{"id":87270,"date":"2024-10-31T11:48:36","date_gmt":"2024-10-31T15:48:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/?p=87270"},"modified":"2024-11-02T21:11:36","modified_gmt":"2024-11-03T01:11:36","slug":"marys-spiritual-knowledge-and-belief-in-jesus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2024\/10\/marys-spiritual-knowledge-and-belief-in-jesus.html","title":{"rendered":"Mary’s Spiritual Knowledge and Belief in Jesus"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a>
Photo credit: self-designed cover for my self-published book, \u201cThe Catholic Mary\u201d<\/em> [public domain]<\/figcaption><\/figure>Dr. Robert A. J. Gagnon\u00a0is a Visiting Scholar in Biblical Studies at Wesley Biblical Seminary; formerly Professor of Biblical Studies at\u00a0Houston Christian University. In a\u00a0public Facebook post dated 9-19-24<\/a>, he made a number of remarkably skeptical claims about the Blessed Virgin Mary:<\/p>\n

There is no clear indication of Mary coming to faith in Christ. It is not said that she \u201cbelieved\u00a0in Jesus,\u201d nor that she gave any testimony that caused others to\u00a0believe\u00a0in him. . . . (note that the Fourth Evangelist never even uses her proper name) . . .<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

St. John, as a point of fact, never refers to his\u00a0own<\/em>\u00a0name, either; using, rather, the \u201cdisciple whom Jesus loved\u201d (13:23; 20:2; 21:7, 20). This is his style.<\/p>\n

She appears to be more like Nicodemus in ch. 3 . . .\u00a0Neither John 2:5 nor John 19:25-27 provides any evidence that Mary has moved beyond\u00a0shallow sign-faith\u00a0and understood the cross to be Jesus\u2019 \u201chour of glorification.\u201d She is there at the beginning of Jesus\u2019 ministry (but goes unmentioned as regards a virgin birth), . . . she is there at the cross (with others), where again there is no indication of movement beyond a\u00a0shallow sign faith, filled with grief and incomprehension.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Imagine thinking that the Blessed Virgin Mary: whom the angel Gabriel called \u201cfull of grace\u201d, and who was \u201cblessed among women\u201d; whom all generations would call \u201cblessed\u201d; the Mother of God, who spent some\u00a0thirty years<\/em>\u00a0with Jesus before anyone else knew about Him; i.e., ten times longer than\u00a0anyone else<\/em>, is not even a\u00a0believer<\/em>\u00a0in Jesus!<\/p>\n

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\u201cPlease Hit \u2018Subscribe\u2019\u201d!<\/strong>\u00a0<\/span>If you have received benefit from this or any of my other 4,900+ articles, please follow my blog by signing up (with your email address) on the sidebar to the right (you may have to scroll down a bit), above where there is an icon bar, \u201cSign Me Up!\u201d: to receive notice when I post a new blog article. This is the equivalent of subscribing to a YouTube<\/em>\u00a0channel.\u00a0My blog was rated #1<\/a>\u00a0for Christian sites by leading AI tool, ChatGPT: endorsed by influential Protestant blogger Adrian Warnock. Actually, I partner with Kenny Burchard on the\u00a0YouTube<\/em>\u00a0channel,\u00a0Catholic Bible Highlights<\/em><\/a>. Please subscribe there, too! Please also consider following me on Twitter \/ X and purchasing\u00a0one or more of my 55 books<\/a>.\u00a0All of this helps me get more exposure, and (however little!) more income for my full-time apologetics work. Thanks so much and happy reading!<\/p>\n

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Gagnon would have us believe that God (Who knows everything, including the future) would choose a woman to be the Mother of God who wouldn\u2019t even\u00a0understand<\/em>, let alone\u00a0believe<\/em>, what the angel Gabriel told her at the Annunciation, and who wouldn\u2019t comprehend or believe Who Jesus was over His entire life? In fact, the biblical account in this regard is\u00a0very clear: so much so that I submit it could hardly be any\u00a0more<\/em>\u00a0so. The angel Gabriel told Mary at the Annunciation:<\/p>\n

Luke 1:30-33<\/strong>\u00a0(RSV). . . \u201cDo not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. [31] And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. [32] He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, [33] and he will reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there will be no end.\u201d [34] And Mary said to the angel, \u201cHow shall this be, since I have no husband?\u201d [35] And the angel said to her, \u201cThe Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Any Jew who knew anything at all would know that this was clearly the Messiah Whom she was to bear, and the \u201cSon of God\u201d language, which the Pharisees took to be blasphemy because they understood that it meant being equal to God the Father (John 5 and 10), also indicates His divinity and Godhood.<\/p>\n

