Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Timothy 2:5

For [there is] one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;

5. For there is one God ] Usually taken as a proof of God’s willing all men to be saved, as in the quotation from Theodore, 1Ti 2:4. But the parallel passage is ch. 1Ti 3:15-16, where the test word ‘the truth’ leads at once to the recital of an apparently well-known elementary creed. And so here, 1Ti 2:5-6 give us a creed, a brief exposition of ‘the truth’; and 1Ti 2:7 is seen to have a much plainer connexion and stronger force this creed, this Gospel, is what you have received with my imprimatur as apostle of the Gentiles, and is ‘the truth,’ whatever the teachers of false knowledge may say. See App. A iii.

and one mediator the man ] Accurate rendering requires one mediator also ( himself) man. The word ‘mediator’ has now come to be applied without explanations to Christ; a token of the later use, even of creed formulary. The places in Heb 8:6; Heb 9:15; Heb 12:24, where Christ is thus spoken of in contrast to Moses would lead on to this usage. ‘Man,’ not of the angelic race, whose aid some would wish to use for mediation, Col 2:18. Cf. Heb 2:16.

“The other equally essential condition that he should be God is not here insisted on, for the tendency of Gnosticism was to Docetism.”

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

For there is one God – This is a reason for offering prayer for all people, and for the declaration 1Ti 2:4 that God desires that all people should be saved. The reason is founded in the fact that he is the common Father of all the race, and that he must have the same desire for the welfare of all his children, He has made them of one blood Act 17:26, and he must have the same interest in the happiness of all; compare Eph 4:6 note; Rom 3:30 note.

And one Mediator between God and men – see Gal 3:19-20 notes; Heb 9:15 note. This also is given as a reason why prayer should be offered for all, and a proof that God desires their salvation. The argument is, that there is the same Mediator between God and all people. He is not the Mediator between God and a part of the human race, but between God and men, implying that He desired the salvation of the race. Whatever love there was in giving the Mediator at all, was love for all the race; whatever can be argued from that about the interest which God has in man, is proof of his interest in the race at large. It is proper, therefore, to pray for all. It may be remarked here that there is but one Mediator. There is not one for kings and another for their subjects; one for the rich and another for the poor; one for the master and another for the slave. All are on the same level, and the servant may feel that, in the gift of a Mediator, God regarded him with the same interest that he did his master. It may be added also that the doctrine of the Papists that the saints or the Virgin Mary may act as mediators to procure blessings for us, is false. There is but one Mediator; and but one is necessary. Prayer offered to the saints, or to the Virgin, is idolatry, and at the same time removes the one great Mediator from the office which he alone holds, of making intercession with God.

The man Christ Jesus – Jesus was truly and properly a man, having a perfect human body and soul, and is often called a man in the New Testament. But this does not prove that he was not also divine – anymore than his being called God (Joh 1:1; Joh 20:28; Rom 9:5; 1Jo 5:20; Heb 1:8), proves that he was not also a man. The use of the word man here was probably designed to intimate that though he was divine, it was in his human nature that we are to consider him as discharging the office. Doddridge.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

1Ti 2:5

One Mediator between God and man.

The mediation of Christ

That there has been a Mediator in this world is conceded by all except Jews and heathens. But respecting the precise nature of the work which He has undertaken and accomplished, there has not been even in those to whom the knowledge of this salvation has come, clear conceptions, nor correspondent emotions of gratitude and thanksgiving. With what distress would you gaze on the Divine power and infinity, and say, He is not a Man as I am, that I should answer Him, and we should come together in judgment; neither is there any days-man betwixt us, that might lay his hand on us both? With what anguish would you look around and inquire for some being able and ready to rescue you from perdition? But what, in such circumstances, you would look for in yam is now declared unto you. You are now taught on the authority of inspiration that there is one God and one Mediator between God and man.

I. What is implied in the idea of a mediator between God and man? The fact of a mediation between one man and another implies a difficulty which it is not easy to reconcile. This is equally implied in the employment of a government to mediate between two other nations. Such measures are never adopted in the times of peace and of mutual friendship. So of our attitude to God. The fact that there is a Mediator between God and man unquestionably proves that there is an alienation which it is exceedingly difficult to reconcile.

II. Alienation does not imply criminality in both the parties which are thus brought into conflict. On this subject a proverb seems to have obtained among men, that in cases of alienation there is transgression in both the conflicting parties. Both are to blame is a maxim which has prevailed. It may perhaps be important to show the fallacy of the principle itself against which I am here contending. We are often asked, with a confidence amounting almost to the authority of inspiration, Do you not believe that in all cases of alienation there is blame on both sides? To this we reply, We do not, we cannot believe it. If the question still be pressed, we ask our inquirer, Do you not know that there is an eternal alienation between sheep and wolves; and have the sheep ever committed any aggression on the wolves? You have all heard of the warfare which goes forward between the angels which kept their first estate and those spirits which have revolted from God. And is it not to be assumed that in this controversy the angels, who have always been spotless in the eyes of Jehovah, were free from the imputation of guilt? Pre-eminently is this principle applicable to Jehovah. Of what wrong, respecting us, has He ever been guilty? Who amongst those that have in former alines charged Him with injury or injustice has ever been able to sustain it? Let no man say, when he is tempted, I am tempted of God, etc. The objects around us were never created and never designed to be the cause of our transgressions. Our sins are not the result either of the example of those individuals or circumstances which God has placed around us. They are the fruit of our own hearts. There is an alienation from Him in the sons of men, and the causes of this alienation are not mutual: the criminality is altogether with us.

III. But who is there that is adequate to undertake the mediatorial work? In human affairs there are many individuals who are equally competent to settle a difficulty and remove the causes of alienation which exist between a man and his neighbour. And in a great share of the instances which occur, any individual of a multitude that can be mentioned is equally as well qualified to undertake the work as any other individual that can be selected. Not so in the work of human redemption. Here there is but one Being in the universe who is competent to be a Days-man, a Mediator between Jehovah and His offending subjects (Isa 63:5).

IV. To inquire why no other being but Christ is qualified for this work. And here I must frankly confess that of my own unaided reason I am incompetent to tell. And I apprehend that had the family of man been left to ascertain by their own intellectual powers what Mediator is suited to their circumstances, no one of them would have been able to discover the truth. His agony for reconciliation burst forth in the affecting question, Wherewith shall I come before the Lord and bow myself before the high God? Shall I come before Him with burnt-offerings and calves of a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my first-born for my transgression; the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? Let us go to the Scriptures to ascertain what Christ is; and having thence derived a knowledge of His character, let us draw the only safe conclusion, that on account of the respects in which He differs from every other being in existence, He is chosen to be the Mediator between God and man.

V. What, then, are the respects in which he differs from every other being? It must here be remembered that in certain respects He is God. I here refer to His original nature. Of Him, John in his Gospel says, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Nor was He God only. In some respects He differed in His mediatorial office from the Father. He assumed into immediate connection with Himself a human body and a rational soul. This was done in accordance with the prophets. Isaiah in prophetic vision declared, Unto us a Child is born, etc. These expressions show the union of divinity with humanity in our Lord Jesus Christ, and indicate His wonderful adaptedness to the work of redeeming men from their sins and reconciling them to God. Are we, then, asked in what respects Christ differs from every other being? Is it demanded in what respect He differs from the Father? We reply, by the addition unto His own glorious nature of all the powers and faculties of man. He is at once Divine and human. Is it again demanded in what respects He differs from men? I reply, He is human and Divine. In these respects He is altogether diverse from any other being in the universe. And viewed in this attitude, we may wonder, and say in the language of the prophet, There is none like unto Thee, O God! Having now learned from the Scriptures the qualifications of Him who undertook to be the Mediator for us, we can see His wonderful adaptations to the work which He has undertaken. Human salvation requires a thorough acquaintance with all the wants, perplexities, and temptations of man. In this respect, such a Mediator as He who has become flesh is wonderfully suited to our condition. He did not undertake to help the angels. The work of human salvation also requires a thorough knowledge of all the causes and a complete control of all the beings who have power either to advance or retard it. And what eyes but those which run to and fro through the universe are competent to see all the wants, and all the exposures, and all the means of relief which pertain to the condition of ruined man? What hands but those which formed the universe are competent so to direct all the influences of the material and the spiritual worlds in such a manner as to subserve the welfare of His people and cause them to conspire together for the promotion of their salvation? What other Presence, except that which pervades the universe, can be co-extensive with all the wants of His people who dwell in every part of the earth, who call upon Him for aid at every hour of the day and of the night What other knowledge but that which transcends all limitation, and is strictly infinite, can be adequate to an acquaintance with the condition, the thoughts, the emotions, the feelings, and the actions of all the immortal beings who inhabit the vast regions of His Mediatorship? And what memory short of that to which all past, present, and future things are equally known is competent to bring together all the particulars of thought, of feeling, and of action, which constitute the life of a human being; and accurately to weigh in the balances the gold and the dross of his character; and not only this, but to extend the process to all the sons of men, all the apostate, and all the holy angels? Yet all this knowledge must be possessed by the Son of Man; and all the powers to which we have referred must be held by Him who undertakes the work of a Mediator between God and man. This work has commonly been regarded and taught under three separate heads. The first is His office as a Prophet. This portion of His work was referred to by Moses when he said, A Prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me. Him shall ye hear in all things, whatsoever He shall say unto you. In this office it pertained to Him to reveal the character, the law, and the gospel of God to the children of men, and cause it to be written and preached unto them. It also pertained to His work to open the understandings of His people, that they might know the excellency of the Father and of His Son Jesus Christ. The next particular in the work of a Mediator is that of a Priest. He was a Priest, not indeed according to the order of Aaron, but of Melchizedek. As in the Mosaic history no priest is named as the predecessor of Melchizedek, so in human redemption there is no other priest but Jesus Christ. And in this Priesthood His work differed widely from that of other priests. They first offered sacrifices for their own sins, and afterwards for those of the people; but He had no occasion to offer sacrifices for Himself. He was holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners. He is able to save to the uttermost those that come unto God through Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them. A third particular in this work is His office as the Ruler and Defender of the people of God. This is called His kingly office. In this respect the apostle declares that God hath put all things under His feet, and given Him to be Head over all things to the Church (Eph 1:22). Such is the Mediator between a ruined world and the Holy One of Israel. A Mediator in some respects Divine, in other respects human. A Mediator who in the Scriptures is sometimes denominated God, at other times He is called Man. A Mediator who is set apart by Jehovah Himself to be the Prophet, the Priest, and the King of your souls; a Mediator whom, if you accept, on whom, if you rely, to whom, if you commit your immortal interests, you shall yet stand on Mount Zion with songs and eternal joy. This subject calls loudly on us to admire the wisdom and goodness of God. What could He have seen in us or any of our depraved race that induced Him to confer on us such an immense favour as this? All, He saw nothing but evil in our hearts, nothing but vice in our deeds. It was not owing to any righteousness in us, but of His mercy, that saved us. The subject calls on us to consider what our condition would have been had not Jesus undertaken to be Mediator between God and man. (J. Feet, D. D.)

The one Mediator

It is good for me, said the Psalmist, to draw near to God. It is the idea of all true religion that it can be nothing but good to get near to God–the nearer the better; that he who gets near Him finds peace, blessing, satisfaction of all wants; that away from Him is darkness and unrest. But why have a Mediator at all? Why have any one standing between you and God, instead of going direct to Him, and dealing with Him, without any Mediator? Just because our nature needs the Mediator. We cannot understand the mysteries of God, which pass our understanding. Out of the limits of our capacity, and out of the infinitude of God, springs that need of One who shall stand between Him and us, revealing the Infinite to the finite, the Divine to the human. And He who does this is called here emphatically the man Christ Jesus; for what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? And thus, in order that the life and character of God should be understood by us, they must be revealed to us by a man; by one in human form, and living under human conditions. It is only thus you can come to a real knowledge of any person. You must learn his character. Is it hard or tender; generous or narrow; wise or foolish? And so your only true knowledge of the living God must be a knowledge of His character, of His life, of His ways. And as these, the life, the character, the ways of the infinite and eternal God are far above, out of human sight, they must be brought near enough for us to see, revealed to us by a Mediator who is Himself a man, the man Christ Jesus. A God thus revealed we can know, can understand. This is the idea of the mediation of Christ; the revealing of what otherwise would be unknown and unknowable in God; so that we, seeing His face and understanding His character, may lose the ignorance that is full of darkness, and the fear that is full of torment, and may draw nigh to Him with true hearts, and in the full assurance of faith. The end was spiritual perfectness; the Church was but the means, and only useful as it served the end, and subject to such changes as might make it serve the end better. But the belief, in which many people seem to find the essential nutriment of their spiritual life, is altogether different from this. To them the Church is all in all, while Christ recedes into the distance; and where the Church is not He is not and cannot be. They do not deny that He is the original source of Christian life and all its blessings; but to this truth they add the error, that these blessings can reach the individual soul only through one channel of sacraments and ministries. They thus interpose between God and man a certain mediation of the Churchs, apart from which they do not recognize any reality of Christian life at all, thus drawing across the Holy of Holies a veil as thick as that which was rent in twain on the day of the crucifixion. Be on your guard lest you should ever learn to regard any system, or creature, as possessing a right to come between you and your own Lord and master; or as having the power to add to or to take from what He has done, and is doing, for you as the one Mediator between you and God. Now, you may see another example of the tendency. I speak of–to substitute a lower mediation for the mediation of Christ, in the idea which many have (especially persons in whom feeling is stronger than reason) as to the relations which should exist between them and those who occupy the position of their spiritual guides and instructors, and whose duty it is, as such, to guide and instruct them. There is a strong desire in all minds, and particularly in minds of that class, for sympathy where feeling is deeply stirred, for counsel where the highest interests are involved; and there is, too, a strong inclination to depend on and defer to those, with whom that sympathy and that counsel are found. Sympathy is good; but it is dangerous, when in order to evoke or to secure it, you unbare the secrets of the soul, and have to relate, even to the friendliest and justest ear, the trials and difficulties which you find besetting your inner life. A human director or guide or counsellor is safe, not because he fills a certain office and is ordained to a certain ministry; but when his character is such, that you know by the instinct of the spirit that there is in him the mind of Christ, and that communion with him is communion with one who is near the Master, and who will help to bring you near. Unless he is this, he can do nothing for you; he cannot bring you nearer to Christ, he can only stand between Christ and you. Now, in these instances (and more might be mentioned) we see the one tendency, to push Christ away, and set something of our own, a church, a system, a sacrament, a priest, a teacher, in the Mediators place; so that the truth becomes obscured to us that the life of every human soul is wrapped up in its direct communion with its God, through faith in God as Christ revealed Him, and service of God after the pattern of the Divine life of Christ. (R. H. Storey, D. D.)

Christ Jesus the Mediator

I. The necessity of a mediator. But there are difficulties existing–a mighty gulf separating God and man. He cannot cross to us; we cannot cross to Him. His holiness is one obstacle. He is of purer eyes than to behold evil. Guilty and polluted as we are, we cannot approach that Holy Being without being at once consumed as were Korah and his companions. We at once see the necessity of a mediator. His justice is another obstacle. Justice and judgment are the habitation of His throne. Maintaining the honour and dignity of His government was another obstacle. The great Legislator of heaven has enacted a law that sin must be punished, that death must be the penalty of disobedience. That peace on earth and glory to God may harmonize, there must be a mediator. Thus we have noticed the need of a mediator on the part of Jehovah. The mediator is equally necessary on the part of man. Man needed One who would descend into the depths of ruin, place underneath him the arms of omnipotent love, and raise him up–One who could enter into his dungeon, strike off his fetters, and throw open the prison door for his release–One who can reveal the Most High as a God of mercy, compassion, and love, yearning over the wandering prodigal, and anxiously watching for the first sight of a trembling penitent returning home.

II. Christ Jesus through the combination of the two natures is adapted to act as mediator.

1. He is equal with God; He is the mighty God.

2. He is acquainted with the mind of God.

Christ being human possesses three qualifications to act as mediator:–

1. An affinity to our nature.

2. A sympathy with our infirmities.

3. An interest in our cause.

From this subject we learn–

1. To admire the wisdom of God in providing such a mediator.

2. The love of Christ in occupying such a position.

3. The folly of sinners in rejecting this mediator. (I. Watkins.)

The mediator of the covenant, described in His person, natures, and offices

Communion with God is our only happiness; it is the very heaven of heaven, and it is the beginning of heaven here on earth. The only foundation of this communion is the covenant of grace; and it is the great excellency of this covenant of grace, that it is established in such a mediator, even Jesus Christ.

I. The only way of friendly intercourse between God and man. It is through a mediator; that is implied. Whether man in the state of innocency needed a mediator, is disputed among persons learned and sober; but in his lapsed state, this need is acknowledged by all. God cannot now look upon men out of a mediator but as rebels, traitor, as fit objects for His vindictive wrath; nor can men now look up to God but as a provoked Majesty, an angry Judge, a consuming fire.

II. The only mediator between God and men. One mediator, that is, but one. Some acknowledge one mediator of reconciliation, but contend for many of intercession. So is Christ said here to be one mediator, that is, but one. This mediator is here described partly by His nature–the Man; and partly by His names–Christ Jesus.

1. His nature–the man; that is, That eminent man, so some; He that was made man, so others. But why is this mediator mentioned in this nature only?

(1) Negatively: not by way of diminution, as if He were not God as well as man, as the Arians argue from this Scripture; nor as if the execution of his mediatorship were either only, or chiefly, in His human nature, as some affirm.

