Theological glossary · FaithLogic

Theotokos (God-bearer)

The title for Mary affirmed at Ephesus (431): the one she bore is God the Son incarnate.

Greek Theos ('God') + tokos ('bearer / one who gives birth').

Luke 1:43, 'the mother of my Lord'; Galatians 4:4, 'God sent forth his Son, born of woman'.

Nestorius preferred 'Christotokos' ('Christ-bearer'); Cyril and the council held that this divided Christ into two subjects. The point of the title is Christological, not primarily Marian.

Says that the child of Mary is not a human person later joined to God, but the eternal Son himself, now also human.

Affirmed by Catholic, Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and classical Protestants; some low-church Protestants avoid the term for fear of Marian overtones, though the Reformers used it.

Open in the glossary for related terms and the doctrines this concept appears in.