Catholics, does Mary have anything to do with the Trinity?

Question

The reason I ask is because Jehovah's Witnesses seem to think Mary is part of the Trinity doctrine. In their brochure "Should you believe in the Trinity?" they say: "If the Trinity is false, it is degrading to Almighty God to call anyone his equal, and even worse to call Mary 'the mother of God'... Does it honor God to call anyone his equal? Does it honor him to call Mary 'the mother of God' and the co-redemptress... between the Creator and his creatures as does the New Catholic Encyclopaedia?"

This gives the impression that Mary, being God's mother and a co-redemptress is part of the Trinity teaching.

Would you please clarify your teachings on the Trinity to show that Mary has nothing to do with it? I uphold the Trinitarian doctrine of the Triune nature of the Godhead, but there is no room for Mary to be included. I think the JW's may have twisted Catholic teachings to suit their own beliefs and confused the issue by bringing Mary into it.

Some excellent answers here. My thanks to imacatholic2 for his clear and concise explanation of the Trinity doctrine and for confirming that Mary has nothing to do with the Trinity.

My thanks also to Traveller (Anglican) for his unambiguous explanation. You made the point crystal clear.

no1home2day gave a brilliant analogy with the water/ice/steam example. It illustrates the principle of three-in-one beautifully. Oh, just to clarify for those who think the Trinity equasion is 1 + 1 + 1 (which could never = 1). It's 1 x 1 x 1 = 1. Simple, yes?

I appreciate the JW input but there is one point that confuses me. HannaJPaul said "If the trinity is true, we degrade Jesus if we say he was never equal to God." Who says that? I think the point may have been missed here. God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit are equal - equal in purpose, equal in thought and equal in deed. All three were present at creation, working in harmony. All three are present now, working in harmony

I appreciate Anna's comments on how the notion of Mary being a co-redeemer came about, and how it has no Biblical basis.

To LineDancer (and it is always a pleasure to read your contributions) we agree on something! Mary was the earthly mother of God's Son, not God himself. As to your challenge to tell you how JW's have twisted Catholic teachings... and confused the issue... please take careful note of the Best Answer.

My thanks and appreciation to everyone who has taken the time and the trouble to answer this question. Oh, and if you got a thumbs down, it wasn't me!

Answer 1

I have the JW 'Trinity' brochure (though I'm not a JW) and would confirm that the Asker's quote is sufficiently correct for the purpose it was used. Note the ellipses (...) that show where a bit is missing. The missing bits don't misconstrue the quote. The essential point is correctly conveyed, that the JW brochure deliberately ties in RC views of Mary being 'Mother of God' and 'Mediatrix... between the Creator and His creatures' with the Trinity doctrine. Now, this is very subtly done and it's important folk realise what's going on here.

The JW brochure does NOT remind readers that such Mariolatry didn't arise till after the Trinity doctrine had been carefully worded by Church councils. So, bringing in later RC doctrine about Mary is a red herring. It's deliberately clouding the issue of whether the Trinity is right, or wrong. Other groups antagonistic to RCism do the same, notably Islam, which uses arguments astonishingly similar to the JW ones to attack the Trinity. They imply Christians believe Mary is divine as they call her the Mother of God, refusing to acknowledge that millions of Christians abhor praying to Mary and so on. The JWs are the same. Worse, the Mormon religion (saying Elohim had sex with Mary) only provides fuel for the anti-Trinitarian fires. Interestingly, neither JWs nor Mormons are orthodox Christians. So here we have three groups contributing to misrepresentation of the Trinity doctrine.

The JWs will never understand the Trinity as long as they read their leaders' literature on it, and RCs are in a difficult position to clarify due to post-Trinitarian adulation of Mary compromising an otherwise worthy stance. So I would say the JWs are right to criticise Mariolatry, but very naughty to use that as ammunition against the Trinity doctrine.

Answer 2

Mohammad thought so too. Even in the Koran the trinity is believed to be Father, Mary & Jesus. So? This isn't the Christian trinity. There are three persons of the Creator...Father, Word & Holy Spirit who Is One God.

Jesus said to baptize in the Name of the Father, son & Holy Spirit. Mary is not the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit never comes in the form of Mother Mary. Mary is blessed among women in that she is the virgin Mother of Jesus, the Son of the Living God.

