Mary in the Bible
1. Mary In The Sacred Scriptures
2. Genesis 3:15
3. Types Of Christ In The Old Testament
4. Satan Verses The Woman
5. Mary - The New Eve
6. A New Creation
7. Mary Honored
8. Arc Of The Covenant
9. Queen Mother
10. Hour, Mary’s Role With Jesus
11. Perpetual Virginity Implied
12. Imitating Jesus
Some people contend that the Bible does not represent Mary as having any special role in our salvation other than just being a vessel that Jesus came through when He came to Earth. They point out that there are relatively few verses in the Bible that mention Mary. At many instances of Jesus’s life there is no mention of her being there.
*HOWEVER*, she is there at the most important moments of our of salvation history. She was there in Luke 1:28 when the Angel Gabriel announced God's message to her, when Jesus was conceived in her womb. She was also there when He was born at the first Christmas. She was prophesied about in the beginning of the Bible in Genesis (3:15) and she is spoken of again at the end in the Book of Revelation (12). She was there when Christ worked His first miracle which was done at her request. She was there with the Apostles in prayer when the Church began at Pentecost. And most of all, she was there when Peter was not there. And when James was not there. And when Matthew and Paul weren’t there. She was there at the hardest time of all. She was there at the Cross.
Genesis 3:14-15 "Then the LORD God said to the serpent: … I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; … NAB
Genesis 3:14-15 "And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: 15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." KJV
Genesis 3:14-15 "Then the LORD God said to the serpent: ‘Because you have done this, you shall be banned from all the animals and from all the wild creatures; On your belly shall you crawl, and dirt shall you eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; He will strike at your head, while you strike at his heel.’ " NAB
Satan is the serpent, a snake. And a snake is killed by cutting off his head. Through out Sacred Scripture we can see this reoccurring theme of Satan’s head being crushed. In the Old Testament there are type’s of Christ, meaning people who prefigured in a limited way Jesus Christ. For example, Adam was a type of Christ because he was a father figure of the humane race. Jesus Christ is a father figure of the of the regenerated people of God.
Romans 5:14-15 "But death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who did not sin after the pattern of the trespass of Adam, who is the type of the one who was to come. But the gift is not like the transgression. For if by that one person’s transgression the many died, how much more did the grace of God and the gracious gift of the one person Jesus Christ overflow for the many." NAB
TYPES OF CHRIST IN THE OLD TESTAMENT
TYPES
Romans 5:14 "Adam, who is the type of the one who was to come."
The Bible speaks of types, examples, or shadows, in the Old Testament that foreshadow an archetype, that is a deeper reality to be made know in the New Covenant. (Cf. Romans 5:14 , 1 Corinthians 15:21-22 , 1 Corinthians 10:11 , Colossians 2:17 , Hebrews 10:1 ) By studying the types of the Old Covenant we can grow in our understanding of the archetypes to which they point.
In the Old Testament there are people who prefigured in a limited way Jesus Christ. Christ is the new Moses … Solomon, the true Son of David. David, the King of Israel, is a type of Christ. In the Old Testament we also find him crushing Satan’s head.
Men in the Old Testament who prefigured Christ are called types of Christ. Christ is the "anti-type" or the "archtype" the One in whom they prefigured and the One in whom is found complete and infinite perfection. Christ is the new Moses who leads us out of the bondage of sin. He is the new Solomon, the true Son of David. David, the King of Israel, is a type of Christ. In the Old Testament we also find him crushing Satan’s head.
1 Samuel 17:4 -57 "A champion named Goliath of
… 51 Then David ran and stood over him; with the Philistine’s own sword (which he drew from its sheath) he dispatched him and cut off his head. When they saw that their hero was dead, the Philistines took to flight. … 54 David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to
Matthew 1:1 "The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David" NAB
Matthew 27:33 "And when they came to a place called
Jesus’s death and Resurrection destroys Satan’s power over us, the fear of death which is represented by the Skull.
