Born of the Virgin Mary
December 2021
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Dear Friends in Christ,
This month’s TLO Disciple focus is Mary, the Mother of Jesus. As we approach the celebration of Jesus’ birth, may you be inspired by the humble response of Mary as she trusted in the words of the angel that she, a virgin, would bear the Christ child. In Lutheran Confessions, Mary is rightly called the Mother of God and is worthy of the most ample honors as a faithful witness of our Savior, Jesus Christ. This Christmas, may your worship and your family gatherings be filled with joy for Christ the Savior is born.
Pastor James Kroonblawd
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Mary, Mother of Jesus
May 3, 2010
by Ruth E. Zuelsdorf
An Outstanding Example of Christian Womanhood
Mary, the mother of our Lord Jesus, will no doubt be remembered by more people and more generations than any woman of this century.
Many famous poets, writers, musicians, sculptors, and painters have sought to capture Mary’s loveliness. All of these portrayals are products of their imagination and their knowledge of the Scriptures.
Mary is an outstanding example for Christian womanhood. From the annunciation of the coming birth to the crucifixion of her beloved Son, Mary showed strength, fortitude, and wisdom.
This obscure peasant girl believed the words of the angel Gabriel and humbly accepted the responsibility God chose to place upon her. She courageously faced the problems of her forthcoming motherhood and marriage. Read more.
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From God's Word
Luke 2:1-20 The Birth of Jesus
In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2 (This was the first census that took place while[a] Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 And everyone went to their own town to register.
4 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child.
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Mary, Mary, quite contrary
December 14, 2017
by William Weedon
Whatever are Lutherans to make of Mary?
Looking around at the contrary approaches to Mary that other church traditions take, it’s easy to be confused. At times it seems that Christians in the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches elevate Mary almost to the status of a goddess. They pray to her, sing hymns to glorify her and even commend their souls into her keeping at death.
On the other hand, many Protestant Christians believe her to be “just like us” — nothing special. That surely is not right either. After all, who among us has been visited by an archangel and been declared highly favored of God? Who among us has conceived a child by the power of the Holy Spirit and given birth to the long-promised Savior, the eternal Son of God? Nothing about this screams “just like us.”
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Who is Jesus?
In a world in which information is readily available and opinions abound, this fundamental question stands above all other inquiries and considerations.
The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod believes Jesus is exactly who He said He is. Along with the ancient Church, we confess that Jesus is true God and true man in one person. He is the Son of God who was crucified and raised from the dead for the salvation of all who trust in Him.
Christ is not Jesus’s last name, but identifies Him as the Messiah (Christ is the Greek translation of Messiah), the fulfillment of the Old Testament promises that God saves His people. Read full article.
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The Virgin Birth account according to Matthew
Matthew’s writes that Mary was with child before the consummation to Joseph and the child was from the Holy Spirit. Joseph is a righteous man whom an angel instructs in a dream not to divorce Mary but the call the baby Jesus. Matthew makes clear that this is in fulfillment of the promise given in Isaiah 7:14, “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin will conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Immanuel.”
The Virgin Birth account according to Luke
Luke’s Gospel gives an account that is not included in Matthew, describing the announcement given to Mary by the angel Gabriel, and her reaction. Luke is more specific about Mary’s chastity stating that she was a virgin, not only once, but twice. And recording Mary’s response, “How will this be since I have not had sexual relations with a man?”
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FROM GOD'S WORD
But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will…Matthew 1:20
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New Light on the Nativity
by Dr. Paul L. Maier
The account of Jesus’ birth is a good story. It’s good history, too. Are there "degrees" to the miraculous in Jesus’ ministry, ranging perhaps from the modest to the extraordinary?
At one end might be His compelling call to discipleship that led The Twelve to give up everything to follow Him. "Higher" gradations might include, progressively, spiritual healings, physical healings, controlling natural phenomena and--always the ultimate sign--raising the dead.
