Cork Free Presbyterian Church, 10 Briarscourt
(Annex) Shanakiel, Cork, Ireland
Pastor: Colin Maxwell. Email: colin.maxwell@fpcmission.org
THE DOCTRINE OF IMMACULATE CONCEPTION
OF THE VIRGIN MARY FERVENTLY DENIED
NOTES OF A SERMON PREACHED ON THE 150th ANNIVERSARY OF ITS PRONOUNCEMENT
READ: ROMANS 3:9-23 TEXT: v23 ALL HAVE SINNED
For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
"The 8th December, 1854, Pope Pius IX
was sitting upon his throne: a triple crown of gold and diamonds was on
his head; silk and damask - red and white vestments on his shoulders;
500 mitred prelates were surrounding him, and more than 50,000 b people
were at his feet, in the incomparable St Peter's Church of Rome. After
a few minutes of the most solemn silence, a Cardinal, dressed in his
purple robe, left his seat, and gravely walked towards the Pope,
kneeled before him, and humbly prostrating himself at his feet, said:
"Holy
Father, tell us if we can believe and teach that the Mother of God, the
Holy Virgin Mary, was immaculate in her conception?"
The Supreme Pontiff answered,
"I do not know: let us ask the light of the Holy Ghost."
The Cardinal withdrew: the Pope and the numberless multitudes fell on their knees, and the harmonious choir sang the
"Veni Creator Spiritus."
The last note of
the sacred hymn had hardly rolled under the vaults of the temple, when
the same Cardinal left his place, and again advanced towards the throne
of the Pontiff, prostrated himself at his feet, and said:
"Holy Father, tell us if the Holy Mother of God, the Blessed Virgin Mary, was immaculate in her conception?"
The Pope again answered:
"I do not know: let us ask the light of the Holy Ghost."
And again, the "Veni Creator Spiritus" was sung.
The most solemn
silence, had, a second time, succeeded to the melodious sacred song,
when again the eyes of the multitude were following the grave steps of
the purple robed Cardinal advancing, for the third time to the throne
of the successor of St Peter, to ask again:
"Holy Father, tell us if we can believe that the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Holy Mother of God, was immaculate."
The Pope, as if he had just received a direct communication from God, answered with a solemn voice:
"Yes! We must
believe that the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, was immaculate
in her conception…There is no salvation to those who do not
believe this dogma!"
And with a loud
voice, the Pope intoned the Te Deum: the bells of 300 churches in Rome
rang: the cannons/the citadel were fired."
So records Father Chiniquy/book, "50 Years in the Church of Rome."
There are some doctrines in Rome which you can take or leave according to your taste.
At one time, the Immaculate Conception was one of them.
But after that fateful night 150 years ago, it became a dogma and to
close the door upon this teaching (according to Pope Pius IX) is to
close the door of salvation upon your soul.
We want to study this subject.
No man can be asked to believe something, even if it involves the
salvation of his soul, without serious investigation. The fact that he
has a soul that needs to be saved is all the more reason why he should
tread carefully, lest he embrace what Peter called "damnable heresies"
4 main thoughts:
1) THE STATING OF THE DOCTRINE/IMMACULATE CONCEPTION:
We saw something of the theatrics of its announcement. But what do these words mean that Mary was immaculately conceived?
The Papal bull Ineffabilus Deus reads as follows:
"We declare, pronouce and define that
the Most Blessed Virgin Mary, at the first instance of her conception
was preserved immaculate from all stain of original sin, by the
singular grace and privilege of the Omnipotent God, in virtue of the
merits of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of mankind, and that this doctrine
was revealed by God, and therefore must be believed firmly and
constantly by all the faithful."
A/ When you and I were born, we were born with the guilt of Adam's sin reckoned to our account.
This part is a Scriptural Doctrine:
Wherefore, as by one man sin entered
into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for
that all have sinned: (Romans 5:12)
This "one man" was Adam and through Adam's fall, we all
[i] partake of Adam's guilt and
[ii] bear Adam's sinful nature.
It is this that induces us to sin against God.
B/ But this doctrine/Immaculate Conception makes an exception here.
Even though Mary can trace her lineage (as we all can) back to Adam,
yet 150 years ago it was proclaimed that she was preserved both from
the guilt and the stain of original sin when she was conceived by her
mother.
C/ Then teaching runs further
that this preservation was on the basis of God's grace through the
merits of Christ who is described as being the Saviour of Mankind.
Thus far the doctrine stated.
Mary is the exception to the universal rule that when we are born, we
are born with original sin, both in its guilt and its stain.
2) THE EXAMINING OF THE DOCTRINE/IMMACULATE CONCEPTION:
A/ Is it true?
If so, it will bear the most serious investigation.
If not, it will crumble/fall apart.
Where do we turn for such judgement?
We turn to the Bible. This is God's word.
[i] OT vindication of our stand:
Therefore I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right; and I hate every false way. (Psalm 119:128)
God's precepts on every matter is right.
It is the standard by which we can discern what is acceptable/what is not.
And on the basis of its decisions, we can declare that some ways are false and we must repudiate them.
That is our duty if we profess to love God.
[ii] NT vindication of our taking the Bible as our rule of faith:
These were more noble than those in
Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of
mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.
(Acts 17:11)
Here the Bereans were highly praised by the Spirit/God as being more
noble because they brought Paul's teaching to the authority of the Book
to see whether or not Paul was speaking truth.
We must emulate these men when we come to this doctrine of the Immaculate Conception.
B/ Simply put…does the Bible teach that Mary was preserved in her conception from all stain of original sin?