(2) Positively: to prove that Jesus Christ was the true Messiah whom the prophets foretold, the fathers expected, and who had in that nature been so frequently promised: as in the first gospel that ever was preached (Gen 3:15), He is promised as the Seed of the woman.

2. His names–Christ Jesus. Jesus, this was His proper name; Christ, this was His appellative name. Jesus: that denotes the work and business for which He came into the world. Christ: that denotes the several offices, in the exercise whereof He executes this work of salvation.

III. That there is now no other way of friendly communion between God and man, but through a mediator. And, indeed, considering what God is, and withal what man is; how vastly disproportionable, how unspeakably unsuitable our very natures are to His; how is it possible there should be any sweet communion betwixt them, who are not only so infinitely distant, but so extremely contrary? God is holy, but we are sinful. In a word: He an infinitely and incomprehensibly glorious majesty, and we poor sinful dust and ashes, who have sunk and debased ourselves by sin below the meanest rank of creatures, and made ourselves the burden of the whole creation. If ever God be reconciled to us, it must be through a mediator; because of that indispensible necessity of satisfaction, and our inability to make it (Rom 8:7). If ever we be reconciled to God, it must be through a mediator; because of that radicated enmity that is in our natures to everything of God, and our impotency to it.

IV. That there is no other mediator between God and man, but Jesus Christ. And one mediator; that is, but one. And indeed there is none else fit for so high a work as this but only He.

1. The singular suitableness of His person to this eminent employment. To interpose as a mediator betwixt God and men, was an employment above the capacity of men, angels, or any other creature; but Jesus Christ, in respect of the dignity of His person, was every way suited for this work. Which you may take in these four particulars.

(1) That He was truly God, equal with the Father, of the same nature and substance. For the further confirmation, take these arguments–

(a) He whom Scripture honours with all those names which are peculiar unto God, must needs be God. That Christ hath these names ascribed to Him appears from these instances: He is not only styled God–the Word was God (Joh 1:1).

(b) He in whom are those high and eminent perfections, those glorious attributes, of which no creature is capable, must needs be more than a creature, and consequently God.

(2) As He is truly God, so is He complete and perfect man; having not only a human body, but a rational soul; and in all things was like to us, sin only excepted. That He had a real, not an imaginary, body, appears from the whole story of the gospel.

(3) He is God and man in one person.

V. The singular fitness of christ for this work of mediation arises from His being God-man in two natures, united in one person without confusion or transmutation.

1. Had He not been truly God, He had been too mean a person for so high an employment. It was God that had been offended, an infinite Majesty that had been despised; the person therefore interposing must have some equality with him to whom he interposes. Had the whole society of persevering angels interposed on mans behalf, it had been to little purpose; one Christ was infinitely more than all, and that because He was truly God.

2. Had He not been completely man, He had been no way capable of performing that indispensably-necessary condition, upon which God was willing to be reconciled; namely, the satisfying of that righteous sentence which God had pronounced: In the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die (Gen 2:17).

3. Had He not been God and man in one person, the sufferings of His human nature could not have derived that infinite value from the Divine nature. We could not have called His blood the blood of God, as it is called (Act 20:28): it would have been no more than the blood of a creature, and consequently as unavailable as the blood of bulls, etc. (Heb 9:12; Heb 10:4).

4. Had He not been God-man without confusion of natures, His Deity might either have advanced His humanity above the capacity of suffering; or His humanity might have debased His Deity below the capability of meriting, which is no less than blasphemy to imagine. And this is the first reason, the singular fitness of Christ for this work, because of the dignity of His person. The singular fitness of Christ for this employment in respect of the suitableness of His offices. There is a threefold misery upon all men, or a threefold bar to communion with God.

(1) The guilt of their sins, which themselves are never able to expiate, or satisfy for.

(2) The blindness of their minds, the cure whereof is too difficult for any creature-physician.

(3) Their bondage and captivity to sin and Satan, which are enemies too strong for man to deal with. Suitably to these three great necessities, Jesus Christ is anointed of God to a threefold office, of a Priest, a Prophet, a King: the former of which offices he exercises on our behalf to God, and the last two from God to us.

(a) The priestly office of Christ is the great, the only relief we have against the guilt of sin. The work of the priesthood consisted, under the law, chiefly of these two parts.

(1) Satisfaction for the sins of the people (Lev 4:15-19, etc.).

(2) Intercession unto God on their behalf (Lev 16:15-17). Both which were verified in Christ our great High Priest (Heb 4:14). His satisfaction, in discharging those debts which His people had run into with Divine Justice to the utmost farthing.

(3) His intercession; this is the other part of His priestly office. His satisfaction–that was performed on earth; His intercession is per formed chiefly in heaven. By the former He purchased pardon and reconciliation (2Co 5:19, compared with verse 21), by the latter He applies the benefits He hath purchased.

(b) The prophetical office of Christ is the great, the only relief we have against the blindness and ignorance of our minds. He is that great Prophet of His Church whom Moses foretold, the Jews expected, and all men needed (Deu 18:15; Joh 1:24-25; Joh 1:45; Joh 6:14); that Sun of Righteousness, who by His glorious beams dispels those mists of ignorance and error which darken the minds of men; and is therefore styled, byway of eminency, that Light (Joh 1:8), and the true Light (Joh 1:9). The execution of this prophetical office is partly by revealing so much of the will of God as was necessary to our salvation; partly by making those revelations powerful and effectual.

(1) In revealing the will of God.

(2) In enlightening effectually the souls of His people. In causing the blind to see, and making them who were once darkness to be light in the Lord (Eph 5:8) Thus He instructs by His word and by His Spirit (1Pe 1:12).

(c) The kingly office of Christ is the great, the only relief we have against our bondage to sin and Satan. He to whom all power is given in heaven, and in earth (Mat 28:18). (W. Whitaker, M. A.)

Christ Jesus the only Mediator between God and men

I. That God hath appointed but one mediator, or advocate, or intercessor in heaven for us, in whose name, and by whose intercession, we are to offer up all our prayers and services to God. Besides that it is expressly said here in the text, there is but one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, and that the Scripture nowhere mentions any other: I say, besides this, we are constantly directed offer up our prayers and thanksgivings, and to perform all acts of worship in His name, and no other; and with a promise, that the prayers and services which we offer up in His name will be graciously answered and accepted (Joh 14:13-14; Joh 16:23-24). St. Paul likewise commands Christians to perform all acts of religious worship in the name of Christ (Col 3:16-17). And indeed, considering how frequently the Scripture speaks of Christ as our only way to God, and by whom alone we have access to the throne of grace, we cannot doubt but that God hath constituted Him our only mediator and intercessor, by whom we are to address all our requests to God (Joh 14:6; Eph 2:18). And we have no need of any other, as the apostle to the Hebrews reasons (Heb 7:24-25). But this person (speaking of Christ) because He continueth for ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood, since He abides for ever, is able to save to the uttermost all those that come to God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for us.

II. I proceed to show that this doctrine or principle of one mediator between God and man, is most agreeable to one main end and design of the Christian religion, and of our saviours coming into the world, which was to destroy idolatry out of the world; which St. John calls the works of the devil (1Jn 3:8).

III. It is likewise evident from the nature and reason of the thing itself, that there is but one mediator and intercessor in heaven, who offers up our prayers to God, and that there can be no more. Because under the gospel there being but one high priest, and but one sacrifice once offered for sin; and intercession for sinners being founded in the merit and virtue of the sacrifice, by which expiation for sin is made, there can be no other mediator of intercession, but He who hath made expiation of sin, by a sacrifice offered to God for that purpose; and this Jesus Christ only hath done. He is both our high priest and our sacrifice; and therefore He only, in the merit and virtue of that sacrifice, which He offered upon earth, can intercede in heaven for us, and offer up our prayers to God. (J. Tillotson, D. D.)

Only one Mediator

Dora Greenwells seemed to be a kind of dual nature religiously. On one side, as it were, she was High Church to the verge of Romanism; on the other, an earnest and simple evangelical Protestant. However much, she said, I may appreciate the value of great Catholic ideas When I kneel down to pray I am a Protestant; with Christ only between me and God, and between me and Christ–faith. (Sunday at Home.)

The atonement

I. The necessity for a mediator is distinctly implied. Christ is a true mediator, because He blends two natures in His own, the Divine and the human. When a man is down in a horrible pit, a rope dangling above him would be a mockery if it were far out of his reach; and a ladder set in the miry clay beside him would be equally useless, if the ground above were at an unreachable distance from its highest rung. The only means of communication, which can bring him salvation, must reach the sunlit plain above him, and yet be within his grasp. So is it with the one Mediator. As the God-man He reigns in the highest, yet reaches the lowest, and as the Son of man rather than the Son of David or the Son of Abraham, He touches every man, whatever his race or condition.

II. The essence of the atonement appears in the statement that He, the mediator, Christ Jesus, gave Himself a ransom for all. The idea of substitution, however little it commends itself to the judgment of some who have often very imperfectly considered it, is unquestionably involved in this. The Greek word translated here ransom, means the redemption price paid for the deliverance of a slave or captive, and when Jesus gave Himself (not money or power) a ransom for all, He was like one who takes the place of a prisoner that the prisoner may go free. If the captive refuses freedom he perishes, but the love of his would-be deliverer is none the less. Most of those who have rejected this great doctrine have done so because they have had pressed home upon them only one phase of it–as if that were in itself a complete and satisfactory account of a profound mystery. The atonement has sometimes been spoken of as a sort of legal transaction, having no essential bearing upon moral character, which will procure acquittal for the sinner at the bar of judgment without setting him free from the usurpation of sin.

1. The God-ward side of the atonement is as important as it is mysterious, but it is not to be insisted upon as it it were all. The Scripture asserts again and again in types and in texts that it is in virtue of the death of Christ that God can justly forgive; that except for His sacrifice the Divine love could not reach us; that by Him satisfaction was made to the law of God, and that pardon was not, and could not be, a bare act of grace. These statements are beyond proof. They concern a sphere of existence about which we know absolutely nothing except what is revealed in Scripture. They have to do with the relations between the Eternal Father and the Only Begotten Son, about which the wisest of us are profoundly ignorant. We do not understand how the law of the Father required the sacrifice of the Son, nor how the death of the God-man affected the purpose of the Father; but are we to say, therefore, that there is no connection between them? Is that the only mystery in life? Why, what do you know of your own existence in its deeper relations? Yet it has been a frequent and grievous mistake of popular theology to dwell upon this aspect of the atonement only as if it contained the whole truth. But we must also remember that Christs giving of Himself as a ransom for all was meant to have its influence on human hearts. This leads us to contemplate–

2. The man-ward side of the atonement. The Cross of Calvary assured the world that the Divine love, even for sinners, was capable of the utmost self-sacrifice, which taught many to say, We love Him because He first loved us. But there is yet another phase of Christs atoning work which must not be lost sight of. We have seen that it vindicated Divine law, and revealed Divine love so as to touch the hearts of those who saw it, but it was meant also to exert an ethical influence over men.

3. The moral power of the atonement. Many sneer at professing Christians as men who persuade themselves that they are relieved from the punishment of sin, but who show no signs whatever of being redeemed from its power. But love such as God calls for, and the sacrifice of Calvary demands, is really a strong and active affection; indeed, we are told that love is the fulfilling of the law.

III. The propagation of this fundamental truth through the world is to depend upon testimony. Paul says that he himself was a living witness of it. This is our duty too. It may be that we have not any remarkable gifts like Pauls, but we may reveal to others the power of Christ to save from sin, if only we ourselves experience that power. (A. Rowland, LL. B.)

Jesus Christ the one Mediator between God and man

Before entering upon the discussion of our text, we would offer a few remarks on the precise meaning of the term mediator, in this passage. Now, by the word mediator, in its general meaning, we understand one who interposes between two parties, either to obtain some favour from one to the other, or to adjust and make up some difference between them. But such a mediation may be either voluntary or authorized, assumed or commissioned. Moses was a mediator in the former sense, when he showed himself to his brethren as they strove, and would have set them at one again (Act 7:26). His interference was rejected, when he that did his neighbour wrong thrust him away, saying, Who made thee a ruler or judge over us? It is not such a mediator that the text speaks of. It is not presumption, not unauthorized good intention in Christ when He mediates. But, again: the meaning of the term is modified by the relative condition of the parties to be brought together. These may be equal; and then each is privileged to commit his own part in the matter in hand to the care of the common arbitrator. A mediator, under such circumstances, becomes an umpire, a judge, a referee, to whom the interest of each party is committed, and by whose decision each party is bound. But this does not come up to the idea of Christs mediation. A further notion of a mediator is that of one interposing between unequals: one that has been appointed by a superior, who has a right to make his own terms with an offending inferior, and to depute to whomsoever he may see fit the regulation of the manner in which intercourse is to be carried on between him and those with whom he may be willing to communicate. Moses, when called of God to the direction of Israel, is an instance of this authorized mediation between unequals; and, as such, was representative of the one great Mediator of whom our text speaks. By the term mediator, then, we are here to understand one duly commissioned by God, with whom the power rests, to negotiate between Himself and man, in order, as Gods vicegerent, to receive mans submission and obedience; and, as mans representative and advocate, to propitiate Gods justice, and to procure and communicate Gods blessing.

I. The parties to be reconciled are God and man; the Creator and the creature; the rightful Sovereign and the rebellious subject; the kind Father and the ungrateful child. Strange, it may be said, that there should be variance between such: was it always thus? No: once all was harmony and peace and love. Whence, then, did the estrangement arise? From God? No: the profusion and magnificence and beauty of Eden forbid the entertainment of such a thought. It was in man that the alienation began. But how is the estrangement perpetuated? The carnal mind is enmity against God: here is the sinners having learned to hate what he feels he has abused, and manifesting the identity of interest and feeling between himself and that evil one whose cause he now maintains. The very purity of the Being he has injured makes his hatred but the more malignant: the very lack of palliation for his disobedience confirms him in his settled purpose still to sin with a high hand. Thus, what folly and pride began, folly and pride perpetuate.

II. The person mediating–the man Christ Jesus.

1. As to His nature, we may remark, that the expression, the man Christ Jesus, must not be considered as declarative of His humanity to the denial of His divinity. He is Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God; God over all, blessed for evermore. But the Mediator is still the man Christ Jesus. Our high notions of His Divinity must not cause us to overlook or deny His humanity. As His Divinity fits Him to act with God for man, so His humanity fits Him to act with man for God. But He must be sinless man. The slightest flaw in His moral character would make Him a criminal, and not an Advocate–would make His mediation offensive. The circumstance of having a tendency to sin would imply partiality: He would be prone to palliate rather than to condemn, and have a tendency to lower the standard of the Creators requirements, in order to make easier terms for the creature.

2. Again, as to His commission. He is authorized and empowered by Him with whom alone the power rests.

3. His work is threefold: His atonement, intercession, and mission of the Spirit.

III. The design or end of this mediation, Now, we must bear in mind that a mediator is required to consider the interests of both parties in behalf of whom he acts, and to make terms by which the honour of the superior, and the restoration to favour of the inferior, may be most effectually secured. With regard to the Almighty Ruler, His honour and sovereignty must be maintained, and His glory acknowledged and admired. Mans position is naturally now one of rebellion; but he must be brought to lay down his arms. Christ, in the person and place of man, has tendered and paid the penalty incurred, met the demands of offended justice, and now He tenders the submission of each individual child of man that receives Him as his Mediator by faith. The construction of man in his original form was a wonder of Divine skill: the formation of his spirit in knowledge, holiness, and happiness, bespoke a master hand; but, when all the beauty of this wondrous production had been marred by the fall, to re-construct, re-adorn, re-glorify the whole, was the act only of Him whose thoughts are not as our thoughts. Yet such is the effect of Christs mediation. Intelligence continually enlarging and expanding in the unclouded presence of the very Source of truth; holiness everlastingly increasing in those regions where nothing entereth that defileth; love for ever glowing with increasing intensity before Him who is its very essence; happiness continually accumulating in the presence of Him who supplies it in inexhaustible abundance–these are the prospects of the redeemed soul: this is the high perfection to which the wisdom and power and love of Jehovah will bring the frail fragile thing that Satan shivered, and sin defiled. The glory of the perfections of Jehovah, then, are acknowledged and illustrated. But another end of this mediation was the good of man. Christ came to procure the outpouring of the blessing which sin had checked and intercepted. God now can visit those who had loved Him in Christ Jesus. We would now proceed to offer a few general observations which seem to be suggested by the whole subject.

1. And, first, how great is the unfairness of those who affirm, and the folly of those who can be persuaded, that the tendency of the doctrine of justification by faith only, is to engender a careless and an antinomian spirit.

2. But another observation is this: How great are the injury and injustice done to Christ by the addition of other mediators! To endeavour to make out a necessity for the interposition of the virgin, of saints, or of any priestly mediator on earth, in order to our availing ourselves of the mediation of the Redeemer, is grounded on no warranty of Scripture, and reflects injuriously on the character of the blessed Jesus. (John Richardson, B. A.)

The Man Christ Jesus.

