Mary Magdalene, a Second Eve

Originally posted on February 05, 2006 – by Andre Piet

Perhaps partly due to the hype surrounding The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown, we are currently witnessing a true revival of ancient Gnosticism. There appears to be great interest in ‘new’ interpretations of the role of Mary Magdalene. These interpretations come directly from the Gnostic Nag Hammadi writings (4th century, Egypt). Characteristic of this movement is the complete distortion of the testimony of the original New Testament. It falls into the category Paul wrote about in his final letter:
“…they will be turning their hearing away from the truth, yet will be turned aside to myths.” (2 Tim. 4:4)

The story goes… that Jesus, after His time in Israel, would have secretly begun a new life with Mary Magdalene and fathered children with her. Today, that is readily accepted—without any awareness of the original accounts as presented in the New Testament. The distortion lies in this: on the one hand, the literal statements of Scripture are denied, and on the other hand, the symbolic meanings are dragged down.

The typological meaning of Mary Magdalene is that she appears as a second Eve. Just consider:

The first plays a leading role in the garden of Eden.
The second plays a leading role in the garden of Arimathea.
Immediately after his deep sleep, Adam meets Eve.
Immediately after His death-sleep, “the last Adam” meets Mary Magdalene.
Adam was the first gardener.
Mary mistook Jesus for “the gardener.”

In her role as the ‘second Eve,’ Mary Magdalene is a type of the Ecclesia (Eph. 5:32). Strikingly, before “the last Adam” appears to “the twelve” (>Israel), He first has an encounter with this woman in the garden. Just as Eve once became “mother of all the living,” so Mary also stands symbolically at the cradle of all New Life.

In the end, the currently popular myth turns out to be nothing more than a pale imitation of this magnificent typology.

Delen: