What does the title “Mother of God” mean? This title declares Mary as the physical parent of Jesus, who is God.[i] God is one, in three persons. Jesus is both human and divine. His divinity has no beginning or end, it does not have a mother. The humanity of Jesus does have a beginning and it begins with Mary’s yes. In the Eastern Church, the term Theotokos (God bearer) is used. Mary is the one that bears God, has God within her. God took on flesh in the womb of Mary and for this reason she is called the Mother of God. In the Divine Liturgy the word Theotokos is mentioned thirteen times. “Only begotten Son and Word of God, although immortal You humbled Yourself for our salvation, taking flesh from the holy Theotokos and ever virgin Mary and, without change, becoming man.”[ii]What an honor to be the first to bear God physically. As Christians we are given the same invitation as Mary was, we are invited to be Christ-bearers. Mary is the first of many, she opens the door to the Christian life and is in deed the first Christian. For this she is revered and honored. In the fourth commandment we are told to honor of father and mother. Jesus would have honored Mary his mother and so we too rightly honor His mother and our mother. “It is truly right to bless you, Theotokos, ever blessed, most pure, and mother of our God. More honorable than the Cherubim, and beyond compare more glorious than the Seraphim, without corruption you gave birth to God the Word. We magnify you, the true Theotokos.[iii]
“The title Theotokos (Mother of God) became current after the third century. It was used by Origen (c. 185-c.254), and St. Gregory Nazianzen, writing about 382, said: ‘If anyone does not recognize the holy Mother of God he is separated from the Divinity.’”[iv]
Where is this title in scripture? The basis of the Gospel is that Jesus is truly God. Mary is the mother of Jesus, so therefore the Mother of God. Saint Ignatius of Antioch was a disciple of the beloved Saint John the Apostle. Saint Ignatius died in the year 107AD. He wrote, “Our God Jesus Christ was carried in Mary’s womb, according to God’s plan of salvation.”
Didn’t the Church make this title up in 431 AD? At the Council of Ephesus in 431AD the Church solemnly defined Mary as the Mother of God, but this was always believed by the faithful. If we were to ask the apostles the following two questions, “Who is Jesus?” and “Who is Mary?” what would they say? They would say, Jesus is God and that Mary is the Mother of Jesus. The definition at the Council of Ephesus is more about Jesus, than it is Mary.
What does it mean that Mary is the Mother of Jesus? Jesus is one person, with two natures, human and divine. The two natures are in one person, the person of Jesus, the second person of the Blessed Trinity. Jesus’s humanity and divinity from the moment of His conception have not been separated. We declare in the Apostles Creed that He was, “conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary” and that “He ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God, the Father almighty”. Mary is not just the mother of His humanity, but because He is one, she is the mother of the person of Jesus, both humanity and divinity. The title Theotokos, helps to explain this because, it is Mary who is the “God bearer”. In the womb of Mary, God (divinity) takes on flesh (humanity) in one person, Jesus Christ. The Church declared at the Council of Nicea in 325AD that Jesus Christ is true God and true man. This teaching was believed from the time of the apostles. However, this teaching was challenged and so the Church formally declared this teaching so that there would be no doubt or confusion on what the Church believed. It is from this Council that we get the Nicene Creed.
[i] Fr. John John A. Hardon, S.J. Modern Catholic Dictionary
[ii] Divine Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostomos; Second Antiphon
[iii] Divine Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostomos; The Holy Anaphora
[iv] Fr. John John A. Hardon, S.J. Modern Catholic Dictionary