THE MAN, CHRIST JESUS, THE ONLY MEDIATOR
(I Tim. 2: 5-6)
INTRODUCTION:
OVERVIEW OF I TIMOTHY 1:1-20
1:1-2 – Overview of Christian Faith based on names for God and the blessings He bestows on His people.
1:3-4a False teaching in Ephesian Church and how humanistic philosophy effects us today.
1:4b-6 – The goal of the command is love. (Loving God, fellow Christians, the non-Christian world)
1:7-8 – The law is good if used properly. (The law’s deterrent, punitive and educative purposes)
1:8-11 – “Whatever else …” The Gospel Ethic. (Law-Philia University)
1:11 – “The Blessed God” and our Relationship with Him. (We can fill God’s heart with pain or joy and happiness)
1:12-16 Why Paul considered himself the worst of sinners.
1:12-16 Conversion of the apostle Paul.
1:12-16 Paul’s call to ministry.
1:17 Paul’s doxology of praise for his conversion.
1:18-20 How to avoid shipwrecking our faith.
2:1-3 The Christian is to pray for all men.
2:4,6 Comparison of Calvinism & Armenianism.
2:5-6 The man, Christ Jesus, the only mediator.
2:1-7 The Christian’s universal message.
1I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone— 2for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. 3This is good, and pleases God our Savior, 4who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.
5For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6who gave himself as a ransom for all men–the testimony given in its proper time. 7And for this purpose I was appointed a herald and an apostle–I am telling the truth, I am not lying–and a teacher of the true faith to the Gentiles.
WHY IS A MEDIATOR NECESSARY?
QUESTION: How would you describe God in two words? (Compare “hard” descriptives with “soft” descriptives.)
QUESTION: What is a mediator?
Synonyms GO-BETWEEN 2, broker, interagent, interceder, intercessor, intermediary, intermediator, middleman
Related Word arbitrator, judge; conciliator, peacemaker; negotiator, troubleshooter
QUESTION: Why is a mediator necessary?
1. BECAUSE OF THE HOLINESS / OTHERNESS OF GOD!
For our “God is a consuming fire” (Heb. 12:29).
15Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and every slave and every free man hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains. 16They called to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! 17For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?” (Rev. 6:15-17)
18 When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance 19 and said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die.” … 21 The people remained at a distance, while Moses approached the thick darkness where God was (Exodus 20:18-21).
So he said he would destroy them – had not Moses, his chosen one, stood in the breach before him to keep his wrath from destroying them (Psalm 106:223).
18You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm; 19to a trumpet blast or to such a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them, 20because they could not bear what was commanded: “If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned.” 21The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, “I am trembling with fear.”22But you have come … to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. … You have come to God, the judge of all men, … 24to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant … (Heb. 12:18-24).
2. BECAUSE MANKIND IS AT WAR WITH GOD.
For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! (Romans 5:10).
The sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so (Romans 8:7).
And through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross (Col. 1:20).
EMPHASIZE: Sinful humanity does not see their relationship with God in this light.
ALL RELIGIONS AND PEOPLE DESIRE A MEDIATOR:
32 “He is not a man like me that I might answer him, that we might confront each other in court. 33 If only there were someone to arbitrate between us, to lay his hand upon us both, 34 someone to remove God’s rod from me, so that his terror would frighten me no more (Job 9:32-34).
“Moses (Gal. 3:19-20), angels (Heb. 2:2), supernatural powers, saints, the Virgin Mary, Muhammad, Hindu Avatars (an incarnation of a Hindu God), Bodhisattvas (a being that compassionately refrains from entering nirvana in order to save others and is worshiped as a deity in Mahayana Buddhism).” (M. Griffith on Timothy and Titus, pg. 48-49).
WHAT QUALIFIES JESUS TO BE THE ONLY MEDIATOR?
1. THE UNIQUENESS OF HIS DIVINE / HUMAN PERSON.
a. He is God
(Christ = Messiah = Anointed = divinity); In I Tim. 1:2 his name is bracket with God; He is called “Our Lord” in 1:2, 12, 14; In I Tim. 1:15 it states “He came into the world.”
1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. …. 14The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only [the only begotten], who came from the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:1,14).
b. He is Man – The man, Christ Jesus, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Mary who was born in Bethlehem
I cannot tell why He Whom angels worship,
Should set His love upon the sons of men,
Or why, as Shepherd, He should seek the wanderers,
To bring them back, they know not how or when.
But this I know, that He was born of Mary
When Bethlehem’s manger was His only home,
And that He lived at Nazareth and labored,
And so the Savior, Savior of the world is come
2. THE UNIQUENESS OF HIS SUBSTITUTIONARY DEATH
“who gave himself a ransom for all men …” (I Tim. 2:6).
a. His death was sacrificial (He gave himself).
He laid down His life for His sheep. 11″I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. … 18No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father” (John 10:11,18).
b. His death was a ransom.
