Mother of God
This
title was accorded to Mary, the mother of Jesus, at the Council of Ephesus in
431. A bishop named Nestorius, formerly presbyter at Antioch and then made
patriarch of Constantinople, but deposed by the council, had found it difficult
to accept that the infant born of Mary was "God," and his difficulty
came to expression in a refusal to describe Mary as the "Mother of
God" as she was now commonly styled to emphasize the deity of Christ. The
council decreed that the title could rightly be given to Mary because he who
was conceived of her was by the Holy Ghost, and was the Son of God and
therefore "God" from the moment of his conception.
Unfortunately,
the term soon came to be regarded as expressing an exaltation of Mary, and by
the sixth century false notions about Mary, originally framed by Gnostics and a
sect known as Collyridians, were taken up by the church itself, and the way was
open for the worship of Mary, which has since grown so greatly, in the Roman
Catholic Church.
In
the NT Mary is often referred to as the "mother of Jesus" (e.g., John
2:1; Acts 1:14). She was given special grace by God to perform a service to him
that was unique. In this regard she stands alone amongst humankind, and is
regarded by all generations as "blessed." But Scripture is silent as
regards any special standing of Mary herself. The title "mother of
God" (Theotokos) is thus to be used with caution as regards its
implications for Mary, though evangelical theology recognizes its
appropriateness when employed, as at Ephesus, to state the true deity of Jesus
Christ even in his incarnate life.