Marie de Nazareth
To Jesus, through Mary
At the time of the Protestant Reformation, Catholic Mariology was more centered on the Virgin Mother of God than on Mary the New Eve and her participation in the Redemption.
For Luther, the title of "Mother of God" contains in itself Mary's honor:
"The ‘great things' are no other than this: she became the Mother of God. In this reality so many gifts and such great goods are dispensed that no one can grasp them.
Hence come all the honor, all the beatitude that she receives, as well as the singular place she holds in all generations, because no one else has received a child from the heavenly Father, and a child such as this Child.
She herself cannot find a name worthy of his immense greatness, and can only let her love overflow, for these things are so great that we cannot express or measure them. So, with one word, by calling her "Mother of God," we understand all her honor; we cannot tell her or speak of her saying anything greater, even if we could speak as many languages as there are leaves and blades of grass, stars in the heavens and grains of sand in the sea. Therefore the heart must ponder on what signifies to be "Mother of God."
(Martin Luther, The Magnificat)
Mary is "Mother of God" in the truest sense, as Mother of God's Son
In Luther's profession of faith on the Last Supper of Christ, in 1528, we read:
"...I believe that Mary, the Blessed Virgin, is a mother in the truest sense, and not only as the mother of the man Christ, as the Nestorians teach, but of the Son of God as Luke said: "the one who will be born of you will be called Son of God." This is our Lord and the Lord of all, Jesus Christ, of God and of Mary, true natural Son of God and Mary, true God and man." (W 26.501)
A little before his death he confirmed this opinion:
"...the same God begot in eternity, she begot in time." (W 50/III.708)
Luther verified that the reason for the title was already present in Luke 1: 32 (Son of the Most High); Luke 2:11 (Savior, Christ, Lord) and Galatians 4: 4. These testimonies are proof enough that Mary is the Mother of God (W 50.591-592).
The way Luther expressed his faith in Mary is conform to the Catholic faith
By using the title of "Mother of God" Luther strived to operate a Christological and theological re-centering. When speaking of Mary he wished to renew faith in Christ, and through Christ to the exclusive salvific action of God.
Jesus, while being a true man, is no ordinary man. If he were only a man he couldn't save us. He is salvation itself, salvation in person, he is God.
On another hand, Jesus Christ is God in human flesh, the Incarnate Word. Luther was opposed to Zwingli's theory of the alleosis and to the extra-calvinisticum of the Geneva Reformer because they both separated Christ's divinity from his humanity. Several times he affirmed that the God he knew and adored was none other than the One who became man: there is no other by whom one might be saved. (Conversation of Marburg 1529, W30/III.132)
Now, if Christ is God concretely in the human flesh, he is the Son of Mary in his totality and not simply as man, Mary is then the Mother of God.
The title of "Mother of God" is intended, according to Luther, to manifest Christ's divinity and to witness to the handiwork of God in Mary:
"Although Elizabeth's insight recognized in her, with perspicacity, the Mother of God, the Virgin saw more clearly still that God alone is great in all things...The Blessed Virgin sees God in all things, she adheres to no other creature and brings everything to God...The Blessed Virgin is thus a pure adorer of God (purissima cultrix Dei), who exalts God alone above all the creatures."
(W.60-77: Sermons 1514-1517)
Luther welcomed the title of "Theotokos" and the explanation he gives is perfectly in line with the faith of the Catholic Church.
Excerpts from: C.COLLO Maria nel pensiero di Luther, Theotokos 1996, #1, p. 220-223
N.B. This is a publication of interdisciplinary research in Mariology directed by Alberto Valentini, edited by the Association Centro Mariano Monfortano, via Romagna, 44 - 00187 Rome, Italy.