John Calvin’s Flimsy and Unbiblical Objection to the Term, Mother of God
The Catholic / patristic tradition regarding Mother of God or Theotokos (“God-Bearer”) take s a little bit of thought, but it’s not rocket science. Let’s run through a quick version of the rationale:
Luke 1:43 (RSV) And why is this granted me, that the mother of my Lord (kurios) should come to me?
John 20:28 Thomas answered him, “My Lord (kurios) and my God (theos)!”
“Lord (kurios) God (theos)”: Lk 1:6, 32, 68; 4:8, 12; 10:27; 20:37.
Therefore, “Lord (kurios) equals God (theos).
Jesus is called both in John 20:28.
Mary is mother of the Lord (Lk 1:43).
Therefore, she is the mother of God, since Lord=God.
Case closed.
Moreover, we don’t say of mothers that they are the mother of their child’s body, but of the child, and the child has a body and a soul. They didn’t create the soul; God did.
Likewise, with Jesus, Mary was the mother of Jesus, Who is God the Son. Thus, she is the Mother of God. It’s wrong and even illogical to say she was the mother of His body. No; she was the mother of the Divine Person, Jesus, Who had a human nature and also a Divine Nature (that she had nothing to do with). But she is still the mother of the Person, regardless of that, as any mother is the mother of a person who has a soul directly created by God.
Most of the early Protestant leaders understood this and retained the terminology, but John Calvin (the one most influential on later Protestantism) did not. He gives his reasoning in a …