Her cousin Elizabeth proclaimed, \u201cBlessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?\u201d (Lk 1:42-43). Mary (as far as we know from the text) doesn\u2019t rebuke this, or ask, \u201cwhat are you\u00a0talking<\/em>\u00a0about?!\u201d She accepts it as truth. She believes in the \u201cLord\u201d Who is her Son. Mary\u2019s \u201cMagnificat\u201d (Lk 1:46-55) \u2013 similar to Hannah\u2019s prayer in 1 Samuel 2:1-10 \u2014 shows that Mary is well-acquainted with Old Testament theology and expression: enough to have certainly understood the messianic allusions in Gabriel\u2019s and Elizabeth\u2019s words to her.<\/p>\n

Mary may have been present at John the Baptist\u2019s circumcision (Lk 1:59 ff.) since Elizabeth was her cousin and she knew her well (e.g., she stayed with her for three months: Lk 1:56). If so, on that occasion, John\u2019s father Zechariah \u201cwas filled with the Holy Spirit, and prophesied\u201d (Lk 1:67), saying, \u201cAnd you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, [77] to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins\u201d\u00a0(Lk 1:76-77). Then when they presented Jesus in Jerusalem in the purification rite, Mary and Joseph encountered the \u201crighteous and devout\u201d Simeon, who said, \u201cmine eyes have seen thy salvation which thou hast prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to thy people Israel\u201d (Lk 2:30-32).<\/p>\n

This is pure messianic language as well. Furthermore, Mary might have been present at Jesus\u2019 baptism (or heard about it), in which God the Father spoke from heaven: \u201cThou art my beloved Son; with thee I am well pleased.\u201d (Lk 3:22). An \u201cangel of the Lord\u201d told Joseph in a dream Who Jesus was (\u201c. . . that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit; she will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.\u201d: Mt 1:20-21). Angels told both Mary and Joseph Who Jesus was. Elizabeth, Zechariah, and Simeon all confirmed it while Jesus was still very young.<\/p>\n

The three wise men visited Jesus, with Mary present (thought to be when He was about two years old), and \u201csaw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him\u201d (Mt 2:11). We see no protest from Mary along the lines of, \u201cwhat are you\u00a0doing<\/em>?! You can\u2019t worship a mere man!\u201d<\/p>\n

Yet Dr. Gagnon thinks that Mary wasn\u2019t a \u201cbeliever\u201d in Jesus. Sadly, even fellow Christians can fall into carnal\u00a0or\u00a0\u201cunspiritual\u201d\u00a0thinking (1 Cor 2:10-16).<\/p>\n

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\nPractical Matters<\/strong><\/em>:\u00a0 I run the most comprehensive \u201cone-stop\u201d Catholic apologetics site:\u00a0rated #1\u00a0for Christian sites<\/a> by leading AI tool, ChatGPT \u2014 endorsed by popular Protestant blogger Adrian Warnock. Perhaps some of my 4,900+ free online articles or fifty-five books<\/a>\u00a0have helped you (by God\u2019s grace) to decide to\u00a0become Catholic<\/a>\u00a0or to\u00a0return to the Church<\/a>, or better understand some doctrines and\u00a0why<\/em>\u00a0we believe them<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Or you may believe my work is worthy to support for the purpose of apologetics and evangelism in general. If so, please seriously consider a much-needed financial contribution. I\u2019m always in need of more funds: especially\u00a0monthly<\/em>\u00a0support. \u201cThe laborer is worthy of his wages\u201d (1 Tim 5:18, NKJV). 1 December 2021 was my 20th anniversary as a\u00a0full-time Catholic apologist<\/a>, and February 2022 marked the 25th anniversary of my blog.<\/p>\n

PayPal donations<\/a>\u00a0are the easiest: just send to my email address: apologistdave@gmail.com. Here\u2019s also a\u00a0second page to get to PayPal<\/a>. You\u2019ll see the term \u201cCatholic Used Book Service\u201d, which is my old side-business. To learn about the different methods of contributing (including\u00a0Zelle<\/a>), see my page:\u00a0About Catholic Apologist Dave Armstrong \/ Donation Information<\/a>.\u00a0Thanks a million\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>from the bottom of my heart!
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Photo credit:<\/strong> self-designed cover for my self-published book, \u201cThe Catholic Mary\u201d<\/em> [public domain]<\/span> [see book and purchase information<\/a>]<\/p>\n

