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Luther & Mary’s Perpetual Virginity: More Context

Luther & Mary’s Perpetual Virginity: More Context

Last updated on: June 6, 2026 at 12:52 am by Dave Armstrong

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Luther & Mary’s Perpetual Virginity: More Context 2026-06-06T00:52:32-04:00 Dave Armstrong

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+ His Belief in Her Virginity During Christ’s Birth (In Partu)

Photo credit: image for my article, “Martin Luther and the ‘Immaculate Purification’ of Mary” (Seton Magazine, 5-6-14)

As anyone who has followed my apologetics career would know, I’ve done a great deal of research on Martin Luther, the founder of Protestantism, including writing a book about him, and editing another consisting of his “traditional” or “Catholic” utterances. In the early 1990s, right after I became a Catholic and immediately launched into Catholic apologetics and study of Luther and the Protestant Revolt, I sought citations of Luther from whatever sources I could find.

In those pre-Internet days, they usually came from Catholic libraries, such as the one at the University of Detroit: a Jesuit school. Most of these dated from before the time that Luther’s works were seriously translated into English (in 1930: six volumes, and 1955: 55 volumes). In due course, I started publishing these online, after I uploaded my website in February 1997.

Because they dated from a time before the English sets of Luther became available, these works cited German editions of Luther, such as the 1883 Weimar set (the “gold standard”). Thus, I couldn’t pursue them further to examine the context of the statements. Since then, of course, many of Luther’s writings have become available online, and even the German versions can be translated with Google Translate. Others have provided lengthy citations from the works in English, which they have in electronic versions (i.e., they can easily cut-and-paste and avoid having to laboriously type out everything).

I don’t have those resources, but I do now possess the entire (originally) 55-volume set, Luther’s Works, which sits on a bookshelf right in my living room. It’s scheduled to be expanded to 82 volumes by 2025. This means that I have sometimes cited statements of Luther that had never been “officially” translated into English until the last fifteen years.

I’d like to first say a word about in partu virginity. “Ever virgin” means conception while remaining a virgin (virgin birth), virginity during childbirth, and perpetual virginity after the birth of Jesus (no siblings of Jesus or sexual activity).The Church has interpreted Mary’s virginity during the birth (in partu) as an inviolability of the hymen; in other words, it was a physically miraculous birth rather than a natural one. Traditionally, virginity literally meant (at least in one of its senses) inviolability of the hymen (more delicately or indirectly expressed as “physical integrity” or “bodily integrity”); not merely the absence of sex.

Mary didn’t suffer pain during childbirth, according to “in partu”. Why mention the “during” part? The miracle is that she was a virgin throughout the whole process of Jesus’ conception and birth, as well as afterwards. This has nothing to do with some silly supposed Catholic animus against sex or old celibate men against women. The entire reason is to reinforce and bolster the miraculous nature of the incarnation.

“In partu” (bodily integrity / physical integrity) is part and parcel of the de fide (highest level) dogma of Mary’s perpetual virginity, and it is binding on all Catholics. It is taught in Denzinger, Enchridion symbolorum: #291, 294, 427, 442, 503, 571, 1880: all of which are cited in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, #499, as is Vatican II, Lumen Gentium, #52, #57.

Some theologians hold that Mary’s in partu virginity is not itself de fide, but rather, is classified as sententia certa: defined by Dr. Ludwig Ott as follows: “A teaching pertaining to the Faith, or a theologically certain teaching (sententia ad fidem pertinens or theologice serta) is a doctrine, on which the Magisterium of the Church has not yet finally pronounced, but whose truth is guaranteed by its intrinsic connection with the doctrine of revelation (theological conclusions).” — Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma (2018 revision by my good friend, Dr. Robert Fastiggi), page 11. As such, it is nevertheless still binding on Catholics. For much more on this topic, word-search the section “Mary’s In Partu Virginity . . .” on my Blessed Virgin Mary web page.

I will present the relevant portions of Luther that address this topic and provide greater context, with the key sections bolded and sometimes also italicized. Luther’s words will be in blue, and excerpts regarding in partu virginity (which he did believe in), in green.

The following citations are from Luther’s treatise, That Jesus Christ Was Born a Jew, May 1523, in Luther’s Works, Vol. 45, 199-229; particular citation page numbers listed below:

A new lie about me is being circulated. I am supposed to have preached and written that Mary, the mother of God, was not a virgin either before or after the birth of Christ, but that she conceived Christ through Joseph, and had more children after that. Above and beyond all this, I am supposed to have preached a new heresy, namely, that Christ was [through Joseph] the seed of Abraham. (p. 199; bracketed comment in the original; from the editors; as throughout)

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We should be satisfied simply to hold that she remained a virgin after the birth of Christ because Scripture does not state or indicate that she later lost her virginity. . . . the Scripture stops with this, that she was a virgin before and at the birth of Christ; . . . (p. 206)

**

This is the way St. Matthew [1:18] construes this passage when he says, “When Mary the mother of Jesus had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child of the Holy Spirit,” etc. What does this mean other than that she was a young maiden who had not yet known a man although she was capable of it, but before she knew the man she was with child, and that this was an amazing thing since no maiden becomes pregnant prior to intercourse with a man? Thus, the evangelist regarded her in the same light as did the prophet, and set her forth as the sign and wonder.

