Martin Luther's views on Mary

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Throughout his life, the church reformer Martin Luther had firm views on the Virgin Mary, whom he called the Mother of God^{[citation needed]}. Some theologians talk about "The mariology of Martin Luther".^[who?]

Contents 1 Luther's personal view of Mary 2 The Mother of God 3 Permanent Virginity 4 Immaculate Conception 5 Full of Grace 6 Luther's critique of the Catholic Church 7 See also 8 Sources 9 References

[edit] Luther's personal view of Mary

Protestants and Roman Catholic agree today, that Luther's view of Mary evolved over time, and that personally, he had a high esteeem for Mary. "Throughout his career as a priest-professor-reformer, Luther preached, taught, and argued about the veneration of Mary with a verbosity that ranged from childlike piety to sophisticated polemics. His views are intimately linked to his christocentric theology and its consequences for liturgy and piety.” ^[1]

[edit] The Mother of God

Luther firmly believed in Mary as the Mother of God, not just the mother of the human Jesus. She became the Mother of God, in which work so many and such great good things are bestowed on her as pass man's understanding. For on this there follows all honor, all blessedness, and her unique place in the whole of mankind, among which she has no equal, namely, that she had a child by the Father in heaven, and such a Child . . . Hence men have crowded all her glory into a single word, calling her the Mother of God . . . None can say of her nor announce to her greater things, even though he had as many tongues as the earth possesses flowers and blades of grass: the sky, stars; and the sea, grains of sand. It needs to be pondered in the heart what it means to be the Mother of God. ^[2]

[edit] Permanent Virginity

Luther . . . does not even consider the possibility that Mary might have had other children than Jesus. This is consistent with his lifelong acceptance of the idea of the perpetual virginity of Mary. Jaroslav Pelikan noted that the perpetual virginity of Mary was Luther's lifelong belief ^[3] Throughout his life and theological development, Luther continued to ascribe the title [Mother of God / Theotokos] to her. (^[4] The Catholic Luther critic Grisar agrees with this interpretation Luther always believed in the virginity of Mary, even post partum, as affirmed in the Apostles' Creed, though afterwards he denied her power of intercession, as well as that of the saints in general, resorting to many misinterpretations and combated, as extreme and pagan, the extraordinary veneration which the Catholic Church showed towards Mary.^[5]

[edit] Immaculate Conception

Mother Mary, like us, was born in sin of sinful parents, but the Holy Spirit covered her, sanctified and purified her so that this child was born of flesh and blood, but not with sinful flesh and blood. The Holy Spirit permitted the Virgin Mary to remain a true, natural human being of flesh and blood, just as we. However, he warded off sin from her flesh and blood so that she became the mother of a pure child, not poisoned by sin as we are. For in that moment when she conceived, she was a holy mother filled with the Holy Spirit and her fruit is a holy pure fruit, at once God and truly man, in one person.^[6]

Luther's views on IC possibly shifted over time: "Although in 1532 Luther says that Mary was conceived in sin, in 1544 he says: "God has formed the soul and body of the Virgin Mary full of the Holy Spirit, so that she is without all sins, for she has conceived and borne the Lord Jesus." ^[7] Elsewhere, "All seed except Mary was vitiated." ^[8]).

[edit] Full of Grace

The Virgin Mary remains in the middle between Christ and humankind. For in the very moment he was conceived and lived, he was full of grace. All other human beings are without grace, both in the first and second conception. But the Virgin Mary, though without grace in the first conception, was full of grace in the second . . . . whereas other human beings are conceived in sin, in soul as well as in body, and Christ was conceived without sin in soul as well as in body, the Virgin Mary was conceived in body without grace but in soul full of grace. ^[9]

[edit] Luther's critique of the Catholic Church

Luther, while revering Mary, came to criticize the Roman Catholics for blurring the line, between high admiration of the grace of God wherever it is seen in a human being, and religious service given to another creature. The Roman Catholic practice of celebrating saints' days and making intercessory requests addressed especially to Mary and other departed saints they considered (and consider) to be idolatry.

• Furthermore, how will you endure their terrible idolatries [of the Papists]? It was not enough that they venerated the saints and praised God in them, but they actually made them into gods. They put that noble child, the mother Mary, right into the place of Christ. They fashioned Christ into a judge and thus devised a tyrant for anguished consciences, so that all comfort and confidence was transferred from Christ to Mary, and then everyone turned from Christ to his particular saint. Can anyone deny this? Is it not true? ^[10]

This clearly separates Lutheran mariology from Catholic beliefs and practices. It is also significant in the context of Roman Catholic claims, that modern Protestants deserted Lutheran mariology. Roman Catholics and Protestants may have held some similar views on Mary in the 16th century, but to Luther this was a "passive" mariology, while to Roman Catholics it required active and great veneration and prayers for intercession. Thus, Luther believed in the Mother of God: “Throughout his life and theological development, Luther continued to ascribe the title [Mother of God / Theotokos] to her.” ^[11] But at the same time he rejected the active invocation of Mary as formulated in such prayers as the "Hail Mary". ^[12] With the exception of some portions of the Anglican Communion, Protestantism usually follows the reformers in rejecting the practice of directly addressing Mary and other saints in prayers of admiration or petition, as part of their religious worship of God.^[13]

[edit] See also

• Martin Luther
• John Calvin's views on Mary
• Mariology of Petrus Canisius
• Blessed Virgin Mary
• Mary (mother of Jesus)
• Theotokos
• Marian doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church
• Mariology (Roman Catholic)
• History of Roman Catholic Mariology
• Ecumenical views of Mary

[edit] Sources

• Eric Gritsch, in: H. George Anderson, J. Francis Stafford, Joseph A. Burgess (editors) The One Mediator, The Saints, and Mary, Lutherans and Catholics in Dialogue VII (Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 1992)

• Hartmann Grisar, Martin Luther: His Life and Work, Westminster, MD: Newman Press, 1950

• Martin Luther: Sermons of Martin Luther, Vol. 3, edited by John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Books, 1996

• Jaroslav Pelikan, Mary Through The Ages, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1996, referencing Walter Tappolet, ed., Das Marienlob der Reformatoren Tubingen: Katzman Verlag, 1962

• David Wright (editor), Chosen By God: Mary in Evangelical Perspective (London: Marshall Pickering, 1989

[edit] References