Christs–a true and proper humanity

In whatever way God is pleased to manifest Himself, the medium of manifestation must be limited and finite. His union with our humanity, as an organ of revelation, is no more inconceivable than with any other nature which is restricted and confined. He was pleased to assume our humanity as the form through which to reveal the Divinity, and had He not been conscious of a complete participation in human nature, He never would have adopted or employed the designation–Son of Man. Having taken our nature, the man Christ Jesus followed the laws of purely human development both in body and in mind. He not only represented but passed through every successive period or stage of life. In every sense He was a child–in every sense a youth–in every sense a man. The social affections enter immediately and inseparably into the very idea of our humanity. With these social feelings our Creator has endowed us, and has fixed our abode in a world in which they are ever being called into joyous play, and in which there exists the most beautiful provision for their gratification. Nor does Christianity interfere with these social ties and relationships. We are formed to love. Nor can we conceive of any principle, human or Divine, stronger or more impressive. It is the conservative principle of families and of society at large. A world without love would be a world in which every social bond would soon be loosened and broken, and the human passions become the play of so many lawless forces, which would ultimately involve society in eternal enmity and opposition. One of the most touching scenes in the social life and history of Christ is connected with His death. Not far from His cross, and just as He was in the act of giving up His spirit into the hands of His Father, He beheld His mother standing at a distance, burdened with sorrow and bathed in tears. While His development was from first to last without sin–while He was a living and pure model of that conduct which is pleasing to God–yet His fellowship with humanity was emphatically a fellowship of suffering. In suffering He surpassed all men. In proportion to the perfection, refinement, and sensibility of His nature, was the depth and keenness of His affliction. Never was sorrow like unto His sorrow. We wonder not, therefore, that Christ should have a deep and unmistakeable sympathy with suffering and with sorrow. Not that His sympathies could flow out only amid scenes of grief and distress. The subject of the purest social affections, He could freely mingle in the intercourse of men, and share in all their human joys. In Him we behold that Spirit of liberty with which the Divine life takes hold of, and appropriates to itself the relations of the world and of society. Christianity is eminently social in its character. True piety is cheerful as the day, and sheds its radiance over every scene. That school of spiritual life in which the Saviour taught His disciples differed from every other. Instead of a sour, austere, unyielding asceticism, He trained them to a comparatively unrestrained mode of life. Nor was it with poverty only that the Saviour sympathized. Nor must we lose sight of the truth, that the sympathy of Christ sprang from the purest and most intense love-that love, which, in seeking and in blessing its objects, asks not how, or when, or where. It is true that this loving, compassionate, sympathizing Saviour, has left this lower sphere of being, and hath passed into those higher heavens, in which room is found for nothing but the most refined and the most sublime enjoyment; and yet even there is He touched with the feeling of our infirmities. His sympathies are still with us, whether we be in joy or in sorrow, and He can so communicate with our spirit, as to give us the consciousness of Divine succour and support. We are conscious of the fellowship of mind with mind. And what shall we say of those kindred virtues which clustered and shone like the most brilliant constellation in the life and character of the Man? Humility is the queen of graces. It is one of the rarest and the truest virtues. It is far removed from everything approaching to meanness of spirit. Having come into the world to offer himself a sacrifice for man, there was no act of hazard or of self-denial to which the Saviour was not prepared and willing to descend. Allied to this humility is meekness. Self-denial is nothing if clamorous and noisy. It does not lift up and cause its voice to be heard in the street. It is silent, unobtrusive, and retiring. If humility be not servility, neither is meekness to be looked upon as softness. Hence it is that we read of the gentleness of Christ. Not only was He harmless in life, but in death He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He opened not His mouth. Not that He can be charged with timidity and weakness. His soul was full of manly energy. A spirit so humble, and meek, and gentle, could not be wanting in forbearance; but forbearance must not be understood as involving anything of timidity or cowardice. It is the highest manifestation of self-control. It follows that this forbearance carries with it the corresponding idea of patience. In forbearance there must be the power of enduring. But patience is not to be resolved into insensibility, any more than forbearance is to be resolved into cowardice. The Saviour of man could not only face opposition and danger, but He could with calm assurance bear every species of wrong and suffering which could be inflicted on His deeply sensitive and susceptible nature. It new only remains to add, that this patience was allied to the most child-like submission–the most perfect resignation. To give up our own individual will for the will of another in circumstances of deep suffering, is the perfection of Christian virtue. Nor were these virtues embodied and exemplified in the life of Christ otherwise than as a model and example to man. Our character and life should be the mirror in which His virtues are reflected; or rather, our life should be the counterpart of His. We must copy after our great pattern. It is not forbidden us in the arrangements of infinite wisdom and love to cultivate and cherish the social affections to the highest possible point, so long as they do not withdraw the heart from God, and the sublime objects of immortality. Nor can our Christianity have its full development but amid the scenes, and friend ships, and enjoyments of our present being. Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatso ever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report–if there be any force, and if there be any praise in them, think on these things, and these things do, and the God of peace shall be with you. (R. Ferguson.)

The man Christ Jesus

To pray for all, even for those that are most hostile or most alien (verse 3), is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour. It may well be so, it must be so. For it is in accordance with His mind and will as Saviour. He is our Saviour, it is true; but not ours only (verse 4). He will have all men- His greatest enemies, the most outcast prodigals, not excepted–He will have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth. If there are any for whom we cannot pray directly out of sympathy with them, we can pray for them out of sympathy with the Lord, who is our Saviour, and who is willing also to be theirs. All the rather will we pray for them all, when we bear in mind that they and we are all one. Yes! all are one, they and we are one; inasmuch (verse 5) as there is one God for all, one Mediator for all, one Saviour for all. There are not many Gods, so that one might belong to one God and some to another. There are not many Mediators, many Captains of salvation, under whose separate banners men might rank themselves at pleasure. There are not many ransoms, with blood of various hues to meet varieties of taste among the sprinkled worshippers. There is but one God, to whom all belong. One God for all. One Mediator for all. One ransom for all. And the ransom, the Mediator, Christ Jesus, is the man. Not a man of a particular colour, whether fair, or dark, or of Ethiopian dye. Not a man of particular race, Jew or Gentile; of Shem, of Japhet, or of Ham. Not a man of a particular class or rank, whether of royal ancestry or of lineage proper to His birth in the stable of an inn. Not a man of a particular temperament, whether sanguine or morose, grave or gay. Not a man of a particular history, walking in a path apart. He is the man Christ Jesus; everywhere, always, to every one, the same; the man. Therefore they who love Him, the man Christ Jesus, may well be exhorted to pray for all men.

I. He is the man all through; out and out the man. In soul, body, spirit; in look, voice, carriage, walk; in mind, heart, feeling, affection. In Him–in all about Him, all He is, and all He does, you see the man; not the man of honour, the man of piety, the man of patience, the man of patriotism, the man of philanthropy, but the man. The manhood in Christ Jesus is very noble, but it is very simple. And it is because it is so simple that it is so noble. None have ever succeeded in drawing His character since. Do you ever think of Him but just as the man? Other men you think of as distinguished by their features. You remember other men by their peculiarities of manner. But by what peculiarity do you remember the man Christ Jesus? Oh! it is a blessed thing to know that Jesus Christ is the man. The man for you, brother, whoever you are–and the man also, I thank God, for me! The man for the strong–the man for the weak I The man for heroes, for who so heroic as the man Christ Jesus? The man for you who toil in the carpenters shop; in the like of which once He toiled, like you–the man Christ Jesus I

II. He is simply man throughout; in every exigency, in every trial, simply man–the man Christ Jesus! In all His earthly and human experience, you never find Him other than man; you never find Him less than man; and you never find Him more than man. He is the Son of God, you know; the Fathers fellow. But you never think of His being the Son of God as making His manhood at all different from yours. No! For you never find Him taking shelter from the ills to which flesh is heir in any power, or privilege, or prerogative of His Divine nature and heavenly rank. Thus, as the man Christ Jesus, He lies in His mothers bosom, and works at her husbands trade, He is subject, all His youth, to His parents, He is weary, hungry, thirsty, He is vexed, grieved, pained, provoked, His soul is exceedingly sorrowful, and at times His anger is stirred, He cries, and groans, and weeps, He bleeds, and quivers, and dies. Mans capacity of attainment, mans power of endurance–what man is fit for, what man can stand, with the help of God, you learn from the human history of the man Christ Jesus!

III. He is the man exclusively, pre-eminently, par excellence, to the absolute exclusion of all others, He is the man, the only man, complete and perfect. He stands alone as man. Manhood, in its integrity, belongs to Him alone. Not otherwise, Oh, my brother sinner, could He be the man for you; the man for me. Let one gather up in himself all the fragments of the manhood which you and I share together. Let him collect in one heap, as it were, every particle of glory and beauty to be found anywhere among the ruins of humanity. Let him take every great mans quality of greatness, every good mans element of goodness. Take all the good, of all sorts, you can possibly discover in the records of good men of all the ages. Mix, compound, combine as you may please, you cannot get the man! For the man to meet my case, and satisfy the craving of my soul–must be no thing of shreds and patches; but complete, perfect, an Unbroken round, in himself one whole. No composite will do. He must be a single and simple unity; one, like the seamless coat, woven from the top throughout. But humanity, manhood, has never been thus one, inwardly and intensely one, since the fall. Men there have been, good and great. But they have been fragmentary; a bit of manhood in each; often a very beautiful bit of manhood; but set, alas! and often well-nigh lost, in a confused, chaotic jumble of inconsistencies and incoherences! And here is the man; the man Christ Jesus. All manhood is His; manhood such as yours and mine; but untainted, incorrupt, one and indivisible, which yours and mine is not. He is holy, harmless, undefiled; and separate from sinners. Nay, even if we could fancy a man more complete still, more completely uniting in himself the excellences of all other men, and more completely excluding their infirmities and faults; we cannot reach the idea of one who would not be more to some than he might be to others; who might be everything to you, and little, if anything at all, to me. No! If we would find one who is to be the man for me, for you, for all; we must ascend the stream of time, and fetch his manhood from beyond the flood, from beyond the fall! Then, in the unbroken image of God, manhood, human nature, the very self of man, was truly and- indeed one. Since then the manhood among men has been manifold and broken and fragmentary. The man who is to gather up the fragments must himself be whole. The only one who can be the head of all, because He can be the same to all, is He who takes our human nature–not as it is now, rent and torn by sin–but as it once was; one in unbroken, pure, and holy innocence, one in immaculate likeness to the Holy One. And who is this but the man Christ Jesus?

IV. He is the man to mediate between God and man. To be the one Mediator, He must be pre-eminently and distinctively the man; the representative man; the one man. If mediation is a reality; if it is a real transaction outside of us; not an internal process, but the adjustment of an external relation, as all Scripture teaches us that it is; the mediator must be a third party, distinct from both the parties between whom He mediates. He may and must represent both. But He is to be confounded with neither, He is to be merged in neither. A man cannot have a mediator within himself; nor can he mentally create a mediator out of himself. He cannot be his own mediator. Every man is not a mediator, nor is it any man indiscriminately who can be a mediator. Nor will an ideal man, springing, as it were, fully grown, from the thoughtful head or fond heart, the living ideal outcome and expression of those human instincts that are opposed to evil, and yearn for good, suffice. No. Not though we give it a local habitation and a name, and call it the man Christ Jesus of Nazareth. If there is to be real and actual mediation in the fair and honest sense of the term, the man who is to be mediator must be found for me, not found by me, least of all found by me in myself. He must be born, not from among us, but from above. He mush be the man, not by assent or consent on the part of earth merely, but by the decree of heaven, or rather by the creative act of heavens Lord, doing a new thing on the earth, bringing in anew the man, the second Adam! Thus three conditions come together and coalesce as identifying the man who is to be the mediator. First, He must be the man, not as manhood exists and appears, marred and broken, among the children of the fall, but as it was in its original oneness and perfection, when man really bore the image of his Maker. Secondly, He must be the man, not as suggested by mens own instincts, and impulses, and cravings, but as directly chosen, appointed, introduced by God Himself. And, thirdly, He must be the man, as being, in His wondrous person, one with God in the same true and real sense in which He is one with men. All these three conditions meet in the man Christ Jesus. And they meet in Him as the man who sounded the utmost depths of human experience, and in the strength of His pure and simple manhood, aided only by prayer and by the Spirit, withstood evil, mastered pain, and by suffering overcame the wicked one. Truly there is and can be but one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. The man–

(1) Made, as to His human nature, by special miracle, in the unbroken image and likeness of God. The man

(2) Who comes forth from God, bearing His commission to negotiate peace. The man

(3) Who in respect of His Divine nature, unchanged, unchangeable, is one with God–the Son dwelling evermore in the Fathers bosom.

V. He is the man to give himself a ransom for all. He who would do this–must be one who is willing to take your place, and be your substitute; and fulfil all your obligations, and meet all your responsibilities. But more than that, He must be Himself free, under no obligations, under no responsibilities of His own. He must be one who owes nothing to God on His own account; no service, or righteousness, or obedience; and one also who lies under no penalty on His own account; against whom no charge can be brought. In whom are these qualifications found combined but in the man Christ Jesus? For His willingness who can doubt it? Lo, I come, He says (Psa 40:7). But willingness alone will not suffice. He who is to be your surety, your ransom, must be no common man. If He is one who, as a mere creature, is made under the law, as all intelligent creatures are made under the law, He cannot answer for others; He can but answer for Himself. Not even if He were the highest of the angelic host could He do more. Brother, thou needest a ransom, an infinite ransom, a perfect ransom, a ransom sufficient for the cancelling of all thy guilt and the perfecting of thy peace with God. No such ransom canst thou find in thyself, in me, in any angel. But God has found it.

VI. He is the man to be testified in due time. A testimony for fitting seasons, a great truth to be attested as a fact at the right crisis of the worlds history, to be ever afterwards preached and taught as the source of life to men doomed to die–is this marvellous constitution of the manhood of Christ Jesus; fitting Him for being the one Mediator, the one Ransom. It is the testimony for which I am ordained a preacher, an ambassador for Christ.

1. It is my ordained and appointed testimony, or rather the Lords by me, to thee, O sleeper–to thee, O doubter–to thee, whosoever thou art, who art living a godless, unholy life, unrenewed, unreconciled, unsanctified. It is a testimony in due time to thee.

2. It is the testimony with which I am charged to thee also, O downcast soul, who art afflicted, tossed with tempest and not comforted, sin-laden, sorrow-laden, unable to see thy warrant for having peace and life with thy God. I testify to thee, the Lord testifies by me to thee, that all thou needest is in the man Christ Jesus, the Mediator, the Ransom, and in Him for thee.

3. It is a timely, seasonable testimony to thee also, O man of God, my son Timothy, O child of God, who hast quiet peace in believing, and art walking at liberty, having respect to all Gods commandments. The testimony to thee this day is of the man Christ Jesus, the Mediator, the Ransom. And it is for every due time, every fitting season. For thyself, I urge thy recognition always of Him of whom I testify, the man Christ Jesus. For, whatever the time, whatever the season, it is a due time, a fitting season, for His being testified to thee, by the Spirit, as being present with thee. As thou walkest the streets, or journeyest along the road, He talks with thee by the way, and opens to thee the Scriptures concerning Himself; the man Christ Jesus, who taught thus of old in Galilee and Jewry, speaking as never man spoke. As thou sittest at meat, He breaks bread with thee, the man Christ Jesus, in whose living, personal, human, and Divine fellowship, the first disciples at Jerusalem did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart. As thou visitest the fatherless and widows in their affliction, He goes with thee, the man Christ Jesus, who in all their affliction is Himself afflicted. As thou art wearied among the workers of iniquity whom thou art seeking to turn to righteousness, ready to complain, Who hath believed our report? see, ever near thee, at thy side, the man Christ Jesus, who endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself, and whose prayer on the cross was, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do! (R. S. Candlish, D. D.)

