One Mediator

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by David A. DePra 

For there is ONE Mediator between God and man, that man, Christ Jesus. (I Tim. 2:5)

 

Let's ask: What is a "mediator?" Generally, a mediator is "one who brings two parties together." He is a "go-between;" one who acts as a "conduit" between two parties. If someone is my mediator, I have to "go through them" to get to the party I really want to reach.

 

Jesus Christ is the ONE Mediator between God and man. This means that to reach God I have to "go through" (or "be in") Jesus Christ. There is no other name under heaven by which we can be saved. In Christ alone do we stand in the presence of God.

 

Note this great Truth:  Jesus is our Mediator unto God, not merely because of what He did.  That is certainly included.  But Jesus is our Mediator unto God by His very presence IN US.  Jesus is one with the Father, and we are one with Christ – that makes us one with the Father through Him.

 

So again we see the essential of understanding that Christianity is CHRIST IN US.  Everything comes back to this reality.  This Truth defines all, governs all, and exposes error.

 

No Other Mediators  

It is important that we stop right here and ask a simple but vital question: If Jesus is the one and only Mediator between God and man, then how many other mediators unto God are there?

 

Make this question even more specific: How many other mediators, in addition to Christ, exist for the Christian? The answer is, of course, more than obvious: There are NO other mediators between God and man. There are NO other mediators for the Christian. Christ alone is Lord, Savior, and Mediator.

 

Do we realize what this means?  It defines so much about God’s will for our relationships with other members of the body of Christ.  For example, if the Person of Christ -- the presence of Christ in the believer -- is only Mediator between us and God, then does not this Truth prove that I don't have to "go through" any man, church, or group to reach God -- because I am already in the presence of God through Jesus Christ?  Yes!   Because I have full and direct access to God through Christ alone, I need not -- indeed, I dare not -- try to "go through" anyone else to reach God. Thus, no leader, no church, and no spiritual or civil authority can take the place of Jesus Christ as sole Mediator for EACH Christian.

 

Jesus Christ as the one Mediator between God and man is the foundational Truth of Christianity – because it is based upon the very definition of Christianity of CHRIST in us.  Without Christ in us we have no redemption.  Without Christ in us as sole Mediator we have no possibility of a personal, one-on-one relationship with God.

  

That MAN, Christ Jesus

 

Once again we find that the humanity of the Son of God is brought front and center.  Paul says that our ONLY Mediator is that MAN, Christ Jesus.  This agrees with everything we have been seeing.  It is our resurrection union with the glorified humanity of The Son of Man that not only constitutes the new creature in Christ, but this union is the means by which that MAN – that glorified Son of Man, Jesus Christ – is our ONLY Mediator.

 

Again, Jesus is our one Mediator, not only because of what He did, but because of Who He is in us – He is our Mediator by virtue of the fact that we are made one with Him in spirit.  Christ is one with God.  We are one with Christ.  Thus, we are one with God through Him.  That is Christ as Mediator.

 

Mediator of the New Covenant

 

Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant.  (Heb. 12:24)

 

Numerous times Jesus is declared to be the Mediator of the New Covenant because the New Covenant is, in fact, the presence of Christ in His people. 

 

The Old Covenant was a type and a shadow of Jesus Christ.  The New Covenant is Christ Himself – for IN HIM is all that God has to give – and He dwells within His people by His spirit.

 

A couple of times in the epistle to the Hebrews it is emphasized that the New Covenant was not only different, but eternally superior to the Old Covenant.  But how?  We are told:

 

But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises.  For if that first [covenant] had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second.  For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah:  Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers… For this [is] the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:  And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.  For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.  In that he saith, A new [covenant], he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old [is] ready to vanish away.

 

This is a quote of the OT prophecy from Jeremiah 31, and so we need to keep in mind that it is given in OT prophetic language.  But all of the Truth is there about the New Covenant in Christ.  The New Covenant is eternally superior; the New Covenant is INWARD and renews the MIND and HEART; the New Covenant is PERSONAL – individuals are brought into a one-on-one relationship with God; the New Covenant provides forgiveness and redemption.  Gather all of this up and it is CHRIST IN US – His presence in His people are all of those Truths.  That is why He is Mediator.

 

Christ is All in Us

 

Paul says:

 

Christ is our life.”  (Col. 3:4)

 

All of the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hid in Him.”  (Col. 2:3)

 

But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:  That, according as it is written, He that glories, let him glory in the Lord.  (I Cor. 1:30-31)

 

Can we see that Christ in us – that He is ALL in the believer?  This is the result of our being joined to Him in spirit.  And that was made possible by Jesus becoming a human being glorified so that we could be joined to Him.  The MAN Jesus Christ is the one Mediator between God and man because we have fellowship with the Father in and through Him.

 

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