Brothers and sisters in the Lord, greetings.

For some time now I have been thinking about the concept of praying to God through Mary (the mother of Jesus) instead of Jesus Christ our Lord himself. That Christians must pray to God through Jesus is undebatable. But does the Bible teach that those who believe in Jesus must also pray to God through Mary?  To this question some say a BIG yes, whilst others say it’s a BIG no, just as  Phil(A) and Martin(B) illustrate below…

A: Do you believe in Jesus for salvation?

B: Yes, I do with all my heart.

A: Then why do you pray to Mary and not directly to Him? this is more of a worship to Mary than Christ, no?

B: You are getting it all wrong. I don’t worship Mary, I only honour her as the mother of God and the chosen one through whom the saviour was born.

A: But the Bible says there is only one mediator between God and men, the man Jesus Christ — 1Timothy 2:5. Putting another person in between man and God is contrary to the Scriptural teaching.

B: As I said earlier, I do not worship Mary. I only pray to her to intercede for me before Jesus — have you not read how because of His mother’s request, Jesus performed His first miracle, although in His own words His time wasn’t due yet?

A: It is true Jesus performed His first miracle at the request of Mary His mother. However, this is just one instance. Did Jesus ever teach that His believers should consequently make their requests to Him through Mary?

Is there any abiding principle in the Bible to support your praying to her instead of to Jesus directly? Or did any of the apostles teach this?

B: Well you know Jesus is Lord of all and must be very busy attending to everyone’s prayers. Asking Mary to pray for me hastens my access to Him.

A: Hmm… in my opinion you’re rather lengthening the communication channel unnecessarily.

B: Well, this is my faith. “Each time we repeat the prayer ‘save us O queen’ we spontaneously affirm the queenship of Mary. It is because Mary gave life to a son who is King and Lord of everything that she is somehow mysteriously the mother of the Trinity and also of Christ who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Mary is our queen and co-redemptrix of our Salvation. It was she who was free from guilt and sin that offered her son on Calvary’s cross, sacrificing her maternal love and rights for our salvation. Mary queen of goodness and mercy, full of love and grace, guides all humanity towards paradise. Sitting beside Christ, who is the ruler of the world is Mary, whom our redeemer has entrusted as the official dispenser of Grace. The authority that Mary has is based on the power of intercession and mediatorship, because she has access to the heart of Christ the King. She has the key to this heart, and distributes all the Grace and treasures that are enclosed therein.” This is what a Monsignor of my church has said. I believe it.

A: Does the Bible confirm any of these assertions from your Monsignor?

“co-redemptrix of the human race”

“mother of the Trinity”

“queen of heaven”

“distributor of grace”

“official dispenser of grace”

“free from sin and guilt”

B: Well ermm… not really, but as the mother of Jesus, surely Mary must have been sinless to give birth to a sinless child?

A: These are very serious assertions my friend, so if you don’t have any biblical support for any of them then something is not right. Do you realise that these contradict all that the Bible teaches about our salvation? To claim that Mary is the “mother of the Trinity” and a “co- redeemer”, as well as “the official dispenser of Grace” is rank heresy my friend. It is nothing short of equating Mary to God and giving her the place of God and Christ in fact. Remember God said, “You shall have no other gods before me — Exodus 20:3” ?

If you claim Mary is free from sin, then of a necessity both her parents must have been free from sin, and indeed all her lineage as well. So why do you not honour all her progenitors as well? However, the Bible does teach plainly that as a result of Adam’s sins, all are born dead in sin and by nature children of wrath – Ephesians 2:3; Romans 5:18-19.

B: Well, the Bible did call her “blessed”, didn’t it? Does that not mean we should honour her above all other human beings? In Luke 1:28 angel Gabriel delivering a message from God Himself said Mary was blessed. If GOD was the first person to call Mary ‘blessed’, can any of His creatures do less? Dare you, or I, or anyone else refute a clear statement from GOD Himself?

A: I will refer you to that verse which calls Mary “blessed”. Among whom does the Bible say Mary is blessed– All humans or women? And is she blessed above or AMONG? I ask again, do you believe in Jesus alone for salvation, friend? 

B: I do, I only honour Mary as I said earlier.

A: Will you agree your practices are contra- biblical and should be strenuously refuted if we truly claim to believe in Jesus alone for salvation? 

B: Well that is my faith as a Catholic.

A: Will you choose your denominational teachings over the Bible?

B: …

A: Is your faith in Christ or in your local assembly?

Tell you what? The Jesus you believe in is not coming across to me as the same I read of in the Bible. The Jesus of the Bible is God, who does not want those who believe in Him to put anyone before Him or between Him and them. He is the way, the truth and the life. To add another to Him as a way to get to God is to deny Him in essence. 

True Christian prayer is offered to the Father, through Jesus Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit — Ephesians 2:18. No one else mediates between us and the Father but the Son, according to the Scriptures – 1Timothy 2:5.

To be continued…

There we have it — Martin and Phil both think they are right! How about you? What do you think? Which do you choose? If you are a Christian, you cannot sit on the fence here. You must have a choice and reasons to support your position. It’s either you go through Jesus Christ to God or you go through Mary. One thing I believe is, it cannot be both.

Personally, I have taken the position of praying only through Jesus Christ (in the name of Jesus) because like Phil or Martin above I believe this is what the bible teaches. For it is through Christ that we are saved (Acts 4:12). Consequently, the Bible says it is through Christ that we are to offer our spiritual sacrifices to God (1 Peter 2:5); it is through the sacrificial work of Christ that we are exhorted to draw near to the throne of God (Hebrews 4:16); it is in the name of Jesus Christ we are to offer thanks to God our Father (Ephesians 5:20); for it is in the name of Jesus that we can ask anything (John 14:13-14), not Mary. Most importantly, the Bible teaches plainly that it is Christ Jesus Himself who ever lives to intercede for us (Hebrews 7:25), and not Mary.

I solemnly urge you, dear reader, to think about it, ponder over it and take a stand. I will entreat you to choose to go through Christ alone and not Mary; because the Biblical evidence unambiguously show that Christ alone is the way and not Mary. And if you have been on the fence then I invite you to join me as we go to the Father through Christ alone.