Who is Mary, and what do the Gospels reveal about her? The debates over her title Mother of God, her perpetual virginity, and the "brethren of the Lord."
23 verses are cited on this page. Each one links to its chapter in the Greek text.
And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?Luke 1:43
Elizabeth calls Mary "the mother of my Lord." The child is the Lord, so his mother is the mother of the Lord, the Mother of God.
Behold a virgin shall be with child, and bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.Matthew 1:23
The one Mary bears is God with us; motherhood is of a person, and her person is God the Son.
How shall this be done, because I know not man?... The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee.Luke 1:34-35
Mary conceives by the Holy Spirit, without man, the virgin birth stated plainly.
...she was found with child, of the Holy Ghost.Matthew 1:18
Before Joseph and Mary came together, the child was already conceived of the Holy Spirit.
Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son.Isaiah 7:14
The prophecy Matthew cites, a virgin conceiving, fulfilled in Mary. (Old Testament citation.)
And he knew her not till she brought forth her son.Matthew 1:25
The heos hou construction marks what had not happened up to a point without implying what followed, as when Michal had no child until the day of her death. Note also that this edition does not read firstborn here. That word entered the verse later from Luke 2:7, so the argument built on it does not arise in this text at all. (See the heos word study.)
And she brought forth her firstborn son.Luke 2:7
Prototokos is a legal term about the first womb opened and the rights that follow, not a count of what came after. It is the word used of an only child in inscriptions of the period, including of women who died bearing the first.
Is not his mother called Mary, and his brethren James, and Joseph, and Simon, and Jude? And his sisters, are they not all with us?Matthew 13:55-56
The "brethren" and "sisters", which the Catholic reading takes as kinsmen. (See the adelphos and adelphe word studies.)
Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joseph, and Jude, and Simon? are not also his sisters here with us?Mark 6:3
The fullest list, four names and unnamed sisters. It is also the strongest form of the objection, and any answer that does not reckon with these names is not answering it.
But other of the apostles I saw none, saving James the brother of the Lord.Galatians 1:19
Paul names one. The same James leads the Jerusalem church, and the New Testament calls him an apostle, which sits awkwardly with a younger brother who did not believe during the ministry.
For neither did his brethren believe in him.John 7:5
Argued to prove they were siblings rather than disciples. It equally shows they were not the sons Mary was raising, since men who did not believe are an odd household for the mother of the Lord to be keeping.
...Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joseph.Matthew 27:56
Two of the named "brethren", James and Joseph, have a mother who is not the Virgin, the other Mary, showing them to be kinsmen.
...Behold thy mother. And from that hour the disciple took her to his own.John 19:26-27
Christ entrusts his mother to John, which a son with living brothers would not do.
Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.Luke 1:28
The angel's greeting names Mary by a title of grace (kecharitomene), a fullness given her. (See the charitoo word study.)
Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb.Luke 1:42
Elizabeth, filled with the Spirit, confirms Mary's unique blessedness.
...Yea rather, blessed are they who hear the word of God, and keep it.Luke 11:27-28
Not a dismissal of Mary but an exaltation: she is blessed above all precisely because she heard and kept God's word. (See the menounge word study.)
And answering them, he said: Who is my mother and my brethren? For whosoever shall do the will of God, he is my brother, and my sister, and mother.Mark 3:33-35
The chief text against Marian exaltation, and the answer is in the verse itself: doing the will of God is what makes the relation, and no one in Scripture is said to have done it more completely than the woman who said let it be done to me.
Elizabeth calls Mary the mother of her Lord (Luke 1:43), and her Lord is God with us (Matthew 1:23), so Mary is truly the Mother of God, as the Council of Ephesus (431) defined against those who would divide Christ. She conceived as a virgin by the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:34-35), and the "till" of Matthew 1:25 and the "brethren" of Matthew 13:55 do not overturn her perpetual virginity, confirmed by the Lateran Council of 649. Greeted as full of grace (Luke 1:28), she is the New Eve whose "yes" undoes the first Eve's "no." The Marian doctrines are Christological before they are anything else: they guard who her Son is.