This life-giving sacrifice on Jesus’s part would have been impossible if his mother, Mary, had not previously exercised her role as a life-giver, a role given expression in both the monthly cycle and in the blood and water present at the birth of Jesus. Indeed, the life-giving elements of water, blood, and the spirit that the time of birth are connected early in Christianity to the elements of spiritual life. (See 1 John 5:6, 8 and Moses 6:59-60 for the elements of water, blood, and the spirit [along with Luke 22:44 and John 19:34]) From a Latter-day Saint perspective tied to the reality of premortal existence, Mary became a second Eve. She first chose to enter mortality with all its attendant challenges for women as life-givers. She then chose to accept God’s will and give life to the Son of God, thereby making eternal life possible for all humanity. (Shon D. Hopkin, “Women, Eve, and the Mosaic Covenant: A Latter-day Saint Theological Reading,” in Seek Ye Words of Wisdom: Studies on the Book of Mormon, Bible, and Temple in Honor of Stephen D. Ricks, ed. Donald W. Parry, Gaye Strathearn, and Shon D. Hopkin [Provo, Utah: Interpreter Foundation and Religious Education, Brigham Young University, 2020], 196)