What saith the Scriptures?
[i] The Bible is universal in its teaching that all people, born by natural generation, are born with Adam's guilt.
Already quoted Romans 5:12 Wherefore,
as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so
death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: Note the universal
"all's" No exceptions.
[ii] Again: Romans 3 (Our reading) is pretty decisive:
"There is none righteous etc., all cumulating in Romans 3:23 All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
[iii] Again Galatians 3:22
But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.
But are there not any Scriptural exceptions to this rule?
Yes! Listen to the words of Jesus Christ when the rich young ruler came asking him re: eternal life.
The Lord queried the reason why the young man called Him "Good Master"
(Not because it wasn't true, but because He wanted the young man to follow through its implications)
And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good
but one, that is…" that is WHO? Pope Pius IX would say: "Mary"
but the Lord Jesus said: "There is none good but one i.e. GOD"
In other words, "Young man, you are talking to God, let that colour your response to my answer."
God is good. God is sinless. The rest are sinful through Adam.
[iv] Mary herself offered a sin offering (Luke 2:22-25) which is all revealing (Leviticus 12:8)
She rejoices in God her Saviour (Luke 1:47)
Rome has an argument which runs like this:
A man can be saved from (say) drink one/two ways.
Either he can be reclaimed from his drunkenness or he can be saved from it by never touching it.
Rome says Mary was saved from sin through the prevention rather than cure method.
Sounds pretty neat…but we simply ask:
"Where is the Scriptural evidence?"
These things cannot be baldly stated. They need backed up big time from Scripture. And it simply isn't there.
C/ The RC Church claims that there is Scriptural basis, although the Catholic Encyclopaedia admits:
No direct or categorical and stringent proof of the dogma can be brought forward from Scripture.
That never augurs well.
Every major doctrine/Bible is stated clearly as to be beyond any doubt and is stated over/over again.
No major doctrine is left to hang on a slender thread.
[i] The first "proof text" Rome
uses is Genesis 3:15 where the woman is mentioned in relation to the
coming Saviour who would bruise the Serpent's Head. There is nothing
stated here of the woman's immaculate conception. The doctrine is being
read into the Bible. If we all did that, the Bible would be reduced to
a real farce/Book.
[ii] Another "proof text" used
is Luke 1:28 where in some RC Bibles, Mary is said to be "full of
grace" and again this is stretched (no other word for it) to include
this doctrine/Immaculate Conception. Again, reading into the Bible what
is not clearly stated there is a very dangerous thing to do. It is this
which gives rise to cults etc.,
Every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old. (Matthew 13:52)
[iii] Other proof texts include
Proverbs 8 and some verses from the Song/Solomon, but again there is no
mention of Mary by name nor any clear, decisive mention of the
circumstances of her conception. References to Mary as the "New Eve"
are also attempts to force into Scripture what isn't there.
In short, the Bible is silent re: this doctrine. It has no Bible support.
3) THE TRACING OF THE DOCTRINE/IMMACULATE CONCEPTION:
A/ Since it does not fare too well at
the Tribunal/Scripture (and that settles it!) we will see that history
is not kind to it either:
[i] How the ancient church
regarded this doctrine: Even the Catholic Encyclopaedia acknowledges
those Church Fathers who denied it:
Origen, although he ascribed to
Mary high spiritual prerogatives, thought that, at the time of Christ's
passion, the sword of disbelief pierced Mary's soul; that she was
struck by the poniard of doubt; and that for her sins also Christ died
(Origen, Homily 17 /Luke)
In the same manner St. Basil writes in
the fourth century: he sees in the sword, of which Simeon speaks, the
doubt which pierced Mary's soul (Epistle 259).
St. Chrysostom accuses her of
ambition, and of putting herself forward unduly when she sought to
speak to Jesus at Capharnaum (Matthew 12:46; Chrysostom, Hom. xliv; cf.
also "In Matt.", hom. iv).
St. Augustine contradicts
himself on the matter. In one place, he has her without sin…in
another he says that her flesh was "flesh of sin" (De Peccatororum
Meritius ii. c.24)
[ii] This doctrine was denied
by St Thomas Acquinas, Bonaventura, Cardinal Cajetan and two Popes:
Gregory/Great and Innocent III.
[iii] It was the cause/much
bitterness in the RC Church between the Dominicans and the Franciscans.
Pope Sixtus IV forbade discussion of it without declaring his taking
sides, while the Council/Trent left it untouched even though asked by
Pope IV to make a pronouncement.
It is wrong to say that this is
something which the Church always believed. Furthermore, according to
the Creed/Pius IV, Rome can only to interpret the Bible (think of her
proof texts) where the Fathers are unanimous and they are not unanimous
on this subject.
B/ This doctrine is Pagan. The
Babylonian goddess bore several revealing titles including: "My Lady"
also "Queen/Heaven" Elsewhere she is revealed to as "Virgin, pure and
undefiled" Just the old hellish paganism with a Christian veneer.
4) THE WARNING OF THE DOCTRINE/IMMACULATE CONCEPTION:
A/ It always a dangerous thing to add to the Scriptures.
Consider the scenes which marked the pronouncement/this dogma.
If they were mistaken (they are) do they not constitute great blasphemy?
For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. (Mark 13:6)
B/ To unduly elevate
Mary in this way encourages other false doctrines/practices including
those which teach that she is our Mediatrix to bring us to God etc.,
These all detract from the unique office of the Lord Jesus and consitute "another gospel" (Galatians 1:8)
Therefore we reject this doctrine as pagan and dangerous.
THE END