Reforming Joy by Unknown

Author:Unknown
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: REL012000/REL006720/REL012120
Publisher: Crossway
Published: 2018-09-29T00:00:00+00:00

4

How to Enjoy God’s Love

The Reforming Joy of Adoption (Galatians 4)

On the wall of my study hangs a picture of a Madonna and child. As is so often the case with such compositions, Mary looks somewhat mournful, while the baby Jesus looks like a miniature version of a full-grown man. I have it on my wall to remind me that “the past is a foreign country.”1 When I’m studying history or reading an old document, I need to remember that I’m entering a culture that is very different from my own.

I feel that distance keenly when I look at my picture of the Madonna and child because, as an evangelical, I just don’t get the adoration of Mary. There are plenty of ideas that I disagree with yet can see why people find them attractive. But why the obsession with Mary?

I’ve nothing against her, of course. I think she’s an admirable example of submission to God’s will. For a young girl to be told she was pregnant through the Holy Spirit must have been alarming at all sorts of levels. I’m sure she is presented in the Scriptures as an example of faith that we’re meant to follow. But then there are many other examples of faith in the Bible story that we’re to emulate (as Hebrews 11 makes clear).

Over the years various extra “doctrines” have been attached to Mary:

Her “immaculate conception” supposedly means she didn’t inherit original sin.

Her “perpetual virginity” supposedly means she was always a virgin.

Her “assumption” supposedly means her body was taken straight to heaven, either before or as she died.

She is supposedly a “mediatrix” or “mediator” who can intercede for us before God.

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