Protestant Reformers Defend Perpetual Virginity

In 1 Corinthians 7:25-40 Paul bases his doctrine of marriage and virginity not on an appeal to prevailing cultural norms, but on his own apostolic authority (v. 25). His recommendations on virginity are in some ways "alien to biblical culture"—and to secular culture as well! He realizes this (v. 40a), yet insists on his decision in this matter, and he further insists: "I, too, have the Spirit of God" (v. 40b). To balk at Mary's vow is to nurse a non-problem. A vow is simply a promise to God to follow a course more excellent than its contrary. Mary did this. The conditions of a vow of virginity are perfectly met in her, as early and unbroken Church teaching affirms. Augustine made a very incisive remark on this subject: "Surely, she would not say, 'How shall this be?' unless she had already vowed herself to God as a virgin. . . . If she intended to have intercourse, she wouldn't have asked this question!" (17)

Several times CRI claims to present "the Protestant position" or "the Protestant view" or "a Protestant response." Yet Mary's lifelong virginity is well attested in Protestant sources too—something CRI does not mention. Martin Luther said, "Christ our Savior was the real and natural fruit of Mary's virginal womb. . . . This was without the cooperation of a man, and she remained a virgin after that." (18) John Calvin also defended Mary's perpetual virginity: "Helvidius (a fourth-century heretic) has shown himself too ignorant, in saying that Mary had several sons, because mention is made in some passages of the brothers of Christ." (19) Bernard Leeming reports that Calvin translates adelphoi as "cousins" or "relatives." (20) The Swiss reformer Ulrich Zwingli wrote, "I firmly believe according to the words of the Gospel that a pure virgin brought forth for us the Son of God and remained a virgin pure and intact in childbirth and also after the birth, for all eternity. I firmly trust that she has been exalted by God to eternal joy above all creatures, both the blessed and the angels." (21) John de Satgé says "There is certainly nothing in the Scriptures to invalidate the conclusion of the Church, in the days before the split between East and West, that Mary was a virgin all her life…. The full glory (of perpetual virginity) may be seen in the person of our Lord and his universal love, which all could claim and receive, but none could monopolize. In this sphere of love's freedom (emphasis mine) Mary enjoys to the full an identification with him. It has set her free for universal ministry." (22)

This article was excerpted from Refuting the Attack on Mary: A Defense of Marian Doctrines, second edition, Catholic Answers, 1999.

Notes

(1) Elliott Miller, "The Mary of Roman Catholicism," Christian Research Journal, Part 1, Summer 1990, 11. The second part of Miller's article appeared in the Fall 1990 issue. In these notes the two parts are referred to as Part 1, and Part 2.

(2) Part 1, 12.

(3) Our Jesuit Life, St. Louis, Institute of Jesuit Sources, 1990, II, IV, A, 33.

(4) Quoted in Max Thurian, Mary, Mother of All Christians, New York, Herder and Herder, 1964, 24.

(5) Matthew 10:38, 19:21, Romans 8:16-17, Philippians 1:28-29, Colossians 1:24, Hebrews 12:11, 1 Peter 2:19-21.

(6) Part 1, 15.

(7) Ibid., 12.

(8) Ibid., 15.

(9) Karl Keating, Catholicism and Fundamentalism: The Attack on ''Romanism" by "Bible Christians," San Francisco, Ignatius, 1988, 282-289.

(10) The Septuagint is a Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, produced in the third century B.C. in Egypt.

(11) Part 1,12.

(12) Ibid.

(13) Ibid.

(14) David Hill, Greek Words and Hebrew Meanings, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1967, 16-18.

(15) Part 1, 13.

(16) Ibid.

(17) Augustine, Holy Virginity, 4, 4.

(18) Jaroslav Pelikan, ed., Luther's Works, St. Louis, Concordia, vol. 22, 23 (emphasis added).

(19) Quoted in Bernard, "Protestants and Our Lady," Marian Library Studies, nos. 128/129, Jan./Feb., 1967, 9.

(20) Ibid.

(21) Augustin Bea, "Mary and the Protestants," Marian Studies 83, April 1961, 1 (emphasis added).

(22) John de Satgé, Down to Earth: The New Protestant Vision of the Virgin Mary, Consortium, 1976, 112-113.