Jesus, Son of Mary and Son of God

Faith in Jesus, the Son of God, did not arise suddenly, but developed progressively in accordance with the cultural context in which Christianity spread. Narratives about his birth represent a specific stage within a process that can still be described from the texts of the New Testament.

Christological Developments in the New Testament: From Synoptic Filiation to Johannine High Christology and the Council of Chalcedon

The Synoptic tradition does not record that Jesus ever attributed to himself the title of “Son of God“, at most there are some allusions to his quality as “son” (cf. Mt 11:25-27; Mk 12:6; 13:32), whose true meaning is debated. Surprisingly, in prayer, Jesus addresses God as “Father” with an intensity uncommon in Judaism.The Son of Mary uses the word “abba” in relation to God (cf. Mk 14:36), the same word that Jewish children use and still use in relation to their parents. This filial relationship also appears in His submission to God’s will (cf. Mk 14:32-40), His constant need to imitate God’s way of acting (cf. Mt 5:48; Lk 6:36), His intimate and personal involvement in the coming kingdom (cf. Mk 1:14-15), and His mercy towards the last and excluded. But it is primarily in His death on the cross that His radical faithfulness to God and to the suffering humanity He shared fully is manifested.After the announcement of His resurrection, these different aspects of Jesus’ human experience were interpreted by the early Christians in the light of biblical faith, in which divine filiation is recognized to the people, the king, the righteous, and the Messiah. As a result, the title “Son of God” was soon attributed to Him, equivalent to that of Messiah, but emphasizing His relationship with God as His representative.In the earliest layers of Christian faith, the divine filiation of Jesus was proclaimed in close connection with His resurrection from the dead. The conclusion of Peter’s preaching on the day of Pentecost is significant in this regard: “Therefore, let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ” (Acts 2:36). Moreover, Paul reports in his letter to the Romans an ancient profession of faith in which he states that Jesus was “declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by his resurrection from the dead” (Romans 1:4). By rising from the dead, Jesus, the crucified one, God conferred upon Him the dignity of Lord, Messiah, and Son of God.The notion that Jesus received His divine filiation at the moment of His resurrection became increasingly inadequate for Christians who, based on their faith in Jesus’ salvific role, saw Him as the Messiah, Son of God, even prior to His crucifixion, that is, during His public ministry. The Gospel of Mark responds to this development in Christian faith, introducing in the context of Jesus’ baptism a vision in which Jesus Himself is the recipient, and the Father proclaims Him as His “beloved Son” (cf. Mark 1:9-11).This proclamation is repeated by the Father before the three beloved disciples during the Transfiguration (9:7), and there is an allusion to it in the parable of the wicked vintagers (12:6). Finally, Jesus positively responds to the high priest’s question: “Are you the Christ, the Son of God blessed?” (14:61-62). And at the moment of His death, He is recognized as the Son of God by the Roman centurion (15:39). In the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, the messianic secret is less emphasized, and Jesus readily accepts to be recognized as Messiah and Son of God during His public ministry (e.g., Matthew 16:16; Mark 8:29).A more mature faith could no longer be content with proclaiming Jesus as the Son of God at His baptism. If He is the Son of God, it means He was so from the moment of His conception. This is the intuition that Matthew and Luke develop in their Infancy Gospels, establishing a close connection between His birth from Mary and the prophecy of the “virgin” they read in the Greek Bible.They emphasized that from His first entry into this world, Jesus was proclaimed as the Son of God through an angel. He received His own existence from this divine word accompanied by God’s creative power, thus fulfilling a specific divine plan revealed in Scripture. Note that in these accounts, there is no mention of an existence of the Son of God prior to His conception in Mary’s womb: it is from that moment that He begins to exist in full possession of His prerogatives as Messiah and Savior of Israel and of all humanity.The final step in understanding the person of Jesus was given by Paul when he affirmed that God sent His Son into the world, born of a woman, born under the Law (Gal 4:4; cf. Rom 1:3; 8:3). He is through whom all things were created and through whom we approach the Father (cf. 1 Cor 8:6). This affirmation is deepened in the so-called deutero-Pauline letters, where it is stated that “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation, because in Him all things were created in heaven and on earth” (Col 1:15-16; cf. Heb 1:1-4).According to the Fourth Gospel, He is the “Word” of God, through whom all things were created, the only-begotten Son who became flesh and dwelt among us (Jn 1:1-18). Behind this development, one perceives the identification of Jesus with the uncreated Wisdom, which God used to create the world and to lead humanity to Himself (cf. Prov 8:22-31; Sir 24:1-23; Bar 3:9-4:4; Wis 7:22-30).These stages can only be understood metaphorically. They are the elaboration of what Mark affirms in the title of his Gospel: “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” Matthew and Luke, in their accounts of Jesus’ infancy, provide a longer exposition of the content of this inaugural verse. However, in doing so, they reveal the secondary character of their reflection. It is clear that only after His resurrection did the early Christian communities deepen the mystery of the person of Jesus and, in the