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From Jesus to Mary and Back Again: The History of the Annunciation

The surprising reason it falls during Lent, and why it has been important for fighting heresy and abortion.

by Ted Olsen | March 25, 2010

Over at Christianity Today I’ve just published an article on a subject that has long puzzled me: Why don’t pro-life evangelical Protestants talk much about the Annunciation? And if we believe that life starts at conception, then why are we more likely to associate the Incarnation with Christ’s birth (Christmas) than with the Annunciation (conception)?

Some familiar names for Christian History readers—N.T. Wright, Darrell Bock, Scot McKnight, and others—were kind enough to reply, and I’m grateful for their insights. In fact, I received more response than I had expected, and as a result wasn’t able to include some of the more interesting church history aspects of the discussion.

Among them: Why March 25? The answer at first seems obvious: It’s nine months before Christmas. So many writeups on Annunciation assume (as I had) that once the church placed Christmas on December 25, it was a simple matter of counting backwards to mark Annunciation and Jesus’ conception.

But Muhlenberg College historian William J. Tighe argues that such a history gets things backwards. Before trying to determine either the dates of Jesus’ birth or conception, they tried to determine the date of his death. Tighe’s brief overview, which was published in Touchstone, is worth reading, as is his sequel of sorts in Touchstone’s current issue. But for our purposes here, what you need to know is that Greek Christians in the East said Jesus died April 6 and Latin Christians in the West said March 25.

Tighe continues:

At this point, we have to introduce a belief that seems to have been widespread in Judaism at the time of Christ, but which, as it is nowhere taught in the Bible, has completely fallen from the awareness of Christians. The idea is that of the "integral age" of the great Jewish prophets: the idea that the prophets of Israel died on the same dates as their birth or conception.

This notion is a key factor in understanding how some early Christians came to believe that December 25th is the date of Christ’s birth. The early Christians applied this idea to Jesus, so that March 25th and April 6th were not only the supposed dates of Christ’s death, but of his conception or birth as well. There is some fleeting evidence that at least some first- and second-century Christians thought of March 25th or April 6th as the date of Christ’s birth, but rather quickly the assignment of March 25th as the date of Christ’s conception prevailed. … Add nine months to March 25th and you get December 25th; add it to April 6th and you get January 6th. December 25th is Christmas, and January 6th is Epiphany.

Thus is it no accident or irritation that the Annunciation often falls during Lent—or even Holy Week. Originally, that was part of the point. As Augustine wrote, "He is believed to have been conceived on the 25th of March, upon which day also He suffered." (Biblical Archaeology Review’s article on this point is also worth reading.)

As the centuries went on, Annunciation became more associated with Mary than with the Incarnate Christ. By 656, the tenth council of Toledo,for example, called it "the festival of the Mother of God." But discussion of the unborn Jesus continued.

One of the more beautiful meditations (if you can avoid being distracted by the aural reference) is from Ephrem the Syriac, who lived in the 300s:

It is a source of great amazement, my beloved
that someone should enquire into the wonder
of how God came down
and made his dwelling a womb,
and how that Being
put on the body of a man,
spending nine months in a womb,
not shrinking from such a home;
and how a womb of flesh was able
to carry flaming fire,
and how a flame dwelt
in a moist womb which did not get burnt up.
Just as the bush on Horeb bore
God in the flame,
so did Mary bear Christ in her virginity.
Perfectly God,
he entered the womb through her ear;
in all purity the God-Man
came forth from the womb into creation.

(quoted in The Harp of the Spirit, via Redeemer in the Womb. John Saward’s Redeemer in the Womb, which is largely available for free on Google Books, has a lot of great research in it. But it is also anti-Protestant in extremis. Example: "The Reformation’s rejection of Mary and the Mass has been followed, four centuries later, by the widespread abandonment of Christian morality and faith in God incarnate.")

For other church fathers, emphasizing God dwelling in utero was an important tool against contemporary heresies, such as Nestorianism (the belief that Christ had two natures).

As Gerald McDermott notes, discussion of Jesus in his mother’s womb picked up steam in the Middle Ages. Thomas Aquinas’s Summa Theologica spends several questions examining the unborn Christ(31-34).

"When we are speaking of God made man, these months in the womb are, theologically speaking as precious as his birth and life upon earth," Roland Potter wrote in his appendix to the Summa. "This may be unwonted in modern theological thinking, but came naturally to St. Thomas and medievals generally. To be born of the Virgin Mary connotes a unique conjunction of the divine and human from the outset. This is the truth that lies at the back of all this series of article (in the Summa)."

