Continued from Part 1.

Mary's Life

Scripture gives scant insights into the early life of Mary. She grew up in Nazareth and was betrothed to be married to a carpenter named Joseph. During her engagement, the angel Gabriel appeared to her to declare that she would give birth to Jesus by a miracle of God the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:35). Following this announcement she traveled some one hundred miles to visit her cousin Elizabeth, who was from the family line of Aaron (Luke 1:36). Upon entering Elizabeth’s home, she broke into a hymn of thanks to God (Luke 1:46–56), which has come to be known as the Magnificat. Mary later returned home and her fiancé, Joseph, was intending to end their relationship because he believed she had been sexually unfaithful to him. But God intervened and told Joseph in a dream all that He was doing (Matthew 1:18–25). Some months later the couple was required to travel about eighty or ninety miles to Bethlehem to register for a government census. Mary’s son was born there in humble circumstances (Luke 2:6–7), in fulfillment of Micah 5:2. He was named Jesus in accordance with an angel’s requirement (Matthew 1:21).

The family would later flee to Egypt to save the life of young Jesus and then they returned to Nazareth. Around perhaps the age of twelve, Jesus went to Jerusalem and was noted by the teachers for His theological insights (Luke 2:41–52). Jesus performed His first miracle at the request of Mary at a wedding in Cana (John 2:1–11). Mary is scarcely mentioned again in the Gospels until she appears at the crucifixion of Jesus, where He spoke to her lovingly just before His death (John 19:26–27). Following Jesus’ death, Mary then appears with the group of 120 early Christians who gathered in the Upper Room (Acts 1:12–26). She does not appear in Scripture again and her death is not mentioned in Scripture.

A Godly Woman

Mary was simply a very godly young woman who loved the Lord and trusted in Him despite great risk to her own reputation. She repeatedly appears as a devout woman who loved God and was a loving mother to Jesus. Contrary to some aberrant teaching, she did not remain a virgin, but mothered other sons such as James and Jude, who visited Jesus with Mary during His ministry (Matthew 12:46; Mark 3:31–35; Luke 8:19–21) and later became pastors who penned books of the New Testament bearing their names.

Therefore, the Mary of Scripture greatly differs from the Mary of myth, legend, and folklore. The real Mary is a wonderful example for young women to love God and retain their virginity until marriage as a demonstration of their love for God. The real Mary is a wonderful example for mothers of a godly woman who is best known for the sons she raised, whom God used to change the world, thereby elevating the ministry of Christian motherhood. The real Mary is a wonderful example for all women of what it truly means to trust God in all things, obey God even when His call is difficult, worship God in faith that He is good for His promises, fellowship with God’s people in the church, and love God, the Lord Jesus Christ.

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"My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.”
– Mary worshipping God in Luke 1:46–47

Each May it seems curious to me that many Protestant Christians do not focus on Jesus’ mother, Mary, in conjunction with the celebration of Mother’s Day. This may be, in part, an overreaction to the improper emphasis upon and false teachings about Mary among many Catholic and Orthodox Christians.

"The Second Eve"

In the second century, Irenaeus depicted Mary as a “second Eve,” laying a foundation upon which later theologians would build an unbiblical view of Mary, including Cardinal Newman who rediscovered the image in the nineteenth century. Also, in the second century, the baptismal creed began referring to Jesus as “Born of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary.” By the fourth century, some churches were being dedicated to Mary. In the fifth century, the Council of Ephesus declared Mary the “mother of God,” which further encouraged devotion to Mary. In the eighth century, Germanus of Constantinople said that Mary dispenses grace to the church on earth, and also taught, along with others, that Mary was Mediatrix, meaning that she participated in saving people along with Jesus.

In the twelfth century, Bernard of Clairvaux helped to popularize the idea that Mary dispenses grace to Christians, and the “Hail Mary” prayer was introduced and combined with the Rosary. In the fourteenth century, the title Coredemptrix first appeared in Catholic literature, speaking of Mary as participating with Jesus in our redemption (this concept continued gaining popularity, and in more recent times the late Pope John Paul II spoke of it on multiple occasions).

Spiritual Motherhood

In the fifteenth century, Pope Sixtus IV spoke of the spiritual motherhood of Mary over all Christians and the “Hail Mary” prayer was changed to its current form. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, shrines dedicated to Mary appeared in places such as Lourdes, France, and Fatima, Portugal. In the twentieth century, Pope Pius XII declared that Mary ascended into heaven like Jesus, called for the memorial of Mary’s role as queen dispensing grace to Christians, and said that she was so united with Jesus that she was involved in His suffering and our salvation. The Catholic Church also held a congress on Mary and sponsored pilgrimages to some of the shrines dedicated to Mary.

