Is Mary the Theotokos?

Apparently in some online circles, the Theotokos debate has picked up steam again. To no surprise, some so-called "reformed" folks online are responding with a theological overcorrection at the faintest scent of Roman Catholicism that has completely ignored the Council of Chalcedon.

For example, let's look at a John MacArthur quote found in a recent X post.

"In fact, Roman Catholics refer to her as the God bearer. They say she gave birth to God and thus is to be elevated and adored. She gave birth to God. That is a terrible misconception. She gave birth to Jesus in His humanity. She did not give birth to God. God was never born."

What John MacArthur has done here is overcorrected his Christology to avoid associating with Roman Catholic Mariology. The doctrine of Theotokos is not to elevate Mary in order to require adoration for her. The doctrine is to keep the two natures of Christ unified in one person as we will now see.

What is Theotokos?
Theotokos is a Greek term meaning God (theo) bearer (tokos). It is a term applied to Mary as the mother of our Lord Jesus. The term was in use by the fourth century being found in the writings of Athanasius of Alexandria in 330, John Chrysostom in 400, and Augustine. There is also an ancient hymn dedicated to Mary that uses the term and our oldest record of it is a papyrus piece dating to 450

The basic thought that the ancient church fathers had was that Jesus was one person consisting of two unified natures; one divine and one human. Since Jesus was born of Mary and Jesus was both fully human and fully God, Mary should be called the God Bearer. It makes plain sense but for some this could not stand.

The Council of Ephesus
This all came to a head in 431 at the Council of Ephesus. Nestorius of Constantinople believed that Mary could be called the Christotokos (Christ Bearer) to restrict her motherhood to Christ's humanity not His divine nature. Cyril of Alexandria viewed this as dividing Jesus into two separate persons; one human and one divine. To Cyril and his followers, this would do harm to the fullness of the Incarnation of our Lord thus harming salvation for man.

Cyril's view was accepted as orthodoxy and Nestorius and his followers were anathematized. Mary was officially given the title of Theotokos. The Roman Catholic Catechism rightfully states,

"Mother of God, not that the nature of the Word or his divinity received the beginning of its existence from the holy Virgin, but that, since the holy body, animated by a rational soul, which the Word of God united to himself according to the hypostasis, was born from her, the Word is said to be born according to the flesh."

Unfortunately, that is not the end of the story for correct Christology. Like most heresies, Nestorianism stuck around for a bit and other theologians overcorrected and created new heresies and another council would need to be held.

The Council of Chalcedon
A few short years after Cyril's death, a monk from Constantinople named Eutyches began teaching a subtle variation of the traditional Christology settled on at Ephesus. Although he claimed to be a faithful follower of Cyril, to many, it seemed Eutyches was advocating for a heresy called Docetism which teaches that Jesus was not fully human and only appeared so. This was likely from a misunderstanding of Cyril's use of the Greek word physis which he taught as having a Latin equivalent of persona (person); most Greek theologians would have interpreted physis as the Latin natura (nature).

A new council was called in 451 to deal with Eutyches' teachings and confirm the decision on Nestroianism at the Council of Ephesus. The council stated:

"We all teach harmoniously [that he is] the same perfect in godhead, the same perfect in manhood, truly God and truly man, the same of a reasonable soul and body; homoousios with the Father in godhead, and the same homoousios with us in manhood ... acknowledged in two natures without confusion, without change, without division, without separation."

A new creed was also produced by the council. This is often called the Chalcedonian Creed or the Chalcedonian Definition. It states,

"Following, then, the holy Fathers, we all unanimously teach that our Lord Jesus Christ is to us One and the same Son, the Self-same Perfect in Godhead, the Self-same Perfect in Manhood; truly God and truly Man; the Self-same of a rational soul and body; co-essential with the Father according to the Godhead, the Self-same co-essential with us according to the Manhood; like us in all things, sin apart; before the ages begotten of the Father as to the Godhead, but in the last days, the Self-same, for us and for our salvation (born) of Mary the Virgin Theotokos as to the Manhood; One and the Same Christ, Son, Lord, Only-begotten; acknowledged in Two Natures unconfusedly, unchangeably, indivisibly, inseparably; the difference of the Natures being in no way removed because of the Union, but rather the properties of each Nature being preserved, and (both) concurring into One Person and One Hypostasis; not as though He was parted or divided into Two Persons, but One and the Self-same Son and Only-begotten God, Word, Lord, Jesus Christ; even as from the beginning the prophets have taught concerning Him, and as the Lord Jesus Christ Himself hath taught us, and as the Symbol of the Fathers hath handed down to us."

This is what we call the Hypostatic Union. Jesus had two natures; One fully divine and the other fully man. They were united in the single person of Jesus. There is no confusion between the two, neither can be changed, they cannot be divided nor separated from each other.

Why Does it Matter?
This matters because of the Atonement and our salvation. The Theotokos controversy of the fifth century was not some plot by a Pope to elevate Mary so could be worshiped or adored. What Cyril was trying to defend was the necessity of Jesus to be fully man and fully God.

It was necessary for Jesus to be fully man in order to take our place on the cross. He was born as Adam was created; posse peccare posse non peccare - with the ability to sin and the ability not to sin. He had true, libertarian free will. He lived the perfect human life, defeating temptation and following God's law; completely righteous. If Jesus was not fully man then His righteousness could not be imputed to us on the cross.

It was necessary for Jesus to be full God in order to have power over the sin and the grave. If He has no power over sin then the perfect life is not lived. If He has no power over death then He is not raised. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 5:17-18,

"And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished."

Praise be to God for the faithfulness of His servant Mary who bore the God-man!