Jesus is conceived by the Holy Spirit who is of God the trinity. The trinity is God the Father, Son & Holy Spirit. Jesus is the 'Seed of the Women' promised in Genesis3:15. That He was born of the Womens seed & not mans seed where the rest of us get the sin nature. Jesus was tempted like the first Adam, but was without sin. He was victorious. So, we can overcome the death curse also.


I think some Catholic cults think Mary is part of the trinity. And that is what Mohammed condemned. But Muslims don't know that. But most Catholics believe the Trinity is God the Father, Word/Son & Holy Ghost. And these three are one.

Answer 3

Mary has in no way been a factor of the Trinity. She grow to be in no way a factor of the Trinity with the aid of fact the Catholic church first defined it. you notice no information interior the early writings of the 1st Christians the two of Mary being a factor of the Trinity. Catholics do no longer worship Mary. Worship is reserved for God basically.

Answer 4

The doctrine of the Holy Trinity states that there is one true God made up of three separate but equal persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

The Bible does not contain the word Trinity. However, the Holy Trinity is hinted at repeatedly in both the Old and New Testaments. For many biblical references, see: http://www.cwo.com/~pentrack/catholic/Trinity.txt

Under the influence of the Holy Spirit, the early Christians prayed and struggled over these hints for a couple of centuries. The concept of the Holy Trinity (three equal persons in one God) was mainstream Christianity in 325 C.E. at the Council of Nicaea and our belief is expressed in the Nicene Creed from that council:

We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is seen and unseen.

We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, one in being with the Father. ...

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son. With the Father and the Son, He is worshiped and glorified. ...

This belief is shared by most Christian denominations including Roman and Orthodox Catholics, Lutherans, Anglicans, Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, Pentecostals, Episcopalians, and the Salvation Army.

Other than being the earthly mother of Jesus, God the Son, the Blessed Virgin Mary has nothing to do with the Trinity.

With love in Christ.

Answer 5

I also think they attempt to demonize Catholics, especially, over any other religion. Not sure why that is. Maybe that's the subject for another question.

as to your question, I don't know. But I do see two admitted Jehovah's Witness answerers here have contradicted one another in their answers, so they really don't have a clue what their organization believes, it's just another opportunity to harass Catholics.

Jehovah's Witness literature repeatedly uses namecalling and disparaging language to demonize the Catholic religion. Not every Trinitarian is Catholic, yet here in this brochure, they've chosen to use Catholicism as their whipping boy. Like I said, I'm not quite sure why they're particulary focused on Catholics, but this could explain their motivation for referencing Mary in such a way in this Witness brochure. The brochure uses the phrases "degrading" and "even worse" when speaking of the Trinity information, then makes sure the reader knows their information about the Trinity is referenced from the New Catholic Encyclopaedia. sounds like namecalling and an attempt to slyly demonize to catholics to me.

this example is one of a multitude of their literature's blasphemous and snarky references to the Catholic church, all of which cannot all be referenced here.

Answer 6

Catholic belief is that the Trinity is God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit are all one being.

Mary is honored as the bearer of Jesus Christ in his human form on Earth, but is not worshiped as a part of the Trinity.

Answer 7

Toward the end of his papacy, John Paul 2 declared Mary "co-redeemer" and sort of put her in as an adjunct to the Trinity.

There is no Biblical basis for this, of course, but the idea is that she is worthy of the same respect as Jesus because she was considered worthy to bear Him so she must have been very special.

It's another in in a long line of dogmas about the Virgin that aren't backed up by any Biblical material.

I am neither Catholic nor JW but I am a Christian and have read the Bible many times over and studied it in depth.

Answer 8

From an Anglican (English Catholic), Mary is not part of the Trinity. She is the mother of Jesus, who is part of the Trinity, therefore the mother of God The Son. But not the mother of God the Father, or God the Holy Spirit.

The JW Bible is not translated accurately according to all Hebrew and Christian scholars I have heard, read or know of. But, that's what they preach. They have come up with their own translation to support their religion, not visa versa.

Answer 9

the Trinity consists in God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Mary is the mother of Jesus, who is the second person of the Trinity. Thus, one can logically deduce that Mary is the Mother of God, however she is not part of the Divine Trinity.

Answer 10

No she doesn't have anything to do with the trinity. Add Mary to God the father, Son and Holy Spirit and it's not a trinity is it?