by Richard Ellis

Created on: July 23, 2009   Last Updated: July 24, 2009

Was Jesus' mother Mary divine or just human?

For Jesus to be both God and man, one of His parents had to be purely human. In as much as God was Jesus' Father and, obviously Divine, Mary could not have been anything more than human. She was a very pure and virtuous young virgin who loved and believed and worshipped God, but purely human and not without sin. In fact, she refers to her own need of a Savior in what is known as the Magnificat: "And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior." (Luke 1:47) Were she divine, she would not need a savior. It seems so obvious, that even a non-believer must see it.

This should be proof enough, but, to make the matter absolutely sure, we will investigate further.

For Mary to have been divine would have required her to be born by immaculate conception herself, which the Bible does not teach.

The angel Gabriel told Mary in Luke 1:31: "And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus." Mary was understandably confused and questioned the possibility of such a thing, as we see in vv. 34, 35: "Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? [35] And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God."

Mary was espoused to Joseph, who did not have a sexual relationship with her until after Jesus was born. Matthew 1:18, tells us: "Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost." Also in vv. 24, 25 we see: "Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife: [25] And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name Jesus."

Jesus had brothers and sisters as we see in Matthew 13:55,56: "Is not this the carpenter's son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas [Jude]? [56] And his sisters, are they not all with us? Whence then hath this man all these things?"

The virgin birth of Jesus Christ is one of fundamentals of our faith. By this virgin birth He had the human nature of Mary, His mother, and the divine, sinless nature of God, His Father.

Jesus lived on this earth as a human, suffered as a human, and died as a human; only using his powers as the Son of God to help humans by authority of God the Father, not the mother.

At the wedding feast in Cana of Galilee, When the wine had run out, Mary did not try to remedy the situation herself, for she had no divine power or authority to do so. No, after telling Jesus "They have no wine", she then told the servants "Whatsoever He saith unto you, do it." She could not miraculously turn water into wine, but she knew her first-born Son could. (John 2:3-5)

Finally, we see Jesus' love and compassion and concern for His mother as shown at His crucifixion. "When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple [John] standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son! [27] Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home." (John 19:26-27) Had she been divine she would not have needed the protection of John.

Mary is certainly to be honored and called "blessed" as the mother of Jesus, but there is no place in the Bible, of which I am aware, that says she should be worshipped as being divine.

All scripture is from the KJV.

Learn more about this author, Richard Ellis.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.