“I, your servant, have never eaten at the table of Haman, nor have I graced the banquet of
the king or drunk the wine of libations. From the day I was brought here till now, your
servant has had no joy except in you, Lord, God of Abraham. O God, whose power is over
all, hear the voice of those in despair. Save us from the power of the wicked, and deliver me
from my fear.”
Esther 4, (C) 28-30 (NAB)

“And Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord.
May it be done to me according to your word.”
Luke 1, 38

The doctrine of the Blessed Virgin Mary as the new Eve, who is considered the spiritual "mother of all the living," was widely accepted by the faithful by the second century as part of the Apostolic Tradition of the Church. It wasn't just a theological opinion held by a few early religious thinkers, as Church Fathers Justin Martyr and Irenaeus referred to Mary as Eve's anti-type in their apologetic works against non-believers, Jews, and Gnostics. The Patristic Fathers of the first millennium consistently taught and elaborated on what they received from the apostles as part of the deposit of faith regarding our Blessed Mother's essential role in the divine order of redemption.

The idea that Mary is the new Eve, the free woman whom God promised from the beginning, comes from reflecting on Paul’s teaching of Jesus being the second Adam (1 Cor 15:20-23, 25). The early Church Fathers put the apostle’s words in the context of Adam and Eve’s fall from grace, the promise of redemption, and the final victory over Satan, which included his humiliating defeat by the faith and charity of an immaculate woman. They believed that the Incarnation could only have resulted from Mary’s free consent to be the mother of the Lord and Savior. The Devil’s dominion over souls on earth might finally be destroyed with the coming of the divine Messiah through his chosen mother’s obedient act of faith (Gen 3:15), which would undo what Eve had unfaithfully wrought by heeding the words of the serpent.

The early Christian community was primarily made up of Hebrew converts who were well-versed in the Pentateuch. Guided by the Holy Spirit, they must have drawn a connection between the forbidden fruit that Eve offered to Adam (Gen 1:6-8) and the fruit that Mary brought to humanity from her blessed womb (Lk 1:42). The difference between the two offerings was that Eve's resulted in humanity's separation from God and submission to both physical and spiritual death. In contrast, Mary's offering reconciled the world to God and gave hope for eternal life with Him.

In sacred Scripture, it is mentioned that Eve was created to be Adam's "helpmate" (Gen 2:18). However, she failed him and ultimately led to the fall of humanity (Gen 3:6, 8-13) by succumbing to the deception of the fallen angel. On the other hand, Mary collaborated with God as his helpmate in the redemption of mankind (Lk. 1:42). Mary received the word of the angel Gabriel with "faith and joy," unlike Eve who was deceived. While Eve sought joy in the vain allurements of this world, Mary found joy in God alone. The serpent exploited Eve's weakness by tempting her with the forbidden fruit, which she found appealing.

Mary played an active and essential role in mankind's redemption. Through her faith and love, she was able to mediate the coming of the Redeemer into the world. Being in a state of grace and always willing to please God, only Mary's free consent to be the mother of our Lord and Savior could fulfill God's will. The fruit of her womb, Jesus Christ, obtained the grace of justification and forgiveness for mankind and regenerated human souls unto life with God in the Spirit through his just merits.

Mary's role in the economy of salvation was not just physical or passive. Our Blessed Lady was not chosen by God solely to serve as a physiological means to an end without regard for her human dignity or being created in the divine likeness (Gen 1:27). Surely, God's sovereign omnipotence could not negate His goodness and righteousness. The eternal Divine Word could have become man just as quickly and been as human as we are by being formed out of the clay of the earth, as Adam had been (Gen 2:7). However, instead, He chose to be "made of a woman" (Gal 4:4).

The truth is that God had something more meaningful in mind for Mary other than being a natural mother when He fashioned her soul and sanctified it upon her conception, preserving her free from every stain of sin (Lk 1:28). Our heavenly Father willed with the necessity that Mary’s motherhood should be moral in nature; she was predestined to be intimately associated with the Son in His redemptive work. Her collaboration with God in His grace was necessary since Eve had freely disobeyed God to fall from His grace. Eve’s transgression had to be blotted out most perfectly: through reciprocation. The incarnation wouldn’t have occurred by default without the Virgin Mary’s salutary free consent to be the mother of our Lord and Savior – the unblemished Lamb of God. In the words of Melito de Sardis from his Easter Homily (A.D. 170): “He was born of Mary the fair ewe.”

