“What Do You Think About the Christ? Whose Son is He?”
Has Roman Catholicism Painted Itself into a Heretical Corner With the Marian Titles “Mother of God” and “Spouse of the Holy Spirit”?
Introduction
Wild speculation regarding the high status of Mary has abounded throughout the centuries of Roman Catholic thought. Recent attempts by some Roman Catholics, such as Scott Hahn (who represents the minority, decidedly hyper-conservative sect of Roman Catholicism), show that older, higher views of Mary are still prevalent among the minority. While older speculations have been tempered in more recent, post-Vatican II times with contributions from mainstream Roman Catholic scholarship (such as Raymond Brown, Joseph Fitzmyer, John P. Meier, R. Pesch, E. LaVerdiere, J. McKenzie, et al), even their more recent attempts to explain Mary’s role in the church have shown that the problem persists; and Roman Catholic scholars and theologians have been shown time and again to be biblically deficient in their defense of decisions made by the Roman Catholic magisterium (see my book, Who Is My Mother?).
This has made the majority of Roman Catholic scholars clearly uncomfortable. The more their denomination “defines” a dogma, the more tension is placed between the required belief and the tenuous biblical data that is purported to support that belief; and consequently, the further their explanations must deviate from Scripture. One such belief is Mary’s title as “Spouse of the Holy Spirit.”
Mary, Spouse of the Holy Spirit
In 1987, John Paul II stated in his encyclical “Redemptoris Mater”:
“[Mary] is a virgin who ‘keeps whole and pure the fidelity she has pledged to her Spouse.’ . . . For every Christian, for every human being, Mary is the one who first ‘believed,’ and precisely with her faith as Spouse and Mother she wishes to act upon all those who entrust themselves to her as her children. . . . The Holy Spirit had already come down upon her, and she became his faithful spouse at the Annunciation.”
In 1990, the pope clarified what he meant in his encyclical:
“The Holy Spirit, which comes down upon Mary during the Annunciation, is the one who, in the Trinity's relationship, expresses in his person the marital love of God, the "eternal" love. In that instant he is in a special way God-the Spouse. . . . For this reason, especially since St Francis of Assisi's time, the Church calls her ‘the spouse of the Holy Spirit.’ Only this perfect marital love, deeply rooted in her total virginal self-gift to God, could have brought it about that Mary became the "Mother of God" in a conscious and worthy fashion, through the mystery of the Incarnation.” In the Encyclical Redemptoris Mater I wrote: ‘The Holy Spirit had already come down upon her, and she became his faithful spouse at the Annunciation.’” (http://www.miraclerosarymission.org/hs130.htm).
In his more recent speech to the “World Congress of Ecclesial Movements and New Communities,” John Paul II stated:
“Let us turn our gaze to Mary, Christ’s first disciple, Spouse of the Holy Spirit and Mother of the Church, who was with the Apostles at the first Pentecost, so that she will help us to learn from her fiat docility to the voice of the Spirit” (http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/laity/documents/rc_pc_laity_doc_27051998_movements-speech-hf_en.html).
In another speech in 1996, the pope stated the following in a message to charismatic Roman Catholics:
“My dear brothers and sisters in Christ: again I thank you for all that you do in the service of the Church. Through the intercession of Mary, Spouse of the Holy Spirit, I entrust to Christ, the Lord of history, your spiritual journey towards the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000 and beyond.”
The Catechism of the Catholic Church draws upon the teaching of John Paul II’s encyclical in its Art. 507: “the Church . . . herself [like Mary] is a virgin, who keeps in its entirety and purity the faith she pledged to her spouse."
The Roman Catholic belief that Mary is the “Spouse of the Holy Spirit” seems to be based on the fact that the Holy Spirit “came upon” Mary and caused her to conceive: “And the angel answered and said to her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy offspring shall be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:42). In conservative and traditionalist circles of Roman Catholicism, Joseph was not a true spouse of Mary, but only a “Protectorate” (see my debate with Gerry Matatics); else, Mary would have been a bigamist, espoused to both Joseph and the Holy Spirit. And so the Holy Spirit, by virtue of his impregnation of Mary, is the true spouse of Mary; hence, Mary’s title “Spouse of the Holy Spirit.”
Mary, Mother of God
An even more foundational title of Mary in Roman Catholicism is “Mother of God.” I have written at length on the biblical and theological deficiencies of this title elsewhere (see the appropriate sections of my Evangelical Answers, and Who Is My Mother?, as well as my article “The ‘Mother of God’ and the New Roman Catholic Apollinarimonophysites”), and the reader is referred there. In short, the title “Mother of God” is based on Mary’s role in the Incarnation; namely, that she was the biological mother of Jesus. Jesus is God; hence, Mary, as the mother of Jesus, is also mother of God.
