Reference: Mediator
American
One who stands between two parties or persons as the organ of communication or the agent of reconciliation. So far as man is sensible of his own guilt and of the holiness and justice of God, he shrinks from any direct communication with a being he has so much reason to fear. Hence the disposition more or less prevalent in all ages and in all parts of the world, to interpose between the soul and its judge some person or thing most adapted to propitiate his favor - as a priestly order, an upright and devout man, or the smoke of sacrifices and the sweet savor of incense, Job 9:33. The Israelites evinced this feeling at the Mount Sinai, De 5:23-31; and God was pleased to constitute Moses a mediator between himself and them, to receive and transmit the law on the one had, and their vows of obedience on the other. In this capacity he acted on various other occasions, Ex 32:30-32; Nu 14; Ps 106:23; and was thus an agent and a type of Christ, Ga 3:19. The Messiah has been in all ages the only true Mediator between God and man; and without Him, God is inaccessible and a consuming fire, Joh 14:6; Ac 4:12. As the Angel of the covenant, Christ was the channel of all communications between heaven and earth in Old Testament days; and as the Mediator of the new covenant, he does all that is needful to provide for a perfect reconciliation between God and man. He consults the honor of God by appearing as our Advocate with the blood of atonement; and through his sympathizing love and the agency of the Holy Spirit, he disposes and enables us to return to God. The believing penitent is "accepted in the Beloved" - his person, his praises, and his prayers; and through the same Mediator alone he receives pardon, grace, and eternal life. In this high office Christ stands alone, because he alone is both God and man, 1Ti 2:5. To join Mary and the saints to him in his mediatorship, as the antichristian church of Rome does, implies that he is unable to accomplish his own peculiar work, Heb 8:6; 9:15; 12:24.
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Jesus answered him. "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No man ever comes to the Father but by me.
"There is no salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men, in which we must be saved."
To what purpose, then, was the Law? It was imposed later for the sake of transgressions, until the "Offspring" should come to whom the promise had been made. It was arranged through angels by the hand of a mediator.
For God is one; and one is mediator between God and man, the Man Christ Jesus,
But Jesus has obtained a better ministry, by so much as he is also Mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted upon better promises.
And because of this he is the Mediator of a new testament, in order that, since a death has taken place to atone for offenses committed under the first testament, those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.
to Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant, and to his sprinkled Blood whose message cries louder than that of Abel.
Easton
one who intervenes between two persons who are at variance, with a view to reconcile them. This word is not found in the Old Testament; but the idea it expresses is found in Job 9:33, in the word "daysman" (q.v.), marg., "umpire."
This word is used in the New Testament to denote simply an internuncius, an ambassador, one who acts as a medium of communication between two contracting parties. In this sense Moses is called a mediator in Ga 3:19.
Christ is the one and only mediator between God and man (1Ti 2:5; Heb 8:6; 9:15; 12:24). He makes reconciliation between God and man by his all-perfect atoning sacrifice. Such a mediator must be at once divine and human, divine, that his obedience and his sufferings might possess infinite worth, and that he might possess infinite wisdom and knowlege and power to direct all things in the kingdoms of providence and grace which are committed to his hands (Mt 28:18; Joh 5:22,25-26,27); and human, that in his work he might represent man, and be capable of rendering obedience to the law and satisfying the claims of justice (Heb 2:17-18; 4:15-16), and that in his glorified humanity he might be the head of a glorified Church (Ro 8:29).
This office involves the three functions of prophet, priest, and king, all of which are discharged by Christ both in his estate of humiliation and exaltation. These functions are so inherent in the one office that the quality appertaining to each gives character to every mediatorial act. They are never separated in the exercise of the office of mediator.
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And Jesus came forward to them and spoke to them, saying. "All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.
"The Father indeed does not judge any one, but has given all judgment to the Son,
"Solemnly I tell you that the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear shall live. "For as the Father has life in himself, so also has he granted to the Son to have life in himself. read more. "And he has given him authority to pronounce judgment, because he is Son of man.
For whom he foreknew, he also foreordained to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, so that he might be the eldest of a great brotherhood;
To what purpose, then, was the Law? It was imposed later for the sake of transgressions, until the "Offspring" should come to whom the promise had been made. It was arranged through angels by the hand of a mediator.
For God is one; and one is mediator between God and man, the Man Christ Jesus,
And so it was necessary that he should in all points be made like his brothers, so that he might become a compassionate and faithful high priest, in all that relates to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For inasmuch as he himself has suffered, being tempted, he is also able instantly to succor those who are tempted, he is also able instantly to succor those who are tempted.