A ransom was the price paid for the release of slave or captives. (antilytron hyper panton – a substitute ransom on behalf of all).
3. Besides being the enemies of God who need a mediator people also need a redeemer (a mediator who gives himself as the ransom) to ransom them from the captivity of Satan and sin.
So we see: From historical view point Birth-Death-Mediator. From Doctrinal Viewpoint: God-Man/Ransom/Mediator or Incarnation/Atonement/Mediator
“And since in no other person but Jesus of Nazareth has God first become man (taking our humanity to himself) and then given himself as a ransom (taking our sin and guilt upon himself), therefore he is the only mediator. There is no other. No-one else possesses, or has every possessed, the necessary qualifications to mediate between God and sinners (John Stott on I Timothy, pg. 71).
AFTER REDEMPTION CHRIST STILL MEDIATES FOR THE BELIEVER
24but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. 25Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them. 26Such a high priest meets our need–one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens (Heb. 7:24-26).
ARISE MY SOUL, ARISE
Five bleeding wounds He bears,
Received on Calvary;
They pour effectual prayers,
They strongly plead for me.
“Forgive him O forgive!” they cry, (2x)
“Nor let that ransomed sinner die.”
Martin Luther’s Dream …. Devil listing sins, Martin’s trembling heart, remembers John 1:7, “the blood of Jesus, His son, cleanses us from all sin” (I John 1:7).
WHERE HIGH THE HEAVENLY TEMPLE STANDS
Where high the heavenly temple stands,
The house of God not made with hands,
A great High Priest our nature wears,
The Patron of mankind appears.
He who for men their Surety stood,
And poured on earth His precious blood.
Pursues in heaven His mighty plan.
The Savior and the Friend of man.
Though now ascended up on high,
He bends on earth a Brother’s eye;
Partaker of the human name,
He knows the frailty of our frame.
Our Fellow-suffer yet retains
A fellow-feeling of our pains;
And still remembers, in the skies,
His tears, and agonies, and cries.
In every pang that rends the heart
The Man of Sorrows had a part;
He sympathizes with our grief,
And to the sufferer sends relief.
With boldness, therefore, at the throne,
Let us make all our sorrows known;
And ask the aid of heavenly power
To help us in the evil hour.
(Scottish Paraphrase, 1781, to the tune “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross)
NOTES RELATED TO THIS LESSON:
And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live (Ex. 33:20).
This is well explained by Rabbi Jehudah, in Sepher Cosri, (P. iv. § 3.) “Of that divine glory mentioned in the Scripture, there is one degree which the eyes of the prophets were able to explore; another which all the Israelites saw, as the cloud and consuming fire; the third is so bright, and so dazzling, that no mortal is able to comprehend it; but should anyone venture to look on it, his whole frame would be dissolved”. In such inconceivable splendor is the Divine Majesty revealed to the inhabitants of the celestial world, where he is said to “dwell in the light which no man can approach unto”. (1Ti 6:16, .) By the “face of God,” therefore, we are to understand that light inaccessible before which angels may stand, but which would be so insufferable to mortal eyes, that no man could see it and live (Treasury of Scripture Knowledge).
Definition: In Hinduism, the term avatar refers to an incarnation of a god. Vishnu, for example, has had nine great avatars so far and it is expected that one more is yet to arrive.
Avatar – An incarnation of the impersonal Hindu god in men.
Some kind of mediation between God and humanity is necessary simply because God is separate from all he has created and, yet, graciously extends his fellowship to his creatures. Mediation takes on a particularly important role, however, in light of humanity’s rebellion against the Creator. The situation of hostility that resulted from Adam’s fall could only be remedied through the mediation of a third party.
…………..
Just as Moses, the priests, and the prophets continued to mediate between God and Israel after the covenant was established, so Jesus “always lives to intercede” on our behalf and therefore to bring complete salvation to us (7:25; cf. John 15:26-16:11; 17:1-25; Rom 8:26-34).
The author’s purpose for mounting this extensive and complex argument is to call the church to obedience. He does this most clearly in 12:18-29, where he reminds his readers of the magnificent display of God’s power and holiness that accompanied Moses’ mediation of the first covenant. In a way similar to Paul (2 Cor 3:9), the author argues that Moses’ mediation of the old covenant was a magnificent event, accompanied by splendid displays of God’s power which, appropriately, struck terror into the hearts of God’s people (vv. 18-21). From this the author concludes that since Jesus is the mediator of a new covenant of forgiveness (v. 24), our fear of the future judgment should be even more intense than that of ancient Israel if we turn our backs on him (vv. 25-29).
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The idea of mediation in the Bible, … is important … on the level of humanity’s relationship with God. It provides an excellent example of how God has stooped to our weakness and used language readily intelligible in any culture to describe his holiness, our sin, and his gracious provision of Christ as the “one mediator” of our salvation.
Frank Thielman