A Model of Submission

Mary's first words to the angel is Behold The maid servant. The handmaid. of the Lord. Whatever the Lord says, whatever the Lord wants, whatever the Lord requires.

So be it. When we read that account in the Gospel of Luke. We're forced to ask ourselves, would we respond as quickly and faithfully as Mary did? Hi, this is the Wednesday edition of Renewing Your Mind. I'm Nathan W.

Bingham. This week, ahead of the Advent season, you're hearing several messages from RC Sprawl's series on Mary. Roman Catholics and Protestants disagree strongly with regard to the Mother of Jesus, and the controversy has really clouded her place in the Christmas story. But as Dr. Sprahl will point out today, we should see Mary as a model of submission.

Before we get to that message, let me remind you that if you'd like to do a more detailed study on the life of Mary and what we can learn, request the entire series when you donate at renewingyourmind.org. But be quick as this offer ends tomorrow. Thank you so much for your generous support.

Well, here's Dr. Sproll on Mary and her submission. As we continue now with our study of the role of Mary in the Scripture and in the life of the Church as a model and paragon of virtue and godliness for us, I want to continue briefly with a little bit of the discussion we had yesterday when we looked at the controversies that have developed historically between Protestants and Roman Catholics over the role of Mary. And I mentioned that at Vatican two, Pope Paul the Twenty Third insisted that the debates over the role of Mary. be settled in the context of the Church's understanding not of theology proper, but of ecclesiology, that is, the doctrine of the Church.

Because one of the issues that was an intermural issue within Rome was the question of the so-called debate of Mary's being co-redemptrix. With Jesus. But churches always confess that Jesus is the Redeemer, that He is the one who has made the atonement in our behalf and has functioned as the Redeemer for us. And the question that was debated and disputed, and still remains an issue within the Roman Catholic community, is to what degree. Is Mary to be understood as co-redemptrix with her son Jesus?

Now notice I used the word a moment ago. Degree? To what degree? Is it proper to think of Mary as a participant in any way to human redemption? And at Vatican II, two parties or wings of the Roman Catholic Church disputed this point among themselves.

And those two wings were called the maximalist Party or the maximalist wing of the church as distinguished from the minimalist. Wing. Of the church.

Now, the terms maximum and minimal have to do with degrees of things. And the issue here between the maximalists and the minimalists was an issue over the question: to what degree is it appropriate to venerate Mary, and to what degree are we to ascribe to Mary any participatory role in human redemption?

Now, those two parties tend to follow certain long-standing factions within the Roman Catholic Church. Uh The Roman Catholic Church, though it is unified in its official doctrinal teaching according to the decrees of ecumenical councils and of the encyclical statements and pronouncements of the Church through the Pope and the Curie and so on. Nevertheless. There are always theological discussions that are on the table and theological parties, you know, used to be between the Dominicans and the Jesuits and the Franciscans and so on. And in this century.

There has arisen within the Roman Catholic Church a progressive wing, a kind of more liberal wing of the Church. that embraces what they call the tailo-key nu val. or the new theology, so progressive theology. And the influence of this new theology or more progressive theology that has agitated for significant change within the Roman Catholic Church, both in practice. and in doctrine.

Has had lots of notoriety associated it, for example, with the controversial teachings of one of the most prominent theologians of the 20th century of the Roman Catholic Church, Hans Kung, as well as the thought of Karl Rahner, Edmund Skillebanks, and some others. In the 1960s, the Dutch Roman Catholic Church composed the so-called Dutch Catechism that raised questions about traditional teachings, particularly with regard to the Mass and to the Eucharist. that prompted a papal encyclical response in nineteen sixty five by Pope Paul VI entitled Mysterium Fidei. But it's an ongoing struggle. And discussion.

And the lines tend to go along. Territorial and regional, and even national categories. For example, this is not absolute, but there is the tendency. To see the progressive wing of the church aligned with Western nations such as Germany. Switzerland.

Holland. And the United States. And I think it's important for people in the United States to understand that the American expression of Roman Catholic thought. Has been strongly influenced by this progressive line of thinking. The more conservative or traditional view.

And with respect to Mary, that view that favors the maximalist approach to Mary, as the Western wing that I just mentioned, tends to fall in line with the minimalist approach to Mary. The maximalist view is more likely to be found in the Latin wing of the Church, which is dominant in Italy, Spain, Portugal, at least half of France, and particularly well in Eastern Europe, as well as most strongly perhaps in Latin America. And those of us who are Protestants are not in daily touch with these intramural debates that go on within the Roman Catholic Communion. But we are interested in them, and particularly as they relate to the question of the role of Mary.