But Jesus has obtained a better ministry, by so much as he is also Mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted upon better promises.
And because of this he is the Mediator of a new testament, in order that, since a death has taken place to atone for offenses committed under the first testament, those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.
to Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant, and to his sprinkled Blood whose message cries louder than that of Abel.
Fausets
Six times in New Testament (Ga 3:19-20; Heb 8:6; 9:15; 12:24; also the verb, Heb 6:17, Greek "mediated," emesiteusen, "by an oath," "interposed as mediator between Himself and us with an oath"; Jesus is the embodiment of God's mediating oath: Ps 110:4). One coming between two parties to remove their differences. The "daysman" (Job 9:33) who "lays his hand upon both" the litigants, in token of his power to adjudicate between them; mokiach, from yakach, "to manifest or reprove"; there is no umpire to whose authoritative decision both God and I are equally amenable. We Christians know of such a Mediator on a level with both, the God-man Christ Jesus (1Ti 2:5). In Ga 3:20 the argument is, the law had angels and Moses (De 5:5) as its mediators; now "a mediator" in its essential idea (ho mesitees, the article is generic) must be of two parties, and cannot be "of one" only; "but God is one," not two.
As His own representative He gives the blessing directly, without mediator such as the law had, first by promise to Abraham, then to Christ by actual fulfillment. The conclusion understood is, therefore a mediator cannot pertain to God; the law, with its mediator, therefore cannot be God's normal way of dealing. He acts singly and directly; He would bring man into immediate communion, and not have man separated from Him by a mediator as Israel was by Moses and the legal priesthood (Ex 19:12-24; Heb 12:19-24).
It is no objection to this explanation that the gospel too has a Mediator, for Jesus is not a mediator separating the two parties as Moses did, but at once God having "in Him dwelling all the fullness of the Godhead," and man representing the universal manhood (1Co 8:6; 15:22,28,45,47,24; 2Co 5:19; Col 2:14); even this mediatorial office shall cease, when its purpose of reconciling all things to God shall have been accomplished, and God's ONENESS as "all in all" shall be manifested (Zec 14:9). In 1Ti 2:4-5, Paul proves that "God will have all men to be saved and (for that purpose) to come to the knowledge of the truth," because "there is one God" common to all (Isa 45:22; Ac 17:26).
Ro 3:29, "there is one Mediator also between God and man (all mankind whom He mediates for potentially), the man (rather 'man' generically) Christ Jesus," at once appointed by God and sympathizing with the sinner, while untainted by and hating sin. Such a combination could only come from infinite wisdom and love (Hebrews 1; 2; Heb 4:15; Eph 1:8); a Mediator whose mediation could only be effected by His propitiatory sacrifice, as 1Ti 2:5-6 adds, "who gave Himself a vicarious ransom (antilutron) for all." Not only the Father gave Him (Joh 3:16), but He voluntarily gave Himself for us (Php 2:5-8; Joh 10:15,17-18). This is what imparts in the Father's eyes such a value to it (Ps 40:6-8; Heb 10:5). (See PROPITIATION; RANSOM; ATONEMENT; RECONCILIATION.)
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"For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever trusts in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
just as the Father knows me, I know the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep.
"The Father loves me for this, because I am laying down my life that I may take it again. "No man is taking it away from me. I am laying it down on my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it again. I received this commandment from my Father."
"He has made of one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed seasons and the bounds of their habitation,
Is God then the God of the Jews alone, and not of the Gentiles also? He is God of the Gentiles also,
yet for there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things, and we for him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.
For just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.
And then the end, when he shall hand over his kingdom to God his Father, after he has abolished all rule and authority and power.
For when everything is subjected to him, then the Son himself shall subject himself to Him who made them subject, that God may be all in all.
Thus it is written. The first man, Adam, became a living being, the last Adam, a life-giving Spirit.
The first man is of the earth, earthly; the second Man is of heaven.
To what purpose, then, was the Law? It was imposed later for the sake of transgressions, until the "Offspring" should come to whom the promise had been made. It was arranged through angels by the hand of a mediator. (Now a mediator implies more than one person, but God is only one.)
