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: "I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life; no one ever comes to the Father except through me.
And Salvation is in him alone; for there is no other Name in the whole world, given to men, to which we must look for our Salvation."
What, then, you ask, was the use of the Law? It was a later addition, to make men conscious of their wrong-doings, and intended to last only till the coming of that 'offspring' to whom the promise had been made; and it was delivered through angels by a mediator.
There is but one God, and one mediator between God and men--the man, Christ Jesus,
But Jesus, as we see, has obtained a ministry as far excelling theirs, as the Covenant of which he is the intermediary, based, as it is, on better promises, excels the former Covenant.
And that is why he is the intermediary of a new Covenant; in order that, as a death has taken place to effect a deliverance from the offenses committed under the first Covenant, those who have received the Call may obtain the eternal inheritance promised to them.
to Jesus, the intermediary of a new Covenant, and to the Sprinkled Blood that tells of better things than the blood 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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Then Jesus came up, and spoke to them thus: "All authority in heaven and on the earth has been given to me.
The Father himself does not judge any man, but has 'entrusted the work of judging entirely to his Son,'
In truth I tell you that a time is coming, indeed it is already here, when the Dead will listen to the voice of the Son of God, and when those who listen will live. For, just as the Father has inherent Life within him, so also he has granted to the Son to have inherent Life within him; read more. And, because he is Son of Man, he has also given him authority to act as judge.
For those whom God chose from the first he also destined from the first to be transformed into likeness to his Son, so that his Son might be the eldest among many Brothers.
What, then, you ask, was the use of the Law? It was a later addition, to make men conscious of their wrong-doings, and intended to last only till the coming of that 'offspring' to whom the promise had been made; and it was delivered through angels by a mediator.
There is but one God, and one mediator between God and men--the man, Christ Jesus,
And consequently it was necessary that he should in all points be made like 'his Brothers,' in order that he might prove a merciful as well as a faithful High Priest in man's relations with God, for the purpose of expiating the sins of his People. The fact that he himself suffered under temptation enables him to help those who are tempted.
Our High Priest is not one unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has in every way been tempted, exactly as we have been, but without sinning. Therefore, let us draw near boldly to the Throne of Love, to find pity and love for the hour of need.
But Jesus, as we see, has obtained a ministry as far excelling theirs, as the Covenant of which he is the intermediary, based, as it is, on better promises, excels the former Covenant.
And that is why he is the intermediary of a new Covenant; in order that, as a death has taken place to effect a deliverance from the offenses committed under the first Covenant, those who have received the Call may obtain the eternal inheritance promised to them.
to Jesus, the intermediary of a new Covenant, and to the Sprinkled Blood that tells of better things than the blood 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 Son, that every one who believes in him may not be lost, but have Immortal Life.
Just as the Father knows me and I know the Father--and I lay down my life for the sheep.
This is why the Father loves me, because I lay down my life- -to receive it again. No one took it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to receive it again. This is the command which I received from my Father."
He made all races of the earth's surface--fixing a time for their rise and fall, and the limits of their settlements--
Or can it be that God is the God only of the Jews? Is not he also the God of the Gentiles?
Yet for us there is only one God, the Father, from whom all things come (and for him we live), and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things come (and through him we live).
For, as through union with Adam all men die, so through union with the Christ will all be made to live.
Then will come the end-when he surrenders the Kingdom to his God and Father, having overthrown all other rule and all other authority and power.
And, when everything has been placed under him, the Son will place himself under God who placed everything under him, that God may be all in all!
That is what is meant by the words-'Adam, the first man, became a human being'; the last Adam became a Life-giving spirit.
The first man was from the dust of the earth; the second man from Heaven.
What, then, you ask, was the use of the Law? It was a later addition, to make men conscious of their wrong-doings, and intended to last only till the coming of that 'offspring' to whom the promise had been made; and it was delivered through angels by a mediator. Now mediation implies more than one person, but God is one only.
Now mediation implies more than one person, but God is one only.
All this accords with the loving-kindness which God lavished upon us, accompanied by countless gifts of wisdom and discernment,
Let the spirit of Christ Jesus be yours also. Though the divine nature was his from the beginning, yet he did not look upon equality with God as above all things to be clung to, read more. But impoverished himself by taking the nature of a servant and becoming like men; He appeared among us as a man, and still further humbled himself by submitting even to death--to death on a cross!
He canceled the bond which stood against us--the bond that consisted of ordinances--and which was directly hostile to us! He has taken it out of our way by nailing it to the cross!
whose will is that every one should be saved, and attain to a full knowledge of the Truth. There is but one God, and one mediator between God and men--the man, Christ Jesus,
There is but one God, and one mediator between God and men--the man, Christ Jesus,
There is but one God, and one mediator between God and men--the man, Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom on behalf of all men. This must be our testimony, as opportunities present themselves;
Our High Priest is not one unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has in every way been tempted, exactly as we have been, but without sinning.
And therefore God, in his desire to show, with unmistakable plainness, to those who were to enter on the enjoyment of what he had promised, the unchangeableness of his purpose, bound himself with an oath.
But Jesus, as we see, has obtained a ministry as far excelling theirs, as the Covenant of which he is the intermediary, based, as it is, on better promises, excels the former Covenant.
And that is why he is the intermediary of a new Covenant; in order that, as a death has taken place to effect a deliverance from the offenses committed under the first Covenant, those who have received the Call may obtain the eternal inheritance promised to them.
