made clear to all what had been the faith of Christians before them, and what was to be the faith of Christians from then on. “Jesus Christ is truly God,” they declared, “and consequently the Holy Virgin is the mother of God — inasmuch as she gave birth in the flesh to the Word of God made flesh, according to what is written: ‘the Word was made flesh.’” As far as Christians were concerned, there should be no further doubt. It was evident then and it is evident today that the snare into which they inevitably fall who refuse to call Mary the mother of God is the division of Christ — the dissolution of Christ into something like “Jesus-man” and “Jesus-God” — the “heavenly Jesus” and the “earthly Jesus.” And according to the Apostle John: “Every spirit that severs Jesus is not of God” (1 John 4:3). Consciously or unconsciously, they must make him a human person if they insist that Mary was the mother of mere man. The answer to the question: “Was Mary the mother of God?” is found in the question “Who and what was Jesus Christ?” The two questions are as inseparable as are Mary and her Son. The Catholic answer always has been clear and consistent — consistent with the demands of right reason and with the facts to be found in the New Testament.
Christ is God What are these facts? They can be stated briefly as follows: In the New Testament, Jesus Christ is spoken of as God and he is expressly called God. He is likewise spoken of as a real man and called man. The obvious meaning is that he was a divine person who possessed the nature of God and the nature of man. Not that the nature of God -6-