New American Bible: Acts 4:10, 12, “all of you and all the people of Israel should know that it was in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazorean whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead…There is no salvation through anyone else, nor is there any other name under heaven given to the human race by which we are to be saved.”
The footnote to these verses state, “4, 12: In the Roman world of Luke’s day, salvation was often attributed to the emperor who was hailed as ‘savior’ and ‘god.’ Luke in the words of Peter, denies that deliverance comes through anyone other than Jesus.”
The New Testament of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ:
Acts 4:10, 12, “be it known to you and to all the people of Israel that in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead…Neither is there salvation in any other. For there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”
The New Testament Rendered from the Original Greek with Explanatory Notes:
Acts 4:10, 12, “be it known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead…Nor is there salvation in any other, since there is no other name under heaven appointed among men as the necessary means of our salvation.”
Mary’s Essential Role and, Who Gave us the Son?:
Among other things Mary is credited by Popes, Catholic theologians and apologists as being the one who gave Jesus to the world.
The Catholic Catechism:
#494 “[Mary] became the cause of salvation for herself and for the whole human race.’”
#969 “by her [Mary’s] manifold intercession continues to bring us gifts of eternal salvation.”
#964 “Mary’s role in the Church is inseparable from her union with Christ…in the work of salvation…enduring with her only begotten Son the intensity of his suffering, joining herself with his sacrifice.”
In Ad Diem Illum-8 Pius X wrote that Mary was “entrusted with the task of tending and nourishing this Victim [Christ] and even of offering it on the altar at the appointed time.”
Catholic Theologian Dr. Ludwig Ott states, “The Incarnation of the Son of God, and the Redemption of mankind by the vicarious atonement of Christ were dependent on her [Mary’s] assent….Mary gave the source of all grace to men.”1
Mark Brumley writes, “‘it was she who, free of the stain of actual and original sin, and ever most closely bound to her Son, on Golgotha offered that Son to the Eternal Father together with the complete sacrifice of her maternal rights and maternal love.”2
Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J., “Except for Our Lady, we would not have the Blessed Sacrament. It is she who gave her Divine Son the flesh and blood in which Christ is present in the Holy Eucharist.”3
New American Catechism Rev. Lawrence G. Lovasik, “Taken up to heaven she [Mary] did not lay aside this salvific duty, but by her constant intercession continues to bring us the gifts of eternal salvation (Vatican Council II, The Church 62)…In the plan of God, the salvation of the world had been made dependent on Mary’s decision at that moment [the Annunciation]…At the Incarnation, Mary gave Jesus to us. On Calvary, Jesus gave us his Mother. Acting as the One Mediator, he fixed the new plan of salvation.”4
Reverends James Killgallon and Gerard Weber, “Mary not only gave Christ to the world, she also gave him back to his Father, receiving in exchange the whole sinful race which had been the cause of his death.”5
Most Rev. E. K. Lynch stated
[God] has given his word that if we use the means of salvation which He has left, the crowning grace of final perseverance will be ours. One of the greatest means of final perseverance we have is devotion to our Blessed Mother. It is the constant teaching of the Church that devotion to God’s Mother is not only a means but a pledge of eternal salvation. Those who shelter their weakness in the motherly Heart of the Mother of our redemption ‘shall draw salvation from the Lord.’…
She is our life, our sweetness and our hope; in her we may find the beauty of eternal life. To whom shall we go for an assurance of salvation if not to her who, in order to save us, offered both her Only-begotten and herself to the cruel death of the Cross? ‘It is not near the Cross,’ says St. Bernard, ‘that Mary is found but on it, nailed to its beams as Jesus is.’6
Yet, Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).