Having been raised as a Catholic, I did pray to Mary as a young boy. Once I met Jesus at the age of nineteen, though, I was convicted that I had sinned against God by praying to anyone but Him. In some ways I then overreacted for a few years and did not esteem Mary as I should have. Sadly, it seems that many Christians are also prone to the extremes of either esteeming Mary too much or esteeming her too little.

What Does Scripture Say?

The key to undoing all of the false teaching surrounding Mary is, of course, to simply look at what Scripture does say about her and add nothing to that. Mary appears by name in three of the four gospels (the Gospel of John refers to “Jesus’ mother”) and the book of Acts. She was a young virgin girl, perhaps even a young teenager, in fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah 7:14.

Continue to Part 2.

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“I am a servant of Christ to a foreign nation for the unspeakable glory of life everlasting which is in Jesus Christ our Lord.” – Patrick

My family name was originally O’Driscoll until it was changed a few generations ago by relatives hoping to more fully assimilate into American culture after immigrating from Ireland. Though I was raised Irish Catholic, I knew virtually nothing about Saint Patrick other than the green beer, parades, shamrocks, leprechauns, and drunken Red Sox fans that celebrated in his honor every March 17th.

Technically, Saint Patrick is not even a saint, as he was never canonized by the Roman Catholic Church. Additionally, Patrick was not even Irish. Rather, he was an Englishman Roman-Britain who was a Roman citizen that spoke Latin and a bit of Welsh.

Patrick was born around 390 A.D. When he was roughly 16 years of age he was captured by pirates and taken to Ireland on a ship where he was sold into slavery. He spent the next six years alone in the wilderness as a shepherd for his masters’ cattle and sheep.

Isolation

Patrick was a rebellious non-Christian teenager who had come from a Christian family. His grandfather was a pastor, and his father was a deacon. However, during his extended periods of isolation without any human contact, Patrick began praying and was eventually born again into a vibrant relationship with Jesus Christ. Patrick endured the years of isolation in rain and snow by praying up to 100 prayers each day and another 100 each night.

In his early twenties God spoke to Patrick in a dream, telling him to flee from his master for a ship that was waiting for him. Amazingly, Patrick made the 200-mile walk without being caught or harmed to find a ship setting sail for his home, just as God had promised. The sailors were out of food for the journey, and after Patrick prayed a herd of pigs miraculously ran toward the ship, providing a bountiful feast for the long voyage home.

God Speaks to Patrick

Upon returning home, Patrick enrolled in seminary and was eventually commissioned as a pastor. Some years later God spoke to Patrick in a dream, commanding him to return to Ireland to preach the gospel and plant churches for the pagans who lived there.

The Roman Catholic Church had given up on converting such “barbarians” deemed beyond hope. The Celtic peoples, of which the Irish were part, were an illiterate bunch of drunken, fighting, perverted pagans who basically had sex with anyone and worshipped anything. They were such a violent and lawless people, numbering anywhere from 200,000 to 500,000, that they had no city centers or national government and were spread out among some 150 warring clans. Their enemies were terrified of them because they were known to show up for battles and partake in wild orgies before running into battle naked and drunk while screaming as if they were demon-possessed. One clan was so debased that it was customary for each of their new kings to copulate with a white mare as part of his inauguration.

Unique Missionary Strategy

In faith, the forty-something year-old Patrick sold all of his possessions, including the land he had inherited from his father, to fund his missionary journey to Ireland. He worked as an itinerant preacher and paid large sums of money to various tribal chiefs to ensure he could travel safely through their lands and preach the gospel. His strategy was completely unique, and he functioned like a missionary trying to relate to the Irish people and communicate the gospel in their culture by using such things as three-leaf clovers to explain the gospel. Upon entering a pagan clan, Patrick would seek to first convert the tribal leaders and other people of influence. He would then pray for the sick, cast demons out of the possessed, preach the Bible, and use both musical and visual arts to compel people to put their faith in Jesus. If enough converts were present he would build a simple church that did not resemble ornate Roman architecture, baptize the converts, and hand over the church to a convert he had trained to be the pastor so that he could move on to repeat the process with another clan.

Patrick gave his life to the people who had enslaved him until he died at 77 years of age. He had seen untold thousands of people convert as between 30-40 of the 150 tribes had become substantially Christian. He had trained 1000 pastors, planted 700 churches, and was the first noted person in history to take a strong public stand against slavery.

Roman Opposition

Curiously, Patrick’s unorthodox ministry methods, which had brought so much fruit among the Irish, also brought much opposition from the Roman Catholic Church. Because Patrick was so far removed from Roman civilization and church polity he was seen by some as an instigator of unwelcome changes. This lead to great conflicts between the Roman and Celtic Christians. The Celtic Christians had their own calendar and celebrated Easter a week earlier than their Roman counterparts. Additionally, the Roman monks shaved only the hair on the top of their head, whereas the Celtic monks shaved all of their hair except their long locks which began around the bottom of their head as a funky monk mullet. The Romans considered these and other variations by the Celtic Christian leaders to be acts of insubordination.