The coming hope of the world's salvation rested on the obedient act of faith, charity, and grace of our Blessed Lady. This was only fitting in keeping with God's goodness and righteousness. It is because of Eve's moral contribution to the fall of mankind by succumbing to the serpent's temptation that it was necessary for Mary to obey and act in faith. Eve's egoism could be the reason for her sin against God. She refused to obey God because of her inordinate love of self, which comes with pride and an inordinate desire for created things that she valued more than God, the Creator. In fact, she lost faith in what Adam told her about God's command to refrain from eating the forbidden fruit from the Tree of Knowledge. By receiving the serpent's words, she wished to be equally like God in her selfish pursuit of happiness, making herself the measure of her own existence, to be like God but before God and apart from God following her will ("radical self-deification").

Mary's contribution to mankind's reconciliation with God was moral in nature, too. But she humbly accepted the proposition of the angel Gabriel, aligning her will with that of God's. Mary's steadfast love and unwavering trust in God allowed her to esteem His will over her own, which is the essence of faith in Judaic thought. God was the measure of her life, and she acknowledged Him as her Creator and ultimate source of dependence. Mary relied on God for all her needs, and the pleasures of this world did not appeal to her. Her joy and peace came from her unwavering trust in God and her steadfast love for Him, which allowed her to live a truly fulfilling life in God's grace.

In light of Eve’s disobedience, Mary’s faith in charity and grace temporarily satisfied Divine justice and pleased God enough to become incarnate. God could look past Eve’s infidelity and instead focus on Mary’s faithfulness and love, despite the unworthiness of sinful humanity. As a result, the Son of God was able to undo Adam’s sin by humbling himself and taking on human form, even accepting death on a cross due to his perfect obedience to God’s will and immense love for Him (Phil 2:5-8). If Mary was to give birth to the divine Son and reconcile mankind with God, she had to have the same mindset and interior disposition of humility and poverty of spirit as her Son. She also had to have moral responsibility to God and the freedom of will.

God would not have entered the world in any other way than through the faith and charity of a woman who would undo Eve’s indifference and disobedience. Eve's actions ultimately led to the alienation of mankind from God. However, Mary's acceptance of God canceled out Eve's rejection of Him. Mary's consent at the Annunciation invited God back into the world, allowing Him to undo the damage wrought by Adam through Eve's suggestion. Eve's participation led to mankind's physical and spiritual death. In contrast, Mary's participation provided the hope of salvation to all who emulate her faith and charity in God's grace.

By vindicating Eve, Mary became the maternal advocate of the entire human race. She is truly our spiritual mother, whose womb provides regeneration unto life with God through her faith and love. The blessed fruit she has provided to all mankind can now be partaken of from the Tree of Life (Gen 3:24) through her merits in and through the merits of her divine Son, the living Font of all grace. The promise of eternal life has rested on the blessed fruit in the palms of Mary's extended hands ever since she joyfully consented to be the mother of our Lord and Savior in charity and grace.

Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty,
God hath shined forth.
Psalm 50, 2

Early Sacred Tradition

“He became man by the Virgin so that the course which was taken by disobedience in the beginning
through the agency of the serpent might be also the very course by which it would be put down.
Eve, a virgin and undefiled, conceived the word of the serpent and bore disobedience and death.
But the Virgin Mary received faith and joy when the angel Gabriel announced to her the glad
tidings that the Spirit of the Lord would come upon her and the power of the Most High would
overshadow her, for which reason the Holy One being born of her is the Son of God. And she
replied, ‘Be it done unto me according to your word.”
St. Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho 100
(155 AD)

“And Mary said, ‘Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your
word.’ Eve disobeyed God, yet Mary was persuaded to be obedient to God. In this way, the
Virgin Mary might become the advocate of the virgin Eve. And thus, as humanity fell into bondage
to death by means of a virgin, so it is rescued by a virgin. Virginal disobedience has been balanced in
the opposite scale by virginal obedience. For in the same way, the sin of the first created man
received amendment by the correction of the First-Begotten”
St. Irenaeus, Against Heresies 5:19:11, 38
(180-189 AD)

​“But we must consider another marvelous aspect of the comparison between Eve and Mary. Eve
became for men the cause of death, because through her death entered the world. Mary, however,
was the cause of life, because life has come to us through her. For this reason, the Son of God
came into the world, and, ‘where sin abounded grace super-abounded’ (Rom. 5:20). Whence death
had its origin, thence came forth life, so that life would succeed death. If death came from woman,
then death was shut out by him who, by means of the woman, became our life.”
St. Epiphanius of Salamis, Against Heresies, 87
(c.375 AD)