Christ, the mediating man

Jesus Christ as standing for mediatorial purposes between God and man, is doing a work necessary to be done before satisfactory relations can be established between the sinner and the holy God. Our sins have separated us from God, and Christ lives to intercede, to mediate for us. Now, this fact has been so stated at times as to produce false impressions concerning God and His feelings towards men. It has been spoken of as though Jesus Christ had to stand for us in the presence of God, to offer Himself as a sacrifice, to persuade the Supreme to have pity, to take us back into His favour. God is thus represented as One who sustains a stern anger against the entire race, and who is determined to hold out in His terrible wrath against them. Now, I venture to assert that any teaching which leaves that idea of God upon the hearts of men is a gross libel of the Divine nature, utterly contrary to Scripture, and solemnly untrue. We could not feel any conscious gratitude for such compulsory pardon as that. If we realized any love or gratitude, it would not go forth to Him, but to the Mediator who had interposed to save us from the impending wrath. We should regard God as One to dread, and Christ only as One to love. If there is one clear testimony of Scripture that we are invited to receive, it is that Gods mercy is the fountain and source of the grace we receive. Christ is the expression of Gods mercy. Christ is Gods gift. Yet, it may be asked, could not God have saved and reconciled the world without the intervention of the man Christ Jesus? He is a very bold dogmatist who would say that God could not have redeemed without the aid of the appointed Mediator. That would be to shut Him up to necessity, to surround Him with limitations, to restrict Him within the sphere of a single method, forgetting that with God all things are possible. That God has arranged that this shall be, warrants us, not in saying that the end could not have been accomplished in some other way, but that this was in the Infinite Wisdom the best, and that it met a necessity which could not have been otherwise so well and adequately met. If you ask what was that necessity which resulted in the life and death of Christ, then Scripture is silent. There it stands, a sublime history, an accomplished fact, in some way unexplained to us. Our salvation depends upon that mediatorial work; the Christ has come between us and God, and so achieved our ransom; and He now appears in the presence of God for us. Yes, there it is; though, I repeat, so far as the Divine side of the work of Christ is concerned, we know nothing more than this, that it has satisfied the Divine Father, and made salvation possible to all. So we rest assured that it was the best way. When, however, we turn to the human side, we perceive how wonderfully gracious is the arrangement that the Mediator should have been what He was–a man, the man Christ Jesus. This is what we are asked to fix our attention upon as of supreme and vital importance to us. He who undertakes our case and pleads our cause is not an angel, is not to be regarded as standing in any degree aloof from us; for though He had a supernatural birth, that in no sense was meant to separate Him from the race: He is still essentially one with it. It is just what we want to realize. He is distinctively the man–the man belonging alike to all. His nationality is hot prominent in our minds, and in no way estranges our sympathy from Him, or affects our feeling towards Him. The fact is, as you read the exquisite record of His life, you feel that no nation has any special claim upon Him. He lives, and acts, and speaks, and dies as One who belongs to all humanity. Then, carry the thought further. Your study of the character and conduct of Jesus Christ will have revealed to you this great truth–that He does not impress you as manifesting any particular temperament. We mark off men according to certain peculiarities of disposition which they possess: their individuality puts them into classes. We speak of the reserved and the frank, the serious and the gay. Now you find nothing of all this in Christ. He shows no one quality of mind or heart predominant over any other. There is a rounded completeness of nature in Him altogether unique. What is the consequence of this? That He repels none, and is attractive to all. Men of varying temperaments, like those who formed the first group of disciples, cluster around Him, accept Him as their guide and teacher. He is the Christ for all–the Mediator in whom all can trust. He can draw all temperaments and natures to Himself. See in this again another proof of His fitness for the office He holds, and the work He undertakes–the man Christ Jesus, the One Mediator. The world wants no other, no multiplied agency. Take notice again that He has none of the faults and flaws and imperfections of common manhood. Here indeed is His peculiarity. Yes, but even then you have proof that He is the Man. In Him you have manhood in its integrity. You have manhood in its grandest possibilities. But how does that complete manhood of our Lord help us to rejoice that He is the right One to become our Mediator? I reply that you could not conceive the idea of an imperfect one representing the case of sinners; you could not be content to trust it in his hands; you could not be sure of the result. His infirmities might interfere with and mar his grand work. It would not be to such a one that we could look hopefully to be the means of redeeming us, for he would need himself to be redeemed. He is a man, knowing us altogether, yet free from our defects and evil, and so fitted to achieve the work of reconciling us and leading us back to God. Thus the very integrity of His manhood is the reason why He should be the Mediator for all other men. You are linked to God through Him, and through Him will come every blessing that God has to give to His children. Let none fear to come to God, since the way is opened for reconciliation through the Mediator–the man Christ Jesus–and all that Christ is and all that He has accomplished are for you. (W. Braden.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 5. There is one God] Who is the maker, governor, and preserver of all men, of every condition, and of every nation, and equally wills the salvation of all.

And one mediator] The word , mediator, signifies, literally, a middle person, one whose office it is to reconcile two parties at enmity; and hence Suidas explains it by , a peace-maker. God was offended with the crimes of men; to restore them to his peace, Jesus Christ was incarnated; and being God and man, both God and men met in and were reconciled by him. But this reconciliation required a sacrifice on the part of the peace-maker or mediator; hence what follows.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

The apostle proves the universal love of God to men by two reasons, the unity of God, and the unity of the Mediator: though there are divers societies and vast numbers of men, yet there is but one God, the Creator and Preserver of all. If there were many gods in nature, it were conceivable that the God of Christians were not the God of other men, and consequently that his good will were confined to his own portion, leaving the rest to their several deities; but since there is but one true God of the world, who has revealed himself in the gospel, it necessarily follows that he is the God of all men in the relation of Creator and Preserver. And from hence he concludes: God will have all men to be saved. He argues in the same manner that salvation by faith in Christ belongs to the Gentiles as well as the Jews, Rom 3:29,30. The apostle adds, for the clearest assurance of his good will of God to save men, that there is

one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. When the sin of man had provoked Divine justice, and the guilt could not be expiated without satisfaction, God appointed his Son incarnate to mediate between his offended Majesty and his rebellious subjects. And it is observable, the parallel between the unity of God and the unity of the Mediator; as there is one God of all nations, so there is one Mediator of all. The strength of the apostles argument from the unity of the Mediator is this: If there were many mediators, according to the numbers of nations in the world, there might be a suspicion whether they were so worthy and so prevalent as to obtain the grace of God, every one for those in whose behalf they did mediate. But since there is but one, and that he is able to save to the uttermost all that come to God by him, it is evident that all men have the same Mediator, and that every one may be assured that God is willing he should be saved, and, for that blessed end, should by faith and repentance accept the covenant of grace. The apostle for the stronger confirmation specifies the Mediator,

the man Christ Jesus, to encourage the hopes of all men, from the communion they have with him in nature, that they may partake of his salvation, and that this great Mediator, having come from heaven and assumed the infirmity of our nature, Heb 4:15, will be inclined compassionately to assist them, and raise them to his heavenly kingdom.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

5. For there is one GodGod’sunity in essence and purpose is a proof of His comprehendingall His human children alike (created in His image) in His offer ofgrace (compare the same argument from His unity, Rom 3:30;Gal 3:20); therefore all are tobe prayed for. 1Ti 2:4; 1Ti 2:5is proved from 1Ti 2:4; 1Ti 2:5;1Ti 2:1; 1Ti 2:4.The one God is common to all (Isa 45:22;Act 17:26). The one Mediator ismediator between God and all men potentially (Rom 3:29;Eph 4:5; Eph 4:6;Heb 8:6; Heb 9:15;Heb 12:24). They who have notthis one God by one Mediator, have none: literally, a “go-between.”The Greek order is not “and one mediator,”but “one mediator also between . . . While God will haveall men to be saved by knowing God and the Mediator, there is alegitimate, holy order in the exercise of that will wherewith menought to receive it. All mankind constitute, as it were, ONEMAN before God [BENGEL].

the manrather “man,”absolutely and genetically: not a mere individual man: theSecond Head of humanity, representing and embodying in Himself thewhole human race and nature. There is no “the” in theGreek. This epithet is thus the strongest corroboration of hisargument, namely, that Christ’s mediation affects the whole race,since there is but the one Mediator, designed as the RepresentativeMan for all men alike (compare Rom 5:15;1Co 8:6; 2Co 5:19;Col 2:14). His being “man”was necessary to His being a Mediator, sympathizing with us throughexperimental knowledge of our nature (Isa 50:4;Heb 2:14; Heb 4:15).Even in nature, almost all blessings are conveyed to us from God, notimmediately, but through the mediation of various agents. Theeffectual intercession of Moses for Israel (Num 14:13-19;Deu 9:1-29); of Abraham forAbimelech (Ge 20:7); of Job forhis friends (Job 42:10), themediation being PRESCRIBEDby God while declaring His purposes of forgiveness: allprefigure the grand mediation for all by the one Mediator. On theother hand, 1Ti 3:16 assertsthat He was also God.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

For there is one God,…. This does not so much regard the unity of God, with respect to himself, or his divine essence, though that is a truth; but does not carry in it any apparent and forcible reason why all men should be prayed for, for which it is produced; but the unity of God with respect to men, as that there is but one God, who is the Creator of all men, and who, in a providential way, is the Saviour of all men; and in a way of special grace is the one God, the one covenant God of all sorts of men, of Jews and Gentiles; for he has taken of the latter into the covenant of his grace, as well as the former, and has loved them with a special and distinguishing love, has chosen them in Christ to salvation, and has sent his Son to redeem them; and of these he calls by his grace, regenerates, sanctifies, adopts, pardons, and justifies; see Ro 3:29 and therefore all sorts of men, Gentiles as well as Jews, are to be prayed for: another argument follows,

and one Mediator between God and men; a Mediator is of more than one, and has to do with two parties; and these at variance among themselves, between whom he stands as a middle person; his business is to bring them together, and make peace between them; and such an one is Christ: the two parties are God and his elect, who in their natural state are at a distance from God, and at enmity to him, and who have broken his law, and affronted his justice; Christ stands as a middle person, a daysman between them, and lays his hands upon them both; has to do with things pertaining to the glory of God, and makes reconciliation for the sins of the people; brings them that were afar off nigh to God, and makes peace for them by the blood of his cross, by fulfilling the law, and satisfying justice for them; in consequence of this he appears for them in the court of heaven, intercedes and pleads for them, is their advocate, and sees that all covenant blessings, of which he is the Mediator, are applied unto them, and preserves their persons, which are committed to his care and charge, safe to everlasting happiness; and this Mediator is

the man Christ Jesus; not that he is a mere man, for he is truly and properly God; or that he is a Mediator only according to the human nature: it was proper indeed that he should be man, that he might have something to offer, and that he might be capable of obeying, suffering, and dying, and so of making satisfaction in the nature that had sinned; but then, had he not been God, he could not have drawn nigh to God on the behalf of men, and undertook for them, and much less have performed; nor would his blood, righteousness, and sacrifice, have been available to cleanse from sin, to procure the pardon of it, justify from it, make atonement for it, or make peace with God: the reason why he is particularly mentioned as man, is, with a view to the argument in hand, praying for all men; since he who is the Mediator between God and man, has assumed a nature which is common to them all: and this Mediator is said to be one, not so much in opposition to other mediators, angels or saints departed, though it is a truth, and stands full against them, but with respect to men; there is but one Mediator between God and all sorts of men, through whom both Jews and Gentiles have an access to God, and peace with him; and therefore prayer through this Mediator should be made for all. So the Jews say of the Messiah u, that he is , “a Mediator, God”, a middle person between God and men. And they call him , “the Pillar of mediation” w or the middle Pillar; that is, the Mediator or Reconciler. And Philo x the Jew speaks of the word, as , a “middle” person, and standing in the middle between the dead and the living, and between God and men. The Ethiopic version here renders it, “there is one elect of God”; which is one of the characters of the Messiah, Isa 42:1.

u R. Albo, Sepher Ikkarim, orat 2. c. 28. w Sepher Jetzira, p. 126. x Quis rerum divin. Hares, p. 508, 509, 510.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

One God ( ). Regular Pauline argument for a universal gospel (Gal 3:20; Rom 3:30; Eph 4:6).

One mediator ( ). Late word (Polybius, Philo) from (middle), a middle man. In N.T. only here, Gal 3:20; Heb 8:6; Heb 9:15; Heb 12:24.

Between God and men ( ). Ablative case (though objective genitive may explain it) after (notion of separation) as in Rom 10:12; Heb 5:14.

Himself man (). No “himself” () in the Greek.

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

For [] . The universality of the grace is grounded in the unity of God. Comp. Rom 3:30. One divine purpose for all implies one God who purposes.

One God. These Epistles deal much with the divine attributes. See 1Ti 1:17; 1Ti 6:13, 15, 16; 1Ti 3:156; 1Ti 4:10; 2Ti 2:13; Tit 1:2. Mediator [] See on Gal 3:19. The word twice in Paul, Gal 3:29, 20, once of Moses and once generally. In Hebrews always of Christ; Heb 8:6; Heb 9:15, Heb 12:24. This is the only instance in the pastorals. As the one God, so the one mediato implies the extension of the saving purpose to all.

The man Christ Jesus. The phrase only here.

Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament

1) “For there is one God,” (eis gar theos eis) “Because there is one God” – one (soteros) Savior-God, in contrast with “gods many and lords many,” among heathen deities, as expressed in Eph 4:4-6; 1Co 8:6.

2) “And one mediator between God and men,” (kai mesites theou kai anthropon) “Even one mediator of God and men” – one go-between, one arbitrator – one Godhead stands over against one humanity. The two (Godhead and humanity) the Infinite and finite are linked by the linking-God, the man Christ Jesus. .

3) “The man Christ Jesus;” (anthropos christos iesous) “Even the man, Christ Jesus,” Rom 5:15; Gal 3:20. Jesus Christ came to link the offended God and offending man by means of His reconciling death, burial, and resurrection, Col 1:14-22; Rom 5:10-11; 2Co 5:18-20; Eph 2:16-18.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

5 For there is one God This argument might, at first sight, appear to be not very strong, that God wishes all men to be saved, because he is one; if a transition had not been made from God to men. Chrysostom — and, after him, others — view it in this sense, that there are not many gods, as idolaters imagine. But I think that Paul’s design was different, and that there is here an implied comparison of one God with the whole world and with various nations, out of which comparison arises a view of both, as they mutually regard each other. In like manner the Apostle says,

“

Is he the God of the Jews only? Is he not also of the Gentiles? Yea, it is one God who justifieth the circumcision by faith, and the uncircumcision through faith.’ (Rom 3:29.)

Accordingly, whatever diversity might at that time exist among men, because many ranks and many nations were strangers to faith, Paul brings to the remembrance of believers the unity of God, that they may know that they are connected with all, because there is one God of all — that they may know that they who are under the power of the same God are not excluded for ever from the hope of salvation.

And one Mediator between God and men This clause is of a similar import with the former; for, as there is one God, the Creator and Father of all, so he says that there is but one Mediator, (33) through whom we have access to the Father; and that this Mediator was given, not only to one nation, or to a small number of persons of some particular rank, but to all; because the fruit of the sacrifice, by which he made atonement for sins, extends to all. More especially because a large portion of the world was at that time alienated from God, he expressly mentions the Mediator, through whom they that were afar off now approach.

The universal term all must always be referred to classes: of men, and not to persons; as if he had said, that not only Jews, but Gentiles also, not only persons of humble rank, but princes also, were redeemed by the death of Christ. Since, therefore, he wishes the benefit of his death to be common to all, an insult is offered to him by those who, by their opinion, shut out any person from the hope of salvation.

The man Christ Jesus. When he declares that he is “a man,” the Apostle does not deny that the Mediator is God, but, intending to point out the bond of our union with God, he mentions the human nature rather than the divine. This ought to be carefully observed. From the beginning, men, by contriving for themselves this or that mediator, departed farther from God; and the reason was, that, being prejudiced in favor of this error, that God was at a great distance from them, they knew not to what hand to turn. Paul remedies this evil, when he represents God as present with us; for he has descended even to us, so that we do not need to seek him above the clouds. The same thing is said in Heb 4:15,

“

We have not a high priest who cannot sympathize within our infirmities, for in all things he was tempted.”

And, indeed, if this were deeply impressed on the hearts of all, that the Son of God holds out to us the hand of a brother, and that we are united to him by the fellowship of our nature, in order that, out of our low condition, he may raise us to heaven; who would not choose to keep by this straight road, instead of wandering in uncertain and stormy paths! Accordingly, whenever we ought to pray to God, if we call to remembrance that exalted and unapproachable majesty, that we may not be driven back by the dread of it, let us, at the same time, remember “the man Christ,” who gently invites us, and takes us, as it were, by the hand, in order that the Father, who had been the object of terror and alarm, may be reconciled by him and rendered friendly to us. This is the only key to open for us the gate of the heavenly kingdom, that we may appear in the presence of God with confidence.

Hence we see, that Satan has, in all ages, followed this course, for the purpose of leading men astray from the right path. I say nothing of the various devices by which, before the coming of Christ, he alienated the minds of men, to contrive methods of approaching to God. At the very commencement of the Christian Church, when Christ, with so excellent a pledge, was fresh in their remembrance, and while the earth was still ringing with that delightfully sweet word from his mouth,

“

Come to me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest,” (Mat 11:28,)

there were, nevertheless, some persons skilled in deception, who thrust angels into his room as mediators; which is evident from Col 2:18. But what Satan, at that time, contrived secretly, he carried to such a pitch, during the times of Popery, that scarcely one person in a thousand acknowledged Christ, even in words, to be the Mediator. And while the name was buried, still more was the reality unknown.

Now that God has raised up good and faithful teachers, who have labored to restore and bring to the remembrance of men what ought to have been one of the best-known principles of our faith, the sophists of the Church of Rome have resorted to every contrivance for darkening a point so clear. First, the name is so hateful to them, that, if any one mentions Christ as Mediator, without taking notice of the saints, he instantly falls under a suspicion of heresy. But, because they do not venture to reject altogether what Paul teaches in this passage, they evade it by a foolish exposition, that he is called “one Mediator,” not “the only Mediator.” As if the Apostle had mentioned God as one out of a vast multitude of gods; for the two clauses are closely connected, that “there is one God and one Mediator;” and therefore they who make Christ one out of many mediators must apply the same interpretation in speaking of God. Would they rise to such a height of impudence, if they were not impelled by blind rage to crush the glory of Christ?

There are others who think themselves more acute, and who lay down this distinction, that Christ is the only Mediator of redemption, while they pronounce the saints to be mediators of intercession. But the folly of these interpreters is reproved by the scope of the passage, in which the Apostle speaks expressly about prayer. The Holy Spirit commands us to pray for all, because our only Mediator admits all to come to him; just as by his death he reconciled all to the Father. And yet they who thus, with daring sacrilege, strip Christ of his honor, wish to be regarded as Christians.

But it is objected that this has the appearance of contradiction; for in this very passage Paul enjoins us to intercede for others, while, in the Epistle to the Romans, he declares that intercession belongs to Christ alone. (Rom 8:34.) I reply, the intercessions of the saints, by which they aid each other in their addresses to God, do not contradict the doctrine, that all have but one Intercessor; for no man’s prayers are heard either in behalf of himself, or in behalf of another, unless he rely on Christ as his advocate. When we intercede for one another, this is so far from setting aside the intercession of Christ, as belonging to him alone, that the chief reliance is given, and the chief reference made, to that very intercession.

Some person will perhaps think, that it will, therefore, be easy for us to come to an agreement with the Papists, if they place below the only intercession of Christ, all that they ascribe to the saints. This is not the case; for the reason why they transfer to the saints the office of interceding is, that they imagine that otherwise we are destitute of an advocate. It is a common opinion among them, that we need intercessors, because in ourselves we are unworthy of appearing in the presence of God. By speaking in this manner, they deprive Christ of his honor. Besides, it is a shocking blasphemy, to ascribe to saints such excellence as would procure for us the favor of God: and all the prophets, and apostles, and martyrs, and even the angels themselves — are so far from making any pretension to this, that they too have need of the same intercession as ourselves.