In the end, the Roman Church should have learned from Patrick, who is one of the greatest missionaries who has ever lived. Though Patrick’s pastors and churches looked different in method, they were very orthodox in their theology and radically committed to such things as Scripture and the Trinity. Additionally, they were some of the most gifted Christian artists the world has ever known, and their prayers and songs endure to this day around the world, including at Mars Hill where we occasionally sing the “Prayer of Saint Patrick” and the Celtic hymn “Be Thou My Vision.”

For Further Study:

• At www.ccel.org there is a free copy available of Patrick’s book Confessions.
• Steve Rabey’s book In the House of Memory is a good introduction to Patrick and Celtic Christianity.
• Thomas Cahill’s book How the Irish Saved Civilization is a fascinating historical look at Patrick and the implications of Celtic Christianity on western history.
• www.ChristianityToday.com/history is the site for Christian History and Biography magazine, which is a wonderful resource that includes an entire issue on Patrick and Celtic Christianity.

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Continued from Vintage Saints: Young Guns, Part 1.

Throughout church history God has chosen to use young people for significant kingdom work. The following are a few more examples that have greatly encouraged me, and I pray they do likewise for you.

D.L. Moody

D.L. Moody was one of the greatest evangelists in the history of America. His legacy today includes the renowned Moody Church, Moody Bible Institute, and Moody Publishers. Moody began his ministry with a ragtag group of rowdy young boys who had been kicked out of other Sunday school classes. Before becoming a pastor, Moody was denied church membership because he failed the oral doctrine exam. During his life he traveled one million miles and preached to over one hundred million people. At the Chicago World’s Fair he preached to 130,000 people in one day. Moody began his life of ministry at the young age of twenty-one and went into full time ministry at the age of twenty-four.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Dietrich Bonhoeffer is one of the most well-known pastors of the 20th century. He opposed the Nazi church in Germany and built an underground seminary to train pastors to remain faithful to Jesus Christ and not bend their knees to Adolf Hitler. Bonhoeffer was hanged by the Nazis in 1945 at the age of thirty-nine after writing, “When Christ calls a man, he bids him to come and die.” Bonhoeffer began his life of ministry at the young age of twenty-five.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Charles Haddon Spurgeon is among the finest preachers in the history of the church, though he was not formally educated for the task. He pastored the world’s first megachurch, where thousands would come to hear him preach the gospel upwards of ten times a week. Over 100,000 people attended his funeral. Spurgeon took his first pulpit at the young age of nineteen.

Billy Graham

Billy Graham is easily the most influential Protestant Christian leader of the 20th century and for me personally one of the most inspiring men who has ever lived. Graham has preached the gospel to more people in live audiences than anyone else in history—over 210 million people in more than 185 countries and territories. Hundreds of millions more have been reached through television, video, film, and webcasts. Graham began publicly preaching the gospel at the young age of nineteen.

Various Revivals

In addition to God working miraculously through the young, he is also prone to work miraculously on the young. Three revivals in particular primarily affected young people. The college student revivals under Jonathan Edward’s grandson, Timothy Dwight, brought many young Christians into church leadership. The Second Great Awakening (1776-1810) was largely fueled by college revivals. The Puritans in Britain were often scoffed at for being “merely children” because so many of them were in their early and mid twenties. Lastly, the great Scottish revival is reported to have been mainly young people, as a reported 60 percent of the mass conversions were among people between the ages of sixteen and twenty-five.

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Mars Hill Church began in the fall of 1996, one week before I turned 26 years of age. At that time, nearly everyone in the church was young. Today, there is thankfully a growing range of ages, though I am admittedly starting to feel old.

I often pray that Mars Hill will not simply be a church that grows old together. Rather, we should seek to always welcome young people, see their lives transformed by Jesus, and encourage them to serve Him wholeheartedly.

In the history of the church, much has been accomplished by Christians who were young. Perhaps Paul’s words to the young Timothy are the most pertinent, “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity” (I Timothy 4:12).

Curiously, throughout church history God has chosen to use young people like Timothy for significant kingdom work. The following are a handful of such examples that have greatly encouraged me and I pray they do likewise for you.

Jonathan Edwards

Jonathan Edwards is the greatest theologian America has ever produced. Additionally, the Great Awakening began in 1734 in his Northampton, Massachusetts congregation with the young people who had drifted away from the church, but suddenly wanted to begin meeting with him about his sermons. Edwards began his life of ministry at the young age of nineteen.

