In the realm of Christian doctrine, the Roman Catholic Church has constructed a towering edifice of error with its doctrine of the perpetual virginity of Mary—a doctrine so fundamentally flawed that it not only contradicts biblical truth but also undermines the very essence of the Christian faith. This is the doctrine of the perpetual virginity of Mary—a doctrine birthed not from the Holy Scriptures but from the murky depths of man-made traditions and apocryphal texts.

The roots of this doctrine can be traced back to the apocryphal text, Infancy Gospel of James, also known as the Protoevangelium of James. This text, glaringly spurious and riddled with fanciful tales, is a far cry from the inspired Word of God. Yet, it is this very text that laid the foundation for the Roman Catholic Church’s erroneous belief in Mary’s perpetual virginity. It’s a glaring example of how extrabiblical sources of doctrine lead even the most devout of professing Christendom astray, steering them away from the light of God’s truth into the damnable shadows of human fabrication.

The doctrine of Mary’s perpetual virginity is not merely a misrepresentation of the virgin birth, it is a theological aberration that strikes at the very core of the gospel itself. In elevating Mary to a sinless, quasi-divine status, the Roman Catholic Church does not simply err in its portrayal of a biblical figure. It casts a shadow over the central truth of Christianity: the full humanity and full divinity of Jesus Christ.

At the core of our faith is the hypostatic union—the unfathomable and magnificent union of Christ’s divine and human natures. This doctrine is foundational, for in it lies the mystery and the majesty of our redemption. Jesus Christ, fully God, possessing all the attributes of the Godhead, and fully man, sharing in our weaknesses and temptations, yet without sin, stands as the unique mediator between God and humanity.

However, when Mary is exalted to a state of sinlessness and perpetual virginity, it subtly shifts the focus from Christ’s unique nature to a manufactured sanctity of Mary. It implies, albeit indirectly, that Christ’s sinlessness is derivative of Mary’s supposed purity rather than His divine nature. This is a grave theological error that when worked out to its logical conclusion, renders the gospel powerless. Christ’s sinlessness is not contingent upon a sinless lineage but is an intrinsic aspect of His divine personhood. To suggest otherwise is to dilute the divine initiative in the incarnation and redemption.

By falsely idolizing Mary, the Roman Catholic Church diminishes the humanity of Christ. If Mary is viewed as eternally virgin and sinless, it creates a Christological distance between Jesus and the rest of humanity whom He came to save. The Scriptures affirm that Christ was “made like his brothers in every respect” (Hebrews 2:17), fully participating in the human experience, even sent in the likeness of sinful flesh (Romans 8:3), yet wholly without sin. By distorting Mary’s humanity, the Roman Catholic doctrine encroaches upon the fullness of Christ’s humanity.

As you can see, this distortion has profound implications for the gospel. The gospel message is rooted in the reality of Christ’s incarnation—God becoming man to redeem mankind. Any teaching that diminishes His full humanity or divinity, or that implies a need for human intervention (as in the sinlessness of Mary) for His sinlessness, undermines the very essence of the gospel. It shifts the focus from God’s grace and the sufficiency of Christ’s atoning sacrifice to human merit and falsely attributed sanctity.

Further, this doctrine warps the biblical view of marriage and procreation. By placing virginity on a pedestal above motherhood, it distorts the creation ordinance. Marriage and procreation, as instituted by God, are holy and honorable, not lesser states to be overshadowed by an imposed ideal of perpetual virginity.

Turning to the Scriptures, the true nature of Mary and her role in God’s plan becomes clear. The virgin birth, a climactic and prophetic event in redemptive history as flawlessly documented in Scripture, fulfilled the Old Testament prophecies and held immense theological significance. It was a sign of God’s miraculous intervention in history, a herald of the coming Messiah. But to extend this virginity beyond the birth of Christ is to venture into unbiblical territory. The New Testament unambiguously refers to Jesus’ siblings, using the Greek word for brothers and sisters in a natural, literal sense, not as the Roman Catholic Church alleges—a veiled reference to “cousins” or distant relatives.

The insistence on Mary’s perpetual virginity isn’t just a benign error, it’s a dangerous distortion that demands a firm, unyielding response. And it’s just one of its many, many heresies. When a belief system replaces the grace of God with false doctrines, it must be confronted. There can be no unity with those who propagate such damnable errors. To do so would be to lend credence to a system that has long abandoned the truth of Scripture, replacing the glory of God with the exaltation of human figures, whether it be Mary, the saints, the priesthood, or the pope himself, who refers to himself as the “vicar of Christ.”

The Roman Catholic Church’s doctrine of the perpetual virginity of Mary is a grave error, one that distorts the Gospel, undermines the truth of Scripture, and misrepresents the nature of Christ and His mother. It’s a doctrine that must be rejected with the utmost certainty and clarity, for the purity of our faith and the glory of our Lord demand nothing less.