THE PROTESTANT REFORMERS ON MARY
When Fundamentalists study the writings of the Reformers on Mary, the Mother of Jesus, they will find that the Reformers accepted almost every major Marian doctrine and considered these doctrines to be both scriptural and fundamental to the historic Christian Faith.
Throughout his life Luther maintained without change the historic Christian affirmation that Mary was the Mother of God:
"She is rightly called not only the mother of the man, but also the Mother of God ... It is certain that Mary is the Mother of the real and true God.
source: Martin Luther, Weimar edition of
Martin Luther's Works, English translation edited by J. Pelikan [Concordia: St. Louis], volume 24, 107.
Perpetual Virginity: Again throughout his life Luther held that Mary's perpetual virginity was an article of faith for all Christians - and interpreted Galatians 4:4 to mean that Christ was "born of a woman" alone.
"It is an article of faith that Mary is Mother of the Lord and still a Virgin." Martin Luther, op. cit., Volume 11, 319-320.
The Immaculate Conception
Yet again the Immaculate Conception was a doctrine Luther defended to his death (as confirmed by Lutheran scholars like Arthur Piepkorn). Like Augustine, Luther saw an unbreakable link between Mary's divine maternity, perpetual virginity and Immaculate Conception.
Although his formulation of the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception was not clear-cut, he held that her soul was devoid of sin from the beginning:
"But the other conception, namely the infusion of the soul, it is piously and suitably believed, was without any sin, so that while the soul was being infused, she would at the same time be cleansed from original sin and adorned with the gifts of God to receive the holy soul thus infused. And thus, in the very moment in which she began to live, she was without all sin..."
ibid. Volume 4, 694.
John Calvin: It has been said that John Calvin belonged to the second generation of the Reformers and certainly his theology of double predestination governed his views on Marian and all other Christian doctrine .
Although Calvin was not as profuse in his praise of Mary as Martin Luther he did not deny her perpetual virginity. The term he used most commonly in referring to Mary was "Holy Virgin".
"Elizabeth called Mary Mother of the Lord, because the unity of the person in the two natures of Christ was such that she could have said that the mortal man engendered in the womb of Mary was at the same time the eternal God."
John Calvin,
Calvini Opera [Braunshweig-Berlin, 1863-1900], Volume 45, 35.
"Helvidius has shown himself too ignorant, in saying that Mary had several sons, because mention is made in some passages of the brothers of Christ." Calvin translated "brothers" in this context to mean cousins or relatives.
Bernard Leeming, "Protestants and Our Lady",
Marian Library Studies, January 1967, p.9.
"It cannot be denied that God in choosing and destining Mary to be the Mother of his Son, granted her the highest honor." John Calvin,
Calvini Opera [Braunshweig-Berlin, 1863-1900], Volume 45, 348.
"To this day we cannot enjoy the blessing brought to us in Christ without thinking at the same time of that which God gave as adornment and honour to Mary, in willing her to be the mother of his only-begotten Son."
John Calvin,
A Harmony of Matthew, Mark and Luke (St. Andrew's Press, Edinburgh, 1972), p.32.
Ulrich Zwingli: "It was given to her what belongs to no creature, that in the flesh she should bring forth the Son of God."11
"I firmly believe that Mary, according to the words of the gospel as a pure Virgin brought forth for us the Son of God and in childbirth and after childbirth forever remained a pure, intact Virgin." Zwingli used
Exodus 4:22 to defend the doctrine of Mary's perpetual virginity.
Ulrich Zwingli,
Zwingli Opera, Corpus Reformatorum, Volume 1, 424.
Ulrich Zwingli : "I esteem immensely the Mother of God, the ever chaste, immaculate Virgin Mary." E. Stakemeier,
De Mariologia et Oecumenismo, K. Balic, ed., (Rome, 1962), 456.
Ulrich Zwingli "Christ ... was born of a most undefiled Virgin." Ibid.
Ulrich Zwingli "It was fitting that such a holy Son should have a holy Mother." Ibid.
Ulrich Zwingli "The more the honor and love of Christ increases among men, so much the esteem and honor given to Mary should grow." Ulrich Zwingli,
Zwingli Opera, Corpus Reformatorum, Volume 1, 427-428.
We might wonder why the Marian affirmations of the Reformers did not survive in the teaching of their heirs - particularly the Fundamentalists. This break with the past did not come through any new discovery or revelation.