{"id":64788,"date":"2019-10-10T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-10-10T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/?p=64788"},"modified":"2019-10-14T22:05:47","modified_gmt":"2019-10-15T05:05:47","slug":"mary-the-new-eve","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/2019\/10\/10\/mary-the-new-eve\/","title":{"rendered":"Mary, the New Eve"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It is a common misconception that, when people convert or revert to the Catholic Church that they only do so when they fully understand all of the Church’s doctrine. This certainly was not true for me. I had come to the point of recognizing that Sola Scriptura<\/em> made little sense and that Christ founded a visible Church. However, there were many of the Catholic Church’s teachings I didn’t really understand. For me, most of these difficulties surrounded the person of Mary. I just couldn’t wrap my head around the Catholic fascination with the mother of Jesus…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All this started to change when I discovered Biblical Typology<\/a> and started to see Mary pre-figured in the Old Testament. I have written before about how Mary is the Ark of the New Covenant<\/a> and how this helped me to understand Mary’s Holiness. I have also written about how Mary is the Queen Mother<\/a> and how this aided my understanding of her as intercessor. Today I would like to write about another very important parallel which I discuss in the talk Mary & The Early Church<\/a>. Once I began to see Mary as the New Eve<\/strong> I began to see the significance of Mary in the story of Salvation History…<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Patristic Witness<\/h2>\n

Within the pages of the New Testament, we find the idea that Jesus is the New Adam. This idea is found throughout the Bible<\/a>, but Paul explicitly articulates this in his letter to the Church in Corinth (1 Corinthians 15:45<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Although Sacred Scripture doesn’t explicitly identify a “New Eve”, one cannot read the writings of the Early Church and be left in any doubt. I’m currently reading Mary and the Fathers of the Church: The Blessed Virgin Mary in Patristic Thought<\/a>, a book which surveys the Early Church writings concerning the Blessed Virgin. While reading this book, two things have been striking. The first concerns the number<\/strong> of Early Church Fathers<\/a> who describe Mary as the New Eve. The second is how early<\/strong> these descriptions appear.<\/p>\n

Probably the pithiest expression of the New Eve idea is found in St. Irenaeus of Lyons in towards the end of the Second Century:<\/p>\n

\u201cThus, the knot of Eve\u2019s disobedience was loosed by the obedience of Mary. What the virgin Eve had bound in unbelief, the Virgin Mary loosed through faith\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

– St. Irenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies (~AD 180)<\/span><\/p>\n

If you are Catholic, chances are that you have come across the Novena entitled “Mary, undoer of knots”<\/span>. The theology expressed in this title is drawn directly from the great Second Century Bishop of Lyons.<\/p>\n

Irenaeus was not the first Christian writer to note the parallels between Eve and Mary, however. That honour goes to St. Justin Martyr.<\/a> Thirty years before Irenaeus wrote his work “Against Heresies”, St. Justin had been in theology dialogue with a Jew named Trypho where he said the following:<\/p>\n

“For Eve, who was a virgin and undefiled, having conceived the word of the serpent, brought forth disobedience and death. But the Virgin Mary received faith and joy, when the angel Gabriel announced the good tidings to her that the Spirit of the Lord would come upon her, and the power of the Highest would overshadow her”<\/span><\/p>\n

– St. Justin Martyr, Dialogue With Trypho (~AD 150)<\/span><\/p>\n

In this description, the great martyr articulates both the similarities and differences between Mary and the mother of humanity. I would contrast the two in this way:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Eve<\/th>\nMary<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
Virgin<\/strong> and undefiled<\/td>\nVirgin<\/strong> and undefiled<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Received the word of an angel<\/strong> (Satan)<\/td>\nReceived the word of an angel<\/strong> (Gabriel)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Responded with distrust<\/strong> of God<\/td>\nResponded with faith<\/strong> in God<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Responded with disobedience<\/strong><\/td>\nResponded with obedience<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Actions result in death<\/strong> to all<\/td>\nActions result in life<\/strong> for all<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

These two women are hinges on salvation, around which so much turns. Eve’s distrust of God lead her to reach out and grasp the fruit of the tree, but Mary’s faith resulted in the fruit of her womb being nailed to a tree for the salvation of the world. When viewed this way, it is hard to downplay Mary’s important role in Salvation History.<\/p>\n

Biblical Evidence<\/h2>\n

From where did the Early Church Fathers gain this insight? Well, neither Justin in Italy nor Irenaeus in France present the New Eve theology as though it is a new invention, pointing to an older patrimony for this belief.<\/p>\n

John and Genesis<\/h3>\n

When we look to the New Testament itself, we see considerable basis for this parallelism. If you carefully read the opening chapters to John’s Gospel, you will quickly notice that John is paralleling the first book of the Bible. Both example, Genesis opens with the following words:<\/p>\n

