Theotokos — Athanasius, Gregory Nazianzen, Ephesus 431, what 'Mother of God' does not mean, and the word assembled from Matthew 1:23

Athanasius, defender of Nicaea and first to list the twenty-seven New Testament books, gives one of the earliest indisputable uses of 'Mother of God' — inside a treatise defending Jesus' divinity. Gregory Nazianzen: 'If anyone does not admit that holy Mary is Mother of God, he is cut off from the Godhead.' The Council of Ephesus (431) proclaimed it: 'the premier example of how ancient Christians' beliefs about Mary were ultimately based on what they believed about Jesus' (CCC 466, 495). The title does not mean Mary is equal to or greater than God, or not fully human, or mother of the Trinity: 'she is a mere human being, a creature,' mother of the divine Son who became man. And the word itself is biblical: theos, 'God,' and tokos from tiktō, 'to bear,' are both in Matthew 1:23 — 'a virgin shall… bear (tiktō) a son… God (theos) with us.' 'There it is, right there, on the first page of the New Testament!'

• Matthew 1:23 — 'bear a son… God with us' — theos and tiktō.
• Isaiah 7:14 — Immanuel — the first text to speak of a woman bearing 'God with us.'
• Luke 1:43 — 'the mother of my Lord.'

'Mother of God' is a statement about Jesus before it is a statement about Mary, which is why the Fathers who coined it were the Fathers who fought for his divinity — and why the word can be built out of Matthew's first chapter.

• Athanasius of Alexandria — Against the Arians 3.29 (pp 82, 84) · read
• Gregory of Nazianzus — Letter 101 (p 82) · read
• Council of Ephesus (431) (pp 82–83) · read
• Catechism of the Catholic Church — CCC 466, 495 (p 83) · read