Summary<\/em>: Robert A. J. Gagnon, a New Testament scholar, believes that the Blessed Virgin Mary never came \u201cto faith in Christ.\u201d I refute this with several relevant scriptural passages.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dr. Robert A. J. Gagnon\u00a0is a Visiting Scholar in Biblical Studies at Wesley Biblical Seminary; formerly Professor of Biblical Studies at\u00a0Houston Christian University. In a\u00a0public Facebook post dated 9-19-24, he made a number of remarkably skeptical claims about the Blessed Virgin Mary: There is no clear indication of Mary coming to faith in Christ. It […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2331,"featured_media":87273,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[231,45],"tags":[1619,2357,46,19341,19395,19299],"class_list":["post-87270","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-anti-catholicism","category-blessed-virgin-mary","tag-annunciation","tag-blessed-virgin-mary","tag-immaculate-conception","tag-mary-was-a-believer","tag-marys-spiritual-knowledge","tag-robert-gagnon"],"yoast_head":"\nMary's Spiritual Knowledge and Belief in Jesus<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Robert A. J. Gagnon, a New Testament scholar, believes that the Blessed Virgin Mary never came "to faith in Christ." 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Formerly a campus missionary, as a Protestant, Dave was received into the Catholic Church in February 1991, by the late, well-known catechist and theologian, Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J. Dave\u2019s articles have appeared in many influential Catholic periodicals, including \\\"This Rock\\\" (now called \\\"Catholic Answers Magazine\\\"), \\\"Envoy Magazine\\\" (Patrick Madrid), \\\"The Catholic Answer,\\\" \\\"The Coming Home Journal,\\\" \\\"Gilbert Magazine\\\" (American Chesterton Society), and \\\"The Latin Mass.\\\" He also writes a featured column for every issue of \\\"The Michigan Catholic\\\": published by the archdiocese of Detroit, and was editor for most of the apologetics tracts published by the St. Paul Street Evangelization apostolate. Dave\u2019s apologetics and writing apostolate was the subject of a feature article in the May 2002 issue of \\\"Envoy Magazine.\\\" He served as the staff moderator at the Internet discussion forum for The Coming Home Network, from 2007-2010. Dave has been interviewed on many nationally syndicated Catholic radio shows, including \\\"Catholic Answers Live\\\" (twice), \\\"Faith and Family Live\\\" (Steve Wood), \\\"Kresta in the Afternoon,\\\" \\\"Son Rise Morning Show,\\\" \\\"Catholic Connection\\\" (Teresa Tomeo), and \\\"The Catholics Next Door.\\\" His large and popular website, \\\"Biblical Evidence for Catholicism,\\\" was online from March 1997 to March 2007, and received the 1998 Catholic Website of the Year award from \\\"Envoy Magazine.\\\" His blog of the same name (now transferred to Patheos), begun in February 2004, contains more than 1,500 papers, at least 500 debates or dialogues, and over 50 distinct \\\"index\\\" web pages. Unsolicited correspondence has indicated many hundreds of conversions (or returns) to the Catholic faith as a result, by God's grace, of these writings. Dave's conversion story was published in the bestselling book \\\"Surprised by Truth\\\" (edited by Patrick Madrid; San Diego: Basilica Press, 1994). Sophia Institute Press has published six of his books: \\\"A Biblical Defense of Catholicism\\\" (Foreword by Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J., 1996 \/ 2003), \\\"The Catholic Verses\\\" (2004), \\\"The One-Minute Apologist\\\" (2007), \\\"Bible Proofs for Catholic Truths\\\" (2009), \\\"The Quotable Newman\\\" (editor: 2012), and \\\"Proving the Catholic Faith is Biblical\\\" (2015). He is co-author (with Dr. Paul Thigpen) of the inserts for \\\"The New Catholic Answer Bible\\\" (Our Sunday Visitor: 2005), and editor for \\\"The Wisdom of Mr. Chesterton: The Very Best Quotes, Quips, and Cracks from the Pen of G. K. Chesterton\\\" (Saint Benedict Press \/ TAN Books: 2009). \\\"100 Biblical Arguments Against Sola Scriptura\\\" was published by Catholic Answers in May 2012. His \\\"Quotable Wesley\\\" compilation was published by (Protestant \/ Wesleyan publisher) Beacon Hill Press in April 2014. Several of his 49 books are bestsellers in their field. Dave maintains a popular personal Facebook page, a Facebook author page, and has a Twitter account as well. He offers almost all of his books in e-book form on his own Biblical Catholicism site (http:\/\/biblicalcatholicism.com\/), at a permanent deep discount: only $2.99 for ePub, mobi, and AZW, and $1.99 for PDF. His writing has been enthusiastically endorsed or recommended by many leading Catholic apologists, authors, and priests, including Dr. Scott Hahn, Fr. Peter M. J. Stravinskas, Marcus Grodi, Patrick Madrid, Steve Ray, Tim Staples, Devin Rose, Mike Aquilina, Al Kresta, Karl Keating, Fr. Dwight Longenecker, Brandon Vogt, Marcellino D'Ambrosio, and Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J. Dave has been happily married to his wife Judy since October 1984. They have three sons and a daughter, and reside in southeast Michigan (metro Detroit).