The Woman of the Promise: The Co-redemptrix Foreshadowed in the Old Testament

Introduction

In the one plan of God (oikonomia) for the creation and subsequent redemption of mankind, Jesus Christ is the center and summit of salvation history. ¹ From the beginning pages of Sacred Scripture this truth is made known in what is called the "first, good news" (protoevangelium - Gen 3:15). Central in this first, good news (the good news of salvation) are the figures of the "Woman" and "The Son." "I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed; she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel" (Gen 3:15). ² It is the purpose of this essay to demonstrate that the Woman and the Son are working together for the salvation of all, and that this is shown through promises and foreshadowings in the Old Testament, and is fulfilled in the New Testament by Jesus Christ, the Redeemer and "one mediator between God and men" (1 Tim 2:5), and through His Mother, the Co-redemptrix, Mediatrix, and Advocate, of all mankind.

In tracing the thread of passages that look forward to and resemble (as in the tradition, the word foreshadow will be used here) the work of the Savior and the Salvatrix (Eastern Rite Liturgy), it will be sought to give a holistic view of the scriptural basis for the doctrine of Mary, Co-redemptrix. This hopefully will shed some light on the profound and mysterious words of St. Irenaeus in the second century: "Mary is the cause of salvation for herself and the whole human race." ³ Our hope also is to show that the doctrine of coredemptrix in no way impedes upon the supreme primacy of Christ, but that as Co-redemptrix, Mary is always working in a subordinate role to that of her Son. This thread of forshadowings and fulfillments of the promises of God to humanity for its redemption complements "the Franciscan thesis," as laid out by the great thirteenth century theologian Blessed John Duns Scotus. Scotus stressed the primacy of Christ in his doctrine and yet his Mariology was fundamental for the proclamation of the dogma of Mary's Immaculate Conception. In the wonderful little book on Scotus' doctrine, Fr. Maximilian Mary Dean states: "Indeed, Blessed John's doctrine of Christ's primacy is the basis for understanding all Mariology and also, without exaggeration, the ultimate explanation for all of creation, everything that exists outside of God the most Holy Trinity." ⁴ In Redemptoris Mater, John Paul II stated similarly: "In the mystery of Christ she is present even "before the creation of the world," as the one whom the Father has chosen as Mother of his Son in the Incarnation" (Redemptoris Mater #8). You can see from these statements the importance of the Old Testament foreshadowings of Mary in how they shed light on what she has fulfilled through Christ in the New Testament, and how they all serve to give a sound basis for the Church's doctrines on Mary.

In putting forth this summary of scripture passages, we are setting forth a full Mariological interpretation of the Scriptures which has been somewhat lacking in recent decades. Fr. Stefano Manelli explains how Mary is presented in the Old Testament:

Now, in an exegetical examination of the Mariological biblical texts of the Old Testament considered as a whole, we discover among the many to be studied a number of prophecies, a group of figures, a notable number of symbols and some other significant texts. In virtue of these one may, without hesitation, affirm that the Blessed Virgin Mary has been clearly prophesied, luminously prefigured, and richly symbolized in the books of the Old Testament. The presence of the mystery and of the person of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the pages of the Old Testament biblical revelation is, therefore, well founded, significant and suggestive. And it is just in this way that it has been cultivated in enlightened fashion, from antiquity, by the Fathers, by Tradition, by the Magisterium, by the liturgy and by sacred art, from century to century, during the course of two Christian millennia. ⁵

