Mary is the New Eve. This is clearly seen by studying the role of Eve in the Old Testament (see Typology), studying Revelation, and confirming this with the writings of the Church Fathers.
At the end, we will see Mary’s role as the New Eve, the one who will work with Christ to crush the head of the devil.
The Old Creation and the New Creation
In the Old Testament, the story of the Old Creation is described over the course of seven days. Attached to this story is the story of our first parents, Adam and Eve.
In the New Testament, the Gospel of St. John describes the beginning of Christ’s ministry over the course of seven days. Attached to this story is the story of the main attendants at the Wedding Feast at Cana, Christ and Mary.
Let us study the parallels below.
Old Creation
New Creation
In the Old Testament, it is mentioned that God created the heaven and the earth (Genesis 1:1).
In the New Testament, it is mentioned that God created the world through the Word of God, who was God and was with God from the beginning (John 1:1-5).
On the first day, God created light (Genesis 1:3-5).
On the first day, the true light, Jesus Christ, came into the world (John 1:6-28).
On the second day, God created the sky and called it Heaven (Genesis 1:6-8).
On the second day, St. John the Baptist said he saw the Spirit descend like a dove from heaven and rest upon Jesus Christ (John 1:29-34).
On the third day, God created the foundation that would support life: the land, the sea and all the vegetation on earth (Genesis 1:9-13).
On the third day, Jesus Christ called His first disciples, the ones who would spread the Gospel around the world. He brought them to His home, and renamed Simon to Peter (John 1:35-42).
On the fourth day, God created the sun, the moon, the stars, the day and night, and the seasons (Genesis 1:14-19).
On the fourth day, Jesus Christ called two more disciples, Philip and Nathanael, and Nathanael exclaimed that Christ was the Son of God and King of Israel (John 1:43-51).
God created the world over the course of six days and He rested on the seventh day. During this time, God created man and this man named his helper “woman”; unfortunately their ministry in paradise would soon come to an end.
Jesus Christ prepared for His ministry over the course of six days and He feasted on the seventh day during the Wedding feast at Cana. During this time, Jesus Christ named his mother “woman”; and God’s ministry for man’s redemption would begin (John 2:11).
St. John wanted to show that Christ came to begin the New Creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). If the story of the Old Creation included our first parents Adam and Eve, then the story of the New Creation must also include an Adam and an Eve.
If St. Paul calls Christ the new Adam (1 Cor:15:45), and if Adam named his helper “woman”, then when Christ calls His mother “woman”, she is His helper and the New Eve.
Now, let us study the parallel between the old Adam and Eve and the new Adam and Eve. But, before we do, please note the following:
- Eve comes from Adam, because the woman was formed out of the man.
- Mary comes from Christ, because Christ created her.
- But, Christ also comes from Mary, because He was born into the world through her.
This means we can compare Mary to Adam, because as Adam was created before Eve, Mary was created before Christ was incarnated. But, we can also compare Mary to Eve, because as Eve is titled “woman” by Adam, Mary is titled “woman” by Christ.
The First Adam and Eve
The Last Adam and Eve
The Wedding Feast at Cana
When God created mankind, He began by creating His son (Luke 3:38). He did not want the man to be alone, so His plan was to create for him a helper. Their ministry was the first marriage (Genesis 2:24-25).
When God created mankind, the Son of God was already with God (John 1:1). He did not want mankind to be lost, so His plan was to send His Son into the world to save the world (John 3:16-17). His ministry will lead to the last marriage (Revelation 21:1-8).
Christ began His ministry at a marriage feast.
To create the son of God, God created the man from the earth and breathed into him life. And the man was free from sin.
To incarnate the Son of God, God created Mary and the Holy Spirit incarnated the Son of God in her. And Mary was free from sin (Luke 1:28).
As Adam came before Eve, Mary is listed as an attendant at the wedding before Christ and His disciples.
Man did not know he needed the woman and so God never asked for his consent, but God knew what would make his son fulfilled, so He created the woman from the man. If God so chose, man could have produced children without the woman, but that was not His decision.
Mankind did not know He needed God (John 3:19), but Mary did (Luke 1:54-55). Whereas God did not seek the man’s consent, God sought Mary’s consent to incarnate His Son. In other words, God left the decision of mankind’s salvation in the hands of Mary. If God so chose, Christ could have come into the world fully formed, but that was not His decision.
The couple, as we will soon see, did not know they needed Christ’s help. Just as God sought Mary’s consent, Mary sought God’s (who is Christ) consent to help the couple. In other words, Christ left the decision to help the couple in the hands of Mary. If Christ so chose, He could have helped the couple directly, but that was not His decision.
The man was overjoyed at not being alone.
Mary was overjoyed at the news of the coming salvation (Luke 1:46-55).
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The first words spoken by the man was “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man” (Genesis 2:23)
With Mary being a virgin (Isaiah 7:14), Christ was literally “bone of her bones, and flesh of her flesh.”
The first words spoken by Christ at the wedding feast was “O woman, what have you to do with me? My hour has not yet come,” (John 2:4). Mary is titled “woman” and therefore declared the New Eve and her role in Christ’s ministry will be unveiled at “the hour.”
The woman was then tempted by the devil in paradise. She spoke her first words in Scripture to the devil on behalf of God and succumbed to the devil. She disobeyed God and her soul was injured and her ministry in paradise ended (Genesis 3:1-6).