Again, it is a mere dream, originating in their own brain, that the dead intercede for us; and, therefore, to found our prayers on this is altogether to withdraw our trust from calling upon God. But Paul lays down, as the rule for calling on God in a proper manner, faith grounded on the word of God. (Rom 10:17.) Justly, therefore, everything that men contrive, in the exercise of their own thoughts, without the authority of the word of God, is rejected by us.

But not to dwell on this subject longer than the exposition of the passage demands, let it be summed up in this manner; that they who have actually learned the office of Christ will be satisfied with having him alone, and that none will make mediators at their own pleasure but those who neither know God nor Christ. Hence I conclude, that the doctrine of the Papists — which darkens, and almost buries, the intercession of Christ, and introduces pretended intercessors without any support from Scripture — is full of wicked distrust, and also of wicked rashness.

(33) “Christ is said to be the one Mediator in the same sense that God is said to be the one God. As there is but one Creator of man, so there is but one Mediator for men. As God is the God of all that died before Christ came, as well as of those that died after; so Christ is the Mediator of all that died before his coming, as well as of those that saw his day. They had Christ for their Mediator, or some other; some other they could not have, because there is but one. They might as well have had another Creator besides God, as another Mediator besides the man Christ Jesus. In regard of the antiquity of his mediation, from the foundation of the world, he us represented, when he walks as Mediator ‘in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks,’ with ‘hair as white as wool,’ a character of age (Rev 1:14); as God is described so in regard of his eternity, (Dan 7:9.) There is but one God from eternity; but one Mediator, whose mediation hath the same date as the foundation of the world, and runs parallel with it.” — Charnock.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

(5) For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.For. This gives the reason why it is good and well-pleasing in the sight of God that Christians should pray for allfor there is one Saviour, God the Father, who wills that all should be saved, and there is one Mediator, Christ Jesus, who has given Himself as ransom for all. Surely then, to us who call ourselves by the name of Christ, the fate of the heathen who as yet know not Christ cannot be a matter of indifference. We must in our praise and prayer include these strangers whom the Father wills should come to Him, for whose sake the Son has given his life.

The man Christ Jesus.St. Paul with special emphasis speaks of the one Mediator between God and man as the man Christ Jesus, no doubt wishing to bring into prominence the true humanity of the Lord. It is also a silent refutation of the docetic errors of some of the false teachers, of whose doctrines Timothy was to beware. These would have persuaded men that the Christ Jesus who was nailed to the cross was no man, but simply a phantom.

The human nature of Christ is also specially mentioned because in this state He performed His office as Mediator. In the statement of the next verse we find another reason for St. Pauls allusion here to the fact of the Mediator being a man. The Messiah must have taken the human nature upon Him before He could have suffered that death which was the ransom of all. Again, the human nature of the Mediator is brought forward to show that the mediatorial office extended over the whole human racea grand thought, expressed in the following wordswho gave Himself a ransom for all.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

5. The universality of the mediatorship proves the universality of the provided salvation; for as God is one and Christ the mediator is one, so both are for not a part but for the whole to be saved. A universal God and a universal mediator proves a universal humanity, between whom and God he mediates.

Mediator One who serves as communicator between two parties.

Men The all men of 1Ti 2:1 ; 1Ti 2:4.

The man Without the definite Greek article, a man. Men are mediated with God by a man, who, by being a man and yet divine, partaking a double nature, brings God and man into contact and unity.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

‘For there is one God, one mediator also between God and men, himself man, Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all, the testimony to be borne in its own times,’

The Saviourhood of God is now defined. The words here are delicately balanced. ‘There is one God’, God the Saviour (1Ti 2:3). In this description is summed up the whole of the Godhead, Father, Son and Holy Spirit in their eternity of Being. But from the Godhead came One Who entered into the world and became man, and in that Manhood He has become the mediator (the One Who brings two parties together) between God and man. Thus it is no intermediate being to whom we look, but to One Man Who is the mediator between God and man, and that Man ‘Christ Jesus’. The relationship and mediatorship is as close as can be, and as that Man is Christ Jesus, He is therefore also ‘the Lord’ (1Ti 1:1-2; 1Ti 1:12), and therefore also truly God, which is why He can bring man to God.

And wonderfully this God-Man gave Himself a ransom ‘on behalf of’ (huper) all (but ‘in the place of’ (anti) many – Mar 10:45). Humanly speaking all could respond. None must feel excluded. The word ransom (antilutron) brings out the greatness of the price that He paid on the cross, and the ‘anti’ reveals its substitutionary nature. It was a substitutionary ransom. He paid a price (1Co 6:20; 1Pe 1:18-20) that we could not. And it was sufficient for all the sin that could ever have been committed, for it is measured not in terms of quantity but in terms of quality. He did not die for all sins, but for all sin. Thus it is sufficient for all. And while only those will be saved who truly respond to Him and believe, the ransom will achieve its full quota, for it will cover all who believe, who are in the final analysis those on whose behalf it was offered.

The picture is being described from the human side. In the words of the hymn, ‘Whoever will, may come’ (Mat 7:24 and often; Joh 3:15-16; Joh 6:40; Joh 11:26; Joh 12:46; Act 2:21; Act 10:43; Rom 9:33; Rom 10:11; Rom 10:13; Rev 22:17). The divine side, the fact that it is all His work, is revealed elsewhere (e.g. Joh 6:37; Joh 6:44; Rom 8:28-30; Eph 1:4; Jas 1:18).

‘The testimony to be borne in its own times.’ The ransom having been paid, and the Mediatorship having been offered, testimony concerning them had to be borne to the world. And that testimony is a part of the whole. Without it the ransom would have been ineffective. What it had achieved had to be communicated, and it was through the proclamation of the word. ‘Its own times’ indicates an indefinite period as determined by God, and has been the period from the cross until now, and those ‘due times’ will go on until the end of time. And it includes Paul’s time as the next verse makes clear. God having acted in redemption the next stage was the offering of the testimony. And that was the purpose and reason behind Paul’s appointment. It was made his responsibility to bring this huge eternal event, for in a sense He was offered before time began (Act 2:23), to all men, including the Gentiles. It is now also in our hands to be offered to the world. How then can we hesitate for a moment?

Note. The Jews believed in many intermediaries between God and man in the persons of the angels, because of man’s unworthiness. The Gnostics believed in many emanations between God and man because flesh was corrupt and spirit was pure. The Roman Catholics believe in many intermediaries in the persons of the saints and Mary. But Paul tells us that there is but One Mediator, and He God Himself. End of note.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

The offer of salvation is universal, hence also intercessory prayer should be general:

v. 5. For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus,

v. 6. who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.

v. 7. Whereunto I am ordained a preacher and an apostle, (I speak the truth in Christ, and lie not,) a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity.

v. 8. I will, therefore, that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.

This fact, that the gracious will of God unto salvation extends to all men, is so important that Paul brings another point in support of his statement: For one God there is, one Mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, He that gave Himself as a ransom for many, to be attested to at His own time. There is only one true, revealed God, therefore there is only one gracious will unto salvation. The matter must not be represented as if God had one will for those that are saved, and another will for those that are damned. He has only one will, that of His grace and mercy, by which He desires all men to be saved. Furthermore: The Mediator Christ Jesus, God and man in one person, is one; the redemption is one. There is no varying degree of excellency and power for the various people in the world, as if the atonement were not just as full and complete for the gross transgressor as for the self-righteous moralist. The redemption of Christ Jesus is there for all men in the same degree. He is purposely designated the Mediator between God and men, for His atonement has come in between God and the sinful, condemned world and has restored the relation which should obtain between God and men. By becoming a true man, by taking upon Himself the sin, the guilt, the punishment, the death and damnation of mankind, He has made full satisfaction for all men; as the Advocate and Representative of all men He can step before God and demand full acknowledgment from divine justice for His satisfaction, for His work of redemption. All of this was accomplished through a single work of redemption, through the fact that Christ gave Himself as the ransom instead of all men. They should have been slaves in the power of the devil in all eternity, but He paid the full price to deliver them, and salvation is now prepared before the face of all men, to be attested to by all the ministers of the Gospel and by all Christians in this great age of fulfillment as the most glorious fact of all ages. All the world should hear this testimony, all men should be assured of salvation in Christ Jesus.

This thought gives the apostle an opportunity to point to his apostolic authority: For which I am ordained a herald and apostle, (the truth I say I am not lying,) a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth. Paul had been called, ordained, for this testimony, for this proclamation of the grace of God, particularly to the Gentiles, Act 9:15. His life’s work was that of being a herald of the Lord, of preaching the Gospel of the forgiveness of sins, 1Co 9:27; 1Co 15:12. Moreover, he belonged to the special ministers of God, to the men that had been fitted out, endowed with special apostolic power and authority. In the face of all actual and possible opposition on the part of errorists, of Judaizing teachers, the apostle can place the calm asseveration that he is not guilty of lying, but is speaking nothing but the truth. Paul could not and would not yield his position for one minute, for he was responsible to God for its proper upholding. He is a teacher of the Gentiles in faithfulness and truth. These were the two attributes which characterized his work; to these he could point without undue self-glorification; they were evident before the eyes of all men in his ministry.

With the reasons for general prayer thus abundantly established, the apostle now resumes his admonition: It is my will, then, that the men should pray in every place, lifting up holy hands, without anger and doubt. The apostle’s tone here is very solemn and emphatic, he delivers his charge by virtue of his apostolic authority. The men should pray, they should have charge of the prayers in public worship. In every place such prayers should be offered, for the worship of the New Testament is not confined to any particular buildings or holy localities. No matter where a Christian congregation meets for worship, whether that be in the finest cathedral or in a sod-house on the prairie, the prayers are acceptable to God. Only they must be made in such a way that the men raise holy hands, lifting them up in a gesture of prayer which was in use in the Church of the Old Testament as well as in that of the New. Holy, pure hands are mentioned as representing the proper condition of the whole body, for a heart that is filled with thoughts and projects at variance with the holy will of God cannot pray acceptably, and the finest gesture of prayer is hypocrisy in such a case. Therefore Paul adds: Without anger and doubt. So far as men are concerned, the heart of those that pray, in public worship must be free from bitterness, vengeance, hatred, wrath. And so far as the Lord is concerned, a heart that expresses a prayer and still is filled with doubts as to the possible fulfillment of the prayer, defeats its own ends. Doubt not only interferes very seriously with the earnestness of prayer, but actually neutralizes its effects, for doubt is unbelief.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

1Ti 2:5. The man Christ Jesus; Christ’s being styled man, when spoken of as the Mediator between God and men, is no more an argument against his being also God, in the discharge of that office; than its being at other times said, that, “the Lord of glory was crucified, and God purchased the church with his own blood,” (l Cor. 1Ti 2:8. Act 20:28.), is an argument against his being man, in his sufferings and bloodshed: and as he is expressly called the one mediator, this must exclude all others, such as saints and angels, which the papists set up, and idolatrously worship as their mediators; in like manner as the heathens had set up many mediators, to pacify and intercede with their superior gods.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

1Ti 2:5 . ] The particle connects this verse with the thought immediately preceding (Wiesinger), and not, as Leo and Mack think, with the exhortation to pray for all. [89] The apostle wishes by it to confirm the idea of the universality of the divine purpose of salvation as true and necessary: he does this first by pointing to the unity of God. There is a quite similar connection of ideas in Rom 3:30 (emphasis is laid on God’s unity in another connection in 1Co 8:6 , and, in a third connection, in Eph 4:6 ). From the unity of God, it necessarily follows that there is only one purpose regarding all; for if there were various purposes for various individuals, the Godhead would be divided in its nature. As there is one God, however, so also there is one Mediator.

] The word [90] occurs elsewhere in the Pauline Epistles only in Gal 3:19-20 , where the name is given to Moses, because through him God revealed the law to the people. Elsewhere in the N. T. the word is found only in Heb 8:6 ; Heb 9:15 ; Heb 12:24 , and in connection with , from which, however, it cannot (with Schleiermacher and de Wette) be concluded that the idea mediator refers necessarily to the corresponding idea covenant . Christ is here named the , because He is inter Deum et homines constitutus (Tertullian). He is the Mediator for both, in so far as only through Him does God accomplish His purpose of salvation (His ) regarding men, and in so far as only through Him can men reach the goal appointed them by God ( . . ). Hofmann says: “He is the means of bringing about the relation in which God wishes to stand towards men, and in which men ought to stand towards God.” As with the unity of God, so also is the unity of the Mediator a surety for the truth of the thought expressed in 1Ti 2:4 , that God’s refers to all men.

To define it more precisely, Paul adds: . This addition may not, as Otto and others assume, have been occasioned by opposition to the docetism of the heretics. In other epistles of the N. T. special emphasis is laid on Christ’s humanity, with no such opposition to suggest it; thus Rom 5:15 ; 1Co 15:21 ; Phi 2:7 ; Heb 2:16-17 . In this passage the reason for it is contained first in the designation of Christ as the (Theodoret: , ); and further, in the manner in which Christ carried out His work of mediation, i.e. , as the next verse informs us, by giving Himself up to death. [91]

[89] Van Oosterzee confuses the two references: “God’s universal purpose of salvation is here established in such a way that at the same time there is to a certain extent (!) an indication of a third motive for performing Christian intercessions.”

[90] Regarding the use of the word in classical Greek, comp. Cremer, s.v. There is no necessity for Cremer’s opinion, that in the passages of Hebrews does not so much mean “mediator” as “surety.”

[91] The suggested the all the more naturally, that in the apostle’s consciousness the of men could be wrought only by a man. Only a man could reconcile men with God; only, indeed, the man of whom it was said (chap. 1Ti 3:16 ). Hofmann supposes that Christ Jesus is here called , “in order to say that, as He became man to be mediator, He is therefore the mediator and saviour not of this or of that man, but of all men without distinction.” This thought, however, is more the ground of the , for even the mediator “of this or that man” might also be a man .

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

DISCOURSE: 2229
THE MEDIATION OF CHRIST

1Ti 2:5-6. There is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.

IT is deeply to be regretted that the Holy Scriptures, instead of being improved for the ends for which they were given, have been made an occasion of the most bitter contentions by the very persons who have most professed to reverence their authority. Men have not been satisfied with receiving the dictates of inspiration with child-like simplicity, but have determined to reduce them to systems of their own; and have wrested to their own views every passage that militated against their pre-conceived opinions. The partisans on either side have been equally guilty in this respect. Amongst modern controversialists, none have more divided the Church, or indulged more acrimonious feelings against each other, than Calvinists and Arminians. The one party have taken all those passages which represent God as a Sovereign, dispensing his blessings according to his own will and pleasure, and have made all the rest of the Scriptures bend to them: the other party have done the same with respect to the passages which assert the freedom of the human will, and which speak of men as the sole authors of their own condemnation. It seems never to enter into the minds of either party, that those passages which they set at variance, may, like wheels moving in opposite directions, be in perfect harmony with each other; and that there may be a subserviency, where they see nothing but direct opposition. If they were once brought to consider this, they would be more candid in their interpretation of each others sentiments, and more cautious of wresting from their plain and obvious meaning the passages which they cannot reconcile with their own exclusive system. The words we have just read are a strong-hold for those who adopt the sentiments which are called Arminian. And how does the Calvinist get over them? how does he make the universality of redemption accord with his particular election? He knows not how to do it in a way that shall agree with his own system; and therefore he denies at once that Christ did give himself a ransom for all; and says, that by all is meant some of every description, that is, some of all different ranks and orders of men, Jews and Gentiles, rich and poor. But how much better were it for men to confess their own ignorance, than thus to pervert the word of God! It is true that God acts as a Sovereign; and that salvation, from first to last, is all of grace, whether we can reconcile this truth with every other portion of Gods word, or not: nor are we any more at liberty to distort the passages that appear to militate against this system, than Arminians are to misinterpret those which obstruct their views. There is beyond all doubt a harmony in all the parts of the inspired volume, though we cannot exactly see it: (not but that we might see it, and clearly too, if we entered fully into the idea of the subordination of one set of truths to another:) and if we determine to speak all that the Scripture speaks, and as the Scripture speaks it, we shall not be far from the very truth of God. This will not please the partisans of human systems: but it will, as far as such a plan is adopted, produce moderation in our own minds, and forbearance towards all who differ from us.

The way in which the text is introduced deserves particular attention. The Apostle inculcates the duty of interceding, and giving thanks, for all men without exception, but especially for kings and all in authority, because on them in a very great degree depends the peace and welfare of the Church. As a reason for extending our regards to all, he observes, that God does so in the government of the world, and that Christ has done so in the exercise of redeeming love, seeing that he had given himself a ransom for all. The Apostle, whatever be the subject he is treating of, finds an easy and natural transition to Christ, and especially when speaking upon any thing connected with Christian love, of which the love of Christ to us is the great exemplar. This is discovered chiefly in his mediation between God and man: and of that mediation we are led to speak,

I.

As ordained of God

There is one God, the Creator and Governor of all
[Amongst the heathen there were gods many, and lords many; but there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things [Note: 1Co 8:5-6.]. He is the God of the Jews, and the God also of the Gentiles [Note: Rom 3:29.]; and both the one and the other he will justify in the same way [Note: Rom 3:30.], having no respect of persons. In every nation under heaven, he that feareth God, and worketh righteousness, shall be accepted of him [Note: Act 10:35.].]