But there was yet a greater miracle than all these--in fact, the most astounding supernatural phenomenon in the entire Bible and in all of history: the Incarnation; the infinite God crossing the cosmic divide between Himself and His creation; God showing up ... as a baby!
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Luther on the Incarnation
By Rev. Jonathon T. Krenz
They are, perhaps, the most sublime words Dr. Luther ever penned, and maybe you’ve even memorized them: “I believe that Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true man, born of the Virgin Mary, is my Lord.” If justification is the article upon which the Church stands or falls, the incarnation, that God became man in the person of Jesus, is foundational. Our Lord Jesus has two natures, divine and human, in one undivided person. He is fully divine, the eternally begotten Son of God, and fully man, born of the Virgin Mary. And for our justification to be accomplished, He must be both. He must be a man to suffer and die. He must be God for His death to count as payment for all the sins of all people. Luther puts it this way:
“We Christians should know that if God is not in the scale to give it weight, we, on our side, sink to the ground. I mean it this way: if it cannot be said that God died for us, but only a man, we are lost; but if God’s death and a dead God lie in the balance, His side goes down and ours goes up like a light and empty scale.
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Arguments for the Historicity of the Virgin Birth
The Lexham Bible Dictionary
- Mark 6:3 and John 8:41 demonstrate that even the two Gospels with no infancy narratives show awareness of the mysterious circumstances of Jesus’ birth.
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Paul may demonstrate an awareness of the virginal conception in Gal 4:4 (“born of a woman”) and in Rom 1:3, where he uses a verb that means “become,” rather than “born” (translated “descended [γίνομαι, ginomai] from David”).
- The author of Hebrews may show an awareness of Jesus’ mysterious birth when comparing Jesus with Melchizedek, who was “without father or mother” (Heb 7:3).
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We know our need for a Savior from the moment of conception. “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me” (Ps. 51:5 NIV). From Frances Pieper, “Christ passed through all stages of our existence that He might fully remedy our unclean conception and birth.” (Pieper’s Dogmatics Vl. II, p. 84)
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Mary and the Crowned Woman
Lutheran Witness
August 16, 2021 By Edward Riojas
Lutherans are quite persnickety about theology, and necessarily so. As a layman, I may not be as well-equipped as my pastor on the finer points of our theological differences with Roman Catholicism, but when it comes to artwork, I can spot the differences a mile away.
Representations of Mary, the mother of our Lord, often evoke a great deal of consternation among Lutherans. Part of the reason that depictions of her bring out strong differences of opinion among Lutherans is because of the visual confusion of Mary with other things — most notably the church — and the resulting hot, artistic mess is symptomatic of that confusion. How do we unravel this visual knot? Find out here.
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FROM GOD'S WORD
Mary’s Song of Praise: The Magnificat
And Mary said,
“My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
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.
And his mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts;
he has brought down the mighty from their thrones
and exalted those of humble estate;
he has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,
as he spoke to our fathers,
to Abraham and to his offspring forever.”
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As for the Assumption of Mary...
Feasts celebrating the Falling Asleep, that is, the death, of Mary have been celebrated in the East since the 4th or 5th c. Emperor Maurice (582–603) fixed the date for such celebrations on August 15. The majority of Lutherans believe that Mary simply died probably in the care of St. John the Beloved in Ephesus (in modern day Turkey) as the oldest traditions detail, but say she was most likely buried there and her gravesite has been lost to history.
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As for the Immaculate Conception . . .
The Immaculate Conception is the Roman Catholic Catholic Teaching “that the most Blessed Virgin Mary was preserved from all stain of original sin in the first instant of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of almighty God, in consideration of the merits of Jesus Christ, savior of the human race” (Pius IX, bull [or encyclical letter] Ineffabilis Deus, December 8, 1854). The bull continues that this has been revealed by God and must, therefore, firmly and constantly be believed by all the faithful.
As for the Immaculate Conception, Lutherans reject it.