(Now a mediator implies more than one person, but God is only one.)
so abundantly did he lavish upon us the riches of his grace in all wisdom and understanding,
Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, though from the beginning he had the nature of God, did not reckon equality with God something to be forcibly retained, read more. but emptied himself of his glory by taking the form of a slave, when he was born in the likeness of men. More than this, after he had shone himself in human form, he humbled himself in his obedience even to death; yes, and to death on a cross.
blotted out the handwriting of ordinances that stood against us and was hostile to us, and took it out of our way, nailing it to his cross.
whose will it is that all men should be saved, and come into full knowledge of the truth. For God is one; and one is mediator between God and man, the Man Christ Jesus,
For God is one; and one is mediator between God and man, the Man Christ Jesus,
For God is one; and one is mediator between God and man, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom in behalf of all, to be attested in due time.
On which principle God, wishing to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the immutability of his purpose, mediated with an oath;
But Jesus has obtained a better ministry, by so much as he is also Mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted upon better promises.
And because of this he is the Mediator of a new testament, in order that, since a death has taken place to atone for offenses committed under the first testament, those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.
It is for this reason that the Christ, on coming into the world, declared. Sacrifice and offerings thou dost not desire, But a body didst thou prepare for me;
nor to gloom and darkness and tempest and the blare of a trumpet and an audible voice. Those who heard that voice entreated that no word more should be spoken to them. For they could not endure that which was enjoined, Even if a wild beast touches the mountain it shall be stoned to death; read more. and so terrible was the scene that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and tremble. On the contrary you are come to Mount Zion, the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to innumerable hosts of angels, to the festal assemblage and church of the firstborn, registered in heaven, to a Judge who is God of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant, and to his sprinkled Blood whose message cries louder than that of Abel.
to Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant, and to his sprinkled Blood whose message cries louder than that of Abel.
Morish
Middle man, one who can stand between two and have intercourse with both. Such was Moses: he conveyed to the people the words of Jehovah, and carried to Jehovah the replies of the people. Again and again he pleaded their cause. The very fact of a mediator acting between two, is used by the apostle to show that God's acting with Abraham was on a different principle. "A mediator is not of one, but God is one," and He made to Abraham personally an unconditional promise. Ga 3:19-20. The Lord Jesus is the Mediator
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To what purpose, then, was the Law? It was imposed later for the sake of transgressions, until the "Offspring" should come to whom the promise had been made. It was arranged through angels by the hand of a mediator. (Now a mediator implies more than one person, but God is only one.)
For God is one; and one is mediator between God and man, the Man Christ Jesus,
But Jesus has obtained a better ministry, by so much as he is also Mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted upon better promises.
And because of this he is the Mediator of a new testament, in order that, since a death has taken place to atone for offenses committed under the first testament, those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.
to Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant, and to his sprinkled Blood whose message cries louder than that of Abel.
Watsons
MEDIATOR, one who stands in a middle office or capacity between two differing parties, and has a power of transacting every thing between them, and of reconciling them to each other. Hence a mediator between God and man is one whose office properly is to mediate and transact affairs between them relating to the favour of almighty God, and the duty and happiness of man. No sooner had Adam transgressed the law of God in paradise, and become a sinful creature, than the Almighty was pleased in mercy to appoint a Mediator or Redeemer, who, in due time, should be born into the world, to make an atonement both for his transgression, and for all the sins of men. This is what is justly thought to be implied in the promise, that "the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's head;" that is, that there should some time or other be born, of the posterity of Eve, a Redeemer, who, by making satisfaction for the sins of men, and reconciling them to the mercy of almighty God, should by that means bruise the head of that old serpent, the devil, who had beguiled our first parents into sin, and destroy his empire and dominion among men. Thus it became a necessary part of Adam's religion after the fall, as well as that of his posterity after him, to worship God through hope in this Mediator. To keep up the remembrance of it God was pleased, at this time, to appoint sacrifices of expiation or atonement for sin, to be observed through all succeeding generations, till the Redeemer himself should come, who was to make the true and only proper satisfaction and atonement.