He has also given one Mediator for all
[He is justly offended with his creatures of mankind, because they have sinned against him. In respect of transgression they are altogether on a par with the fallen angels; and might well have been left, like them, to perish in their sins. But God provided a Mediator for them, that through him reconciliation might be effected with them in perfect consistency with his own perfections. This Mediator is his only-begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who being in the form of God, and accounting it no robbery to be equal with God, was found in fashion as a man, and took upon him the form of a servant. This man, Christ Jesus, is the one Mediator between God and men. There is no other; there needs to be no other; seeing that he is equally the Mediator of all, and equally ready to effect reconciliation for every sinner under heaven. The typical mediators, Moses and Aaron, and the high-priests in all successive ages, executed their office for the Jews only: but Christ, whom they typified, is the Advocate of all, and a propitiation equally for the sins of the whole world.

Seeing then that God is alike the Father of all, distributing blessings to all with an indiscriminating hand; and that he has given his own co-equal co-eternal Son to be alike the Mediator for all, it becomes us to testify our common concern for all, and to promote by every possible means their eternal welfare.]
Let us next view the mediation of Christ

II.

As executed by himself

He gave himself a ransom for sinful man
[A ransom is a redemption-price. Man was in bondage to sin and Satan, death and hell; and to liberate him from this was the end of Christs mediation. But how was this deliverance to be effected? The law, which had been broken, must be honoured; and divine justice, which demanded the punishment of the offender, must be satisfied. But fallen man could neither honour the one, nor satisfy the other. Nothing was left for him, but to endure to all eternity the penalty which justice demanded and the law denounced. To render the salvation of man compatible with the rights of law and justice, Jesus assumed our nature, and was made man, that in the nature which had sinned he might suffer, and by his own sufferings make an atonement for our transgressions. Having undertaken this great work, he executed it: and there being no other sacrifice sufficient for the occasion, he gave himself a ransom for us. The blood of bulls and of goats could never take away sin. They were acceptable to God as shadowing forth his sacrifice: but it was his sacrifice alone that could atone for sin, and effect the desired reconciliation between God and man: this therefore he offered, and, when the cup of bitterness was put into his hands, he drank it to the very dregs.]

And this he did for all without exception
[To say that he died for the elect only, is neither scriptural nor true. He died for all: according as it is elsewhere said; We thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead; and that he died for all, that they who live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him who died for them and rose again [Note: 2Co 5:14-15.]. If all be not ultimately saved by his death, it is not owing to any want of sufficiency in his sacrifice to procure acceptance for them, but to their own impenitence and unbelief. And if all do not come to him for an interest in his sacrifice, it is not owing to any decree of God that of necessity excludes them from a participation in the benefit, or to any want of inclination in the Lord Jesus Christ to save them, but to their own obstinacy in sin. Our Lord said to the whole Jewish nation, How often would I have gathered you, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings; but ye would not. This is applicable to the whole human race; and at the last day it will be said to all the ungodly, and especially to those to whom the Gospel of salvation had been sent, I would, but ye would not.

Here again then we see the propriety of interesting ourselves with God in behalf of all, since for all without exception did Jesus die.]
It will be proper to consider the mediation of Christ yet farther,

III.

As attested by the Holy Spirit

This mediation was to be testified of in due time

1.

It has been abundantly attested by the Holy Spirit in times past

[In the writings of the Old Testament it is fully declared. He was cut off, but not for himself [Note: Dan 9:26.]: he was wounded for our transgressions: the chastisement of our peace was upon him: the Lord laid on him the iniquities of us all [Note: Isa 53:4-6.]. Of the New Testament this truth forms the sum and substance. When Jesus was just beginning his ministry, he was pointed out by his forerunner as the Lamb of God that should take away the sin of the world [Note: Joh 1:29.]. Our Lord spake of himself as giving his life a ransom for many [Note: Mat 20:28.]. St. Paul tells us, that we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins [Note: Eph 1:7.], and reconciliation through the blood of his cross [Note: Col 1:20-22.]. St. Peter assures us, that He bore our sins in his own body on the tree, and suffered, the just for the unjust [Note: 1Pe 2:24; 1Pe 3:18.]. But it would be endless to accumulate passages; since the whole Scriptures testify of this blessed truth in every part. Suffice it to say, that it forms the one theme of all the glorified saints in heaven, who sing praises day and night to Him who loved them, and washed them from their sins in his own blood; saying, Thou art worthy, for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation [Note: Rev 1:5; Rev 5:9.].]

2.

We also are called to testify of it at this time

[To preach Christ crucified is the one employment of ministers: and our ministry is called the ministry of reconciliation on this very account, because we proclaim to sinners, that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them [Note: 2Co 5:18-21.]. O that our testimony amongst you on this subject were more fully credited, and more deeply felt! We do declare it: we declare it with joy: for it is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, even the chief [Note: 1Ti 1:15.]. None are excluded from an interest in him, but through their own fault. God has no pleasure in the death of any sinner [Note: Eze 18:23; Eze 18:32.]. He even condescends to confirm this truth with an oath [Note: Eze 33:11.]. St. Paul bears witness to it in the verse before our text. St. Peter also confirms it, and assures us, that God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance and live [Note: 2Pe 3:9.]. And, to add no more, St. John says, If any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and he is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world [Note: 1Jn 2:1-2.]. Away with the systems that discard these blessed truths, and wrest from their obvious meaning these reviving declarations. Believe it, brethren, that Jesus gave himself a ransom for all; and know, that at this moment he addresses you by my mouth, saying, Look unto me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is none else [Note: Isa 45:22.].]

O brethren,

1.

Stand amazed at this mystery

[Great indeed is this mystery of godliness, God manifest in the flesh, and dying under the load of his creatures sins. Whence is it that this mystery is so little contemplated amongst us, and so little felt? Is it that there is any other subject which deserves our attention in comparison of it? No: there is nothing worth a thought in comparison of it. For the excellency of the knowledge of it, all that the world holds dear is but dung and dross. Let it then occupy your minds day and night, and fill your souls with transport, as it does the souls of the glorified before the throne of God.]

2.

Improve it for the salvation of your own souls

[On your acceptance of this testimony your everlasting salvation depends. If you believe in Christ, your salvation is sure; if not, you are condemned already, and the wrath of God abideth on you [Note: Joh 3:18; Joh 3:36.]. Believe then, every one of you, that Christ died for you; and pray to God, that you may be able to see your interest in him, and with joyful confidence to exclaim, He hath loved me, and given himself for me [Note: Gal 2:20.]. Thus shall you be feasted with the foretastes of heaven, and grow up into an increasing meetness for the glory prepared for you.]

Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)

(5) For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; (6) Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time. (7) Whereunto I am ordained a preacher, and an apostle, (I speak the truth in Christ, and lie not;) a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity.

Every portion in these verses is important, and merits our special attention. When Paul here speaks of One God, in allusion to the unity of his divine nature, and essence, he evidently is speaking of that unity, as manifested to the Church, in the Covenant transactions of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; by way of showing the unity of design, in all the grace shown the Church, from the Holy Three, in One. And hence, having declared this oneness in God, both in his nature, and purposes; the Apostle immediately adds: and one Mediator between God and men; the Man Christ Jesus. I admire the Apostle’s manner of expression, on this subject. He first sets down the unity, both of the essence, and of the grace, in relation to Covenant-settlements in the divine nature, as existing in a plurality of Persons: One in nature, and one in design. He then introduceth Him, by whose mediation alone, (for he expressly calls him One Mediator, because, in fact, there could be no other:) the purposes of this Covenant, could only be transacted. And, while the very nature of his Office implied his Godhead; the Apostle no less, took care to express his manhood; and therefore, calls him the Man Christ Jesus. As both the Person of Christ, and the office of Christ, as Mediator, are points of infinite consequence, for the Reader to have a clear apprehension concerning, he will not be displeased, if I consider the subject somewhat more particularly.

The very idea of mediation, carries with it the conviction, that some breach must have existed, between two, or more parties, which, before this quarrel, had been in amity with each other. Such was the case between God and man, when Christ came forth, under this character, of Mediator. When at creation, Adam was first formed, we are told, that God saw everything which he had made, and behold it was very good. Gen 1:31 . Consequently, there was perfect harmony at that time, between God and man. But, when Adam fell by transgression, a deadly breach took place. And Christ, as God and man in one Person, could be the only Mediator, to make it up. How Christ accomplished it, is not in this place so much dwelt upon, for this is fully set forth in other parts of scripture. But the Apostle is here chiefly adverting to his Person, and his office, as Mediator. A few words on each, will serve, under the Lord’s teaching, to set the matter in a clear light. The Lord graciously instruct both Writer and Reader.

A Mediator, to bring about a reconciliation between parties so dissimilar, as an holy God, and unholy man; must be supposed, in the very nature of things, to possess abilities of a very peculiar kind, and such as but for the wonderful, and mysterious union, of God and man in one Person, never could have been found. He, that undertook to make up the awful breach, which sin had made, between God and man; must know, what was suitable to the dignity of God to receive; and what corresponded to the nature of man to offer. And, as in the latter instance, it was evident in the first face of things, that man had nothing in himself to offer, but by a substitute, which Christ in his human nature could only accomplish: so in the former, none but God, who knew what sin is, and what became suitable for God to receive, could form any one conception whatever, of the plan, by which peace might be obtained; and, therefore, Christ in his divine nature, could only be competent, both to the knowledge, and to the accomplishment. And such, therefore, is Christ: God and Man in one Person. And, of all subjects upon earth, as connected with our redemption, this is the most blessed, and consolatory. He, that undertook to mediate peace by the blood of his cross: and He alone, by partaking of both natures, God and man, became, what Job so ardently longed to behold, a proper Days-man, as the Patriarch called him, that could lay his hand upon both parties. Job 9:33 . He, and He alone, the man God’s fellow, as God himself called him, became the only One, competent to the arduous work. Zec 13:7 . And oh! what grace, love, mercy, tenderness, wisdom, and compassion, are all manifested, in the high undertaking?

In this office of mediation, it behoveth him, who acted in this high character of Mediator, to do justice to God; and yet, to do it in such a way, and manner, as should be not ruinous to man. And this, the Lord Jesus accomplished, in becoming the sinner’s Surety; whereby, in his obedience and death, he did more to glorify God, than could have been done by the punishment of man, to all eternity. Hence, his Godhead not only furnished ability, for the performance of both, but stamped upon both an infinite value, which more than recompensed the injury done by man; and procured a redundancy of merit, for the everlasting happiness of man in the favor of God, which an whole eternity can never fully repay. And herein lay the blessedness of Christ, as God-man-Mediator, the only possible One suited to the office. For had Christ not been God, the merit of his obedience could not have satisfied. In this case, there would not have been an Almightiness of power in him, to raise our nature from the ruins of the fall; neither, to have conquered sin and Satan, death and hell, by his personal victories; in the triumphs over which, our salvation was everlastingly concerned. And had Christ not been man, his obedience would not have been the obedience the law required; neither could he have made his soul an offering for sin. But now, by the union of both, in one Person, he hath manifested himself to have been the One, and the only One, all-sufficient, and all-glorious Mediator between God and man; the man Christ Jesus. Heb 2:14

Let the Reader next attend to what is said, of his giving himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time. A wonderful expression! Gave himself. Not any costly offering; not gifts of gold, nor all the spices of the East: Not thousands of rams, nor ten thousands of rivers of oil. But himself. The Holy Ghost lays great stress upon this precious word, him and himself: See Eph 1:10 ; Col 1:20 ; Heb 1:3 : See Commentary. A ransom for all. Who are meant by all? Not surely all mankind. For in that case, all that is said of his elect Church, would be an unnecessary distinction. Besides, if all mankind are included in this ransom; then all must he everlastingly saved: and the final destruction of the ungodly, which scripture asserts, cannot take place. But the all for whom Christ gave himself a ransom, is explained in the latter part of the verse; those who are testified of in due time: that is, in whom God the Spirit regenerates, and witnesseth to their spirits, that they are the sons of God. Rom 8:14-16 . Our Lord himself, when speaking of the subject of his giving himself a ransom, declares that it is for many; which is to the same purport. See Mat 20:28 . And Paul takes up the same subject as his divine Master, through the whole of his preaching, when declaring himself an Apostle for this purpose, to be a teacher of the Gentiles, on those great points in faith and verity.

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;

Ver. 5. For there is one God ] sc. Both of kings and subjects, both of heathens and Christians. Go boldly to him therefore, for yourselves and others. “Have we not all one Father?” Mal 2:10 ; “Art not thou our Father?” Isa 63:16 ; “O Lord” (saith the Church in Habakkuk), “art not thou from everlasting my God, mine Holy One?” It was a bold question, but God approves it, and assents to it in a gracious answer ere they went further: “We shall not die,” say they abruptly; by a cast of God’s countenance they could tell so much. So true is that of Jamblichus a heathen (but herein he speaks more like a Christian), Supplicatio familiares et Deorum domesticos facit eos, qui ea utuntur. Prayer gives a humble boldness and a holy familiarity with God unto those that use it; and again, prayer, saith he, is like a key whereby we may open God’s treasury, and take out of it plentiful mercy for ourselves and others.

Between God and men ] Gr. of God and men; he is God for the business with God; and man, for the business with man.

One Mediator ] Not of redemption only (as the Papists grant), but of intercession too. We need no other master of requests in heaven, but the man Christ Jesus, who being so near us in the matter of his incarnation, will never be strange to us in the business of intercession. But what horrible blasphemy is that of the Papists, who in their devotions say thus, By the blood of Thomas Becket, which he did spend, make us, Christ, to climb where Thomas did ascend! (Acts and Mon.)

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

5 .] For (further grounding of the acceptableness of prayer for all men, in the UNITY of God. But this verse is joined by the directly to the preceding, not to 1Ti 2:1 . Chrys. gives it rightly ) there is ONE God (He is ONE in essence and one in purpose not of different minds to different nations or individuals, but of one mind towards all. Similarly Rom 3:30 , and, which is important for the understanding of that difficult passage, Gal 3:20 . The double reference, to the unity in essence and unity of purpose, for which I have contended there, is plain and unmistakeable here), ONE Mediator (see reff. It occurs, besides the places in the Gal., only in the Epistle to the Heb., Heb 8:6 ; Heb 9:15 ; Heb 12:24 . There is no necessity that the idea should, as De W. and Schleierm., be connected with that of a mutual covenant, and so be here far-fetched as regards the context (borrowed from the places in the Heb., according to De W.): the word is used as standing alone, and representing the fact of Christ Jesus being the only go-between , in whatever sense) also (the prefixed to the for emphasis) of (between) God and men (if one only goes between, then that One must be for all ), ( the ) man Christ Jesus (why ? Thdrt. answers, , : and so most Commentators. But it is not here the Apostle’s object, to set forth the nature of Christ’s mediation as regards its being brought about; only as regards its unity and universality for mankind. And for this latter reason he calls him here by this name MAN, that He gathered up all our human nature into Himself, becoming its second Head. So that the in fact carries with it the very strongest proof of that which he is maintaining. Notice it is not , though we are obliged inaccurately thus to express it: in personality, our Lord was not a man , but in nature He was man. It might be rendered, “Christ Jesus, Himself man.”

I should object, as against Ellicott, to introduce at all the indefinite article: not individual but generic humanity is predicated: and “a man” unavoidably conveys the idea of human individuality. It is singularly unfortunate that Ellic. should have referred to Augustine, Serm. xxvi. as cited by Wordsw., in corroboration of the rendering “a man:” the Latin homo being of course as incapable of deciding this as the Greek , and “ a man ” being only Bp. Wordsworth’s translation of it. Nay, the whole tenor of the passage of Augustine (ed. Migne, vol. v. p. 174) precludes such a rendering. The stupidity of such writers as Baur and the Socinians, who regard such an expression as against the deity of Christ, is beyond all power of mine to characterize. In the face of , , to maintain gravely such a position, shews utter blindness from party bias even to the plainest thoughts expressed in the plainest words), who gave himself (reff., especially Tit.) a ransom ( -, as in , Rom 1:27 ; 2Co 6:13 ; , Mat 16:26 , expresses more distinctly the reciprocity which is already implied in the simple word in each case. That the main fact alluded to here is the death of Christ, we know: but it is not brought into prominence, being included in, and superseded by the far greater and more comprehensive fact, that He gave HIMSELF, in all that He undertook for our redemption: see Php 2:5-8 ) on behalf of all (not of a portion of mankind, but of all men ; the point of 1Ti 2:1 , ), the testimony (‘that which was (to be) testified:’ so St. John frequently uses , 1Jn 5:9-11 ; “an accusative in apposition with the preceding sentence.” Ellicott. This oneness of the Mediator, involving in itself the universality of Redemption, was the great subject of Christian testimony: see below) in its own seasons (reff.; in the times which God had appointed for it. On the temporal dative , see Ellicott’s note), for (towards) which (the ) I was placed as a herald (pastoral Epistles and 2 Pet. only: but see 1Co 1:21 ; 1Co 1:23 ; 1Co 9:27 ; 1Co 15:14 ) and apostle (the proclaiming this universality of the Gospel was the one object towards which my appointment as an apostle and preacher was directed. Those who hold the spuriousness of our Epistle regard this returning to himself and his own case on the part of the writer as an evidence of his being one who was acting the part of Paul. So Schleierm. and De W. They have so far truth on their side, that we must recognize here a characteristic increase of the frequency of these personal vindications on the part of the Apostle, as we so often have occasion to remark during these Epistles: the disposition of one who had been long opposed and worried by adversaries to recur continually to his own claims, the assertion of which had now become with him almost, so to speak, a matter of stock-phrases. Still, the propriety of the assertion here is evident: it is only in the manner of it that the above habit is discernible. See more on this in the Prolegomena. The same phrase occurs verbatim in ref. 2 Tim.), I speak the truth, I lie not (in spite of all that Huther and Wiesinger say of the evident appropriateness of this solemn asseveration here, I own I am unable to regard it as any more than a strong and interesting proof of the growth of a habit in the Apostle’s mind, which we already trace in 2Co 11:31 , Rom 9:1 , till he came to use the phrase with less force and relevance than he had once done. Nothing can be more natural than that one whose life was spent in strong conflict and assertion of his Apostleship, should repeat the fervour of his usual asseveration, even when the occasion of that fervour had passed away. Nor can I consent to abandon such a view because it is designated “questionable and precarious” by Ellic., who is too apt in cases of difficulty, to evade the real conflict of decision by strong terms of this kind) a teacher of the Gentiles (it was especially in this latter fact that the found its justification. The historical proof of his constitution as a teacher of the Gentiles is to be found in Act 9:15 ; Act 22:21 ; Act 26:17 ; but especially in Gal 2:9 ) in ( the ) faith and ( the ) truth (do these words refer subjectively to his own conduct in teaching the Gentiles, or objectively to that in which he was to instruct them? The former view is taken by Thdrt. and most Commentators: : the latter by Heydenreich, al. Huther (also Ellic.) takes the words as signifying the sphere in which he was appointed to fulfil his office of . , being faith , the subjective relation, and the truth , the objective good which is appropriated by faith: Wiesinger, as meaning that he is, in the right faith and in the truth, the . . Bengel regards them merely as another asseveration belonging to the assertion that he is . ., ‘in faith and truth I say it.’ This latter at once discommends itself, from its exceeding flatness: though Chrys. also seems to have held it , . . , . In judging between these, we must take into account the usage of above, 1Ti 2:4 , in a very similar reference, when it was to be matter of teaching to all men. There it undoubtedly is, though anarthrous, the truth of God. I would therefore take it similarly here, as Wiesinger, the sphere in which both his teaching and their learning was to be employed the truth of the Gospel . Then, if so, it is surely harsh to make subjective, especially as the is not repeated before . It too will most properly be objective, and likewise regard that in which, as an element or sphere, he was to teach and they to learn: the faith . This . . . will be, not the object of ., but the sphere or element in which he is the ).