Hebrews 2:14-15 "Now since the children share in blood and flesh, he likewise shared in them, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and free those who through fear of death had been subject to slavery all their life." NAB
Luke 9:23-24 "Then he said to all, "If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it." NAB
We do not need to fear dying to ourselves because we look to the resurrection. People chose sin because they do not want to die to themselves. Christ calls us to turn from sin and to become holy.
GENESIS 3: 15 - POLYVALENT MEANINGS
Genesis 3:15 "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; He will strike at your head, while you strike at his heel."
We saw how Christ crushed Satan’s head and how types of Christ in the Old Testament also crushed his head. They were able to do this because the power and grace of God worked through them. There are also examples of Christ manifesting this power in His followers in the New Testament also.
Romans 16:20 "… then the God of peace will quickly crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you."
Luke 10:17-19 "The seventy (-two) returned rejoicing, and said, ‘Lord, even the demons are subject to us because of your name.’ Jesus said, ‘I have observed Satan fall like lightning from the sky. Behold, I have given you the power "to tread upon serpents" and scorpions and upon the full force of the enemy and nothing will harm you.’ "
SATAN VERSES THE WOMAN:
THOSE WHO PREFIGURED MARY
Just as there is a on going battle through out the Old Testament between types of Christ and Satan we can also find this theme of as ongoing battle between the Woman and Satan.
Genesis 3:14-15 "And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: 15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." KJV
In the Old Testament we can also see how the women crushes Satan’s head. These women prefigure Mary as a type of the "woman" in Genesis 3:15
To kill a snake you cut off his head.
Judges 4: 1-2, 21-23 "… the Israelites again offended the LORD. So the LORD allowed them to fall into the power of the Canaanite king, Jabin, who reigned in Hazor. The general of his army was Sisera …
21 Instead Jael, wife of Heber, got a tent peg and took a mallet in her hand. While Sisera was sound asleep, she stealthily approached him and drove the peg through his temple down into the ground, so that he perished in death…
23 Thus on that day God humbled the Canaanite king, Jabin, before the Israelites"
Judges 9:52-56 "Abimelech came up to the tower and fought against it, advancing to the very entrance of the tower to set it on fire. But a certain woman cast the upper part of a millstone down on Abimelech’s head, and it fractured his skull. He immediately called his armor-bearer and said to him, "Draw your sword and dispatch me, lest they say of me that a woman killed me." So his attendant ran him through and he died … Thus did God requite the evil Abimelech had done to his father in killing his seventy brothers."
Judith 7:1 "The following day Holofernes ordered his whole army … to move against Bethulia, seize the mountain passes, and engage the Israelites in battle."
Judith 13: 4-9, 15 "Judith stood by Holofernes’ bed and said within herself: ‘O Lord, God of all might, in this hour look graciously on my undertaking … to shatter the enemies who have risen against us.’ She went to the bedpost near the head of Holofernes, and taking his sword from it, drew close to the bed, grasped the hair of his head, and said, ‘Strengthen me this day, O God of Israel !’ Then with all her might she struck him twice in the neck and cut off his head. She rolled his body off the bed and took the canopy from its supports. Soon afterward, she came out and handed over the head of Holofernes to her maid … (15) Then she took the head out of the pouch, showed it to them, and said: "Here is the head of Holofernes, general in charge of the Assyrian army, and here is the canopy under which he lay in his drunkenness. The Lord struck him down by the hand of a woman."
Judges 5:24 "Blessed among women be Jael …"
Judith 13:18-20; 14:18; 15:9
13:18 "Then Uzziah said to her: "Blessed are you, daughter, by the Most High God, above all the women on earth; and blessed be the Lord God, the creator of heaven and earth, who guided your blow at the head of the chief of our enemies. Your deed of hope will never be forgotten by those who tell of the might of God. May God make this redound to your everlasting honor … you averted our disaster, walking uprightly before our God"
14:18 "The slaves have duped us! A single Hebrew woman has brought disgrace on the house of King Nebuchadnezzar. Here is Holofernes headless on the ground !"