God sought Mary’s consent while she lived in poverty (Luke 2:24). Unlike the woman, Mary spoke her first words in Scripture to the angel of God on behalf of humanity. She obeyed the will of God because her soul was full of grace (Luke 1:28) and began her ministry as Queen Mother to the King of Kings.
Unlike the woman who did not ask her husband for help against the devil, Mary sought Christ’s help for the couple. Mary’s last two statements in scripture are in John 2 before she goes into silence. The first, Mary asks Christ to help the married couple. The second, Mary tells the servants to obey Christ.
Corrupted by her fall, she then tempted the man.
Whereas the woman corrupted her husband, Mary raised her Son in virtue (Luke 2:52).
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The man, despite having everything he could have asked for from God, succumbed to the devil, his soul was injured and his ministry in paradise ended (Genesis 3:6-7).
Unlike the man, Christ ventured into the desert and, despite starving for forty days, overcame the temptations of the devil because He is all holy and began His ministry to redeem mankind.
At the wedding, despite Christ’s seeming desire not to start His ministry at that moment, He listened to His mother and began His ministry to redeem mankind.
God discovered their betrayal and the actions of the devil and declared the first prophecy, the protoevangelium:
I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed: she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel. – Genesis 3:15
We will discuss the protoevangelium shortly when we look for what it means for Mary to be the New Eve.
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The man and the woman were then justly but sadly banished from paradise body and soul.
Christ ascended into Heaven body and soul. Shortly after, when Mary died or was close to death, tradition teaches us that she too was taken into Heaven body and soul.
Christ departs from the wedding with His mother and His disciples. Where Christ goes, His mother goes.
Finally, Adam and Eve both must co-operate to create new children, born of flesh. This was by God’s design. God could have made Adam have children alone, but He chose that Adam work with Eve.
Likewise, if Mary is the new Eve, we know that Christ, who is God, though He does not need to, chooses to co-operate with Mary to create the new children born of grace (John 1:13). This is proven in Revelation 12:17 where it says that the woman who gives birth to the Son of God (Mary) is also the mother of those who “keep the commandments of God and bear testimony to Jesus.”
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Any new child born from the union of Adam and Eve would have an injury in their soul called Original Sin and would one day die.
Every child born of grace, saved by Christ and under the motherhood of Mary, is fully sanctified and made holy to live forever (Romans 5:21).
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The man named his wife Eve because she was the mother of all the living, even though they could not live forever.
If Eve is the mother of the living who will die, then Mary, being the New Eve, is the mother of those made truly alive in Christ (Matthew 22:32).
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The Role of the New Eve
Mary is the New Eve. This being the case, what is her role as the new mother of the living? We know the role of Eve when we look at the seventh day of the Old Creation. We can therefore know the role of Mary when we look at the seventh day of the New Creation, which is the Wedding Feast at Cana.
- Mary is mentioned as an attendant at the wedding before Christ because Mary brings Christ into people’s lives. This is also seen when Mary visited St. Elizabeth and brought Christ into her life (Luke 1:39-45).
- Mary’s role as the New Eve will be unveiled at “the hour.” This is discussed in the article, “Mediatrix of All Graces.”
- Mary only ever prays for others. She prayed for the redemption of mankind (Luke 1:46-55) and she prayed for the couple at the wedding.
- Mary directs everyone to obey her Son. Mary does not seek attention for herself, she directs everything to God.
- Mary has a special favor with her Son. Christ will listen to her more than anyone else. As per St. Alphonsus Marie Liguori, if anyone else asked to help the couple, Christ would not have; but for His mother, He did.
- Where Christ is in public ministry, there also is His mother (Matthew 2:11, Luke 8:19-21, John 2:12, John 19:25).
The Mother who Crushes Satan’s Head
Mary has one more role that is found in the protoevangelium. When Eve fell to the devil, God declared the first prophecy, the protoevangelium:
I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed: she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel. – Genesis 3:15
God is to put enmity between the woman and the devil. There should already be enmity between Eve and the devil, but God declares that a woman in the future will be his adversary (St. Alphonsus Marie Liguori).1
Who is this woman? And who are her seed? For this, we can turn to Revelation 12.
The Woman of the Protoevangelium
The Woman of Revelation 12
The protoevagenlium states that the serpent will lie in wait for her heel.
In Revelation 12, the dragon lies in wait by the heel of the woman.
The protoevagenlium states that there will be enmity between the woman and the serpent.
In Revelations 12:13 and 12:17, we see that there is a war between the woman and the devil.
The protoevagenlium states that there will also be enmity between her seed and his seed.
In Revelation 12:5, the woman gives birth to the Son of God who is obviously the adversary of the devil and his children (1 John 3:10). Furthermore, the saints who “keep the commandments of God and bear testimony to Jesus” are called her offspring and they too are in a war against the devil (Revelation 12:17).
As seen above, the woman prophesied in the protoevangelium is the same woman of Revelation 12. And who is this woman? She is the one who gives birth to the Son of God: she is Mary. Recall again:
I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed: she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel. – Genesis 3:15
Therefore, by God’s ordinance as per the protoevangelium, Mary’s additional role as the new Eve is to war against the devil; for her children (us) to war against his children; and for her, with Christ, to finally crush the head of the devil as Eve should have done with Adam.