Of course, Marian devotion began to pick up steam in the Middle Ages as well, but the Reformers still continued some thinking about the Annunciation and the unborn Christ. The Reformers were eager to drop many of the devotional practices and observances that had become focused on Mary, while directing some of those practices to Jesus. But rather than refocus the Annunciation on the first moments—the smallest and most vulnerable moments—of the Incarnation, most Protestants have simply let the day pass by.

"Most Protestant Christianity has been ‘festival-lite’, being aware of Paul’s warnings about ‘days, months, seasons, years’ in Galatians 4," Bishop of Durham N.T. Wright told me as I was working on the CT article. Similarly, he said, "Most Protestant Christianity has been ‘Mary-lite’, being aware of the danger of idolatry and non- or anti-scriptural teachings (and, latterly, dogmas)."

That’s not to say that Protestants have avoided preaching on the Annunciation or the unborn Incarnate Word. And to some degree, my question about whether pro-life Protestants have ignored the implications of the Annunciation in their preaching against abortion has more counter-examples than it would have a few years ago. John Piper’s much-blogged 2009 "No Mr. President" sermon, for example, took Luke 1 as its text: "What Luke is doing—and he is doing it as the spokesman of Christ—is treating this child in the womb as a person. He uses the word baby, which he later uses for Jesus in the manger. He uses the word joy, which is what persons feel. He uses the phrase "filled with the Spirit" which is what God does to persons. He simply assumes he is dealing with a human person in the womb. And therefore so should we."

* * * Image: Annunciation by Fra Angelico, ca. 1450. Public domain image via Wikimedia Commons.

Comments

"Why don’t pro-life evangelical Protestants talk much about the Annunciation?"

Maybe because doing so will just emphasize Mary's role as Christ's mother. They do recognize and acknowledge her as Christ's mother but they don't consider her as a mediator or someone to be praised unlike Catholics.

"bible sweepstakes": OH, HEAVEN FORBID We acknolwlege Mary AS THE MOTHER OF OUR LORD!! BTW, It didn't seem to bother Elizabeth! Just maybe the Catholics and the Orthodox might have a valid point here.

First off, "someone [not] to be praised?" Mary - as a historical, real person - is the quintessential role model for unmarried mothers and giving oneself to God's will. How much more pro-life can you get? Secondly, Protestants need to get real about "mediators" with God. If you ask someone (a friend, the congregation, etc.) to pray FOR you, are they not a "mediator" with the Lord on your behalf? They are praying to God for you. (Hopefully you are praying for yourself as well.) Why shouldn't we ALSO pray to the Saints or Mary to ask their mediation with God as well? Never quite understood that objection.

I rather like the aural references in the meditation by Ephrem the Syriac: the WORD literally comes to Mary through her listening. This is what Christians strive to do with our scriptural study, to *hear* it so completely that it becomes a part of us. What was an actual experince for Mary might be a wonderous metaphor for the rest of us.

In response to Nicholas: Three things come to mind.
First, Matt 12:50, anyone who does the will of the heavenly Father Jesus considers equally as mother or sibling. No one has more "pull" in heaven.
Second, there is no biblical data to lead us to believe that those who have passed their tenure here on earth have any interaction with those of us who are still here, so praying to saints is not effective. And, third, we endue the saint with abilities reserved for God: the ability to hear and process speech from every culture under the sun at the same, at all times.
It appears that biblically any believer who is alive on the face of the earth is able to approach God the Father in Jesus' name with any request with boldness and confidence, the only necessary mediator being Jesus.

Technically, Jesus was not a human person. Jesus was ONE person with two natures. Was he a divine or a human person? if you say human, you have embraced Nestorianism. The eternal 2nd PERSON took on human flesh and forever dwelt with two natures as the God-man. He became man but his person was and is divine. This is why Mary was esteemed so highly by ancient Christianity. A person was not produced in the incarnation, but GOD HIMSELF dwelt in a woman and received everything of his humanity from her.

"Christ had a real body of the same nature of ours, a true rational soul, and, together with these, perfect Deity." -Aquinas

Each believer 1 Cor 12:27; is indwellet by: GOD THE FATHER, GOD THE SON. GOD THE HOLY SPIRIT !

Each of us has DIRECT ACCESS TO THE THROWN OF GRACE.

To thing that "Someone" else has better access than we have is to be MISS LED BY THE MISS LEADER!!!

This is getting off track from the original, thought-provoking article by Ted Olsen. But, a few additional points of view...