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

1Ti 2:5 . This emphatic statement as to the unity of the Godhead is suggested by the singular just preceding. The neither affirms nor denies anything as to the complexity of the nature of the Godhead; it has no bearing on the Christian doctrine of the Trinity; it simply is intended to emphasise the uniqueness of the relations of God to man. The use of one , with this intention, is well illustrated by Eph 4:4-6 , , . . . The current thought of the time was conscious of many . In contrast to these, St. Paul emphasises the uniqueness of the and worshipped by Christians. The contrast is exactly parallel to that in 1Co 8:6 , , . . The question as to the mutual relations of the Persons of the Godhead had not arisen among Christians, and was not present to the writer’s mind. Indeed if it had been we could not regard the epistle as a portion of revealed theology. Revealed theology is unconscious. The prima facie distinction here drawn between and would have been impossible in a sub-apostolic orthodox writer.

Again, the oneness of God has a bearing on the practical question of man’s salvation. It is possible for all men to be saved, because over them there are not many Gods that can exercise possibly conflicting will-power towards them, but one only. See also Rom 3:30 . One Godhead stands over against one humanity; and the Infinite and the finite can enter into relations one with the other, since they are linked by a who is both God and man. It is noteworthy that . is applied to the archangel Michael in The Test. of the Twelve Patriarchs , Dan 6:2 .

explains how Christ Jesus could be a mediator. He can only be an adequate mediator whose sympathy with, and understanding of, both parties is cognisable by, and patent to, both. Now, although God’s love for man is boundless, yet without the revelation of it by Christ it would not be certainly patent to man; not to add that one of two contending parties cannot be the mediator of the differences (Gal 3:20 ). See also Rom 5:15 . Again, we must note that ( himself man , R.V., not the man , A.V.) in this emphatic position suggests that the verity of our Lord’s manhood was in danger of being ignored or forgotten.

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

Mediator. Greek. mesistrs. See Gal 1:3, Gal 1:19.

between = of.

Christ Jesus. App-98.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

5.] For (further grounding of the acceptableness of prayer for all men,-in the UNITY of God. But this verse is joined by the directly to the preceding, not to 1Ti 2:1. Chrys. gives it rightly- ) there is ONE God (He is ONE in essence and one in purpose-not of different minds to different nations or individuals, but of one mind towards all. Similarly Rom 3:30, and, which is important for the understanding of that difficult passage, Gal 3:20. The double reference, to the unity in essence and unity of purpose, for which I have contended there, is plain and unmistakeable here), ONE Mediator (see reff. It occurs, besides the places in the Gal., only in the Epistle to the Heb., Heb 8:6; Heb 9:15; Heb 12:24. There is no necessity that the idea should, as De W. and Schleierm., be connected with that of a mutual covenant, and so be here far-fetched as regards the context (borrowed from the places in the Heb., according to De W.): the word is used as standing alone, and representing the fact of Christ Jesus being the only go-between, in whatever sense) also (the prefixed to the for emphasis) of (between) God and men (if one only goes between, then that One must be for all), (the) man Christ Jesus (why ? Thdrt. answers, , : and so most Commentators. But it is not here the Apostles object, to set forth the nature of Christs mediation as regards its being brought about;-only as regards its unity and universality for mankind. And for this latter reason he calls him here by this name MAN,-that He gathered up all our human nature into Himself, becoming its second Head. So that the in fact carries with it the very strongest proof of that which he is maintaining. Notice it is not , though we are obliged inaccurately thus to express it: in personality, our Lord was not a man, but in nature He was man. It might be rendered, Christ Jesus, Himself man.

I should object, as against Ellicott, to introduce at all the indefinite article: not individual but generic humanity is predicated: and a man unavoidably conveys the idea of human individuality. It is singularly unfortunate that Ellic. should have referred to Augustine, Serm. xxvi. as cited by Wordsw., in corroboration of the rendering a man: the Latin homo being of course as incapable of deciding this as the Greek , and a man being only Bp. Wordsworths translation of it. Nay, the whole tenor of the passage of Augustine (ed. Migne, vol. v. p. 174) precludes such a rendering. The stupidity of such writers as Baur and the Socinians, who regard such an expression as against the deity of Christ, is beyond all power of mine to characterize. In the face of , , to maintain gravely such a position, shews utter blindness from party bias even to the plainest thoughts expressed in the plainest words), who gave himself (reff., especially Tit.) a ransom (-, as in , Rom 1:27; 2Co 6:13; , Mat 16:26, expresses more distinctly the reciprocity which is already implied in the simple word in each case. That the main fact alluded to here is the death of Christ, we know: but it is not brought into prominence, being included in, and superseded by the far greater and more comprehensive fact, that He gave HIMSELF, in all that He undertook for our redemption: see Php 2:5-8) on behalf of all (not of a portion of mankind, but of all men; the point of 1Ti 2:1, ),-the testimony (that which was (to be) testified: so St. John frequently uses , 1Jn 5:9-11; an accusative in apposition with the preceding sentence. Ellicott. This oneness of the Mediator, involving in itself the universality of Redemption, was the great subject of Christian testimony: see below) in its own seasons (reff.; in the times which God had appointed for it. On the temporal dative, see Ellicotts note), for (towards) which (the ) I was placed as a herald (pastoral Epistles and 2 Pet. only: but see 1Co 1:21; 1Co 1:23; 1Co 9:27; 1Co 15:14) and apostle (the proclaiming this universality of the Gospel was the one object towards which my appointment as an apostle and preacher was directed. Those who hold the spuriousness of our Epistle regard this returning to himself and his own case on the part of the writer as an evidence of his being one who was acting the part of Paul. So Schleierm. and De W. They have so far truth on their side, that we must recognize here a characteristic increase of the frequency of these personal vindications on the part of the Apostle, as we so often have occasion to remark during these Epistles:-the disposition of one who had been long opposed and worried by adversaries to recur continually to his own claims, the assertion of which had now become with him almost, so to speak, a matter of stock-phrases. Still, the propriety of the assertion here is evident: it is only in the manner of it that the above habit is discernible. See more on this in the Prolegomena. The same phrase occurs verbatim in ref. 2 Tim.),-I speak the truth, I lie not-(in spite of all that Huther and Wiesinger say of the evident appropriateness of this solemn asseveration here, I own I am unable to regard it as any more than a strong and interesting proof of the growth of a habit in the Apostles mind, which we already trace in 2Co 11:31, Rom 9:1, till he came to use the phrase with less force and relevance than he had once done. Nothing can be more natural than that one whose life was spent in strong conflict and assertion of his Apostleship, should repeat the fervour of his usual asseveration, even when the occasion of that fervour had passed away. Nor can I consent to abandon such a view because it is designated questionable and precarious by Ellic., who is too apt in cases of difficulty, to evade the real conflict of decision by strong terms of this kind)-a teacher of the Gentiles (it was especially in this latter fact that the found its justification. The historical proof of his constitution as a teacher of the Gentiles is to be found in Act 9:15; Act 22:21; Act 26:17; but especially in Gal 2:9) in (the) faith and (the) truth (do these words refer subjectively to his own conduct in teaching the Gentiles, or objectively to that in which he was to instruct them? The former view is taken by Thdrt. and most Commentators: : the latter by Heydenreich, al. Huther (also Ellic.) takes the words as signifying the sphere in which he was appointed to fulfil his office of . ,- being faith, the subjective relation, and the truth, the objective good which is appropriated by faith: Wiesinger, as meaning that he is, in the right faith and in the truth, the . . Bengel regards them merely as another asseveration belonging to the assertion that he is . .,-in faith and truth I say it. This latter at once discommends itself, from its exceeding flatness: though Chrys. also seems to have held it- , . . , . In judging between these, we must take into account the usage of above, 1Ti 2:4, in a very similar reference, when it was to be matter of teaching to all men. There it undoubtedly is, though anarthrous, the truth of God. I would therefore take it similarly here, as Wiesinger,-the sphere in which both his teaching and their learning was to be employed-the truth of the Gospel. Then, if so, it is surely harsh to make subjective, especially as the is not repeated before . It too will most properly be objective,-and likewise regard that in which, as an element or sphere, he was to teach and they to learn: the faith. This . . . will be, not the object of ., but the sphere or element in which he is the ).

Fuente: The Greek Testament

1Ti 2:5. ) one, common to all. They who have not this one God, by one Mediator, have none, [-and therefore they are not saved. Yet GOD wishes all men to be saved by the saving knowledge of God and the Mediator; but there is a legitimate and most holy order in the exercise of that will, wherewith men ought to receive it. All mankind constitute as it were one man before God; wherefore it is right, that they who have obtained salvation should intercede for those who are farther distant from it. If that were done, how much better would be the condition of the human race! Let him pray, I request, who knows how to pray.-V. g.]-, for) 1Ti 2:4 is proved from 1Ti 2:5; 1Ti 2:1 from 1Ti 2:4. The whole is universal. Comp. Isa 45:22.- , one also) [who is Mediator.] He does not say, also one; therefore the stress of the voice does not so much fall upon the adjective, one, as upon the substantives. We could not rejoice that there is a God, if we did not rejoice also in the Man Mediator.–, one-one) Mar 12:29; Mar 12:32; 1Co 8:6; Eph 4:5-6.-, Mediator) This is as it were an epithet of the noun, man; and the word, one, coheres at the same time with both of these.-, man) The Saviour, not without reason, is here called man, rather than God; that the reason may be marked, why all men should be converted to this Mediator, who [i.e. inasmuch as He, a man] has given Himself for all [men]: comp. Rom 5:15, note. The article is not added. Again, in turn, he calls Him God, ch. 1Ti 3:16.

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

1Ti 2:5

For there is one God,-This is stated as a further reason why Christians should pray for all men. Polytheists could not pray for all men because they would not pray for their enemies. One who believed in the gods of Rome would not pray for the Carthaginians. In the very nature of things, a polytheist could not pray for all men. For the gods of one nation were regarded as enemies of another nation. Whether there was one God or many gods was the issue between Judaism and polytheism. It had required constant struggle, with many failures, to keep even the Jews from polytheism. But after the sore trials during the captivity in Babylon, they were soundly converted to the belief in one God. Whatever else may be said against them, it is evident that they were sound in the belief in one God-Jehovah. But while that is true, they did not believe he was the God of all men. All others they regarded as godless. It took Jesus Christ to teach them that Jehovah is the God of all men. Then the fact that there is one God who loves all constitutes the reason for those who love God to pray for all.

one mediator also between God and men,-As we have just seen, there is one God of all men, so also there is one mediator, and only one, between God and all mankind. A mediator stands between parties who are at variance, who are so widely separated that they can communicate only through an intermediary.

himself man, Christ Jesus,-These words emphasize the nature in which Christ acts as mediator. It is in humanity the nature common to all men, and for that reason all who bear that nature are eligible to partnership in his mediation. (Heb 2:6-18.) Herein we see how God dignifies man, since it is in humanity he performs his mediatorial work, and by thus exalting our nature has thus set before all human beings the possibility of attaining eternal life. [The statement that there is one God, one mediator also between God and men, himself man, Christ Jesus is in the present tense when Paul wrote. He was still a man. He did not leave his humanity behind when he went up on high. As he did not leave his Godhood above when he came down to earth and became a man, so he did not leave his manhood on earth when he ascended to heaven. In heaven today the man, Christ Jesus officiates as mediator on our behalf. Realizing this, let us rejoice and give renewed diligence to make our calling and election sure.]

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

one God: Deu 6:4, Isa 44:6, Mar 12:29-33, Joh 17:3, Rom 3:29, Rom 3:30, Rom 10:12, 1Co 8:6, Gal 3:20, Eph 4:6

and: Job 9:33, Heb 7:25, Heb 8:6, Heb 9:15, Heb 12:24

the man: Mat 1:23, Luk 2:10, Luk 2:11, Joh 1:14, 1Co 15:45-47, Phi 2:6-8, Heb 2:6-13, Rev 1:13

Reciprocal: Exo 34:3 – General Lev 4:10 – peace offerings Lev 4:21 – a sin offering Lev 5:18 – for a trespass Lev 8:26 – General Lev 16:17 – no man Num 3:50 – General Num 4:16 – the oversight Num 16:48 – General Deu 18:15 – like unto me Deu 18:18 – like unto 1Sa 2:25 – who shall Psa 130:7 – for with Isa 53:12 – he bare Jer 30:13 – none Zec 3:9 – remove Luk 14:22 – and yet Joh 3:17 – but Joh 10:15 – and I Joh 16:23 – Whatsoever Act 4:12 – is there 1Co 8:4 – there is 2Co 11:4 – preacheth Tit 1:3 – manifested Jam 2:19 – General 1Jo 2:1 – we have

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

THE ONE MEDIATOR

One Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus.

1Ti 2:5

St. Paul here describes not a creed but an experience. These words are not the utterance of an apostolic dogma, but the utterance of the Apostles feeling. He is not insisting on something to be held as belief, but he is telling us something he has found the Man Christ Jesus to be, his consciousness of Him.

No one ever mediated between God and man as Christ did.

I. He is remarkable, for the heavenly and the earthly meet in Him with no difficultythey mingle in Him. How wonderfully entire He is! There is no defect in His character, no neglect of the minor things of lifeno imperfection in the human side because of His Divine side. There is no onesidedness in Christ Jesus, like as we find in most reformers. He was a Man intensely spiritual, yet full of everything human. This meeting and blending is unique.

II. Christ is unique in what He mediates.

(a) In what He brings down and presents to us. His vision of God the Father, which He gave to us, is unique. Who ever made men think about God as He did?

(b) A mediator to God of our humanity. In Him we are brought near to the Father.

III. Christ is the One and only Mediator.If any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and He is the Propitiation for our sins. When thus we think of the Man Christ Jesus, and hear the exhortation, Lift up your hearts, the voice of humble love and faith replies, We lift them up unto the Lord.

Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary

1Ti 2:5. Idolatry and the worship of many gods was a common condition in the world when the Gospel was first proclaimed. K ngs and other rulers knew something about hearing the causes of their subjects. The dignity of the office was such that a citizen had to be represented by an agent wno could act between the ruler and his subject. These same rulers were often among the believers in many gods, and they (like their own subjects) approached some one of their many objects of worship by means of a priest officiating for them at the heathenish altar. It was appropriate for them to learn that if they are saved through the doctrine preached by the Christians, they must abandon the idea of many gods and realize that there is only one God and hence only one mediator, who is the man Christ Jesus. He was a man in order to represent fairly the human seeker after God, and he was Christ Jesus in order to be good enough to receive recognition before the throne of this God.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

1Ti 2:5. There is one God. Better, God is one, as in Gal 3:20, a passage which St. Paul may almost be thought of as in some sense reproducing. There, as here, the argument is that the Unity of the Godhead is more than the negation of plurality; that it implies oneness of purpose, unchanging and unvarying, as St. James puts it, without variableness or shadow of turning (Jas 1:17); and that that purpose is one of an unalterable love.

One mediator. As if the old associations of ideas in the argument of Gal 3:20 were still present to him, the thought that God is one suggests that of a Mediator. But the relation of the two is not the same here as it is there. There he thinks of the Older Covenant as made in the hand of a Mediator, i.e. of Moses, as coming between God and the people; and this is one of its notes of inferiority to the New Covenant, which is in substance identical with that of Abraham, in which God acted in His own essential Unity, promising and giving with out requiring any intermediate agency. Now St. Paul has learnt to see that the New Covenant also has a Mediator, one who not only comes between the two parties to the contract, but is himself identified with both. Here the stress is laid on the one Mediator. If one only, and that as being a man, then his mediation must be for all humanity, and the whole human race has been redeemed by him.