Now this refutes also the false interpretation which some have drawn from the words of Matthew, where he says, “Before they came together she was found to be with child.” They interpret this as though the evangelist meant to say, “Later she came together with Joseph like any other wife and lay with him, but before this occurred she was with child apart from Joseph,” etc. Again, when he says, “And Joseph knew her not until she brought forth her first-born son” [Matt. 1:25], they interpret it as though the evangelist meant to say that he knew her, but not before she had brought forth her first-born son. This was the view of Helvidius which was refuted by Jerome.

Such carnal interpretations miss the meaning and purpose of the evangelist. (pp. 210-211)

**

The words of the evangelist do not refer to anything that occurred after the birth, but only to what took place before it. . . . Therefore, one cannot from these words [Matt. 1:18, 25] conclude that Mary, after the birth of Christ, became a wife in the usual sense; it is therefore neither to be asserted nor believed. All the words are merely indicative of the marvelous fact that she was with child and gave birth before she had lain with a man. (p. 212)

The form of expression used by Matthew is the common idiom, as if I were to say, “Pharaoh believed not Moses, until he was drowned in the Red Sea.” Here it does not follow that Pharaoh believed later, after he had drowned; on the contrary, it means that he never did believe. Similarly when Matthew [1:25] says that Joseph did not know Mary carnally until she had brought forth her son, it does not follow that he knew her subsequently; on the contrary, it means that he never did know her. Again, the Red Sea overwhelmed Pharaoh before he got across. Here too it does not follow that Pharaoh got across later, after the Red Sea had overwhelmed him, but rather that he did not get across at all. In like manner, when Matthew [1:18] says, “She was found to be with child before they came together,” it does not follow that Mary subsequently lay with Joseph, but rather that she did not lie with him. . . .

There are many more similar expressions, so that this babble of Helvidius is without justification; in addition, he has neither noticed nor paid any attention to either Scripture or the common idiom. (pp. 212-213)

Here are additional proofs that Luther believed in Mary’s virginity in partu, or during the birth of Jesus Christ:

She brought forth without sin, without shame, without pain and without injury, just as she had conceived without sin. The curse of Eve did not come on her, where God said: “In pain thou shalt bring forth children,” Gen. 3:16; otherwise it was with her in every particular as with every woman who gives birth to a child. (Sermon for Christmas Eve; Luke 2:1-14, translated by George H. Trabert, 24 December 1521; in Vol. 1 of Sermons of Martin Luther, The Church Postils; edited and partially translated by John Nicholas Lenker, 8 volumes. Volumes 1-5 were originally published in Minneapolis by Lutherans of All Lands, 1904-1906)

**

He was born of the immaculate Virgin Mary, without changing her physical and spiritual virginity, . . . (Personal Prayer Book, 1522, in Luther’s Works, Vol. 43, pp. 26-27)

She gave birth without labor, pain, and injury to herself, not as Eve and all other women, but because by the Holy Spirit and without sin, she became fertile, conceived, and gave birth in a way granted to no other woman. (Ibid., p. 40)

**

In chapter 7 he even describes the mother of Christ, the Virgin Mary, how she is to conceive and bear him with her virginity intact. (Preface to the Prophet Isaiah, 1528, in Luther’s Works, v. 35, p. 275)

Even the hyper-biased anti-Catholic Reformed Protestant James Swan concedes that Luther believed in Mary’s virginity in partu:

Yes, it’s true Luther adhered to Mary’s perpetual virginity, . . .

He held Mary retained her virginity during the birth of Christ (in partu) (LW 58:433-434). How was this possible? Luther held that Christ has a “spiritual mode” “to which he neither occupies nor yields space but passes through everything created as he wills,” including his mother (LW 37:222). (“Luther Believed in Mary’s Perpetual Virginity?“, Boors All, 4-20-20)

Martin Luther’s Belief in the Perpetual Virginity of Mary [9-23-14]

Luther & Mary’s Virginity [4-22-20]

Martin Luther: Mary Was a Perpetual Virgin [6-10-24]

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Photo credit: image for my article, “Martin Luther and the ‘Immaculate Purification’ of Mary” (Seton Magazine, 5-6-14)

Summary: I provide more context regarding one of Protestant founder Martin Luther’s affirmations of Mary’s perpetual virginity. I also document his belief in her “in partu” virginity.

Luther & perpetual virginity of Mary

Mary's Perpetual Virginity

Mary's virginity during childbirth

virgin birth

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