#1. I'm not quite sure on what side Canadian is coming down on. Technically, Jesus WAS a human being. Nestorianism emphasized the disunion between the human and divine natures of Jesus. Nestorianism - rejected by the ancient church - held that in Christ there are two persons joined together: God the Son and the man Jesus. Jesus was fully human and fully divine. Perhaps it is beyond our (human) comprehension to fully understand it.

#2. With respect to Russ' objections... Are not all baptized believers members of the Body of Christ? (Rom 12:4-5; 1 Cor 12:12-27) Do we cease to be "members" when we die and join in Jesus' presence? I would hope not. Just as we can "talk" with other members of Christ's church on earth, why presume that we cannot "talk" with other members who have gone on ahead of us? Even Paul asked for intercessory prayer for himself. (Rom 15:30) We also hear of the angels and the elders placing the prayers of the holy ones on the altar (Rev 5:8; 8:5).

In reference to 2 Cor 5:19, Aquinas said "Christ alone is the perfect mediator of God and men, inasmuch as, by His death, He reconciled the human race to God... However, nothing hinders...others from being called mediators, in some respect, between God and man, forasmuch as they cooperate in uniting men to God, dispositively or ministerially."

Brian,
Sorry to confuse anyone. I was just responding to the last line of Mr. Olsen's post. Jesus Christ was fully human, yes. But in order to hold to Chalcedon, he was not a human person but a divine person with a human nature. He was not both a divine and human person, yet he was both human and divine. It is the crucial distinction of person and nature that you see in all the ancient councils. Personhood for us begins at conception, with Christ his personhood is eternal as he is eternally begotten of the Father but his human nature had it's beginning inside Mary at conception. Two natures did not come together in Mary to create a person, rather a Divine Person came to dwell in the womb of a woman in order to join himself to us.

That is also why it should not make us Protestants queezy to say that there is NO salvation without Mary.

And also we can understand why the ancient church rightly, properly and necessarily called Mary---Theotokos....the Mother of God. That Marian title was and is a defense of proper Christology...it is about Christ.

Anyone who believes that the dates used by the Church as the birthdate of Jesus are fooling themselves. The dates chosen for most Christian holidays were political. December 25 is celebrated as the birthdate of Jesus for 2 simple reasons: first it was the birthdate of his chief religious competitor of the period Mithras, and secondly because the Sun reaches its lowest point on the horizon on December 21st where it rests for about 3 days before beginning its long ascension back to its zenith on December 25th. To learn more about how the Romans usurped the ancient religious scriptures of the Nazoreans and their leader Yeshu and proclaimed them the revelations of their godman Jesus Christ visit: http://www.nazoreans.com

I enjoyed both your article and this blog on the subject of why Protestants don't talk much about the Annunciation.

We have a website www.unbornwordalliance.com
and a blog www.unbornwordoftheday.com where we explore the pro-life implications of Christ's nine months in the womb. Although we are Catholics we do have pro-life Christians of other denominations who have signed up for our newsletter.

John Calvin, sees the womb of Mary for what it is: “Choosing from the womb of the Virgin a temple for his residence, He who was the Son of God, became also the Son of Man.”

John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, Vol. I, trans.John Allen (Philadelphia, PA: Presbyterian Board of Christian Education, 1936), 527.

Lutheran professor David S. Yeago says of Mary, that she:
"….is not simply a biophysical vessel, an unwitting conduit…her pregnancy is located within a context of covenant and communion, of God’s election and promise and the faith that these evoke…Mary is not simply a private person but a public one; she is called by the angel’s proclamation to an office, a public role within the communion of God’s people and the history of God’s salvation…her bodily “bearing” of Christ is inseparable from her faith."

David S. Yeago, “The Presence of Mary in the Mystery of the Church”, Mary Mother of God, ed. Carl E. Braaten and Robert W. Jenson, (Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2004), 66-67, 69.

I would say that they don't preach about annunciation simply because they have a diffrent beliefs and teachings regrading this.
Christians have a great respect with Mary and her relationship with Jesus, but i know some other religion who doesn't see her that important.

In the book of Daniel, the Annunciation of Christ Jesus is apparent in the words spoken by the angel Gabriel to Daniel. See "Jesus was 61" link at:

http://christjesussonofgod.blogspot.com/2010/05/jesus-was-61.html

Jesus was the Alpha and the Omega. His glorification being a God was far more important from the topic on the dating of his conception, birth and even death. Jesus came into the world as a man - but it is not about his manhood that we should put emphasize on. It is about the truth and the salvation that He brought us. Jesus ascended and left us as a God - should we recognize His godliness rather than His manhood?

