Cork Free Presbyterian Church, 10 Briarscourt
(Annex) Shanakiel, Cork, Ireland
Pastor: Colin Maxwell. Email: colin.maxwell@fpcmission.org
LETTERS SENT TO: CATHOLIC HERALD
SUBJECT:
DATE SENT: NOVEMBBER -DECEMBER 2001
Dear Sir,
Two points to make on the rather interesting article in the Catholic Herald on the Virgin Mary (9th November, 2001)
First, it is blatantly untrue for Dwight Longnecker to say that "Protestants can't stand Mary"
To refuse to go further than Scripture does not dishonour Mary, but
simply maintains the balance which God Himself wishes to set. Perhaps
Mr Longnecker could supply some documentation to substantiate his
rather wild claims?
Secondly, John Martin isn't
the only one who found the phrase "Mother of God" hard to swallow. St
Augustine must have struggled also. In his 8th homily on John's Gospel,
he wrote: "Woman, what have I to do
with thee? mine hour is not yet come ?" Our Lord Jesus Christ was both
God and man. According as He was God, He had not a mother; according as
He was man, He had…."
Again, Scriptural caution is the order of the day.
Yours faithfully,
Colin Maxwell.
************
Dear Sir,
Vito G. Graffaginano argues that Augustine was merely asserting that
Christ did not derive His divinity from Mary (Letters 7-12-2001) This
may well be the case, yet the learned scholar clearly was not happy
with the title "Mother of God." It does not compromise the scripture in any way simply to refer to her as "the mother of Jesus"
which is, after all, how John who propagates the deity of Christ so
much in his gospel account, is happy to do (John 2:1/3) Luke also
employs this simple phrase (Acts 1:14) Paul, in his only reference to
her, does not even name her, but asserts that Christ was born "of a
woman" which, although not derogatory in any way (Cp John 19:26) falls
far short of the title "Mother of God"
There is a certain safety in Scripture which cannot be afforded
to any other. John 21:22-23 shows just how uncertain the brethren's
reports can be.
Yours faithfully,
Colin Maxwell
Index of other letters on many subjects sent