Mary Imperfecta
It’s Christmastime, so I’ve been reflecting on Mary. Without a doubt, she’s the most famous female figure in the Bible, and yet there’s so much disagreement about who she really was. In fact, it’s one of the biggest points of contention between Protestants and Catholics. Since our different perspectives on Mary reflect deeper underlying doctrines, it’s important to look at the scriptures and discover what kind of woman she really was.
First of all, it’s important to acknowledge that while Protestants hold tightly to the tenet of sola scriptura, Catholics believe that church tradition and scripture are both divinely inspired. This makes it difficult to debate, as we are arguing on different terms using different sources. However, I firmly believe that the church tradition cannot be divinely inspired if it contradicts God’s divinely inspired word. Logically speaking, two opposing claims cannot both be true at the same time. Therefore, I will be arguing from scripture that the Protestant view of Mary is the more accurate one.
All Christians would agree that Mary was a righteous woman, chosen by God to fulfill his will and accomplish his plan of salvation. But the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception paints an altogether different portrait of the nature of Mary. (When people refer to the Immaculate Conception, they often erroneously assume that it’s about the conception of Jesus, but actually, it’s about the conception of Mary.) Supposedly, at the moment Mary was conceived, God took action to protect her soul from ever being able to sin. Therefore, she was the only person aside from Jesus himself who never committed any sin. When the doctrine was finally formalized in 1854 by Pope Pius IX, he proclaimed,
The most Blessed Virgin Mary was, from the first moment of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of almighty God and by virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, Saviour of the human race, preserved immune from all stain of original sin.
I’ve linked a Catholic source to be sure that I haven’t misunderstood or misrepresented their views. However, there are a lot of problems with this doctrine. First and foremost, it directly contradicts the word of God. Paul does a wonderful job of explaining the concept of total depravity in Romans 3. He quotes the Psalms: “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God.” Then he makes this sweeping statement in verse 23: “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”
It doesn’t say “all (except Mary).” It doesn’t say “most.” It says ALL. If Paul himself had believed in the Immaculate Conception, don’t you think he would have mentioned it? Or at least use words that were more open to interpretation? I think we can trust the words of Paul, written in the first century, above a doctrine that only began to be explored some centuries after the resurrection.
Additionally, Mary needed a saviour, just like every other human being who has ever lived. The National Catholic Register, which I cited earlier, correctly acknowledges that fact, yet they fail to realize that salvation doesn’t work that way. Jesus’ blood shed on the cross pays the price for sin — it doesn’t sanctify anyone’s soul before they’ve ever had a chance to exercise free will. The classic Christmas carol “Mary, Did You Know?” puts it beautifully: “This child that you’ve delivered will soon deliver you.”
If anyone disagrees with me, then they also disagree about the method of salvation itself. John 3:16 is the most famous Bible verse for a reason — it sums up the entire message of the Bible. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” In this and in many other verses, the Bible makes it clear that belief is key: you must freely choose to put your faith in God. Therefore, it would be impossible for Mary to have been saved and sealed immediately at the moment of conception. A zygote is unable to believe in anything. For that, and many other reasons, the Immaculate Conception is unbiblical and untrue.
Furthermore, I also disagree with the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception because it diminishes the glory of God. Allow me to explain. The Christmas story is a beautiful one; a true tale of God’s willingness to lower himself into the humble, broken world that he created. Philippians 2:7 says, “He made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.” The fact that the God of the universe was contained in the body of a tiny, helpless baby should make us all pause in wonder. But from a Catholic perspective, Jesus still stayed at a distance, born of a superhuman, quasi-divine being. He chose someone perfect, utterly unique, unlike anybody else who had ever lived. The other women? Well, they weren’t even in Mary’s league. They weren’t good enough. They were tainted.
Consider this: the Bible teaches us that Jesus chose to be born of an imperfect woman. Mary was righteous, yet not without fault, and she was chosen anyway. God’s glory is revealed so much clearer when the doctrine of the immaculate conception is thrown out! Not only did he come down into our sinful world, but he actually entered the womb of a sinful woman not so different from myself. Paradoxically, the more he has humbled himself, the more we ought to praise him. He totally immersed himself in our world and he never shied away from crossing boundaries — he interacted with outcasts and the worst of sinners. Why should we expect him to require moral perfection from anyone, even including his own mother?
Mary wasn’t perfect, but she obeyed God when he called her. It’s what every Christian can and should do — in fact, we should seek God’s will continuously. Mary’s obedience to God provides a shining example for us to follow. The beauty of the salvation story lies in the flawed nature of the men and woman who were called by God to help him accomplish his will — everyone he ever raised up had both vices and virtues. Guess what? Mary did some bad things in her life. She probably gossiped. She probably told a white lie or two. Maybe she sometimes focused on herself too much instead of on God. She had sex! (Within marriage, which is NOT a sin! But that’s for another article).
The Immaculate Conception dims God’s glory. A sinless Mary steals the spotlight, and the doctrine directly contradicts the scripture. How about a humble, imperfect, obedient servant of the Lord? That’s the real deal.
