperdulia and latria is basically a distinction without a difference.
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