15:9 "When they had visited her, all with one accord blessed her, saying:
‘You are the glory of
In the Old Testament we can also see how the women crushes Satan’s head. These are types of Mary who is identified as the "Women" in John 2:4 at the beginning of Jesus ministry and in John 19:26 at the time of Christ passion on the cross and also in Revelation 12: 1, 5. The special timing and context of these passages point to the significance of Christ identifying Mary as the "Women." [ This will be examined later.]
The arch-type of the New Testament always surpasses the type in the Old Testament. Mary is even more blessed than Jael or Judith. Mary crushes Satan’s head through her Seed, Jesus Christ. By her yes to God our Savior comes into the world.
Genesis 3:14-15 "The Lord God said to the serpent ‘… I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise his heel.’ " RSV
The Messiah is described as the seed of the woman. This phrase "her seed" is very unusual. In Biblical language it is normally only men whose offspring is described as their seed. This is a prophesy about the virgin birth of Jesus, therefore the "woman" it refers to is Jesus’s mother , that is Mary.
To be in enmity is to be in a spirit of enduring opposition towards another, to be a determined enemy of another. This is done in a most perfect and definitive way since it is God who is speaking here. This implies that Mary was never under the domain of Satan, that is in sin.
Luke 1:28 "And coming to her, he said, "Hail, favored one! The Lord is with you."
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Luke 1: 41, 42, 46, 48 "When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said, ‘Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb …’
… And Mary said: ‘My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord … For he has looked upon his handmaid’s lowliness; behold, from now on will all ages call me blessed.’ "
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Genesis 3:20 20 The man called his wife Eve, because she became the mother of all the living.
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Revelation 12:17 "Then the dragon became angry with the woman and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring, those who keep God’s commandments and bear witness to Jesus."
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OBJECTION:
The reference to Mary as "woman" is a coincidence.
This is the Word of God. There are no coincidences in God’s holy Word. The significance of these passages point to a deeper meaning than just casual conversation.
CONTEXT : THE KEY TO UNDERSTANDING THE SIGNIFICANCE OF "WOMAN"
John 18:4-6 "Jesus, knowing everything that was going to happen to him, went out and said to them, ‘Whom are you looking for ?’ They answered him, "Jesus the Nazorean." He said to them, ‘I AM.’ … When he said to them, "I AM," they turned away and fell to the ground."
The words "I am" are found in very many passages of the Bible. But, here they have a special significance because this is God’s own name. Cf. Exodus 3:14 The chief priests and temple guards are coming to battle against God Himself. God created the universe with just speaking His Word. Jesus, who is the Word of God, speaks His Name and this causes them to fall down.
These are types of Mary who is identified as the "Woman" in John 2:4 at the beginning of Jesus ministry with the working of His first Miracle. Mary is also identified as such in John 19:26 at the time of Christ passion on the cross when He suffered for our sins. And she is identified again as the Woman in Revelation 12: 1, 5. The special timing and context of these passages point to the significance of Christ identifying Mary as the "Women."
It is the same John who the Gospel, calling Mary the "Woman" that wrote the Book of Revelation where the woman gives birth to the male child in Rev. 12:5.
Luke 1:26 "In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of
Genesis 1:26 ,31 "Then God said: ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. … God looked at everything he had made, and he found it very good. Evening came, and morning followed—the sixth day."
God is the author of time. Notice it was on the *sixth* day that God created man. And that it was on the *sixth* month that God came into the world. A new creation, and a new Adam and a new Eve are implied.
Luke 1:41-45 "When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said, ‘Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me ? For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.’ " NAB
OBJECTION (2):
It is not Mary that is significant but only Jesus who is in her womb.
ANSWER:
1. The infant does not leap when they come into
2.
3.
Of course God is the ultimate cause of all the glory and grace that Mary has. She owes everything to Him. However, God has caused Scripture to be written in such a way as to draw attention to Mary who He wished to honor.
