Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord let it be to me according to your word –
Luke1:38
Mary – the New Eve
By c.pio
Let me begin first with the parallel between the book of Genesis
(on the account of creation) and the Gospel of John (which I already discuss in
one article of mine Bible:
Man's Autograph God's Authorship)
Genesis
1-2:3
Adam
and Eve: In the beginning and the fall of Man
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John
1-2:1
Jesus
and Mary: The New beginning and the story of Man’s redemption
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“In the beginning God created the
heavens and the earth.” (Gen 1:1-5)
“the
First Day”
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“In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the
beginning.” (John 1:1).
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“the
second day” (Genesis 1:6-8)
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“the
next day” (John 1:29-34)
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“the
third day” (Genesis 1:9-13)
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“the
following day” (John 1:35-42)
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“the
fourth day” (Genesis 1:14-19)
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“the
next day” (John 1:43-51)
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“the
fifth day” (Genesis 1:20-23)
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“on
the third day,” that is, three days later (John 2:1)
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“the
sixth day” (Genesis 1:24-31)
|
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“Since on the seventh day God was
finished with the work he had been doing, he rested on the seventh day from
all the work he had undertaken. So God blessed the seventh day and made it
holy, because on it he rested from all the work he had done in
creation.” (Genesis 2:2-3).
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Both begin with a description
of “In the beginning”. In the book of Genesis, the author use the ordinal numbers first, second, third and
so on while in John’s Gospel he used sequencing
next day, the following day and so on. But reading John’s Gospel one could
notice the big shift in Chapter 2, Apostle John used ordinal number ‘on the third day’ instead of sequence counting which he usually does.
By going back in the book of
Genesis after the account of creation on the seventh day God rested and (as I
have discussed before, Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 in Genesis are the same account
of creation though each chapter uses different styles Book of Genesis:
Two accounts on creation of Man) the story of Man’s fall was
narrated: wherein man losses the gift of everlasting Life thus Death reign.
On the seventh day in John's
Gospel thru the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, John used the phrase “on the
third day”, this phrase in the New Testament prefigures the Resurrection (Matt. 16:21, Matt. 17:23, Matt. 20:19, Matt. 27:64, Luke 9:22, Luke 13:32, Luke 18:33, Luke 24:7, Luke 24:21, Luke 24:46, Acts 10:40, Acts 27:19, and 1 Cor. 15:4) – A new
beginning, Restoration of everlasting life that was once loss by man (thus
Death has no power).
The Story of the fall
(The Book of Genesis)
Genesis 3:6 The
woman was convinced. She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked
delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her. So she took some of the
fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he
ate it, too.
Genesis 3:6 is the story of the fall of man – the story
of disobedience and expulsion; the transition from a state of obedience to a
state of disobedience to God. The narration stated that in the Garden of Eden,
there was a Woman (sinless virgin) [Gen.2:23] who believed the lies of a fallen Angel, took
a sinful fruit from the tree [Gen.3:6], and gave it to her partner called Adam
[Gen.2:20] and
the sin entered the world.
The Story of Redemption
(The Gospel of John)
But
in the story of the Redemption, a Woman (sinless virgin)[Isa. 7:14; John
2:4; John 19:25-27] bringing the fruit of her womb [Luke 1:42],
Jesus Christ called New Adam [1 Cor. 15:45], to the Tree [Gal. 3:13],
that started in Garden of Gethsemane [Mt. 26:46] and we become
freed from the curse of the Fall.
As we mentioned above, on the
seventh day in John's Gospel, Christ and Mary celebrating the wedding at Cana.
Mary’s
Role
Woman:
The New Eve
It's here, at the wedding at
Cana, that Apostle John first introduces us to Mary. And what does Jesus
call her there? “Woman” [John 2:4]. That is, He refers to her by the
name that Eve bore before the Fall, when she was free from all stain of
original sin.
Jesus Christ
The New Adam
The New Adam
And remember that in the book
of Genesis, it was Adam who called Eve Woman
[Gen.2:23] and here it was Christ who called Mary Woman. By comparing these two events,
Apostle John wanted to tell to his readers that Jesus Christ is a New Adam and
Mary is a New Eve.
Apostle Paul tells us that specifically, in 1 Corinthians 15:20-22:
But
Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have
fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead
comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be
made alive.
And again in 1 Corinthians 15:45,
So
it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam, a
life-giving spirit.
So Apostle Paul calls Jesus Christ
the New Adam.
The Tree and
the Fruit
Apostle Paul once said in Galatians 3:13:
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the
law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is
hung on a tree.”
So
the “Tree” is the Cross. And Elizabeth refers to Jesus as “the
fruit of your womb” to Mary [Luke 1:42]. Just as the first fruit
brought sin into the world from the tree, the second Fruit brings sin out of
the world through the Tree.