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.<\/span><\/p>\n

– Genesis 1:1<\/span><\/p>\n

The opening to John’s Gospel is eerily similar…<\/p>\n

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.<\/span><\/p>\n

– John 1:1<\/span><\/p>\n

In the opening verses to both books we find similar motifs. Both speak of creation, lightness, darkness, water and the spirit. It is clear that John is doing this intentionally. Whereas Genesis tells us about the original creation, John is preparing us for a New Creation, a re-creation, a recapitulation of Old Testament events with a New Adam.<\/p>\n

Culminating in a wedding<\/h3>\n

When reading the first chapter of Genesis, the author narrates the days of creation. The climax of this is found on the Seventh Day. The day before, Adam had been naming all of the animals, but when no suitable partner can be found, he is put into a deep sleep and Eve is drawn from his side. When Adam opens his eyes, presumably on the Seventh Day, he sees a beauty which blows out of the water the creatures he had seen the previous day! Inspired by this radiant vision he can’t but launch into poetry, declaring:<\/p>\n

“This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.”<\/span><\/p>\n

– Genesis 2:23<\/span><\/p>\n

This is covenantal language (“bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh”<\/span>). We are effectively witnessing Adam’s marriage vows. The Seventh Day culminates in a wedding.<\/p>\n

Returning to John’s Gospel, we see that it too speaks of seven days:<\/p>\n

Day #2:<\/strong> “The next day…” – John 1:29<\/span><\/p>\n

Day #3:<\/strong> “The next day…” – John 1:35<\/span><\/p>\n

Day #4:<\/strong> “The next day…” – John 1:43<\/span><\/p>\n

Day #7:<\/strong> “On the third day…” – John 2:1<\/span><\/p>\n

So what takes place on the seventh day? Should we really be surprised that John tells us that there was a wedding?<\/p>\n

On the third day there was a marriage at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there; <\/span>Jesus also was invited to the marriage, with his disciples.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

– John 2:1-2<\/span><\/p>\n

I am sure that many of us are familiar with this Gospel story where Jesus turns water into wine at the prompting of His Mother. We are so familiar with it, in fact, that I think we must come to the text with fresh eyes to notice something rather peculiar about John’s account – he never tells who was getting married.<\/p>\n

There’s a good reason John never names the bride or groom. It’s because he doesn’t really care! The two people primarily mentioned in the account are Jesus and Mary. This is what John really cares about. As he has carefully narrative this New Creation in the opening chapters of His Gospel, he wants us introduce us to a New Adam and a New Eve, Jesus and His Mother.<\/p>\n

However, John has more to tell us about this wedding. He explains that there is a shortage of wine and Mary intercedes with her Son. Jesus’ response to this is often misinterpreted as being hostile:<\/p>\n

“O woman, what have you to do with me?…”<\/span><\/p>\n

– John 2:4<\/span><\/p>\n

There is a lot which could be said about this response, but for the sake of this article I would like to focus on how the Lord addresses His Mother…“woman”<\/span>. Where else have we heard the title “woman” before? It should come as no surprise that we have heard it before in the Book of Genesis, in the “protoevangelium” (“first good news”) where God speaks about the promised Messiah:<\/p>\n

[God said to the serpent]…”I will put enmity between you and the woman<\/strong>,<\/span>
    <\/span>and between your seed and her seed<\/strong>;<\/span><\/span>
he shall bruise your head,<\/span>
    <\/span>and you shall bruise his heel.”<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

– Genesis 3:15<\/span><\/p>\n

We see something very similar if we fast-forward through to the end of John’s Gospel. The fourth Gospel is structured around a number of miracles which the Evangelist calls “signs”<\/span>. The first sign was the miracle at the wedding in Cana. The final sign is the Lord’s Passion and Resurrection. As Jesus is hanging on the cross we read the following:<\/p>\n

When Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing near, he said to his mother, \u201cWoman, behold, your son!\u201d Then he said to the disciple, \u201cBehold, your mother!\u201d And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.<\/span><\/p>\n

– John 19:26-27<\/span><\/p>\n

Once again Jesus’ Mother is present and once again she is referred to as “woman”<\/span>. Jesus gives His Mother to John’s care (incidentally a proof that Jesus was an only child) and spiritually therefore to all of us. After the Fall, Eve became the mother of all the living (Genesis 3:20), but at the tree of the cross we see that Mary becomes the mother of all those who have been supernaturally brought to life through her Son, a New Eve to the New Adam.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have written before about how Mary is the Ark of the New Covenant and how this helped me to understand Mary’s Holiness. I have also written about how Mary is the Queen Mother and how this aided my understanding of her as intercessor. Once I began to see Mary as the New Eve I began to see her significance in the story of Salvation History…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":73808,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[4273,2969,2640,1432],"class_list":["post-64788","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-apologetics","tag-biblical-typology","tag-featured","tag-mary","tag-new-eve"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/The-New-Eve-1.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64788","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64788"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64788\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":73810,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64788\/revisions\/73810"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73808"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64788"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64788"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}