Mary’s Faith: Luke 1:34-38
Outline
- Mary’s question
- Mary’s self-image
- Mary’s attitude
Introduction
Mariolatry is the heretical teaching of promoting Mary as a co-redemptrix and mediator, Mariology is the biblical teaching about Mary. This is our fourth message looking at the biblical teaching of Mary as a way to better view and appreciate the incarnation. Today we want to consider her faith. Mary is an exemplary example of submissive faith and we find great blessing seeing God’s grace poured out on this obedient believer. However, we want to keep her faith in perspective as many have made way too much of the section we are looking at. As Protestants we come to this section finding a wonderful example of faith as God pours out His grace in making the sinner Mary the mother of the Saviour. But the Roman Catholic Church has made too much of the portion before us. They see this section where Mary accepts the angel’s words as a type of trial. They see Mary as another Eve who obeys where Eve disobeyed. They see this as another turning point in history where God has to wait for Mary’s permission to accept the child or His purpose will be frustrated. They teach that just as Eve was originally sinless so Mary was born by an immaculate conception and was also sinless, and where Eve was named ‘Mother of the living’ Mary actually is the ‘Mother of the living.’ And that we become children of Mary, so that we can call her our Mother as we are adopted as brothers and sisters to Christ.
When we believe in Christ as Lord and Saviour, when we trust in Him and repent of our sins, God grants us adoption. However, it is not into Christ’s earthly family that we are adopted and are all adopted Jews, no, we are adopted in God’s family. God has placed Christ as a federal head that we might be adopted in God’s family not into Mary’s. They see her acceptance of the child as her commitment to perpetual chastity and is held up as an example for nuns to emulate. In all of this they are wrong. The Hero of any bible story is always God and never man, no flesh should be lifted up in His presence, not Mary’s, not Paul’s or even angels. All the good in any person comes from God either directly by His Spirit or indirectly by the residue of the image of God that still remains in them. So we will be looking at Mary’s faith not as a way to make much of Mary, but to see her example and pray for God to help us imitate it.
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