I think the general Protestant fear of appearing "Catholic" is certainly playing a role with regard to the de-emphasis of Mary and the Annunciation. There's much that could be said, but I'm not sure where to start. Goodness. When someone gets all "sola scriptura" in order to claim that the Spirit dwells in all believers as He did in Mary, then where does one start? There is a similarity, absolutely, but it's not exactly the same. The Incarnation is a fuller indwelling.

Anyhow, what I'd like to offer is a possible shift in gears. I think one other reason evangelicals do not link the Annunciation to discussions of abortion concerns the propensity for evangelicals to use the pill as a means of contracepting one's family to the "nice" size of one or two children. Do all evangelicals do this? Of course not, but I've met many who do, even those otherwise against abortion. I also happen to have a friend who once wrote an article for a college paper against the birth control pill for a very evangelical school. The editor refused to print it and she had to let it go. The reason? Too many used the pill and the editor didn't want that can of worms opened.

All that said, we Orthodox are not perfect on this score. Many of us have to teach people about this. I realize that the first 14 days upon conception are hotly debated, but for me, the Annunciation is actually a key to appreciating where the Spirit wants us to go on this issue.

the Holy Spirit to come and live within you and if you do pray this prayer and you are willing to live a life pleasing to God when you pray it the Holy Spirit will come and live within your heart and you will feel a sort of change in your thoughts and behavior and even a feeling of peacekrawator

"And, third, we endue the saint with abilities reserved for God: the ability to hear and process speech from every culture under the sun at the same, at all times." It seems the earliest Christianity emphasized that believers did take on the characteristics of God as they were perfected by grace. One of those characteristics that almost any protestant would agree is inherited is immortality.

That's an interesting, quite "Orthodox" approach to the subject. As a Calvinist, (just for the sake of identifying my presuppositions here) I would say that this looking at the Annunciation of our Lord is fine and dandy...but why not remain on the clear commandments?

Why the need to dive into this neo-gnostic approach to Scripture, that makes much ado about an inference? Granted, I'm with your conclusions, not calling anyone a heretic at this point, but for what it's worth:

There is no reason to dive into an inference when Scripture clearly stands for life, and against murder. When John lept inside Elizabeth's womb when his cousin, our Lord, was near in Mary's womb - and elsewhere - we see evidence of when God deems life begins: at conception at the earliest, the quickening at the latest.

But what is being proposed here is to make doctrine out of the less clear inferences, rather than the plain teaching - which still leads to the same conclusion.

It's much more difficult to reach the world with this message (pro life) when more layers are added to the unbeliever's connection to the Truth of Scripture.

I can't present a case for every Calvinist, nor am I doing a great job presenting Calvin here - but suffice it to say, where God has clearly spoken, there's no need to muck up the waters.

"Why don’t pro-life evangelical Protestants talk much about the Annunciation?"

In futher buttress of the paint above, i would agree to that fact that even when Mary was Christ's mother, they still do not praised her like Catholics do.

A Prayer From Jesus

Jesus has giving this task to me. For someone has to tell you,

You ARE, going to hell

Why? You ask. You believed man instead of what Jesus has established as salvation. For those who do not want to end up in the lake of fire Pray this prayer

These are the last days, This is your last chance.
Pray the Prayer from Jesus, and KNOW!

- A PRAYER FROM JESUS -

This prayer is from Jesus that we may hear from Him, that He may speak to our hearts. It only consist of three simple steps.

1) We need to read one scripture. This will focus us in the word that brings everlasting life.

2) Since this prayer is from Jesus we need to direct our prayer to Him personally. Too often Christian focuses they're prayer's to G_D the father. Scripture proclaims that Jesus should be the focus of our prayer.

3) The simplest part of this Prayer is to ask Jesus one question. Please, all that is required for this question is that it should be simple. Let Jesus Himself finish the question when He gives you that understanding through this prayer.

The PRAYER

The scripture that is the focus of this prayer is "ACTS 2:38". It's not necessary to do any study into this scripture. Jesus will give you the understanding that will resonate in your heart. Just read Acts 2:38, keep it in your heart and take this one scripture to prayer

The most important part of this prayer is that we need to direct our prayer directly to Jesus. If you normally would say Father in your prayer, change your focus from the Father to Christ Jesus, by lifting Jesus name up every time you would normally use Father in your prayer.

Maybe the hardest part of this prayer is the question that we need to ask Jesus. For man is always trying to understand the question, instead of listening to the answer. The simplest question is all that is required.