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From Luther:
Martin Luther on Galatians 4:4-5
But when the time had fully come, God sent forth His Son, born of woman, born under the Law, to redeem those who were under the Law. Galatians 4:4-5
Note carefully how Paul defines Christ here. Christ, he says, is the Son of God and of the woman. He was born under the Law on account of us sinners, to redeem us who were under the Law. In these words Paul has included both the Person and the work of Christ. The Person is made up of the divine and the human nature. He indicates this clearly when he says: “God sent forth His Son, born of woman.” Therefore Christ is true God and true man. Paul describes His work in these words: “Born under the Law, to redeem those who were under the Law.”
It seems that Paul insults the Virgin, the mother of the Son of God, by calling her simply “woman.” This bothered some of the ancient fathers, who would have preferred that he use the title “virgin” here rather than “woman.” But in this epistle Paul is dealing with the most important and sublime subject matter: the Gospel, faith, Christian righteousness, the definition of the Person of Christ, the meaning of His work, what He undertook and accomplished on our behalf, and what blessings He brought to us miserable sinners. The magnitude of this awesome subject matter was the reason why he did not consider the matter of virginity. It was enough for him to proclaim the inestimable and infinite mercy of God, that God saw fit to have His Son born of the female sex; therefore he mentions, not the worthiness of this sex but merely the sex itself. By mentioning the sex he indicates that Christ Himself was made a true man by birth from the female sex. It is as though he were to say: “He was born, not of a male and a female but merely of the female sex.” When he merely mentions the female sex, therefore, his phrase “born of woman” is the same as though he were saying “born of a virgin.”
Luther, M. (1999). Luther’s works, vol. 26: Lectures on Galatians, 1535, Chapters 1-4. (J. J. Pelikan, H. C. Oswald, & H. T. Lehmann, Eds.) (Vol. 26, pp. 367–368). Saint Louis: Concordia Publishing House.
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Luther on the Blessings of the Savior’s Birth
“Are you affrighted?” Luther asks, “Then come to him, lying in the lap of the fairest and sweetest maid. You will see how great is the divine goodness, which seeks above all else that you should not despair. Trust him! Trust him! Here is the Child in whom is salvation. To me there is no greater consolation given to mankind than this, that Christ became man, a child, a babe, playing in the lap and at the breasts of his most gracious mother. Who is there whom this sight would not comfort? Now is overcome the power of sin, death, hell, conscience, and guilt, if you come to judge this gurgling Babe and believe that he is come, not to judge you, but to save.”
Roland H. Bainton, Ed., Martin Luther’s Christmas Book (Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1948) Kindle Location 275 of 593.
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Martin Luther preached on Christmas Day 1524: “Whoever, therefore, desires to overcome and be safe from the devil’s poison and evil must rivet his attention on these wonderfully comforting words of the angel, ‘unto you is born a Saviour.’ When this conviction reigns in our heart the victory is already won” (Eugene F. A. Klug, ed., Sermons of Martin Luther, 1:111)
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Our Lutheran confessions so state: “We believe that the Son of man according to His human nature is really exalted to the right hand of God because He was assumed into God when He was conceived by the Holy Spirit in His mother’s womb and His human nature was personally united with the Son of the Most High.” (Lutheran Confessions, Epitome, p. 15, Art. 8)
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Christmas Sermon
by Martin Luther
After the angel’s proclamation, the whole army of the heavenly hosts sings a hymn of praise.
They divide their song into three assertions or points that form a triad, so that they cite three things: God, earth, mankind; and to each of these they attach an appropriate prayer request. To God be the glory; to the earth, peace; to all mankind, great joy.
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Luther’s Small Catechism
I believe that Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true man, born of the virgin Mary, is my Lord, who has redeemed me, a lost and condemned person, purchased and won me from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil; not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death, that I may be His own and live under Him in His kingdom and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness, just as He is risen from the dead, lives and reigns to all eternity.
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Trinity Lone Oak Lutheran
651-454-7235
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