| II Corinthians 1:24 |
| One Mediator |
| by David A. DePra |
| Not that we have dominion over your faith, but are fellow |
| workers for your joy. For by faith you stand. |
| I and II Corinthians are certainly the most corrective letters in |
| the NT. Yet throughout, despite his apostolic authority, and |
| despite the fact that every word Paul wrote was the Truth, he |
| continually assures the Corinthians that he has no authority over |
| their personal relationship with Jesus Christ. He wants them to |
| understand that they have a personal, one-on-one relationship |
| with God. No man has the right to touch that. |
| Note the language and tone of the above passage. Paul was |
| repeating what he wrote to the Romans: "Do you have faith? |
| Have it to yourself before God." He likewise wrote to the |
| Corinthians in his first letter, "Follow me as I follow Christ." No |
| where do you ever find Paul portraying himself as one who has |
| the right to direct the personal lives of others. Instead, he |
| continually tells his readers how to get into personal business |
| with Jesus Christ. |
| Paul summarizes this Truth in his first letter to Timothy. He |
| writes, "There is one Mediator between God and man, that man, |
| Jesus Christ." (I Tim. 2:5) The Truth he is getting at is this: No |
| one, not even the greatest saint who ever lived, can govern a |
| believer's relationship with God. Jesus, and Jesus alone, is the |
| one Mediator through Whom we must go to get to God. |
| This may not seem like an important issue for many |
| Christians, but it is a bigger problem than many of us suspect. |
| For instance, have you ever felt that unless you "plugged into" |
| a church or group spiritually, that you weren't really "plugged |
| into" God? Have you ever felt that if you weren't "submitted" to |
| a certain leader or teacher, that you weren't right with God? |
| This is taught by many churches today, and down thru history |
| has been one of the most oft-repeated errors among believers. |
| This error could be called, "The Substitute Mediator Heresy." |
| Anytime we substitute something for Jesus Christ as our Way to |
| God, we are practicing this error. Anytime we abdicate our |
| personal responsibility for faith before the Lord, and rely upon |
| someone else or some other thing as our mediator, we are in |
| spiritual trouble. Cults thrive on this error. All of them will tell |
| you that your access to God is dependent upon whether you are |
| in the cult, not upon whether your faith is in Jesus Christ. |
| Insisting that I have the freedom to exercise personal faith in |
| Jesus Christ, and to do it continually in the practical details of my |
| life, is not "rebellion." It is not the product of an "independent |
| spirit," as some accuse. Such freedom is the foundation of |
| Christianity itself: The one-on-one personal relationship. There |
| is no Body of Christ unless the members are 1st INDIVIDUALLY |
| in Christ. There is no right relationship with my brother unless I |
| am FIRST rightly related to God through Jesus Christ in my |
| personal faith. When I personally and individually yield to God, |
| the rest of my relationships will find order. |
| Paul wanted, with all of his heart, to straighten out the |
| Corinthians. But in the final analysis, he knew he was just a |
| spiritual guide; a bondslave. As such, he did what a |
| bondslave for Jesus Christ does: He told them the Truth about |
| God, and then did everything he could to guide them away |
| from himself, and unto their real Master. |