A Theological Conundrum
Roman Catholicism’s seemingly unbridled zeal to exalt Mary’s status in any and every conceivable way has unfortunately painted that denomination into a heretical corner with these two Marian titles. It is here that Jesus’ question to the Pharisees (also the main title of this article)—“What Do You Think About the Christ? Whose Son is He?” (Matt 22:41-42)—takes on new meaning. Let us grant for the moment the Roman Catholic view that Mary is the “Mother of God” based on her role in the conception of Jesus (she carried and gave birth to the Christ, who is God). Let us also grant for the moment that Mary is rightly called the “Spouse of the Holy Spirit” because of His role in the conception of Jesus (He impregnated Mary, the mother of the Christ, who is God). If Mary is the “Mother of God” because of her “parenting” role in the Incarnation, and if Mary is the “Spouse of the Holy Spirit” because of His “parenting” role in the Incarnation, then doesn’t it follow that Jesus must be the Son of the Holy Spirit? Put another way, doesn’t the same reasoning that leads Roman Catholics to conclude that Mary is the “Mother of God” (viz., her biological relationship to Jesus) also lead us to the conclusion that since the Holy Spirit, as the true “Spouse” of Mary, is the biological “father” of Jesus, then He must also be the Father of God? Can Jesus have two heavenly Fathers; God the Father as well as God the Holy Spirit? When Jesus refers to His “heavenly Father” is he really referring to the Holy Spirit, the “true” Spouse of Mary, and hence His “true” Father? Or perhaps Modalism is correct, and the Father and the Holy Spirit are really one person sharing two different modes?
Whatever way one views this dilemma, heresy results if we insist on maintaining both Marian titles. Either Jesus has two ontological Fathers; or the Father and the Holy Spirit are really the same person; or Mary is not really the ontological “Mother of God” and/or the Holy Spirit did not really impregnate Mary, in which case neither is He Mary’s “Spouse.”
This, of course, presents no dilemma at all for the Evangelical. Biblically, Mary is not the ontological “Mother of God”; rather, her “motherhood” is presented in the Bible as both provisional and temporal. It was provisional in that it was a necessity for the early stages of Jesus’ human existence—to provide life-sustaining conditions during the embryonic, infancy and adolescent years of Jesus. Once he became a man and was able to go it alone, he no longer needed a “mother.” It was temporal in that it was for this plane of existence only. Jesus, in anticipation of his death and glorification, began severing biological relations while still on earth (Mark 3:21-35 and parallels [Matthew 12:46-50 and Luke 8:19-21]; Mark 6:1-6 and parallel [Matthew 13:53-58]; Luke 2:41-52; 11:27-28; John 2:1-5), culminating in a final severing of those ties at the cross (John 19:25-27). Jesus’ relationship to His mother ended at His death, in the same way that all earthly relationships end at death: “For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven” (Matt 22:30).
Since, biblically, this is the way earthly relationships operate, then just as Mary cannot be viewed as the ontological
“Mother of God,” neither can she be viewed as “Spouse of the Holy
Spirit.” A careful reading of Luke 1:35 indicates that both the Father and the
Holy Spirit were involved in Mary’s conception of the Son of God. Here
it seems clear that the ontological Father of Jesus (God the Father) is also His
“father” in the Incarnation, while the role of the Holy Spirit is simply to
act as an instrument in implanting the Father’s “seed”: “The Holy Spirit
will come upon you, and the power of the Most High [the Father] will overshadow
you; and for that reason the holy offspring shall be called the Son of
God.”
Concluding Thoughts
In its zeal to exalt Mary, Rome has once again placed her children—her exegetes, theologians, scholars, and the Roman Catholic faithful—in a theologically impossible position. They are once again left to “explain” how the logical outworking of their belief avoids the foulest of heresies. No doubt we’ll here the word “mystery” bandied about not a few times in ensuing discussions on this issue, even though that word would be completely disallowed by those same defenders of Rome were Evangelicals to employ it in their explanation of how Mary can be the provisional and temporal “mother” of Jesus without being the Mother of God. Evangelicals would certainly be on solid biblical ground in making such an argument; but that wouldn’t stop the defenders of Rome from chiding us for not following Mary’s motherhood to its “logical” and “rational” conclusion. Yet, I dare say not one of them will want to follow the Holy Spirit’s “fatherhood” and status as “Spouse of Mary” via the Incarnation to its logical and rational conclusion, even though the basis for calling the Holy Spirit “Father of Jesus” (hence, Father of God) is absolutely identical to the basis for calling Mary “Mother of God” and “Spouse of the Holy Spirit.” This, of course, is not the first time Rome’s children have been left to defend the indefensible—nor, sadly, will it be the last. But it does represent the ever-increasing biblical deficiencies of Rome, as well as the ever-increasing discomfort and consequent lack of theological certitude her children must suffer.
Eric Svendsen, Ph.D.