It is our goal in this paper to draw from this two thousand year history of interpretation of the Scriptures from the Fathers, the Tradition, the Magisterium and the liturgy, in order to shed light on a Scriptural basis for the doctrine of Mary as Co-redemptrix. Dr. Mark Miravalle has this to say concerning the "woman" in Scripture, in his book on the Co-redemptrix, "With Jesus:" "The Mother of Jesus is rightly understood not as a woman in Scripture, but as The Woman of Scripture. She is, as we shall see, the "woman" of Genesis (Gen 3:15), the "woman" of Cana (Jn 2:4), the "woman" of Calvary (Jn 19:25), the "woman" of Revelation (Rev 12:1), and the "woman" of Galatians." ⁶ We will try to show that "the woman of the promise" from the dawn of history was established in the divine plan of God for the salvation of the world. Her role was a subordinate one to that of her Divine Son, but it was unique among creatures, and it was foretold in the Old Testament before it was fulfilled in the New. It only makes sense that God (who is the primary author of Scripture - Dei Verbum # 11) would have something to say about the Daughter of the Father, the Mother of the Son and the Spouse of the Holy Spirit, in the pages of the Old Testament.

Gen 3:15 - The Protoevangelium (Mary as the new Eve)

Fr. Stefano Manelli sums up well the significance of the Protoevangelium for the doctrine of Co-redemptrix:

After the fall of our first parents into original sin, when realistically it seamed as though everything had been irremediably lost by Adam and Eve for themselves and for their descendants, behold, the intervention of a merciful God who promises them salvation through a New Eve and a New Adam. They will save mankind from the fall, ransoming it at the price of the redemptive sacrifice. In the person of Mary, in fact, the second Eve will, in no manner, be imprudent and foolish as was the first Eve. The second Eve will be prompt to consecrate herself faithfully to the plan of salvation according to the will of God ... As the Second Vatican Council affirms, the New Eve, namely Mary of Nazareth, rooted in the will of God by her personal Fiat, "consecrated herself totally as Handmaid of the Lord to the person and work of her Son, under him and with him cooperating in the mystery of redemption" (Lumen Gentium, 56).

It was precisely she [ipsa] who "with the grace of almighty God" (Lumen Gentium, 56) and with her "immaculate foot" (Pius IX, Ineffabilis Deus) crushed the head of the infernal serpent. The New Adam, then, Jesus the Christ, in contrast to the first Adam under the influence of the first Eve, who had been tricked and seduced by the serpent tempter, perfectly complied with his mission of universal Redeemer, and accomplished his task with the personal, active cooperation of the New Eve, always united to him as generous, most faithful Co-redemptrix, as Vatican II says, "to the very Cross, where in accord with the divine plan she stood ... associating herself in her maternal heart with his sacrifice, lovingly consenting to the immolation of him whom she had begotten (Lumen Gentium 58). ⁷

Some of the important points in this passage are: 1) The new Adam and new Eve are sent from the Father as a remedy for the Fall; "They will save mankind from the fall, ransoming it at the price of the redemptive sacrifice." 2) As the Second Vatican Council stated, Mary at the Annunciation, with her Fiat "consecrated herself ... to the person and work of her son, under him and with him cooperating in the mystery of redemption." 3) In Pius the IX's bull on the Immaculate Conception, Ineffabilis Deus, he states that Mary is "crushing the head of the serpent." 4) As it states in Lumen Gentium 58, Mary "associating herself in her maternal heart with his sacrifice, consented to the immolation of him whom she had begotten." This is where the ultimate act of Coredemption takes place, where the sword will pierce her heart, as the Mother of Sorrows co-offers Jesus to the Father on Calvary.

So, Gen 3:15 is uniquely connected to the Scripture accounts of Calvary and also to other Scripture passages we will treat later on. Suffice it to say, that Genesis 3:15 and Revelation 12 serve as bookends to the whole of Sacred Scripture and the story of Salvation History. Both identify the "Woman." Gen 3:15, prophesies the coming of the woman who will crush the head of the serpent and Rev 12 records her triumph over that "ancient dragon" and the victory her Son has wrought. So, the "woman of the promise" is foretold from the very first pages of Scripture and as we shall see, there are many more foreshadowings of her before the first mention of Mary in the New Testament.