Now, when we look at this, we see that one of the questions that was discussed at Vatican II. Was the question of how Mary functions in parallel. with Eve, the mother of the human race. For this reason, the New Testament more than once makes a parallel connection between Adam. And Christ.

Now, it's a parallel that involves comparisons and, most importantly, contrasts. Paul tells us, for example, as through one man's disobedience, death comes into the world. And yet by another man's obedience, life is given to us. And in a very real sense, both Adam and Christ functioned. Not only for themselves as individuals, but as representatives.

And Adam is the negative example. Through his fall, the world is plunged into ruin. And both Adam and Christ are put on probation. They are tested as being submissive to the law of God. Adam fails the test.

Jesus passes the test as he achieves a life of perfect obedience and gains the merit that is necessary to redeem us from the curse of Adam. And for that reason, Jesus is referred to as the second Adam or as the New Adam in the New Testament category.

So throughout church history, there has been an awareness of what we would call the Adam. Christ parallel.

Now in the myriological discussions. That have been going on and continue to go on inside the Roman Catholic community, there is a discussion over what is called the eve. Mary. Parallel. Eve Mary parallel.

And certainly, there are obvious contrasts between Eve and Mary. Eve was disobedient. And the children that she bore to the human race. were fallen. Mary was obedient.

And the child that she bore was sinless.

So we can see, at least at a superficial level, readily. Why it would be enticing to not only speak of the Adam-Christ parallel, but also the Eve-Mary. parallel.

Now, again, the question of degree is very important here. Yes To what degree do we look at this parallel? To what degree does Mary Like her son. Reverse the devastation that was caused to the world by the sin of our original mother.

Now, in light of this controversy, one of the passages. is quite relevant. Is the passage that Includes within it what the Roman Catholic Church refers to. As Mary's Possessive. Fiat.

Sh Mary's Fiat.

Now, that doesn't refer to a little Italian car, but rather the term fiat. Yeah. Comes from the imperative form of the Latin verb to do or to make. And of course, the imperative form of the verb to be, or the imperative form of any verb, is the mood of the verb that expresses. What?

A command. If I say the door is shut. I am speaking in the indicative mood. I am saying something about the present state of the door, that it is shut rather than open. If I say, shut the door.

Now, I have moved from the indicative mood to the imperative mood, and I'm issuing a command. Do something, shut the door. I think we all understand then the difference between the imperative. And the indicative.

Now, the debate focuses, as I said. on a text in the New Testament that is drawn from the beginning revelation that we have of the Annunciation and of the birth of Jesus. In the very first chapter of Luke's Gospel, we have the record of what is called the Annunciation. And the annunciation refers to an announcement. And that announcement is the announcement that is brought by the herald sent by God to this peasant girl.

in Palestine, whose name was Mary. who receives a visit from this herald who is an archangel, whose name is Gabriel. And the purpose of this visitation is that Gabriel is coming to Mary to announce to her. What is about to take place, namely, that she is going to conceive and bear a child. And that the child's name will be Jesus.

Let's look at this briefly in chapter 1. Where we read in verse 26, now in the sixth month. The angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth. to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The Virgin's name was Mary.

And having come in, the angel said to her, Rejoice, highly favored one. The Lord is with you. Blessed are you among the women Roman Catholics believe that this was the first singing. Of the rosary, because we can recognize the words that are incorporated in the rosary in these words of address that come from Gabriel to Mary. Verse 29 says this, but when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was.

And the angel said to her, Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb, and bring forth a son, and shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Highest. And the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David. And he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.

Now, ladies and gentlemen, we've heard these words if we've gone to Christmas celebrations again and again and again. They're a kind of old hat to us. And we're looking backwards into the past to those events surrounding the birth of Jesus. But can you imagine for a moment, put your little existential hat on and try to imagine what this peasant girl in Galilee had to be thinking when, first of all, suddenly an angel appears. That doesn't happen every day.

And this angel starts to speak to her, and he gives her the most astonishing announcement that any human being, perhaps up to this point, had ever received from a messenger of God. that she is going to bear the Christ child. That is, that she is going to be the mother of the long-awaited promised Messiah. I mean, that would be disconcerting to anybody. They would be wondering what they had for breakfast, you know, whether somebody slipped some kind of narcotic into their food or whether they were hallucinating or whatever.

But not only is the story astonishing, but this announcement is made to a girl who is a virgin. And so she says to Gabriel these words in verse 34. Then Mary said to the angel. How can this be? Since I do not know a man.

