Should we worship Mary?

While all Roman Catholics do not necessarily worship Mary, the fact that many pray to Mary (which is an act of worship and no where justified in Scripture) and give her titles which resemble those given to Jesus Christ including the idea of mediatorship, this question and others related to Mary have been included under this heading.

Worship is something that is to be restricted to God alone. As the angel stressed when John fell at his feet in appreciation for the revelation he had seen and received, “Do not do that; I am a fellow servant of yours and of your brethren the prophets and of those who heed the words of this book; worship God” (See Rev. 19:10; 22:9). Mary is not God and her exaltation in the Catholic church has no foundation in Scripture. While we may and should appreciate the ministry of men and women, they are only instruments used of God for His glory. Christ alone is our mediator. Paul clearly points this out in 1 Timothy 2:3-6.

3 This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony borne at the proper time.

Though Mary was the mother of the humanity of Jesus, a miracle accomplished by the Holy Spirit, she was not the mother of God. As God, Christ is eternal and had no mother or beginning (see John 1:1f). In essence, worshipping Mary is a form of idolatry. In the New Testament, Mary is never mentioned in a way that exalts her as is done in Catholicism.

(1) The Bible says nothing about Mary ascending into heaven in some special way. She went to heaven as all do through faith in Christ as God’s Son who died for our sin, including hers.

(2) The conception of Jesus, was by the Holy Spirit as explained in Matthew 1:20 and Luke 1:35. Other than stating this was a miracle work of the Holy Spirit, we are given no details.

(3) In Luke 1:28, Mary is called “favored one” (literally, “endowed or filled with grace”) but only in the sense that God, by grace, chose her to be the human mother who would give birth to the Christ child. This same idea and word is used of all believers in Ephesians 1:6. We have all been endowed with grace. To say any more than this is to add to what the text of Scripture says.