Archbishop Francis Cardinal Spellman wrote, “God-given glories of grace flow to us through Mary, merciful Mother of mankind, who alone can bring us to Christ as she brought Christ to us. And He, our King of Kings, will save us and the world, if we but go to Him through Blessed Mary…The saints, martyrs, confessors and virgins, the ancient angelic choirs and all the hosts of heaven, blend through hymns of praise with ours, when we acclaim Mary, Queen of Heaven and of Earth…To Christ through Mary, his Mother, we must daily pray for peace, for we…know Mary’s might and her mercy.”7
Catholic Apologist Karl Keating, “she gave the world its Redeemer, the source of all graces and in this sense she is the channel of all graces.”8
Associate Professor of theology Alan Schreck writes, “Many early Christian writers noted that God allowed his whole plan of salvation to hinge on Mary’s free response to Gabriel’s message. Because of her ‘yes’ to God, Mary is the new Eve, reversing the first Eve’s ‘no.’ By the disobedience of Eve, all mankind became immersed in the bondage of sin. Mary’s obedience to God opened the way for the saving work of Jesus.”9 This borders on dismissing God’s omniscience. God was not biting His nails when He sent the angel to Mary, He knew what would happen before the creation of the universe.
Most Rev. E. K. Lynch, “‘God’s love,’ says St. Augustine, ‘never deserts us.’ If this be true of the love of God for the sinner, it is, in a sense, even more true of the love of Mary, for her love is that of a Mother. Even though we may desert her, she will never desert us.”10
Yet, it is Jesus Christ who said, “surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:20).
New American Catechism, Rev. Lawrence G. Lovasik, “The Blessed Virgin is the collaborator with the Divine Word and with the Holy Spirit in the mighty work of the Incarnation. She occupies the same essential role in the work of sanctification of souls…[she has the] function as mediatrix of all graces.”11
Rev. Ralph W. Beiting states that Jesus “became man for our salvation, but it was only in Mary and by Mary. As God could have chosen a thousand other ways of redeeming us.”12
Rather than Mary’s obedience scripture point to Christ’s, “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus…And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross!” (Philippians 2:5-8).
Scripture clearly states that it was God who gave us Jesus and that Jesus gave Himself to us:
For 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. (John 3:16).
The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father (John 10:17-18).
Pope Paul VI stated the following:
“We seek refuge under the protection of your mercies, oh Mother of God; do not reject our supplication in need but save us from perdition, O you who alone are blessed.”13
“her free consent and her generous cooperation in the designs of God had, and still have, a great influence in the attainment of human salvation.14
Therefore every Christian must make St. Anselm’s prayer his own: ‘Oh, glorious Lady, grant that through you we may deserve to ascend to Jesus, your Son, who through you deigned [to condescend, do or grant] to descend among us.’”15
“Neither the grace of the divine Redeemer, nor the powerful intercession of His Mother and our spiritual Mother, nor yet her sublime sanctity, could lead us to the port of salvation if we did not respond to them by our persevering will to honor Jesus Christ and the Holy Virgin with our devout imitation of their sublime virtue.”16
“our era may well be called the Marian era. In fact, if it is true that, by an exalted grace of the Lord, the providential role of the most holy Mary in the history of salvation has been more deeply understood by the vast strata of the Christian people.”17
“she has a most singular role in ‘the mystery of the Incarnate Word and of the Mystical Body,’ that is to say, in ‘the economy of salvation.’”18
“from her who is the Immaculate, the holy, the cooperator of the Son in the work of restoration of supernatural life in souls.”19
The Catholic Catechism states:
#494, “As St. Irenaeus says, ‘Being obedient she became the cause of salvation for herself and for the whole human race.’”20
#964, “Mary’s role in the Church is inseparable from her union with Christ and flows directly from it. ‘This union of the mother with the Son in the work of salvation is made manifest from the time of Christ’s virginal conception up to his death’; [LG 57] it is made manifest above all at the hour of his Passion:…enduring with her only begotten Son the intensity of his suffering, joining herself with his sacrifice in her mother’s heart, and lovingly consenting to the immolation of this victim, born of her: to be given.”
#969 states, “Taken up to heaven she did not lay aside this saving office but by her manifold intercession continues to bring us gifts of eternal salvation.”
