Photo by Nathan Staz on Unsplash

This is the third of a number of reasons why I could never be a Catholic (click here for articles 1 and 2). Mariology issues cannot be adequately covered in one article. I plan to address this further in the future. Part 3 of this series will focus on the problems with the Catholic Church’s argument that the Virgin Mary is the Mother of the Church and our mediatrix.

Introduction: Why are Protestants Getting Interested in Mary?

As an introduction to the discussion, it’s important to understand why this series on Mary is particularly important today. In his book Queen of All: The Marian apparitions’ plan to unite all religions under the Roman Catholic Church, Jim Tetlow of Understand the Times International shares the following information on the growing interest in Mariology within the Protestant church:

In 2005, Time Magazine featured an image of Mary as The Mother of God on the cover with the title “Hail, Mary – Catholics have long revered her, but now Protestants are finding their own reasons to celebrate the mother of Jesus.” The article explains the stunning trend of the growing Marian devotion among Protestant churches:

In a shift whose ideological breadth is unusual in the fragmented Protestant world, a long-standing wall around Mary appears to be eroding…Mary is also gaining popularity at Protestant divinity schools, where her icons adorn future pastors’ walls.¹David Van Biema, “Hail, Mary,” Time, March 21, 2005. As quoted in Queen of All by Jim Tetlow, Roger Oakland, Brad Myers, 2006. Queen of All: The Marian apparitions’ plan to unite all religions under the Roman Catholic Church; Eternal Productions, 2016 Kindle Edition, Loc 101

Albert Mohler, Jr. – president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary – commented on the Time Magazine article “Hail, Mary”:

The Time cover story is part of a larger phenomenon, with many mainline Protestants turning to a reconsideration of Mary and incorporating the veneration of Mary into personal devotions and corporate worship. Some are going so far as to acknowledge Mary as an intercessor, addressing prayers to her as well as to other saints. Surprisingly enough, some Protestants now argue that believers should pray to Mary and should request her intercession.²“Mary for Protestants? A New Look at an Old Question,” Albert Mohler, AlbertMohler.com; 2005, accessed 2/5/2025, copy on file

Is Mary the Mother of the Church?

What does the Roman Catholic Church mean when it says that Mary is the mother of the Church, and why is this an important subject to discuss? According to Catholic Answers, Mary is the “New Eve” and thus the mother of the church.

Scripture reveals that through our salvation, God was initiating a “new creation” (2 Cor. 5:17), with Jesus as the New Adam (see 1 Cor. 15:47). The early Church Fathers, who received the teaching of the apostles, recognized Mary as the New Eve. The name Eve means “mother of all living” (Gen. 3:20). As Eve was mother of the living in the natural order, so Mary is the Mother of the living in the order of grace. Everyone who receives spiritual life receives it through her (LG 61).

Vatican II confirmed:

[Mary] was the new Eve, who put her absolute trust not in the ancient serpent but in God’s messenger. The Son whom she brought forth is he whom God placed as the first-born of many brethren (cf. Rom. 8:29), namely, the faithful. In their birth and development she cooperates with a maternal love. (LG 63)

The teaching of Mary’s maternity of the faithful is strengthened in a passage in Revelation 12. After speaking of the woman who will give birth to “a male child, one who is to rule all the nationss,”[sic] Scripture goes on to tell us that this mother has other children. “The rest of her offspring [are] those who keep the commandments of God and bear testimony to Jesus” (Rev. 12:17). Mary is the Mother of everyone who belongs to Jesus. A mother “mediates” life to her children; Mary mediates spiritual life—grace—to every Christian.³“Making Peace with the Mediatrix,” Mary Beth Kremski, Catholic Answers, 9/1/2006, accessed 2/8/2025

According to Fr. Dwight Longdecker:

Every Christian believes that he or she is called to pray for the world, to intercede and to mediate for others, to have a “ministry of reconciliation” (2 Cor. 5:18-19). . . . all Christians agree about the need to mediate in prayer for others. . . . Mary is the first evangelist. She carried the Word of God in her body, kept it there, and bore it to the world. This was her practical role in the Incarnation, but it was also her theological role. In doing this she shows us our lesser calling to be mediators of the New Covenant and ministers of reconciliation. ⁴“Mary, Mother of Salvation,” Fr. Dwight Longdecker, Catholic Answers, 12/1/2007, accessed 2/12/2025