The particular manner in which Christ interposed in the redemption of the world, or his office as Mediator between God and man, is thus represented to us in the Scripture. He is the light of the world, Joh 1; 8:12; the revealer of the will of God in the most eminent sense. He is a propitiatory sacrifice, Ro 3:25; 5:11; 1Co 5:7; Eph 5:2; 1Jo 2:2; Mt 26:28; Joh 1:29,36; and, as because of his peculiar offering, of a merit transcending all others, he is styled our High Priest. He was also described beforehand in the Old Testament, under the same character of a priest, and an expiatory victim, Isa 53; Da 9:24; Ps 110:4. And whereas it is objected, that all this is merely by way of allusion to the sacrifices of the Mosaic law, the Apostle on the contrary affirms, that "the law was a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things," Heb 10:1; and that the "priests that offer gifts according to the law, serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for see, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern showed to thee in the mount," Heb 8:4-5; that is, the Levitical priesthood was a shadow of the priesthood of Christ; in like manner as the tabernacle made by Moses was according to that showed him in the mount. The priesthood of Christ, and the tabernacle in the mount, were the originals; of the former of which, the Levitical priesthood was a type; and of the latter, the tabernacle made by Moses was a copy. The doctrine of this epistle, then, plainly is, that the legal sacrifices were allusions to the great atonement to be made by the blood of Christ; and not that it was an allusion to those. Nor can any thing be more express or determinate than the following passage: "It is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sin. Wherefore when he [Christ] cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering," that is, of bulls and of goats, "thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me. Lo, I come to do thy will, O God! By which will we are sanctified, through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all," Heb 10:4-5,7,9-10. And to add one passage more of the like kind: "Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time, without sin;" that is, without bearing sin, as he did at his first coming, by being an offering for it; without having our iniquities again laid upon him; without being any more a sin-offering:
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"just as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life as a ransom for many."
"Drink from it, all of you; for this is my blood of the Covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said: "Behold, that is God's Lamb, who takes and bears away the sin of the world.
After gazing intently on Jesus as he walked about, he said, "Look! that is the Lamb of God!"
the Father loves the Son and has committed everything into his hands.
"The Father indeed does not judge any one, but has given all judgment to the Son, "in order that all may honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He who does not honor Son, does not honor the Father who sent him.
For God openly set him forth for himself as an offering of atonement through faith, by means of his blood, in order to show forth his righteousness??ince in his forbearance he had passed over the sins previously committed??o show forth his righteousness,
For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved in his life. And not only that, but we exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now obtained our reconciliation.
how that God was in Christ reconciling a world to himself, not reckoning to men their trespasses; and that to me he has entrusted the message of that reconciliation.
Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the Law by becoming a curse for us (for it is written, Cursed is every one who is hanged upon a tree),
Thus he reconciled us both in one body to God by his cross, on which he slew our enmity.
and to lead lives of love, just as Christ also loved you and gave himself up for you, an offering and sacrifice unto God, for you, an offering and sacrifice unto God, for "an odor of sweetness."
More than this, after he had shone himself in human form, he humbled himself in his obedience even to death; yes, and to death on a cross. And for this God highly exalted him, and graciously bestowed upon him the name which is above every name; read more. that in the name of Jesus every knee in heaven, on earth, and under the earth should bend,
The younger men exhort to be sober-minded; in every respect showing yourself an example of good works.
For it befitted him, for whom and through whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the Pioneer of their salvation perfect through sufferings.
Therefore, since the children are sharers in flesh and blood, he also similarly partook of the same, in order that through death he might render powerless him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;
and by being thus made perfect, he became the source of enduring salvation to all who obey him,
And by so much Jesus becomes the guarantor of a better covenant.
Hence also he is able to continue saving to the uttermost those who are ever drawing near to God through him, seeing that he is ever living to intercede for them.
Now were he on earth, he would not even be a priest, since there are here those who present the gifts according to the Law??5 those priests who serve a mere outline and shadow of the heavenly reality, just as Moses was divinely instructed when he was about to build the Tabernacle. "See", he says, "that you make everything on the pattern showed you on the mountain."
so also the Christ, after being once for all offered to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, without sin, to those who wait for him for salvation.
For the Law, being only a shadow of the good things to come, and not their very substance, its priests cannot with the same sacrifice which year after year they offer continually, make perfect those who draw near.
For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sin. It is for this reason that the Christ, on coming into the world, declared. Sacrifice and offerings thou dost not desire, But a body didst thou prepare for me;
Then I said, "I am come??n the roll of the book it is written of me??o do thy will, O God."
(offerings regularly made under the law), and then it is added, Lo, I come to do thy will, he does away with the first, in order that he may establish the second. And it is by this will that we have been sanctified by the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
but with precious blood, like that of a lamb without spot or blemish, even the blood of Christ.
because Christ also once for all suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but make alive in spirit.
But there were false prophets, too, among the people, just as among you also there will be false teachers. These will secretly bring in destructive sects, denying even the Master who bought them, and bringing swift ruin upon themselves.
And they sang a new song, saying, "Worthy art thou to take the book And to open its seals; For thou wast slain and didst ransom for God Men out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation;
These are they who were not defiled with women; for they are celibates. They follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They have been redeemed from among men to be the first-fruits unto God and the Lamb.