Sirach 42: 16, 23-25 "As the rising sun is clear to all, so the glory of the LORD fills all his works …(23) How beautiful are all his works! … each creature … is good;
can one ever see enough of their splendor ?"
Pondering over the mighty work of God in His saints helps us to know and therefore love and follow Him more faithfully.
1 Corinthians 11:1 "Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ."
Philippians 3:17 "Join with others in being imitators of me, brothers, and observe those who thus conduct themselves according to the model you have in us."
OBJECTION 3
In Luke 11 Jesus implies that His mother is not really blessed, or at least not any more so than any other person.
Luke 11:27-28
… "Blessed is the womb that carried you and the breasts at which you nursed."
28 He replied, "Rather, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it."
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Jesus is not suggesting that Mary is not blessed, rather He is giving the most important reason that she is blessed. If He was saying that Mary was not Most blessed or that she did not believe in God's holy Word, then there would be a contradiction with the following Scripture.
Luke 1:39-56
… and
cried out in a loud voice and said, "Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.
And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
…Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled."
… And Mary said: … behold, from now on will all ages call me blessed…" NAB
2 Samuel 6:2 "Then David and all the people who were with him set out for Baala of Judah to bring up from there the ark of God, which bears the name of the LORD of hosts enthroned above the cherubim."
Luke 1:39 "During those days Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of
2 Samuel 6:9 "David feared the LORD that day and said, ‘How can the ark of the LORD come to me ?’ "
Luke 1:43 "And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me ?"
2 Samuel 6:11 "The ark of the LORD remained in the house of Obed-edom the Gittite for three months, and the LORD blessed Obed-edom and his whole house."
Luke 1:56 "Mary remained with her about three months and then returned to her home."
To have blessed knees means to be made fruitful with offspring. Elizabeth, being advanced in age, had a high risk pregnancy.
2 Samuel 6: 14, 16 "Then David … came dancing before the LORD … As the ark of the LORD was entering the City of David, Saul’s daughter Michal looked down through the window and saw King David leaping and dancing before the LORD, and she despised him in her heart."
Luke 1:44 "For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy."
2 Samuel 6:21-23 "But David replied to Michal: ‘I was dancing before the LORD. As the LORD lives … not only will I make merry before the LORD, but I will demean myself even more. I will be lowly in your esteem, but in the esteem of the slave girls you spoke of I will be honored.’ "
Luke 1:46-48 "And Mary said: ‘My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my savior. For he has looked upon his handmaid’s lowliness;
behold, from now on will all ages call me blessed.’ "
The
Joshua 6:2-20 "And to Joshua the LORD said, ‘I have delivered
The
Revelation 11:19-12:5 "Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant could be seen in the temple. There were flashes of lightning, rumblings, and peals of thunder, an earthquake, and a violent hailstorm.
A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.
… She gave birth to a son, a male child, destined to rule all the nations with an iron rod. Her child was caught up to God and his throne."
NAB
The lightning symbolizes the power of the
John 19:26-28 "When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved, he said to his mother, 'Woman, behold, your son.' Then he said to the disciple, 'Behold, your mother.' And from that hour the disciple took her into his home."
So, the appropriate question to ask is which of Jesus's disciples does He love ? In this passage John represents all of us since God loves all of His disciples. Jesus is not just busying Himself about worldly details of taking care of His Mother. At this climatic moment just before His death, which he had known was coming, He is revealing supernatural spiritual truths to us about Mary's role in our lives.
Revelation 12:1 "A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars."
Revelation 12:5 "She gave birth to a son, a male child, destined to rule all the nations with an iron rod."
The Child represents a real person, that is Christ. The dragon represents a real person, that is Satan. The woman who gives birth to the male child, therefore is Mary.
Revelation 12:17 "Then the dragon became angry with the woman and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring, those who keep God’s commandments and bear witness to Jesus."
1 Kings 2:19 "Then Bathsheba went to King Solomon to speak to him for Adonijah, and the king stood up to meet her and paid her homage. Then he sat down upon his throne, and a throne was provided for the king’s mother, who sat at his right."