\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/biblicalcatholicism.com\/\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dave.armstrong.798\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@LuxVeritatisApologetics\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/author\/davearmstrong\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Mary's Spiritual Knowledge and Belief in Jesus","description":"Robert A. J. 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Formerly a campus missionary, as a Protestant, Dave was received into the Catholic Church in February 1991, by the late, well-known catechist and theologian, Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J. Dave\u2019s articles have appeared in many influential Catholic periodicals, including \"This Rock\" (now called \"Catholic Answers Magazine\"), \"Envoy Magazine\" (Patrick Madrid), \"The Catholic Answer,\" \"The Coming Home Journal,\" \"Gilbert Magazine\" (American Chesterton Society), and \"The Latin Mass.\" He also writes a featured column for every issue of \"The Michigan Catholic\": published by the archdiocese of Detroit, and was editor for most of the apologetics tracts published by the St. Paul Street Evangelization apostolate. Dave\u2019s apologetics and writing apostolate was the subject of a feature article in the May 2002 issue of \"Envoy Magazine.\" He served as the staff moderator at the Internet discussion forum for The Coming Home Network, from 2007-2010. Dave has been interviewed on many nationally syndicated Catholic radio shows, including \"Catholic Answers Live\" (twice), \"Faith and Family Live\" (Steve Wood), \"Kresta in the Afternoon,\" \"Son Rise Morning Show,\" \"Catholic Connection\" (Teresa Tomeo), and \"The Catholics Next Door.\" His large and popular website, \"Biblical Evidence for Catholicism,\" was online from March 1997 to March 2007, and received the 1998 Catholic Website of the Year award from \"Envoy Magazine.\" His blog of the same name (now transferred to Patheos), begun in February 2004, contains more than 1,500 papers, at least 500 debates or dialogues, and over 50 distinct \"index\" web pages. Unsolicited correspondence has indicated many hundreds of conversions (or returns) to the Catholic faith as a result, by God's grace, of these writings. Dave's conversion story was published in the bestselling book \"Surprised by Truth\" (edited by Patrick Madrid; San Diego: Basilica Press, 1994). Sophia Institute Press has published six of his books: \"A Biblical Defense of Catholicism\" (Foreword by Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J., 1996 \/ 2003), \"The Catholic Verses\" (2004), \"The One-Minute Apologist\" (2007), \"Bible Proofs for Catholic Truths\" (2009), \"The Quotable Newman\" (editor: 2012), and \"Proving the Catholic Faith is Biblical\" (2015). He is co-author (with Dr. Paul Thigpen) of the inserts for \"The New Catholic Answer Bible\" (Our Sunday Visitor: 2005), and editor for \"The Wisdom of Mr. Chesterton: The Very Best Quotes, Quips, and Cracks from the Pen of G. K. Chesterton\" (Saint Benedict Press \/ TAN Books: 2009). \"100 Biblical Arguments Against Sola Scriptura\" was published by Catholic Answers in May 2012. His \"Quotable Wesley\" compilation was published by (Protestant \/ Wesleyan publisher) Beacon Hill Press in April 2014. Several of his 49 books are bestsellers in their field. Dave maintains a popular personal Facebook page, a Facebook author page, and has a Twitter account as well. He offers almost all of his books in e-book form on his own Biblical Catholicism site (http:\/\/biblicalcatholicism.com\/), at a permanent deep discount: only $2.99 for ePub, mobi, and AZW, and $1.99 for PDF. His writing has been enthusiastically endorsed or recommended by many leading Catholic apologists, authors, and priests, including Dr. Scott Hahn, Fr. Peter M. J. Stravinskas, Marcus Grodi, Patrick Madrid, Steve Ray, Tim Staples, Devin Rose, Mike Aquilina, Al Kresta, Karl Keating, Fr. Dwight Longenecker, Brandon Vogt, Marcellino D'Ambrosio, and Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J. Dave has been happily married to his wife Judy since October 1984. They have three sons and a daughter, and reside in southeast Michigan (metro Detroit).","sameAs":["https:\/\/biblicalcatholicism.com\/","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dave.armstrong.798","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@LuxVeritatisApologetics"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/author\/davearmstrong"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87270","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2331"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87270"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87270\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/87273"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}