That is why, when he was coming into the world, the Christ declared-- 'Sacrifice and offering thou dost not desire, but thou dost provide for me a body;
and the blast of a trumpet, and an audible voice.' Those who heard that voice entreated that they might hear no more, for they could not bear to think of the command-- 'If even an animal touches the mountain, it is to be stoned to death;' read more. and so fearful was the sight that Moses said-- 'I tremble with fear.' No, but it is to Mount Zion that you have drawn near, the City of the Living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to countless hosts of angels, to the festal gathering and assemblage of God's Eldest Sons whose names are enrolled in Heaven, to God the Judge of all men, to the spirits of the righteous who have attained perfection, to Jesus, the intermediary of a new Covenant, and to the Sprinkled Blood that tells of better things than the blood of Abel.
to Jesus, the intermediary of a new Covenant, and to the Sprinkled Blood that tells of better things than the blood 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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What, then, you ask, was the use of the Law? It was a later addition, to make men conscious of their wrong-doings, and intended to last only till the coming of that 'offspring' to whom the promise had been made; and it was delivered through angels by a mediator. Now mediation implies more than one person, but God is one only.
There is but one God, and one mediator between God and men--the man, Christ Jesus,
But Jesus, as we see, has obtained a ministry as far excelling theirs, as the Covenant of which he is the intermediary, based, as it is, on better promises, excels the former Covenant.
And that is why he is the intermediary of a new Covenant; in order that, as a death has taken place to effect a deliverance from the offenses committed under the first Covenant, those who have received the Call may obtain the eternal inheritance promised to them.
to Jesus, the intermediary of a new Covenant, and to the Sprinkled Blood that tells of better things than the blood 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 served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."
For this is my Covenant blood, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
The next day John saw Jesus coming towards him, and exclaimed: "Here is the Lamb of God, who is to take away the sin of the world!
He looked at Jesus as he passed and exclaimed: "There is the Lamb of God!"
The Father loves his Son, and has put everything in his hands.
The Father himself does not judge any man, but has 'entrusted the work of judging entirely to his Son,' So that all men may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son fails to honor the Father who sent him.
For God set him before the world, to be, by the shedding of his blood, a means of reconciliation through faith. And this God did to prove his righteousness, and because, in his forbearance, he had passed over the sins that men had previously committed;
For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, much more, now that we have become reconciled, shall we be saved by virtue of Christ's Life. And not only that, but we exult in God, through Jesus Christ, our Lord, through whom we have now obtained this reconciliation.
To proclaim that God, in Christ, was reconciling the world to himself, not reckoning men's offenses against them, and that he had entrusted us with the Message of this reconciliation.
Christ ransomed us from the curse pronounced in the Law, by taking the curse on himself for us, for Scripture says--'Cursed is any one who is hanged on a tree.'
And when, upon the cross, he had destroyed their mutual enmity, he sought by means of his cross to reconcile them both to God, united in one Body.
And live a life of love, following the example of the Christ, who loved you and gave himself for you as 'an offering and a sacrifice to God, that should be fragrant and acceptable.'
He appeared among us as a man, and still further humbled himself by submitting even to death--to death on a cross! And that is why God raised him to the very highest place, and gave him the Name which stands above all other names, read more. So that in adoration of the Name of Jesus every knee should bend, in Heaven, on earth, and under the earth,
And so again with the younger men--impress upon them the need of discretion.
It was, indeed, fitting that God, for whom and through whom all things exist, should, when leading many sons to glory, make the author of their Salvation perfect through suffering.
Therefore, since human nature is the common heritage of 'the Children,' Jesus also shared it, in order that by death he might render powerless him whose power lies in death--that is, the Devil--
and, being made perfect, he became to all those who obey him the source of eternal Salvation,
And the oath shows the corresponding superiority of the Covenant of which Jesus is appointed the surety.
And that is why he is able to save perfectly those who come to God through him, living for ever, as he does, to intercede of their behalf.
If he were, however, still upon earth, he would not even be a priest, since there are already priests who offer the gifts as the Law directs. (These priests, it is true, are engaged in a service which is only a copy and shadow of the heavenly realities, as is shown by the directions given to Moses when he was about to construct the Tabernacle. 'Look to it,' are the words, 'that thou make every part in accordance with the pattern shown thee on the mountain.')
so it is with the Christ. He was offered up once and for all, to 'bear away the sins of many'; and the second time he will appear--but without any burden of sin--to those who are waiting for him, to bring Salvation.
The Law, though able to foreshadow the Better System which was coming, never had its actual substance. Its priests, with those sacrifices which they offer continuously year after year, can never make those who come to worship perfect.
For the blood of bulls and goats is powerless to remove sins. That is why, when he was coming into the world, the Christ declared-- 'Sacrifice and offering thou dost not desire, but thou dost provide for me a body;
So I said, "See, I have come' (as is written of me in the pages of the Book), "To do thy will, O God."'
and then there is added-- 'See, I have come to do thy will.' The former sacrifices are set aside to be replaced by the latter. And it is in the fulfillment of the will of God that we have been purified by the sacrifice, once and for all, of the body of Jesus Christ.
but by precious blood, as it were of a lamb, unblemished and spotless, the Blood of Christ.
For Christ himself died to atone for sins once for all--the good on behalf of the bad--that he might bring you to God; his body being put to death, but his spirit entering upon new Life.
But there were false prophets also in the nation, just as there will be false teachers among you, men who will secretly introduce ruinous divisions, disowning even the Lord who bought them, and bringing speedy Ruin upon themselves.
And they are singing a new song--'Thou art worthy to take the book and break its seals, for thou wast sacrificed, and with thy blood thou didst buy for God men of every tribe, and language, and people, and nation,
These are the men who never defiled themselves in their intercourse with women; they are as pure as virgins. These are the men who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They were redeemed as the first-fruits of mankind for God and for the Lamb.