Simply ask Jesus, 'WHY'?

For those who are obedient
tsquare777(at)gmail.com

Very interesting article. I think we need to focus on the Christian history and its values more than ever now, when our society seems to be losing it's grab of the values it once had. If we don't have Christian values, they will be replaced by something more dangerous, such as violence and violent religions.

What a great discussion to have at this time of year. It is very interesting to study why December 25th was selected and how easily we goofed up our time line (not to mention the commercialization of Christmas). But as it turns out, December 25th was actually a very significant date; check out the video called "The Star of Bethlehem" by Rick Larson. He studied the dates surrounding the star and used the mathematical formulas that NASA uses to determine the dates that the star appeared--what he discovered is absolutely amazing. I watch this video every year around Christmas to remind me how much planning God put into the birth, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

Ohh reading this blog and comments make me think of Christianity and religion and quite horrible.

How come that the follower of the church are motivated with fear instead of reward. It's live life lie this since it will benefit you this way. It's if you dont do this so will this(insert any horrible thing) happen to you.

It doesn't sound very pleasant to me,

-J

Urgent appeal to all Brother's and Sister's in Christ. The Muslim BN/Umno Regime of Malaysia has initiated a Jihad (Holy War) against the minoriy Christians in Malaysia. Please pray for
the Malaysian Christians. Please make every believer be aware of the persecution of Malaysian Christians by the Majority Muslims. Read how Christians are persecuted in Malaysia here http://margeemar.blogspot.com/2011/05/malaysias-ruling-muslim-umno-regime.html#links

Thank you for telling us of the persecution of Christians in Malaysia so that we can pray for you. About 20 years ago I had a friend who was from Malaysia, and she told me that in her youth, the 3 main religions in Malaysia all got along pretty well. But we know that the times have changed world-wide now, and we will remember you and tell others about you and pray for you. May God be with you always.

I will also pray for Malaysia.
GOD THE FATHER, GOD THE SON. GOD THE HOLY SPIRIT !

Actually, the dates for Christmas and the Annunciation are drawn from the New Testament. Really. Zacharias went to serve at the temple, had a rope tied about himself and entered the holy of holies (Luke). That would only have occurred on Yom Kippur. Elizabeth conceived. When Elizabeth was 6 months along, the Annunciation and Mary's visit took place. The Gospels give that information. Add nine months to six months (15), and count from Yom Kippur. You end up in December, and in that zero year, late December. This is not counting back from Easter. It is not some pagan rite, it is simply based on Gospel facts.

Let all have their own religion. Respect that and respect each other for it.

Christians are given the Great Commission from Jesus, our God, one person in the Holy Trinity. Matt 28:16-20 "Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Only God can give you the desire and the ability to teach. But I'm sure you know that your God-given skills and strategies can be sharpened, so you get much more powerful results with the same amount of effort!

Check out http://bit.ly/jMf6g7

Belief creates the true fact.

Christians are given the Great Commission from Jesus, our God "God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life."

When my father was born, Annutiation was a day of obligation for Mass. In my time this was only recommended feast and traditionally the (transitory) deacons were ordained in this day.

Christians one and only god is jesus....

i like this post.. so useful

i see the post, its so use full for any one.the WORD literally comes to Mary through her listening. This is what Christians strive to do with our scriptural study, to *hear* it so completely that it becomes a part of us.

i like it very much and so usefull.

You explanation is excellent and clear. I was impressed with this post and am looking forward to reading more from you.

With the exceptions of Anglicans (exclusive of those with a Calvinistic bent) Protestants I run into head for the hills when you mention Mary, the Blessed Mother. As a Roman Catholic I think it has something to do with a fear of being tainted with Papist ideas. I never understood this as before there was a Pope there was a Virgin Mary. As a cradle practicing (I'm gonna keep practicing until I get it right) Catholic I am all too aware of the excesses that go along with Marian veneration, maybe that is it.

"[She (Mary) is the] highest woman and the noblest gem in Christianity after Christ . . . She is nobility, wisdom, and holiness personified. We can never honor her enough. Still honor and praise must be given to her in such a way as to injure neither Christ nor the Scriptures. (Sermon, Christmas, 1531)."-- Martin Luther

Personhood for us begins at conception, with Christ his personhood is eternal as he is eternally begotten of the Father but his human nature had it's beginning inside Mary at conception. Two natures did not come together in Mary to create a person, rather a Divine Person came to dwell in the womb of a woman in order to join himself to us

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