And
how did the Fruit of Mary's womb, Jesus Christ, get to the Tree? The new
Woman, Mary, started Him along His way, at the wedding of Cana. When Mary
first seeks Jesus' intervention, He replies: “O Woman, what have you to do with
Me? My hour has not yet come.” [John 2:4]. This is a
reference to His Passion, which is why He says in the Garden of
Gethsemane, “Look, the hour has come, and the Son of Man is delivered into the
hands of sinners” [Mt. 26:45]. In other words, He's warning Mary that
if He grants her this request, it will start His public ministry, which only
ends one way: His Death. She persists, and He obliges [John 2:5-11].
In other words, Mary helps lead Jesus to the Cross.
So we've got the seven days, our new Adam, our new Woman, our Tree and our Fruit. Early Christians also taught that the Annunciation marks the reversal of the temptation of the first Eve.
The Story
of the Fall
(Sin
entering the World)
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The
Story of the Redemption
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Eve: Sinless Virgin called “Woman” [Gen. 2:23]
by Adam
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Mary: a Sinless Virgin [Isa. 7:14] called “Woman” [John 2:4; John 19:25-27] by Christ the New Adam
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Eve believed the lies of a fallen angel
and disobeyed God [Genesis 3:1-7]
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At the Annunciation, Mary believed the
words spoken by a holy Angel and obeyed God. [Luke 1:38]
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took a sinful fruit from
the tree [Gen. 3:6]
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bringing the fruit of her
womb [Luke 1:42] sinless
Man (and True God: Christ) called New Adam [1 Cor. 15:45]
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bringing it to a sinless
man called Adam [Gen. 2:20]
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to the Tree [Gal. 3:13]
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In
John’s depiction of Calvary clearly parallels the Garden of Eden: there is
a tree (the Cross - Galatians 3:13), a man (Jesus) and a woman (Mary).
And
the first Eve gave Adam the forbidden fruit; in so doing, she became the
indirect cause of the Fall, The New Eve gave the New Adam "the Fruit of
her womb" - His human Body, in which He suffered and died for us. In
so doing, she became the indirect cause of the Redemption.
Wherefore
Luke points out that the pedigree which traces the generation of our Lord back
to Adam contains seventy-two generations, connecting the end with the
beginning, and implying that it is He who has summed up in Himself all nations
dispersed from Adam downwards, and all languages and generations of men,
together with Adam himself.
Hence also was Adam himself termed by Paul the “figure of
Him that was to come,” because the Word,
the Maker of all things, had formed beforehand for Himself the future
dispensation of the human race, connected with the Son of God; God having
predestined that the first man should be of an animal nature, with this view,
that he might be saved by the spiritual One. For inasmuch as He had a
pre-existence as a saving Being, it was necessary that what might be saved
should also be called into existence, in order that the Being who saves should
not exist in vain.
In accordance with this design, Mary the Virgin is found
obedient, saying, “Behold the
handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to your word.” But Eve was disobedient; for she did not obey when as yet she
was a virgin. And even as she, having indeed a husband, Adam, but being
nevertheless as yet a virgin (for in Paradise “they were both naked, and were
not ashamed,” inasmuch as they,
having been created a short time previously, had no understanding of the
procreation of children: for it was necessary that they should first come to
adult age, and then multiply from that time onward), having become disobedient, was made
the cause of death, both to herself and to the entire human race; so also did
Mary, having a man betrothed [to her], and being nevertheless a virgin, by
yielding obedience, become the cause of salvation, both to herself and the
whole human race.
And on this account does the law term a
woman betrothed to a man, the wife of him who had betrothed her, although she
was as yet a virgin; thus indicating
the back-reference from Mary to Eve, because what is joined together
could not otherwise be put asunder than by inversion of the process by which
these bonds of union had arisen; so that the
former ties be cancelled by the latter, that the latter may set the former
again at liberty. And it has, in fact, happened that the first
compact looses from the second tie, but that the second tie takes the position
of the first which has been cancelled.
For this reason did the Lord declare that
the first should in truth be last, and the last first. And the prophet, too, indicates the
same, saying, “instead of fathers, children have been born unto you.” For the
Lord, having been born “the First-begotten of the dead,” and receiving into His bosom the
ancient fathers, has regenerated them into the life of God, He having been made
Himself the beginning of those that live, as Adam became the beginning of those
who die. Wherefore also Luke,
commencing the genealogy with the Lord, carried it back to Adam, indicating
that it was He who regenerated them into the Gospel of life, and not they Him. And thus also it was that the knot
of Eve's disobedience was loosed by the obedience of Mary. For what the virgin
Eve had bound fast through unbelief, this did the virgin Mary set free through
faith.
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