Rev 14:4 - These are they which were not defiled with women,.... With the whore of Rome, and her harlots, she is the mother of; while the kings and inhabitants of the earth were drunk with the wine of their fornication, or committed idolatry with them, which is spiritual fornication, and is here meant by being defiled with them, these were free from such pollutions, or idolatrous practices: for they are virgins; for their beauty and comeliness in Christ, chastity, sincerity of their love, uncorruptness in doctrine and worship, and for the uprightness of conversation; See Mat_25:1;
ary occupies
ten times as much of Our Lord's life then do the other apostles. The years of
subjection young Jesus lived honoring his mother are associated with his growth
"in wisdom and favor with God." The very fact that He makes himself subject
endows Her with the power of the Spirit. Nowhere is the gulf which divides Christian church's wider than on the subject of Mary. Those who in principle balk at a serious consideration of Marian doctrines are inconsistent, for example, in accepting the doctrine of the Trinity, a word which nowhere appears in the Bible and the very concept of which is by no means obvious there. The strong anti-Marian reaction of the Reformation period has frozen later Protestants into a permanent state of aversion to taking Mary seriously, except in marginal ways. Thus the fear of exaggerating Mary's importance causes her to be denied even an ordinary mothers recognition. A major obstacle to Marian devotion for Fundamentalists is the idea that devotion to Mary "competes" with devotion to Jesus. Once we realize that Mary is the Mother given to us by the Holy Trinity and that we turn to her as we would to an earthly mother without "competing" with the worship we owe to God, many of the Fundamentalist misconceptions problems would evaporate. And once we realize that Jesus honors Mary as His mother we who are His followers can do no less.
Why do some think that any reverence paid to the Mother of Jesus detracts from His Divinity? Mary does not prevent our honoring Our Lord, and nothing is more cruel of false than to say She takes souls away from Christ. The less we think of Him, the less we think of Her; the more we adore His Divinity, the more we venerate Her. Never will it be found that anyone who really loves Our Lord as a Divine Savior dislikes Mary. Those who dislike any devotion to Mary are those who deny His Divinity or find fault with Our Lord because of what he says about life, equality and liberty. Coldness toward Mary is a consequence of indifference to Christ. Any objection to calling her the Mother of God is fundamentally an objection to the Deity of Christ.