Worshipping Mary

Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox apologists claim that they only worship God. They assert that there are distinctions in how we relate to Mary and the saints in heaven, which include dulia (veneration given to the saints), hyper-dulia (hyper-veneration given only to Mary), and latria (worship given only to God).

The issue is that their theology does not match their praxis (behavior) and the distinctions become blurred, or give rise to contradictions.

Scripture does not support any special honor or veneration being given to anyone who is not a member of the Trinity. Veneration is given to God alone, not Mary, and not the saints.

I’ve seen numerous examples of worship of Mary and the saints:

• Catholics bowing down to statues of Mary.
• Eastern Orthodox weeping as they kiss icons of Mary and saints.
• Hundreds of Catholic men trampling each other to carry a big doll of Mary.
• Consecration to Mary’s supposed “Immaculate Heart”.
• Saying the Hail Mary (rosary).

Also, if we look at what some saints (even Doctors) of the Catholic church have written about Mary, whether it’s Liguori or Maximillian Kolbe, they outright say their salvation is predicated on Mary. They explicitly call upon Mary to save them.

Apologists will be quick to dismiss this reality and say they were just using flowery language. Yet a careful analysis will reveal this to not be true.

3 The numbers of times that Mary is depicted in the NT as not grasping Jesus’ mission after Jesus’ infancy (Mark 3:21; Luke 2:48-50 [but note v. 51]; John 2:3-4 [but note v. 5])

2 The number of independent Jesus sayings in the NT discouraging his followers from giving special significance to his mother qua mother (Mark 3:31-35, with parallels in Matthew and Luke; Luke 11:27-28)

2 The number of times in the NT that Jesus addresses Mary as “woman,” as though she had no more significance to his identify as the Man from Heaven than any other woman (John 2:4; 19:26)

1 The number of times Jesus rebukes his mother directly in the NT (John 2:4; but indirectly twice more: Luke 2:49; Mark 3:33-34)

0 The number of times in the NT witness that Mary, apart from her role in the infancy narratives, plays any significant positive role in church theology, decision-making (for example, the Apostolic Conference), or in the proclamation and advance of the gospel

0 The number of times that Mary appears in Paul’s letters, Hebrews, the Catholic or General Epistles (James, 1-3 John, 1-2 Peter, Jude), or the Book of Revelation,* or in a more than in-passing way in the Gospel of Mark (*some see at least a secondary referent to Mary in the woman of Rev 12, but context indicates an exclusive referent to the people of God)

0 The number of times that Luke refers to Mary in a more than in-passing way in the 50 chapters of his Gospel and Acts following his infancy narrative (but twice negatively in substantive references: Luke 8:19-21; 11:27-28; last in-passing reference in Acts 1:14, pre-Pentecost)

0 The number of times in the NT that a “cult of the Virgin Mary” or any devotion to her whatsoever (including prayers) is encouraged or portrayed as occurring (whether in heaven or on earth)

0 The number of times in the NT that Mary is described as the most important created being (she is called “blessed among women” by Elizabeth in Luke 1:42; obviously God could not have selected a man for this task, nor a non-virgin woman for a virgin birth, nor any women whose life did not fit God’s timing for the Christ’s coming into the world)

0 The number of times in the NT that Mary is viewed as the intercessor between Jesus and his followers

0 The number of times in the NT that Mary is called “the mother of God” or theotokos (“God-birther/bearer”; Elizabeth calls her “the mother of my lord” in Luke 1:43, alluding to the Davidic king in Ps 110:1, “Yahweh said to my lord”)

0 The number of texts in the NT that refer to Mary’s “Immaculate Conception,” sinlessness, perpetual virginity, or “Assumption” into heaven

0 The number of times in the NT that Mary is said to be “full of grace” (she is rather called “favored one” by the angel Gabriel in Luke 1:28)

0 The number of times in the NT that Mary is treated as a New Eve (some argue Jesus’ twice-address of his mother as “woman” does so, but context indicates otherwise)

0 The number of times in the NT that Mary is called the New Ark of the Covenant (some argue for echoes in Luke 1, but the link is dubious at best)

0 The number of times Mary is depicted in the NT as the one who has delivered the Christian people from any calamities, their enemies, or God’s punishments

0 The number of times Mary is described in the NT, implicitly or explicitly, as “the foundation of all our confidence”

0 The number to times Mary is described in the NT, implicitly or explicitly, as the one to whom “God has committed the treasury of all good things”

0 The number of times Mary is described in the NT, implicitly or explicitly, as the one through whom is “obtained every hope, every grace, and all salvation … everything”

The list was formulated in the interest of informing as to the NT witness on Mary. You can choose to honor Mary in any way you please, but do so in knowledge of the guidance given to us in the preeminent NT witness of Jesus and the apostles. You have to decide for yourself whether the developing post-apostolic witness about Mary is consistent with the NT witness or in tension (or outright contradiction) with it.

Mariology and the New Testament: A Factual List, by Dr. Robert A. J. Gagnon