Now we come to the heresy in the creeds-the Mother of God (Theotokos). Earlier we said that this heresy was recorded in the Chalcedonian Confession of Faith adopted in A.D. 451. In Greek, Theo means “God,” and tokos means “bearer”; hence, Theotokos is rendered “the Mother of God.” This is a great heresy, for how can the eternal God have a finite human being of flesh as His “Mother”? Perhaps some may argue that the mention of “the Mother of God” is related to Christ’s humanity. Yes, according to His humanity, He had a mother, but we cannot say that this mother is “the Mother of God.”
Theological studies throughout the ages concluded, based upon the Bible, that our Lord Jesus is indeed the complete God who came in the flesh to become a perfect man. His divinity is complete and His humanity is perfect. As God, He possesses divinity; as a man, He possesses humanity. According to His humanity, Mary is His mother; but we cannot say that Mary is His mother in His divinity. We can only say that Mary is the mother of the man Jesus; we cannot say that Mary is the Mother of God.
The Lord Jesus is God, not a partial God, but the complete God. He is neither just one part of the Triune God nor just one-third of God. He is God (Rom. 9:5), not only God the Son but the complete God-the Father, the Son, and the Spirit (cf. Isa. 9:6; John 14:9; 1 Cor. 15:45b; 2 Cor. 3:17). Furthermore, the Lord Jesus is also a perfect man. Just as man has a spirit, He also has a spirit (John 11:33); just as man has a soul, He also has a soul (Matt. 26:38); just as man has a body, He also has a body (John 2:21). Since He has humanity, it was necessary that He have a mother for the human birth. Hence, Mary is His mother in His humanity but not His mother in His divinity. Therefore, we cannot call Mary “the Mother of God.”
This heresy led to a great dispute in the Roman Catholic Church concerning the matter of whether Mary had “original sin.” This dispute lasted over fourteen hundred years. Then in the 1850s it was officially determined by the Pope that Mary did not have original sin. This is a great heresy. This point has become a strong factor of our refusal to accept the creeds. We admit that the major part of the creeds is right, yet they contain such a great heresy in the statement, recorded in plain words, concerning “the Mother of God.”
Besides the heresy about “the Mother of God,” there are no other gross errors in the creeds; in fact, many of the items in the creeds are quite accurate. Nevertheless, all the creeds, besides containing some errors, are incomplete. Hence, they cannot be our rules of faith but can serve only as references. For over fifty to sixty years I myself have directly received a great deal from the Bible by finding out the truths, item by item, contained in it. By the spring of 1983, what I found was nearly complete. Then when I spent time to refer to the creeds, I discovered that many items in the creeds are similar to what we have seen, yet I also found out that the creeds are short of many items. In the following paragraphs I will enumerate and briefly discuss fifteen items that are missing in the creeds. I hope that you will be able to understand and enter into them and even apply and speak them.
First Corinthians 15:45b says that “the last Adam became a life-giving Spirit.” The omission of this point is the greatest defect of the creeds. The Bible tells us that the Lord Jesus is the Word who was in the beginning and that the Word became flesh; in the flesh He is the last Adam. In God’s eyes the Lord Jesus is the last man and, as such, He concludes the adamic race. Through His death and resurrection He became the life-giving Spirit. This is a very great matter. Today after having read through the Bible and having some amount of experience, we have this conclusion: this life-giving Spirit is the ultimate consummation of the Triune God.
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