Is the word "Lord" in the koine Greek (or even English) the same as the word "God" in the koine Greek (or even English)?
Let us now consider a few statements by the Roman Catholic theological position and teaching on this subject of the “
theotokos”, for it is said that:
"… Elizabeth is the first to call Mary by her most honourable title "Mother of God …" [Roman Catholic Online Encyclopedia; “V”; "The Blessed Virgin Mary"; subsection “The Visitation”] -
CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: The Blessed Virgin Mary
It is taught by
outward (catechumen) Catholicism that she is
not the 'mother of divinity' (well and good), yet there is more said
inwardly by the dogma, with hints all over the place at something more, and even openly stated with more:
"… As Mary was truly the mother of Jesus, and as Jesus was truly God from the first moment of His conception, Mary is truly the mother of God. … Theotokos …" [Roman Catholic Online Encyclopedia; “V”; "The Blessed Virgin Mary"; subsection “Mary's
divine motherhood”] -
CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: The Blessed Virgin Mary
Let us look at the first quote again and ask yet another question. “
Did Elizabeth [the cousin of Mary] ever call Mary by the “title” “Mother of God” in any part of the Scriptures?” Search as we will yet again, and the answer yet comes back to us as a plain, “
No.”
Where then does the Roman Catholic theological position obtain the slightest ground from Scripture to say that Elizabeth says such?
Luke 1:43 is quoted, so we had better be careful to look at it:
Luke 1:43
KJB - And whence [is] this to me, that
the mother of my Lord should come to me?
Luke 1:43
GNT TR - και ποθεν μοι τουτο ινα ελθη
η μητηρ του κυριου μου προς με
Luke 1:43
Stephen's 1550 TR kai poqen moi touto ina elqh
h mhthr tou kuriou mou proV me
Luke 1:43
Byzantine Majority TR - kai poqen moi touto ina elqh
h mhthr tou kuriou mou proV me
Luke 1:43
Alexandrian Greek - kai poqen moi touto ina elqh
h mhthr tou kuriou mou proV eme Luke 1:43
Luke 1:43
Douay Rheims - And whence is this to me, that
the mother of my Lord should come to me?
Luke 1:43 Clementine Vulgate - Et unde hoc mihi ut veniat
mater Domini mei ad me?
Does the text read from the English or Tr. Greek that Mary was designated with the “title” “Mother of God” by Elizabeth? [Remember, we are looking for the words “mhthr tou theou mou” [Theos/God].]
The text obviously
does not read the way it is claimed [intimated] that it does, for it plainly reads, “
...mhthr tou kuriou mou...” [“
...mother of my Lord...”]. This passage is supposed to be
the strongest support pillar upholding the “
theotokos” theological position, yet the pillar is
non-existent, as is the word “
theou”.
Since “The words of the LORD [are] pure words: [as] silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.” [Psalms 12:6] and “All Scripture [is] given by inspiration of God, and [is] profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:” [2 Timothy 3:16] and “...the scripture cannot be broken...” [John 10:35;p] and we are admonished to “Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar.” [Proverbs 30:6], it then behooves us to take special and careful attention to then heed what the words plainly say without having to add anything to them.
As we have seen by the Scriptures, Mary is called the “
mother of Jesus” [John 2:1,3; Acts 1:14] but
never once designated with the “
title” “mother of God”.
Titles carry weight. For instance, Jesus is called “
the Son of Man” and “
the Son of God”, among many others, and in scripture these “
titles” relate something extremely important. Jesus has two natures, first, that of “
God” being unborrowed, underived and having eternal life with Himself, as the Scripture says of His Divinity, “
... without mother ...” [Hebrews 7:3;p]; “
...from everlasting...” [Micah 5:2;p etc] even “
...to everlasting...” [Psalms 90:2;p etc] and also eternally existing with the “
Father” [ref: John 1:1, 17:5] and “
Holy Spirit” before all things. Secondly, at the moment of His incarnation and from then on, eternally, that of “
man”.
To give the title “
mother of God” to Mary is
unbiblical, and she herself would have
never have wanted it, being the humble handmaiden and servant of God. Many women, who believed in scripture, were blessed (Genesis 1:22, etc).
The "Lord" (mother of my (Elizabeth) Lord) refers to the Throne of David, not the Throne of Deity, since again, mother deals with that which comes into existence (humanity) and not that which is eternal (deity).