Some of the queen mothers were bad people, just as some of the Kings of Israel. The Old Testament types are imperfect examples of the arch-type.
John 2: 3-6, 11 "When the wine ran short, the mother of Jesus said to him, ‘They have no wine.’ (And) Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, how does your concern affect me? My hour has not yet come.’ His mother said to the servers, ‘Do whatever he tells you.’ Now there were six stone water jars there for Jewish ceremonial washings, each holding twenty to thirty gallons… Jesus did this as the beginning of his signs in Cana in Galilee and so revealed his glory, and his disciples began to believe in him."
Jesus could not have been being rude to His mother as that would have violated Old Testament Law.
Deuteronomy 21: 18-19, 21 "If a man has a stubborn and unruly son who will not listen to his father or mother, and will not obey them even though they chastise him,
his father and mother shall have him apprehended and brought out to the elders at the gate of his home city … Then all his fellow citizens shall stone him to death. Thus shall you purge the evil from your midst, and all
New wine symbolizes the New Covenant. Joel 2. Mary brings Jesus and His ministry into the world.
Jesus is God. He knows the answer to the question He asks in John 2. He asks it for our benefit.
Luke 2:34-35 "… Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, ‘Behold, this child is destined for the fall and rise of many in
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John 12:23, 27-28, 32 "Jesus answered them, ‘The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.’ … 27 ‘I am troubled now. Yet what should I say? "Father, save me from this hour" ? But it was for this purpose that I came to this hour.
28 Father, glorify your name.’ Then a voice came from heaven, ‘I have glorified it and will glorify it again.’ 32 And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself."
John 19:26-28 "When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved, he said to his mother, "Woman, behold, your son." Then he said to the disciple, "Behold, your mother." And from that hour the disciple took her into his home. After this, aware that everything was now finished, in order that the scripture might be fulfilled, Jesus said, ‘I thirst.’ "
NAB
The timing of the giving of His mother to the beloved disciple, who represents all of us, conveys the deeply spiritual significance.
Luke Chapter One implies that Mary had taken a vow of virginity.
Lk 1: 31, 34
31 "Behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and shalt bring forth a son; and thou shalt call his name Jesus. ...
34 And Mary said to the angel: How *shall* this be done, because I know not man?" Douay-Rheims Version, Challoner Revision
Lk 1:34 "Then Mary said to the angel, ‘How *can* this be, since I do not know a man?’ " NKJ [asterisks added for emphasis]
The original Greek verb in Luke 1: 34 is the Greek word for "shall," that is, a tense of the verb "to be" not the verb "can" or "able" which is mistakenly used in the New King James version of the Bible. So, "How can this be" is a bad translation. [See RSV which also translates it as "How shall this be ..." ]
Mary was not doubting whether or not it could happen, but rather she was asking how it was going to happen, by what method shall this happen. We can see from
Luke 1:45 "Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled."
And Mary’s reply to the angel is literally "since I know not man." This suggests that Mary had taken a vow of virginity, that is, "to know not man." [ "To know" is a polite metaphor that biblical writers used to refer to two people having sexual relations. Cf. Genesis 4:1 ] And Mary was wondering if the angel was informing her that God wanted to her to rescind this vow.
Mary was questioning how this pregnancy was to happen. Every new bride , under normal circumstances, would be anticipating at least the possibility of children. Now either Mary had made a vow of virginity or she did not. If she had not then this question of hers to the angel of how she was to become pregnant does not make sense since there had, up until this moment, only one way to get pregnant. Therefore, this questioning by Mary only makes sense if she had made a vow of virginity. Therefore, the text suggests that Mary was asking if God had wanted her to forgo a vow of virginity that she had already made to God.
In considering Mary's question about how she would become pregnant, it is important to note that the archangel said that Mary "will" - the future tense - conceive a child. Mary would have assumed that the child would be conceived the only way any child had ever been conceived until then.
We should go to God the same way that He came to us. That is, through Mary