colorful narratives of the pieties of the time, condensed the conclusions they had reached into the accounts of His birth.Therefore, the accounts of Jesus’ childhood clearly have a Christological purpose. They express the faith of the primitive community, which saw in Jesus the escatological envoy of God, the center of all salvation, the Son capable of gathering a new humanity and involving it in His own filial relationship with God. In these apparently simple and popular narratives, the evangelists distilled the experience of the earliest Christians, who saw the divinity of the Father reflected in the humanity of Jesus. The accounts of Jesus’ childhood do not contain abstract dogmas or doctrinal affirmations, but convey the mature fruit of a journey of faith, expressed in the language, symbols, and formulas that the people of Israel had developed in their secular experience of God.The Double Filiation as the Dogmatic Foundation of Marian Devotion: Theotokos, the Nestorian Controversy, and the Council of Ephesus (431)In the context of faith in Jesus, Mary’s exaltation as the Virgin Mother of God’s Son emerges. In the three synoptic gospels, besides the accounts of Jesus’ childhood presented by Matthew and Luke, there is no explicit reflection on Mary’s figure and her role in God’s plan.In Mark’s Gospel, Mary is mentioned only twice. The first time, the evangelist reports the incident where, when some people inform Jesus that his mother and brothers wish to see him, but are blocked by the crowd, he replies: “Who is my mother and who are my brothers?” And looking at those around him, he adds: “Behold, my mother and my brothers. Whoever does the will of God is my brother, sister, and mother” (Mt 3:32-35). This phrase marks a rupture with his mother, confirmed by Jesus when he proposes to his disciples, as a condition for receiving a hundredfold in this life and in the next, even to abandon their mother (Mt 10:30; cf. Lk 14:26). The second time Mark mentions Mary is when the people of Nazareth call her by name and are surprised by Jesus’ wisdom, saying: “Isn’t this the carpenter, Mary’s son?” (Mk 6:3).Matthew, while mentioning Mary in his account of Jesus’ birth, does not give her a specific spotlight: Joseph is always in the foreground in his parental role, while Mary is a silent participant in her husband’s decisions. Throughout his gospel, he merely follows Mark, recounting, with few alterations, Jesus’ response to those who announced the arrival of His mother and brothers (MT 12,48) and the words of Jesus’ countrymen (MT 13,55).On the other hand, Luke narrates the entire story of Jesus’ birth and childhood from Mary’s perspective. In his account, he presents her as the first to whom God’s plan, culminating in the coming of the Son, was revealed. In his greeting, the angel addresses her as one chosen by God and filled with His grace, to whom God makes a proposal and asks for her consent, thereby making her a participant in His fulfillment. Her virginity is viewed, in light of contemporary conceptions, as an expression of special purity. From there, based on Augustine’s doctrine of original sin, the idea arose that she, in anticipation of the Son’s merits, was conceived without the stain that He left in all human beings.Mary’s adherence to the angel’s request highlights her deep faith, while her visit to Elizabeth reveals her generosity and availability. Her spirituality is expressed in the Magnificat, which represents a synthesis of the gospel to be proclaimed by Jesus. Just as He did, Mary positions herself alongside the least fortunate, announcing their complete rehabilitation in God’s kingdom.Finally, in Luke’s description, Mary appears as someone who does not merely observe what happens to her but meditates and seeks to understand the signs God has sown in her life. She is fully involved in Jesus’ story, to the point that a sword pierces her heart. In the temple in Jerusalem, Jesus entrusts her, first and foremost, with the mystery of His relationship with the Father.Throughout Luke’s gospel, he adds nothing particularly significant to his sources. He omits Mary’s name in his account of Jesus’ visit to Nazareth (LC 4,22). When relating the episode where Mary goes to Jesus with her brothers, Luke eliminates the first part of His response (“Who is my mother and who are my brothers?” Cf. LC 8,19-21), which means Jesus does not contest His relationship with Mary but places it in a different perspective, that of His relationship with God.Moreover, Luke reports a saying absent in the other two synoptic gospels: in response to a woman declaring blessed those who nurse children, Jesus declares that blessed instead are those who hear God’s word and keep it (LC 11,27-28). According to Luke, Mary was the first to hear God’s word and keep it.Lastly, none of the three synoptic gospels mentions Mary’s presence among the women who witnessed Jesus’ crucifixion. This information is present in John’s gospel, where it states that Mary was by the cross (JO 19,25-27) and also present at the wedding in Cana, when Jesus performed His first miracle (JO 2,7-11). For the Fourth Evangelist, Mary participates from the beginning to the end of Jesus’ ministry and is entrusted to Him as a mother by the beloved disciple, that is, by the entire Christian community.Deepen your studies: explore Mariology, Marian theology, Marian apparitions, and the Postgraduate program in Mariology.Jesus is, at the same time, the Son of God according to the divine nature and the Son of Mary according to the human nature. The Council of Ephesus (431) declared Mary Theotokos, Mother of God, precisely because the unity of the person of Christ implies that she who generated Him is the Mother of the Second Person of the Holy Trinity. The Council of Chalcedon (451) confirmed this doctrine by defining the two natures as one Person, making inseparable the divine filiation and the Marian filiation of Jesus.