Mary Beth Kremski and Fr. Longdecker fairly articulated the position and teaching of the Roman Catholic Church, but if we check their biblical citations in context, we note that they used eisegesis rather than exegesis. The Apostle Paul’s discussion in 2 Corinthians 5:1-10 is about being freed from our mortal body to be with Christ in our immortal resurrection body. Verses 5:11-15 are about living for Christ and those for whom He died and was resurrected, “and he died for all” (2 Corinthians 5:15). When Paul mentions the “new creation” it is those who have believed and are already “in Christ.”:

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. (2 Corinthians 5:17)

Christ performed the mediatorial work in His death, burial, and resurrection. In light of this, we are sent as His ambassadors with the message of reconciliation. (2 Corinthians 5:18-21) We might notice that Mary is nowhere mentioned or even implied in this passage. Similarly, in 1 Corinthians 15:47 Paul contrasts the first Adam, who could only receive life, and the second Adam, Christ, Who is the life-giver. Again, Mary is not implied or mentioned in this passage. It might also be noted Mary gave birth to the human life God brought into being in her womb. Like the first Adam, Mary can only receive life, but contrary to Rome’s claims, she is unable to mediate between God and man, much less mediate spiritual life “to every Christian.”

According to research done by Dr. Lawrence Feingold STD, Associate Professor of Theology and Philosophy at Kenrick-Glennon Seminary, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, and Tertullian, all alluded to the idea of Mary being the “New Eve.”⁵The Mystery of Israel and the Church – Fall 2009 – Series 5- Themes from the Early Church Fathers- Talk #9 The Early Fathers on Mary as the New Eve; Dr. Lawrence Feingold STD, Association of Hebrew Catholics Lecture Series, 2009, Pg. 3. Accessed 2/8/2025 While the temptation to leap from these Fathers alluding to Mary being the “New Eve” that is not the same as demonstrating they taught this was true. The Ante-Nicene Fathers, like theologians down through history, were trying to figure out how this all works together, something we might call the mechanics of the faith. However, it is a monumental leap to claim that because they “alluded to the idea” that means Mary is the mother of the Church.

The Catholic Answers argument from Revelation 12 is again a bit of eisegesis aided by an amillennial eschatology.

As far as the millennium goes, we tend to agree with Augustine and, derivatively, with the amillennialists. The Catholic position has thus historically been “amillennial” (as has been the majority Christian position in general), though Catholics do not typically use this term. The Church has rejected the premillennial position, sometimes called “millenarianism” (see the Catechism of the Catholic Church 676).⁶”The Rapture” (Tract), Catholic Answers, n.d., accessed 2/8/2025

Amillennialism contributes to supersessionism, more commonly known as  Replacement Theology and the furtherance of the idea that God no longer has a plan for the Jews. When the Catholic Church replaces Israel, it opens the door for Catholics to interpret the woman of Revelation 12 as Mary, (the New Eve) because the church is the new Israel in their view. From a pre-millennial, dispensational eschatology however, “the woman” is seen as Israel. And “the rest of her offspring” (v7) could refer to Gentiles who come to faith in Jesus during the Great Tribulation.).⁷See  David Guzik, “Study Guide for Revelation 12,” Blue Letter Bible. June 16, 2022, accessed 2/8/2025

The similarity between the description in Revelation 12 and Joseph’s dream in Genesis 37:9-11 where his father, Jacob (Israel), his mother, and their children would bow down to him is interesting. The book of Revelation is a sort of Reader’s Digest version of the Old Testament descriptions of the end times where Israel figures prominently. In Revelation 12, the twelve stars refer to the twelve tribes of Israel.

There is additional evidence for this interpretation. While Revelation 12:2-5 speaks of the woman being with child and giving birth, it should be noted that the Nation of Israel is described as God’s wife in Jeremiah 3:14 and betrothed to Him forever in Hosea 2:19. It is true that Mary, of the lineage of Abraham, Issacc and Jacob (Israel) gave birth to Jesus, that established the lineage of Jesus, as the son of David from the tribe of Judah, came from Israel. In a sense, Israel gave birth—or brought forth—Christ Jesus.

Mary as Mediatrix

I rarely hear Catholics talk about the work of Jesus Christ; instead, their focus seems to be mainly on Mary. But why? Isn’t this placing too much emphasis on Mary and not enough on Jesus? Catholics tend to disagree. Many I have spoken with claim that to focus on Mary is to focus on the one that is your path to Jesus.

