In this article, we will debunk the claims and flagrant errors of “Pastor” John MacArthur on Catholicism and specifically Mary.  What Mr. MacArthur claims, and what the real truth is, are two different things. We will prove this with official Catholic sources.

Access to the Father ONLY though Mary

If you would like to watch our video on this topic, click here. John MacArthur asserts Mary is higher than Jesus in Catholicism, and even higher than God. Nothing could be more preposterous or erroneous. Based on this misconception, he then accused Catholicism of being like Judaism.

Yes, Catholicism somewhat resembles Judaism because Catholic Christianity came out of New Testament Judaism. The apostles, Mary, and Jesus were all Jewish. So of course, there are going to be some similarities. In fact, if there are no similarities, even remotely, between a certain Christian denominations and Judaism, then the denomination is not part of the Christian Church. The transition between biblical Judaism and Christianity was not completely cut off, but a true fulfillment of the Old Covenant.

John MacArthur claims that Catholics, like Jews, do not have access to the Father and believe that the only access they have is through Mary. This is a careless and erroneous statement. Catholics very much have access to the Father anytime through Jesus Christ, not Mary.

This shows that John has done no research, or as many Protestants claim, he is well-researched and being dishonest. We will disprove his claim with official Catholic teaching. Listen to what the Church teaches.

  • “It pleased God in his goodness and wisdom to reveal himself and to make known the mystery of his will. His will was that men should have access to the Father through Christ. The word made flesh in the Holy Spirit and thus become sharers in his divine nature” Catechism of the Catholic church, Paragraph 51).
  • “Having accomplished the work of the Father, which he had entrusted to the Son on earth (John 17:4) on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was sent to sanctify the Church forever, so that believers might have access to the Father through Christ in one spirit” (Vatican document: The Holy Spirit in the life of the Church and the World).
  • When we pray to the Father, we come into communion with Him and the life of the Trinity. So not only can we have access to the Father through Jesus Christ and what he did for us in the cross, but we can approach the father directly on our own and pray to him and have a very personal and close relationship with him (The Catechism of the Catholic Church paragraphs 2780 and 2781).

The Church’s teaching is black and white. So, again, Mr. MacArthur is either not doing any real research or he is dishonest in his presentation of Catholicism. Mr. MacArthur is spreading serious errors and slander about the Catholic Church to millions of people. It gets worse.

MacArthur then dishonestly references a Catholic systematic theology book from Ludwig Ott. He offers the following quote from Ott:

“Mary’s intercessory collaboration extends to all graces, so that no grace accrues to mankind without the intercession of Mary. The redemptive grace of Christ is conferred on no one without the actual intercessory cooperation of Mary.”

To reiterate, he states that Mary obtains everything for you, and you obtain nothing from God without her. You cannot approach God without her. MacArthur egregiously misquotes Mr. Ott out of context. The study and presentation is so irresponsible that he completely ignores the first part of Ott’s first sentence and leaves out the middle of the paragraph which literally contradicts what MacArthur says.

I am going to add back in the parts he cut and pasted to see what’s true and the context

  • Before the paragraph in question even begins, Ludwig Ott talks about the one mediatorship of Christ. He writes, “The God-man Jesus Christ is the natural, and as such, the sole mediator between God and man. All other forms of mediation are subordinated to the one mediation of Christ.

Based on these ultra clear quotes by Ott, how could MacArthur claim Mary as the sole mediator, even more than Christ? He clearly said Christ is the sole mediator, and any other mediating (like praying for one another) is subordinated to Christ. In fact, we all go to Jesus, and He alone goes to the Father on our behalf. That is what Ludwig Ott teaches.

  • When the paragraph starts, the text says, “According to the view of older, and many modern, theologians…” This is a very important part left out in MacArthur speech because it shows that the quote he extracted was a theological view and not a dogma or doctrinal teaching. Rather it was one spoken of by theologians. It goes on  to say, “The implications are not then that we are obliged to beg for all graces through Mary, nor that Mary’s intercession is intrinsically necessary for the application of graces.

In other words, there is no need to go to or through Mary. As a Catholic, we pray to the Father, to Jesus and to the Holy Spirit. We go to God and have a relationship with Him. Ludwig states that we are not obliged to go to Mary. Meanwhile, John MacArthur says Catholics only may go to God through Mary, which is the only way “they are ever going to get anything from the Father.”

It is very perplexing how someone of John MacArthur’s influence can be dishonest. This is a very common habit in anti-Catholics to continually misrepresent Catholicism and slander us. This is not from God. Influencers like him lead millions astray which is why we must know our faith and be able to defend it.

If you would like to see our demolishing of all of his anti-Catholic arguments, see our video series here:

John MacArthur DEBUNKED (Part 1) https://youtu.be/-4EhmDvO0XY?si=Ur5zN8wkbeKOGY0s

John MacArthur DEBUNKED (Part 2) https://youtu.be/_jHkaWcMGEQ?si=ExUXcNGS_a201RV2

John MacArthur DEBUNKED (Part 3) https://youtu.be/Ab62JUjJTJ8