Dr. Mark Miravalle states that, "the doctrine of Marian Coredemption is contained within the patristic concept of the new Eve. As Eve uniquely cooperated with Adam in the fall of the human race, so Mary, the new Eve, uniquely cooperated with Jesus Christ, the new Adam, in the restoration of graces for the human race." ⁸ With this in mind the following quotes from the Fathers of the Church on the "new Eve" should serve to assist us in seeing that the doctrine of coredemptrix was being developed from the earliest centuries of the Church. Even though the Fathers do not specifically use the title "coredemptrix," one can see, in nascent form, the doctrine of her unique cooperation with Christ in the salvation of the human race in their words, as they describe Mary, the new Eve. As Dei Verbum #8 states: "For there is a growth in the understanding of the realities and the words which have been handed down."

St. Justin Martyr - d. 165

[The Son of God] became man through a virgin, so that the disobedience caused by the serpent might be destroyed in the same way it had begun. For Eve, who was virgin and undefiled, gave birth to disobedience and death after listening to the serpent's words. But the Virgin Mary conceived faith and joy; for when the angel Gabriel brought her the glad tidings that the Holy Spirit would come upon her and that the power of the Most High would overshadow her, so that the Holy One born of her would be the Son of God, she answered, "Let it be done to me according to your word" (Lk 1:38) - Dialogue with Trypho 100; PG 6, 709-12. ⁹

St. Irenaeus of Lyons - d. ca. 202

Even though Eve had Adam for a husband, she was still a virgin ... By disobeying, she became the cause of death for herself and for the whole human race. In the same way, Mary, though she also had a husband, was still a virgin, and by obeying, she became the cause of salvation for herself and the whole human race ... The knot of Eve's disobedience was untied by Mary's obedience. What Eve bound through her unbelief, Mary loosed by her faith - Adversus haereses, 3, 22; PG 7, 959-60.

St. Ephrem the Syrian - d. ca. 373

Eve brought to the world the murdering Cain; Mary brought forth the Lifegiver. One brought into the world him who spilled the blood of his brother (cf. Gen 4:1-16); the other, him whose blood was poured out for the sake of his brothers. One brought into the world him who fled, trembling because of the curse of the earth; the other brought forth him who, having taken the curse upon himself, nailed it to the Cross (cf. Col 2:14) - Diatessaron 2, 2; SC 121, 66.

St. Cyril of Jerusalem - d. 387

Death came through a virgin, Eve. It was necessary that life also should come through a virgin, so that, as the serpent deceived the former, so Gabriel might bring glad tidings to the latter - Catecheses 12, 15; PG 33, 741 B.

St. Jerome - d. 419

The devil remembered the old trick by which he had once ensnared Adam through the woman ... But he did not consider that, if a man was ruined by a woman once, now the whole world has been saved through a woman. You are thinking of Eve, but consider Mary: the former drove us out of paradise; the latter leads us back to heaven - Tractatus de Psalmo 96; CCL 78, 444-45 (Jerome also, in imitation of his contemporary St. Cyril of Jerusalem, is famous for the pithy statement: "Death through Eve, Life through Mary").

St. Augustine of Hippo - d. 430

Then [at the foot of the Cross] he recognized her; yet, he had always known her. Even before he was born of her, he knew his Mother in her predestination. Before he, as God, created her from whom he would be created as man, he knew his Mother - In Joannem, tr. 8, 9; PL 35, 1455. ¹⁰

One can see from these brief passages that there is a consensus of the Fathers in these statements which show: 1) that Mary is the "woman" of Genesis 3:15 - 2) that Mary, with Jesus Christ, reverses what was done by the first Adam and Eve and 3) that this work is the redemption of mankind through the immolation of Jesus Christ on the Cross. The Fathers' statements also show clearly the subordination of Mary in her role as Co-redemptrix, to Jesus the Divine Redeemer. Two highlights of these sayings are: 1) St. Irenaeus - "[Mary] became the cause of salvation for herself and the whole human race and 2) St. Jerome - "Death through Eve, Life through Mary."