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

The apostle’s argument runs thus: We ought to pray for all, because there is one God who is good to all, and one Mediator between God and mankind, who took upon him the common nature of all men, and gave himself a satisfactory and sufficient ransom for all, which was in due time testified and borne witness to by us his apostles.

Learn hence, 1. That the only way of friendly intercourse between God and fallen man, is by and through a Mediator. God cannot look upon fallen men out of a Mediator, but as rebels, traitors, and objects of his vindictive wrath; nor can fallen man, without a Mediator, look up to God, but as a provoked majesty, an angry judge, and a consuming fire.

Learn, 2. That there is no other Mediator between God and man, but Jesus Christ, who was both God and man; for though the apostle calls him the Man Christ Jesus, this is not added to exclude the divine nature from the Mediatorship, but emphatically to declare that nature in which he gave himself a ransom for us; the human nature is the matter of our ransom; the divine nature gave worth and value to it; Christ suffered being man, and satisfied being God.

Learn, 3. That this one Mediator, Jesus Christ, gave himself a ransom for all; whoever perishes under the gospel, it is not because no ransom was paid for him, nor because it was not sufficient for him, for it is most notorious that God has issued forth an universal act of grace, offering pardon of sin and eternal salvation to all men without exception, living under the gospel, upon condition of their believing acceptance; if they reject and refuse it, ’tis to their unutterable and inevitable condemnation.–

Learn, 4. That Christ’s mediation and intercession is founded upon redemption; because he gave himself a ransom for all therefore is he, and he only, qualified to intercede for all, in virtue of that sacrifice which he offered for the salvation of mankind: therefore the distinction of the church of Rome, between a mediator of redemption, and a mediator of intercession, is groundless: for who dares plead with an offended god as an intercessor on the behalf of sinners, that has not first, as a redeemer, satisfied the justice of God for sin? As there was no redemption wrought by any, so there is no intercession to be made by any, but by Christ; as there is but one God, so but one Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus.

Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament

1Ti 2:5-7. For there is one God One Creator of all, the Father of the spirits of all flesh, who is no respecter of persons; and one Mediator between God and men Appointed by God to make atonement for the sins of men by his death, and who, in consequence of that atonement, is authorized to intercede with God in behalf of sinners, and empowered to convey all his blessings to them. The man Christ Jesus Therefore all men are to apply to this Mediator. By declaring that the one Mediator is the man Jesus Christ, St. Paul intimated that his mediation was founded in the atonement which he made for our sins in the human nature. Wherefore Christs intercession for us is quite different from our intercession for one another: he intercedes as having merited what he asks for us. Whereas we intercede for our brethren, merely as expressing our good-will toward them. We, depraved and guilty sinners, could not rejoice that there is a God, were there not a Mediator also; one who stands between God and men, to reconcile man to God, and to transact the whole affair of our salvation. This excludes all other mediators, as saints and angels, whom the Papists set up and idolatrously worship as such: just as the heathen of old set up many mediators to pacify their superior gods. Who gave himself a ransom for all , such a ransom, the word signifies, wherein a like or equal is given, as an eye for an eye. The clause seems to be an allusion to Christs words, (Mat 20:28,) to give his life, , a ransom for many. Any price given for the redemption of a captive, was called by the Greeks , a ransom; but when life was given for life, they used the word . Indeed, this ransom paid by Christ, from the dignity of his person, was more than equivalent to all mankind. To be testified in due time , the testimony, that is, a thing to be testified, in his own seasons; namely, those chosen by his own wisdom. Whereunto I am ordained Appointed; a preacher , a herald, to proclaim the grace of it all abroad; and an apostle To attest by miracles that great and essential doctrine of it, the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. I speak the truth in Christ As thou, Timothy, well knowest; I lie not In pretending to such an extraordinary mission. A teacher of the Gentiles As if he had said, I was not only in general ordained to this ministry, but by peculiar destination was appointed to preach to the heathen and instruct them; in faith and verity That is, in the faith of the gospel, and in the whole system of truth which it comprehends. This same solemn asseveration the apostle used Rom 9:1. He introduces it here in confirmation of his being an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles in the true faith of the gospel, because some in Ephesus denied his apostleship, and especially because the Jews were so averse to his preaching the gospel among the Gentiles, charging his doing it either upon the want of a due regard to his own nation, or some view of avarice or ambition. On this passage Dr. Benson remarks, What writer ever kept closer to his subject than this apostle? The more we understand him, the more we admire how much every sentence and every word tends to the main purpose of his writing.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

CHAPTER 11

A few years ago Faith and I traveled to California to be interviewed for a position in a Baptist church in a large city. My qualifications were adequate to the position, my doctrine was adequate to the beliefs of the church, my moral life was adequate to their standard. The pastor and one of the deacons were conducting the interview.

I believe it was the final question of the interview. The deacon settled into his chair with a very pensive look on his face and with slow and deliberate language asked me the following question. How do you view your efforts in this life and the reward that you expect in the next?

I was dumbfounded for an extended embarrassing moment. I could not really grasp his question, in light of the fact that I had never in my life thought about it. I looked at the floor, hummmmmmmmmeeeeedd for an extended time and finally honestly said, “I guess I’ve never thought about that before.” He looked extremely puzzled.

Finally I began explaining to him of my feelings of my position before the Lord. I told him that when God reached down to touch my life, I felt that He owned me – that I would do anything that He requested of me. I had never done anything in my spiritual life to gain reward. I do because He did! He died on the cross for me – He paid the price that I might live – He made heaven a destination for me – why in the world would I worry about reward – if there are any it is only because He wants to do that for me.

To finish the story, though the ending does not relate to the passage – during the interview they had made it clear to me that they had someone in the organization that could handle the position without further expenditures. I told them that I would be glad to consider the position further, but that they already had the provision of God among them in my mind.

The two met for a time without my presence and they thanked us for driving out and spending time with them. They saw clearly that I was right in God’s provision from their own group.

Please read 1Ti 2:5-7.

This text introduces us to many doctrines of the faith. I would just list a few for you and I don’t mean this to be an exhaustive listing.

Unity of God

Mediatorship

Humanity of Christ

Deity of Christ

The Trinity

Man

Sin

Redemption

Salvation

Indeed, it is of interest that you can almost find within this text the ten major divisions of theology.

I. RECOURSE

As man without Christ we have no recourse. We are destined for the flames of hell. We have no choice, we have no option, we have no recourse. However, God has introduced one that is capable of giving us choice, giving us option, of giving us recourse. Christ Jesus allows us to have possibilities with God.

We continue on with the thoughts of verse four “Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.”

Verse five then comments on the one responsible for making verse four possible. “For [there is] one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;”

One God speaks to the Father while mediator speaks of Jesus Christ His Son.

“One God” specifically identifies this as God the Father in heaven. He identifies Himself in Deu 10:17 “For the LORD your God [is] God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty, and a terrible, which regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward:” Also see Psa 136:2 “O give thanks unto the God of gods: for his mercy [endureth] for ever. 3 O give thanks to the Lord of lords: for his mercy [endureth] for ever.”

God knows that man has concocted many gods, but He also knows that He is God of all gods, no matter how powerful man makes his god, Almighty God is supreme in all ways.

One God declares the unity of God as well as the superiority of God. He is the one and only God that man must look to for salvation. He is the creator of all of mankind, and all of mankind is responsible to Him as their creator.

MacArthur mentions “One of the most fundamental teachings of Scripture is that there is one God (cf. Deu 4:35; Deu 4:39; Deu 6:4; Isa 43:10; Isa 44:6; Isa 45:5-6; Isa 45:21-22; Isa 46:9; 1Co 8:4; 1Co 8:6). That runs counter to the pluralistic religiosity of our world, which rejects the concept of any exclusive religious truth. We are taught by the spirit of our age that the gods of the Christians, Jews, Moslems, Buddhists, and Hindus are to be charitably considered equally valid. If that were true, there would be many ways of salvation, and hence no need for evangelism. But since there is only one true God, then He is the One in whom all must believe to be saved.” THE MACARTHUR NEW TESTAMENT COMMENTARY I TIMOTHY; John MacArthur; Moody Press; Chicago; 1995; p 71.

I was reminded when reading this, of a letter that was sent by a Chicago ministerial group to the Southern Baptist Convention in 1999. The Southern Baptists were going to have a gathering in Chicago and during this gathering there was going to be some evangelism taking place.

The letter was to inform the Convention that the association was afraid their “we are saved – you are not saved” philosophy would cause problems within Chicago. They even went so far as to ask them to change their place of meeting. They indicated that evangelism might in fact incite hate crimes in the city.

They did not desire the division of the Gospel in their city! How sad that people calling themselves Christians do not want the gospel of Christ preached in their city.

On 1-7-00 Peter Jennings news a report was given that was very negative to the Southern Baptists. The Christian religion that wants all saved by their God is arrogant, was one comment.

The final thought was that the Baptists were proselytizing among the Jews and Muslims – this was made clear in a negative way.

They didn’t mention that the Jews proselytize among Christians and Muslims nor that the Muslims are spending millions to reach the world – only that the Baptists were in error in their thinking.

The passage immediately introduces the need of man – the need to find some way to reach the Father – the gap that many speak of in evangelism. God and man are separated until some common ground is found to bring them together. Thus there is need of a mediator.

A Mediator is one which referees – acts between two parties in hope of reconciliation. Today we have in our court, labor, and insurance systems what we call arbitrators. The arbitrator brings the two sides together to see what can be done to resolve the differences.

You might remember in the book of Job – this was one of Job’s desires – that a mediator be found to defend him.

Thayer mentions of the term “one who intervenes between two, either in order to make or restore peace and friendship, or form a compact, or for ratifying a covenant.”

One of the questions that usually arises from this passage is, if we have Jesus Christ to reconcile us to God why bother trying to go through Mary, saints, angels or whatever as others do to get to God. If God sent His Son to be our go-between why would we seek others? This seems to me to be illogical.

I might introduce you to a new doctrine that is coming down the pike. The Roman church has for years mentioned that Mary is the mother of God. They now are taking this a step further. When the angel announced the coming child Jesus, she had the option of saying no – this is their interpretation – and because she said yes, she becomes the “co-redemtrix” of mankind. Had she said no, God’s salvation plan could not have come to pass, thus she is just as much the savior of man as Christ.

The fact of the verse is that there is one God and one Mediator. No need for any other God, and no need for any other mediator. Indeed, this verse should give the theologian espousing the above doctrine a bit of a problem! ONE MEDIATOR, not two!

1Ti 1:1-2 show Christ directly linked to God but not linked to man. Here we have a direct statement of His manhood.

“man Christ Jesus” This is a general term for an individual man or can be used of mankind. In fact within this verse we see both usages. “Men” is used as mankind, while man is used of Christ.

Not only is Jesus Christ God, but He is man! We won’t take time to study the doctrine of the God-man, but let it suffice to say that Christ was just as much God as if He had never been man, and just as much man as if He had never been God.

II. RANSOM

1Ti 2:6 “Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.”

“Who” – (1Ti 2:5) Jesus

In Joh 10:18 Christ states that He laid down His life, no one took it. He gave Himself a ransom for all of mankind. This is how He became the mediator of v 1Ti 2:5. (Christ speaking of his life said “No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.”)

“for all” Not just for the elect, but for all sinners – for all of mankind, even those that reject Him completely. This gives equal footing for praying for all mankind in the previous passage! Pray for ALL man because God wills that ALL be saved, and has provided a ransom for ALL men!

Not only His life, but Himself — everything He was–life, thoughts, hopes and dreams.

Some suggest that He died for only the elect. This is untrue and a slight to the work of Christ, and the abilities of almighty God to accomplish that which He has purposed!

It is suggested in my mind that Christ did all that was required to bring all of mankind – every single one – to complete restoration to God. Their sin problems are totally taken care of in Christ’s work – all they have to do is accept that work. This leaves them to stand before God only for rejecting the Christ that could have and would have saved them. I have not seen many authors that present this to their reader – in fact I have only seen one. I think many fear being labeled a universalist.

MacArthur quotes a man that agrees with my thought, but I am not sure MacArthur actually understood what the man meant. He quotes William G. T. Shedd “”The atonement is sufficient in value to expiate the sin of all men indiscriminately; and this fact should be stated because it is a fact. There are no claims of justice not yet satisfied; there is no sin of man for which an infinite atonement has not been provided….Therefore the call to ‘come’ is universal.” (DOGMATIC THEOLOGY [reprint; Nashvile: Thomas Nelson, 1980], 2:482) THE MACARTHUR NEW TESTAMENT COMMENTARY I TIMOTHY; John MacArthur; Moody Press; Chicago; 1995; p 72

The reason I question MacArthur fully understanding Shedd is that he states the following, “Christ’s death was sufficient to cover the sins of all people….” Sufficient in my mind indicates there was enough there to cover all but that not all accepted, thus some were not covered.

The price was paid for everyone, but each soul through the centuries has had to pick up the merchandise. We must individually appropriate this salvation. Just because we’re in a so-called Christian nation or in a Christian home, it does not mean we’re automatically saved. We have to accept our salvation.

Ransom according to Thayer is “what is given in exchange for another as the price of his redemption, ransom.” The term used indicates more than just the payment of a ransom, but indicates the substitution of someone else for the penalty – Christ gave Himself in our place on the cross. Christ was a substitute for our life on the cross.

He mentioned this concept himself as recorded by Matthew in Mat 20:28 “Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.”

He ransomed us he redeemed us, he purchased us – how do we relate to that concept as we live our lives? Do we live as if we are His, do we act as if we are His, do we treat others as if we are His – His in the sense of being totally His – at His total disposal – not at all at our own disposal?

“Due time” according to Thayer is “pertaining to one’s self, one’s own, belonging to one’s self.” This indicates that in due time relates to Christ’s own timing of his ransom. The time of the cross was not an accident, it was a part of the overall plan of salvation. Not a month early or late, not a day early or late, not an hour early or late, not a minute early or late, not a moment early or late – right on time according to His plan.

I had a professor in a Life of Christ class that took an hour to develop the thought of Christ coming at the specific point in history when it was most opportune. All things in the culture were perfect for the coming of the Lord. He went into the detail of the government, of the tremendous road building of the Romans and the easy spread of the Gospel to the world etc. He tied this with Gal 4:4-5 “But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, 5 To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.”

What does “to be testified in due time” mean? Was this due time relating to Paul and his witness to the world? I would think this would be the thought, though there is certainly an application to us as we continue that ministry which Paul started. Christ picked His time to die, His time to begin the establishment of the church, and His time to begin His work with the gentiles.

The prime job of the pastor is tied into these verses. The job is winning souls for God. This is done in many ways by the pastor. Not only personally through preaching, counseling and witnessing but by teaching others to teach and witness of God’s grace and salvation.

These verses also contain our own admonition as well as the pastors! We are all to be testifying of the Lord’s grace in our lives and encouraging others to come to know the Lord.

We needed recourse, Christ gave Himself a ransom and now God desires a response.

III. RESPONSE

Fuente: Mr. D’s Notes on Selected New Testament Books by Stanley Derickson

2:5 {4} For [there is] one God, and one mediator between God and men, the {b} man Christ Jesus;

{4} God should not otherwise be manifested to be the only God of all men, unless he should show his goodness in saving all types of men. Neither should Christ be seen to be the only mediator between God and all types of men, by having taken upon him that nature of man which is common to all men, unless he had satisfied for all types of men, and made intercession for all.

(b) Christ Jesus who was made man.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

Many commentators believed Paul was citing another common creedal statement in these verses. Another possibility is that God inspired him to form this statement himself as he wrote this epistle. In either case we have here a succinct affirmation of the person and work of Christ. The whole statement supports what Paul just said in 1Ti 2:3-4.

The God-man is the only mediator of the New Covenant between God and man, providing salvation man-ward and facilitating prayer God-ward. This is something that people have found hard to accept throughout history. In Paul’s day the Jews looked to Moses (Gal 3:19) or angels (Heb 2:5) as mediators, and the Gnostics looked to intermediary deities (aeons). In our own day Roman Catholics and others look to dead "saints" for mediatorial benefits, and Buddhists look to their ancestors. Nevertheless the teaching of 1Ti 2:5 is clear: the only mediator between God and people is Jesus Christ (cf. Joh 14:6).

"This is one of the most significant verses of the NT." [Note: Earle, p. 358.]

In the "fullness of time" Jesus was born and died giving His life as payment to free the human race ("all") from slavery to sin. Jesus’ death made all people savable. [Note: See Lewis Sperry Chafer, Systematic Theology, 3:184-85.] Limited redemptionists interpret "all men" to be all the elect. Universalists interpret "all men" to be every human individual. Other passages of Scripture that speak of Christ’s death as providing a basis for the salvation of everyone contradict the limited redemptionists (e.g., Joh 3:16, 1Jn 2:2; et al.). Passages that indicate that not everyone will be saved refute the universalists (e.g., Mat 25:46; Rev 20:15; et al.).

A "ransom" (Gr. antilutron, used only here in the New Testament) is a ransom price. This word and this verse clearly set forth the idea that Jesus Christ died as the substitute for all people (cf. Mar 10:45; Gal 1:4; Gal 2:20; Eph 5:2; Tit 2:14). Some benefits of Christ’s death do not belong to the elect exclusively. He paid the debt "for all." This is proof that He desires all to be saved (1Ti 2:4).

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)