"He Was Incarnate by the Virgin Mary"

In the Nicene Creed, we confess what the “One Lord, Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God” has done “for us men and for our salvation.” He came down from heaven and he was incarnate “by the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary.”

The Son of God was incarnate by the Virgin Mary. His incarnation is a new beginning. Last week we noted the resonance between Genesis 1 and Luke 1, between the Spirit’s presence and work in creation and the Spirit’s presence and work in the incarnation.

There is also a resonance between Genesis 2 and Luke 1. In the beginning, when no seed had yet been planted in the earth, God formed Adam of dust from the virgin ground (Genesis 2:5-7). In the fullness of time, the Son of God, the Last Adam, was incarnate by the virgin Mary.

There is a further resonance (or, better, a dissonance) between Genesis 3 and Luke 1. Whereas Eve was deceived and disobeyed God, Mary believed and obeyed God: “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38). In Genesis 3 there is the fall of man and the curse. In Luke 1, the Son of God comes down and there is blessing: “And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and she exclaimed with a loud cry, ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?’” (Luke 1:41-44).

Elizabeth, filled with the Spirit, calls Mary blessed. We should call her blessed: “for behold, from now on all generations shall call me blessed” (Luke 1:48).

Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, testifies that Mary is the mother of the Lord. The Son of God, eternally begotten from the Father, Light from Light, true God from true God, of the same being as the Father, was incarnate from the virgin Mary. In 451, the Council of Chalcedon elaborated this point in the Nicene Creed, confessing that one and the same Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ is “begotten before all ages from God the Father as regards his divinity, and in the last days the same for us and for our salvation from Mary the virgin God-bearer (Theotokos) as regards his humanity.” He is “perfect in divinity and perfect in humanity” and he is “truly God and truly man.”

To say that Mary is the Mother of God or the God-bearer is to confess that her son Jesus is the Son of God. She is the mother of the Lord. To call her the Mother of God does not magnify her, it magnifies the Lord. And with her, we sing:

My soul magnifies the Lord,
   and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour,
   for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.
For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
   for he who is mighty has done great things for me,
   and holy is his name. (Luke 1:46-49)