Catholics view Mary as the “Ark of the New Covenant” or the channel through which Christ and His saving work came into the world. She not only gave birth to our Lord, but gave birth to the church, who will bring the message of salvation to the world. According to the Swiss theologian Karl Barth, Mary is the archetype of the Catholic faith.

Marian dogma is neither more nor less than the critical, central normative dogma of the Roman Catholic Church, the dogma from the standpoint of which all their important positions are to be regarded and by which they stand or fall. The “mother of god” of Roman Catholic Marian dogma is quite simply the principle, type and the essence of the human creature cooperating servantlike (ministerialiter) in its own redemption on the basis of prevenient grace, and to that extent the principle, type and the essence of the Church.⁸Barth, Karl, Geoffrey William Bromiley, Thomas F Torrance, and Princeton Theological Seminary, 1936; Church Dogmatics. Volume 1, the Doctrine of the Word of God, Part 2. London: T & T Clark, Pg. 143

According to Casey Chalk of TheCatholicThing.org:

Barth is correct in describing Catholic teaching as upholding Mary as the “type and the essence of the human creature” cooperating in his own redemption. Catholics aim to imitate Mary in being entirely submissive to the divine will.⁹“Mary and the Protestants,” Casey Chalk, The Catholic Thing, Thecatholicthing.org, Thursday September 16, 2021; access 2/8/2025

Therefore, to get to Jesus, the Catholic must go through Mary. They must be willing to live the type of life she lived and be willing to work with God toward their own salvation. Therefore, Mary is considered the mediatrix between us and Jesus, while Jesus is still the mediator between us and God the Father.

With equal truth may it be also affirmed that, by the will of God, Mary is the intermediary through whom is distributed unto us this immense treasure of mercies gathered by God, for mercy and truth were created by Jesus Christ.(6) Thus as no man goeth to the Father but by the Son, so no man goeth to Christ but by His Mother.¹⁰Octobri Mense Encyclical of Pope Leo 13th on the Rosary, Given at Rome, St. Peter’s, the 22nd day of September, 1891, in the fourteenthyear of Our Pontificate,LEO XIII. Vatican.va. September 21, 1891,  Paragraph 4

However, according to Norman Geisler and Ralph E. MacKenzie:

• The doctrine of Mary as mediatrix is not considered an infallible dogma by the church and has little support from the writings of the early church.¹¹Geisler, Norman L, and Ralph E MacKenzie, Roman Catholics and Evangelicals: Agreements and Differences, Baker Academic, 1995; Pg. 320
• It wasn’t even doctrine until the 1854 bull “Ineffabilis” of Pope Pius IX.¹²Geisler, Norman L, and Ralph E MacKenzie, Roman Catholics and Evangelicals: Agreements and Differences, Baker Academic, 1995; Pg. 317
• And the scriptural evidence for calling Mary a mediator or co-redemptrix is totally lacking.¹³Geisler, Norman L, and Ralph E MacKenzie, Roman Catholics and Evangelicals: Agreements and Differences, Baker Academic, 1995; Pg. 319

Conclusion

The doctrine of Mary as the Mother of the Church and our mediatrix is not well supported by scripture or by the writings of early church fathers. The only way the Catholic Church is able to support these ideas is by reading scripture through an allegorized interpretation of the End Times. This is dangerous not only because it can lead to writing the Jews out of Scripture but also because it leads to the Catholic Church believing that Mary, a mere human, should be venerated as the archetype of the church instead of Christ and making Mary the Way to the Truth and Life. (See John 14:6) How many will miss salvation by following a false path?

My next article on Mariology will discuss how this veneration of Mary is leading to deception within the Catholic Marian movements and societies.Ω

Stephanie Potts and her husband, Jim live in Dayton, Ohio, and have been married for 23 years. She worked with the federal government for 15 years as an intelligence analyst and then entered full-time Christian service in 2015. She first joined Haven Ministries in Denver, Colorado, in 2015 and then transferred to Midwest Christian Outreach, Inc in 2021. She received her Bachelor’s degree from Florida State University in Political Science and International Relations and received her Master’s degree in Geographic Information Systems from Penn State University. She is currently working towards her master’s degree in Christian Apologetics through Southern Evangelical Seminary. She specializes in evangelizing to people involved in the New Age, to Muslims, and Native Americans. Stephanie’s personal website: rainbowapologetics.com

© 2025, Midwest Christian Outreach, Inc All rights reserved. Excerpts and links may be used if full and clear credit is given with specific direction to the original content.