#966, “The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin is a singular participation in her Son’s Resurrection…‘In giving birth you kept your virginity…You conceived the living God and, by your [Mary’s] prayers, will deliver our souls from death.’”21
#968, “‘In a wholly singular way she cooperated by her obedience, faith, hope and burning charity in the Saviour’s work of restoring supernatural life to souls. For this reason she is a mother to us in the order of grace.’[LG 61]”
Mary the Savior?:
Poor Mary, she was blessed, so humble and obedient, if tears were possible in heaven she would surely be crying about the false things being taught about her, things that she would have never accepted.
“In his encyclical on the Queenship of Mary, Pope Pius XII taught: If Mary, in taking an active part in the work of salvation, was, by God’s design, associated with Jesus Christ, the source of salvation itself, in a manner comparable to that in which Eve was associated with Adam, the source of death, so that it may be stated that the work of our salvation was accomplished by a kind of ‘recapitulation,’ in which a virgin was instrumental in the salvation of the human race, just as a virgin had been closely associated with its death; if, moreover, it can likewise be stated that this glorious Lady had been chosen Mother of Christ ‘in order that she might become a partner in the redemption of the human race.’”22
Sisters of St. Basil published the following Novena, which is a repetitive prayer, “Come to my aid, dearest Mother…In thy hands I place my eternal salvation, and to thee I entrust my soul…take me under thy protection, and it is enough for me.”23
Most Rev. E. K. Lynch, “St. Alphonsus addresses her in the following words: ‘Thou canst relieve the most wretched and save the most abandoned.’ And St. Hilary says: ‘Even though one has been a sinner, if he has been devoted to Mary, he shall not perish forever.’”24
Saint Augustine wrote, “Eve is the mother of the human race; Mary the author of their salvation. Eve formed us; Mary strengthened us. We multiply every day through Eve; we reign eternally through Mary: we are borne down to earth by Eve, and raised to heaven through Mary.”25
Pope Pius IX wrote, “Let all the children of the Catholic Church…with entire confidence have recourse to this sweetest Mother of grace and mercy in all dangers, difficulties, necessities, doubts, and fears…she who bears towards us the affection of a mother, and who through her interest in the affairs of all humankind is solicitous for our salvation.”26
Venerable Mary of Agreda wrote, “Words of the Queen [Mary]…men know me to be their Mother, Advocate and Protectress in heaven, ready to guide and assist them to eternal life…I may justly complain of men, that they load themselves with eternal damnation and refuse me the glory of saving their souls.”27
Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J., “the Blessed Virgin enters as mediatrix par excellence. We presume that she co-operated fully with the graces she received, to save her own soul…Alongside her Son, Mary has become part of this plan by contributing her share to the justification of the human race, beginning with herself and extending to everyone ever justified.”28
Most Rev. E. K. Lynch, “the power of her mercy and the tenderness of her promise to those whom she clothes with her garment of salvation.”29
Jesus Corrects Human Error:
In complete opposition to the above teachings, Jesus point to Himself exclusively as the one and only savior with no counterpart and no helper.
“Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me’” (John 14:6).
“And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life” (1st John 5:11-12).
“Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures” (1st Corinthians 15:1-4).
“Rejoice, O nations, with his people, for he will avenge the blood of his servants; he will take vengeance on his enemies and make atonement for his land and people” (Deuteronomy 32:43).
Jesus “became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him” (Hebrew 5:9).
“Jesus lives forever, He has a permanent priesthood. Therefore He is able to save completely those who come to God through Him, because He always lives to intercede for them” (Hebrews 7:24-25)
Jesus said, “I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved” (John 10:9)
“Since we have now been justified by His blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through Him! For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through His life!” (Romans 5:9-10)
“‘The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,’ that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:8-9)
“Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12)
“Some men came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the brothers: ‘Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved.’ This brought Paul and Barnabas into sharp dispute and debate with them…No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are” (Acts 15:1-2, 11)
“The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. He then brought them out and asked, ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’ They replied, ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.’ Then they spoke the word of the Lord [the gospel] to him and to all the others in his house. At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his family were baptized” (Acts 16:29-33)
Note that these statements are all made in the singular I, He, Him, Jesus, is the one and only savior, not they nor them.