And what she means by saying I do not know a man is not that she's never been acquainted with males or never been introduced to a man, but it's the biblical euphemism for sexual intercourse. She said, How can this be since I'm a virgin? It's really what she's saying. And the angel answered and said to her, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the highest will overshadow you. Therefore, also that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.

Now indeed Elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived a son in her old age, and this is now the six months for her, who was called Baron. for with God nothing will be impossible. But here's the astonishing announcement.

Now comes the text. That is the focal point of this discussion of the Eve-Mary parallel. Then Mary said, Behold. that maidservant of the Lord, let it be to me according to your word. And the angel departed from her.

Now there are different ways in which we can read Mary's response to all of these astonishing things. The first thing she says is look. at the handmaid. of the Lord. Then she says, Let it be.

Now In our language, when we say, let it be. Those words may suggest a kind of surrender or acquiescence or the granting of allowance to a particular request. But in the Greek, they appear in the imperative form. This is Mary's fiat. She says, let it be.

Let it happen. In the imperative mood she is saying, do it.

Now the question is this. is Mary giving a command To Gabriel? Is Mary giving a command to God? Or is Mary speaking an imperative to herself? See, the maximalist position would argue this.

that Mary is issuing an order here. A decree of her own. Without which decree, the incarnation could not be possible. And so insofar as Mary gives a mandate to the angel here, Mary is in an authoritative way participating in the whole drama of redemption. Or we could look at it in a less intensive degree, a more minimal view.

And saying that yes, she is giving her assent, that she's giving her acquiescence to the announcement of the angel, but nevertheless, still the Outcome of redemption depends upon this submission because Mary has the right to decline, demur, and say no, thank you. Find yourself another girl. I refuse. But even her acquiescence is a vital necessity to the whole. plan of redemption.

The Protestant view historically is that it's neither one of those. That there's no thought in Mary. Of disobeying. And obviously, if she says no, God's going to overrule her anyway or strike her dead. And in no way is her acquiescence a condition for God's plan of redemption.

Because if God doesn't want to use Mary, he can use somebody else instead to bring his son into the world. But the whole force of Mary's response here is not one. of imperative but of submission. Her first words to the angel is, Behold, The maidservant. The handmaid.

of the Lord. Whatever the Lord says. Whatever the Lord wants. whatever the Lord requires So be it. Let it happen.

Be it unto me. According to thy word. It's a command to herself. That every Christian needs to emulate, every Christian needs to imitate. because that should be our posture daily before the Lord God and before His Word.

O God, command whatever Thou willest from us, and we will submit. Though there are differences within the Roman Catholic Church of the degree of importance of Mary's participation in the drama of redemption, And differences between Roman Catholics and Protestants over this question, one thing I hope we can agree on. That Mary is a magnificent model of submission to the will of God. That Mary is subject. To the announcement that God gives to her through the angel Gabriel.

And as such, she speaks to us. Not only as a small example, but as a great example, because Mary was submitting to something. that she couldn't possibly understand. At that moment, in terms of all of the implications and the consequences that would flow from it. But she certainly had to have some idea of the enormous weight and burden of the responsibility of bearing the child that was coming upon her.

O Christian. Have you ever felt the call of God to do something that you knew? In advance. would be costly. Supremely costly.

When that moment comes to you. And you look for comfort and strength from the cloud of witnesses who have obeyed God's call. Remember Mary. Who said Amen. Let it be.

So be it. to the vocation of God. on her life. That was R. C.

Sprawl on this Wednesday from his series simply titled Mary. Thank you for joining us for Renewing Your Mind. I'm your host, Nathan W. Bingham. This week, you're hearing select messages from Dr.

Sproul's series on Mary. and he helps us see Mary as a godly example. But the series also brings up some of the differences between Roman Catholics and Protestants with regard to Mary. To help you sort through some of the controversy, I encourage you to listen to the complete series when you donate today at renewingyourmind.org. or when you call us at 800-435-4343.

This series will be in your learning library in the free Ligoneer app so that you can take it with you and listen in the car or on a run. This offer does end tomorrow, so be sure to respond while there's still time. And if you live outside of the US and Canada, you can respond at renewingyourmind.org/slash global. Thank you again for your generosity. And to those who will gather tonight in Raleigh, North Carolina with H.B.

Charles Jr. and Stephen Nichols for Renewing Your Mind Live. I'm so looking forward to it. And I hope to see many more of you at future Renewing Your Mind live events in 2026. Check renewingyourmind.org slash events often as we announce more dates and more cities for the year to come.

We'll conclude our time in this series tomorrow with a message titled Mary's Magnificent Savior.

So I hope you'll join us Thursday here on Renewing Your Mind.