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.