Is Mary the Mother of God?

Mary of Nazareth was the woman whom God chose to give birth to Jesus Christ. This is an awesome privilege, since Jesus is the Saviour of the world, and he is truly God.

The early Christians described Mary as theotokos (θεοτόκος), meaning “God-birther”, or “Mother of God”. Originally, the idea was that Mary gave birth to Jesus, and Jesus was both truly human and truly God even when he was in Mary’s womb. In other words, Mary is the “Mother of God”—in the sense that she gave birth to a truly human person who is also truly God. This is a true and biblical teaching that we should accept.

Today, many people believe that since Mary is the “Mother of God”, then she is higher than other human beings, and so they honour her very highly in a manner that resembles worship—though they deny that they are actually worshipping her. However, this is a false idea that was added later on. It was not what the early Christians originally meant when they called Mary the “Mother of God”.