What or who is the ark of covenant in New Testament? Catholics claim that Mary is the ark of the covenant because she carried God’s covenant in her body. What is your response?

The Ark of the Covenant was the wooden box, covered with gold, that contained Aaron’s rod, a piece of manna, and the ten commandments.  History is not exactly clear on when the ark was taken from Jerusalem, but it is most likely that it was taken by the Babylonians in 597 or 586 BC when they conquered and later sacked Jerusalem, or possibly earlier when the Egyptians took Jerusalem.  Though we do not know the exact fate of the Ark of the Covenant, we can be quite sure that it has almost certainly not existed for at least 2500 years.  Was it melted down for the gold? We simply do not know.

What we do know for sure is that there is no reliable record of its existence for well over two thousand years.  Some in the Coptic Church have claimed to possess the Ark in Axum, Ethiopia, but I do not believe that anyone outside the Ethiopian Coptic Church believe this claim, and those who claim to possess it do not show the ark.  This is clearly a bogus claim.

So, you ask “what or who is the Ark of the Covenant in the New Testament?”  There is not an Ark of the Covenant in the New Testament. Period.  The idea that Mary is the Ark is silly and can be totally discarded.  Based on what Scripture?  Mary is not a wooden box that contains Aaron’s rod, manna and the Ten Commandments!!!  In fact, in Christianity, unlike in Roman Catholicism, Mary plays an important and even inspiring role as the one who bore the Son of God, but after that, her role is relatively small.  She played little role, if any, in the early church. The Catholic practice of venerating Mary is not justified by any passage of Scripture.  Veneration of Mary is something which came many centuries later, particularly on the influence of Pope Gregory I.  But this is absolutely NOT a biblical teaching or practice. What Scripture can anyone quote to justify this teaching? Mary did not carry the covenant in her belly.  She carried the not-yet-born Son of God, but he is not the Covenant.  This idea Mary is the covenant-bearer suffers from a big problem.  It is not biblical and it is completely unsupportable from Scripture.

As Christians, we are under a New Covenant in Jesus Christ (Jeremiah 31:31, Hebrews 8), but that Covenant does not have an ark.  It does not need one.  There is no New Testament Ark of the Covenant.

John Oakes