Major Topics

I want to share two very important instances where Jesus addressed this very issue. First, consider the moment when Mary and His brothers came looking for Jesus. Someone told Him, “Your mother and brothers are outside.” Jesus replied: “Whoever does the will of My Father in HEAVEN is My brother and sister and mother.” (Matthew 12:47–50) Notice what Jesus does here. He does not deny Mary as His earthly mother. But He does shift the focus away from earthly family ties and toward the spiritual, everlasting relationship with God, by focusing on heaven’s criteria for becoming His family. That distinction is crucial. Mary was His mother according to the flesh, but Jesus was not defining His eternal identity through His earthly motherhood. We also see this distinction when Jesus was twelve years old. When Mary and Joseph found Him in the temple, He said: “Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?” (Luke 2:49) Even as a child, Jesus was pointing beyond His earthly family, beyond His parents, to His heavenly Father. His identity and mission were not defined by Mary or Joseph, but by the Father who sent Him. Some recognize Mary as the mother of Christ, as Catholics do. But what exactly does that mean? Scripture makes a distinction between Mary’s earthly motherhood and Christ’s eternal identity. Mary carried Jesus in her womb and gave birth to His physical body. In that limited sense, her role was similar to that of a surrogate mother who only carries babies in her womb: the child’s identity and origin were not derived from her. In fact, Matthew testifies that Christ is “the child of the Holy Ghost,” not Mary’s. Ultimately, Christ is eternal. Mary gave birth to His physical body as a surrogate mother, but not to His eternal identity as the Son of God. Creation and formation Creation and formation are not necessarily the same thing. In Genesis 1:26, God says: “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” Yet in Genesis 1:27, we see that God started with an earthly type of creation: “He made man in His own image.” Man had a body with its spirit, just as Ecclesiastes 3:20–21 explains that all bodies, human or animal, come with one earthly “spirit of the flesh,” a.k.a. emotions and instincts. The man of Genesis 1:26 had no conscious mind or spirit with which to engage God until his formation in Genesis 2:7, after he received spirit and mind. “And the LORD God FORMED the man from the particles of man (I explain this translation in my writings, ‘Creation vs Formation’: cells were taken from man, not earth), before God’s breath, aka Ruach, the Holy Spirit, entered man and then man became a living (spirit) soul (mind).” This “became” is the completion of man’s formation/transformation. The created man of Gen. 1:27 was formed (transformed) into a spiritual and conscious man in Gen. 2:7. This is why only humans possess the framework to consciously alter (change/repent) their character or to seek out a belief in a higher power. Many assume biblical formation and creation are the same, but both Moses’ and Jeremiah’s testimonies contradict this. Jeremiah said: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you.” God speaks of the 3 separate beings that make us, formed in Their image (Gen. 1:26): Man the emotion, man the conscious mind, and man the spirit. The spirit and soul’s earthly formation began in the womb, when they were set up, formed, and established in the egg. The egg carries the emotional man (the flesh). How do we know only 2 beings meet the 3rd in the body in the womb? Moses testified in Gen. 2:7 that man, a created being from Gen. 1:27, became a spirit and soul. Living (spirit), being (soul/mind/consciousness). Scripture also says that children are formed in the womb. Formation speaks not only of the emotions, but of the soul and spirit coming together. Earthly and spiritual motherhood When Scripture speaks of “mother,” it is not always referring to a biological parent. Galatians 4 contrasts two Jerusalems: Jerusalem on earth, in bondage with her children, and Jerusalem above, who is free and called “the mother of us all.” This is spiritual language. Our spirits have a source: the Heavenly Mother! Isaiah says, “As a mother comforts, so will I comfort you, in Jerusalem.” Later, Jesus speaks of the Comforter, confirming this invisible-world dimension. The Holy Spirit is often described in nurturing terms. The spirit of wisdom is addressed as “she.” Even the Hebrew word Ruach (Spirit) is grammatically feminine. Adam even named his wife LIFE BECAUSE SHE “ruach” WAS THE BREADTH OF Life. The cross and the transition On the cross, we see another separation. Jesus said to John, “Behold your mother,” and to Mary, “Behold your son.” In doing this, He was entrusting her care to John. But symbolically, it also marked the closing of that earthly mother-son relationship. Even at His physical death, He was emphasizing a transition. The motherhood is over! Death ends all relationships, so why are some Christians still making this relevant? Scripture says, “Though we once knew Christ in the flesh, we know Him so no longer.” The flesh cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Our earthly emotions and desires do not enter heaven, not being able to engage the spirit world. Jesus addressed this: the time is coming when you won’t worship in Jerusalem, but in the spirit (invisible world) and in truth (confirmation of the word). Ecclesiastes 3:21 speaks of “the spirit of earth” in man and beast, returning to the earth where it came from. Our emotions are from the earth. Ecclesiastes 12:7 speaks of another spirit: the spirit in us returns to God who gave it. On the cross, Jesus said, “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.” His spirit went upward. This helps us understand the distinction between the earthly and the spiritual spirits. The earth, also called “creation,” produces physical life with an earthly spirit. In Genesis, God spoke to the earth, and the earth brought forth physical things. God don’t create anything physical, but as Galatians 4 clarifies, the earth, like Hagar in the flesh, produced earth things on God the Father Abraham’s command. It even compares Sarah to the Holy Spirit, who desired more spiritual children, after losing the first Adam. Conclusion So when we speak of motherhood, we must distinguish between earthly continuity and spiritual origin. Mary was the surrogate/womb mother of Jesus’ physical body. But Christ, the Anointed One, is eternal. Anointed means The Holy Spirit upon His God the Son spirit. United. His soul, the son of man, was only born 2,000 years ago, but his flesh, of which Mary was connected to by love, not birth, as a surrogate, has since returned to the earth. If we worship Christ, we do not worship His former earthly body. That body was transformed. Scripture says we too shall be changed to be like Him. Therefore, we do not know Him merely according to the body of the emotion. How do we confirm everything above is true? Eight scriptures confirm that, “In the mouth of two or more witnesses, every word of God is established.” The many biblical writers saying the same thing confirms that God’s Word is established.