George Whitefield

George Whitefield is the greatest preacher America has ever seen. He preached 18,000 sermons to over ten million people during the Great Awakening. He planted 150 churches in New England, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland. He preached in open air with crowds as large as 30,000 people at a time. Amazingly, he preached to such crowds without a microphone and would cough up blood from the strain on his throat. It is estimated that most Americans heard him preach at least once. His farewell sermon on Boston Commons drew more people than Boston’s entire population and was the largest crowd ever gathered in America at that time. Whitefield began his life of ministry at the young age of twenty-five.

David Brainerd

David Brainerd is one of the greatest missionaries America has ever had. His passion was to convert the Americans Indians scattered throughout New York and Pennsylvania. He traveled more than 3,000 miles on horseback, preaching the gospel faithfully until he died at the age of twenty-nine, after a lengthy sickness brought on by his constant time spent in harsh winter conditions. Brainerd began his life of ministry at the young age of twenty-four.

Methodist Circuit Riders

The Methodist Circuit Riders were devout evangelists who traveled across the country on horseback to lead people to Christ by preaching of the gospel and establishing local congregations of believers. Amazingly, four questions were asked in the selecting of a potential Circuit Rider:

• Is this man truly converted?
• Does he know how to keep our rules?
• Can he preach acceptably?
• Has he a horse?

Due to the harsh conditions of living in the woods and traveling on horseback, the average life expectancy of a Circuit Rider was only thirty-three years of age. Most of the Circuit Riders began their ministry while they were in their twenties.

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Thomas Aquinas was born in 1225 in his Italian family castle at Roccasecca. He grew up to be an unattractive heavy man who suffered from dropsy and had one eye that was much larger than the other. He was not a particularly dynamic man but rather an introspective, quiet loner who rarely entered a conversation, and when he did he would speak about something completely unrelated to the topic. Consequently, his college classmates named him “the dumb ox.”

Kidnapped

In 1244 Aquinas joined the Dominican Catholic order. His family was greatly opposed to his decision because they wanted him to become wealthy and powerful, not take a vow of poverty. His brothers kidnapped him and held him captive for fifteen months in an effort to prevent him from entering a life of ministry. Unable to dissuade him, their last-ditch effort involved sending a woman into his bedroom to seduce him, but he forced her to leave his room and devoted himself to a life of chastity.

Finally relenting, his family released Aquinas and in 1245 he went to Paris to study with Albert the Great. In 1250 he was ordained as a Catholic priest, and in 1256 he was named a master of theology at Paris.

Reasoning with the Greeks

At that time Christian theology was in great conflict with Greek philosophers, and Aquinas arose as the most competent thinker to address the interface between faith and reason. Many of the great thinkers of the day were enamored with Aristotle and his ability to explain all of reality not with faith and Scripture but with reason and philosophy. The growing popularity of Aristotle’s teaching was a great threat to Christianity on three major issues. One, Aristotle appeared to deny that a god made creation, preferring instead an eternal creation. Two, Aristotle was believed to oppose any concept of personal physical eternal life. Third, Aristotle seemingly taught that God only thought of Himself and was therefore not involved in the affairs of men or personally concerned about anyone.

Theology AND Reason

After carefully studying and writing commentary on a dozen of Aristotle’s works, Aquinas concluded that much of Aristotle’s work was misread by Islamic scholars and that most of his actual conclusions were compatible with Christianity. In agreement with Aristotle, Aquinas concluded that philosophical reason is based upon sensory data gathered by our five senses and that theological revelation does not contradict reason but exceeds it by providing insights to that which only God knows and the unaided human mind could never know otherwise. For example, Aquinas would agree that through reason and observing creation a person could reasonably conclude that there was a Creator, but apart from the revelation of Scripture one would never conclude that the Creator was the Trinitarian God.

The Reader

Throughout his life, Aquinas was an avid reader and author. Although he died before his fiftieth birthday, he produced more than ten million words in some sixty works, including eighteen enormous and dense volumes of theology. His penmanship was so poor and slow, though, that he dictated to as many as four secretaries simultaneously on different subjects. His surviving biblical commentaries include work on all of Paul’s letters and the gospels of Matthew and John, as well as a work called the Golden Chain, a collection of comments by various church fathers on all four of the gospels. His Old Testament works include a commentary on Job, a partial commentary on the Psalms (through the first fifty-one), and a commentary on Isaiah. For obvious reasons, Aquinas is widely regarded as the greatest theologian of the Middle Ages.

Summa Theologica

In 1265 Aquinas began writing perhaps his most famous work, the Summa Theologica, which means “a summation of theological knowledge.” While working on the massive tome, Aquinas had a vision that caused him to suddenly stop working on the project. Despite pleadings from his secretary, he never wrote again and spent the remaining months of his life in reported silence until his death in 1274.

By Pastor Mark Driscoll
Researched by Deacon Crystal Griffin