One Mediator
The question
- From an e-mail by a Protestant to a Catholic
- In the dictionary, "to mediate" means "to bring peace or understanding between two people." In the Greek, the word is μεσίτης (mesites), a go-between, a reconciler, or an intercessor. A mediator is someone who effects or attempts to effect reconciliation between two parties. A successful mediator understands the position of both parties and can therefore persuade them to change their minds toward each other.
- Mesites occurs in six verses in the New Testament.
Galatians 3:19-20 19 Why, then, the law? It was added for transgressions, until the descendant came to whom the promise had been made; it was promulgated by angels at the hand of a mediator.[1]
20 Now there is no mediator when only one party is involved, and God is one.
1 Timothy 2:5-6 For there is one God. There is also one mediator between God and the human race, Christ Jesus, himself human, who gave himself as ransom for all. Hebrews 8:6 Hebrews 9:15 Hebrews 12:24
- This occurs 3x,s in Galations 3:19-20. This is where the Apostle Paul speaks of a mediator. In the Old Testament God gave the Low of the Covenant at Mt Sinai. Under the law-the tribe of Levi was the High Priest. Aaron was the High Priest. Read Lev. 16. Paul points in Galatians that the High Priest law--mediation did not and could not bring about true unity with the Holy God. The only possible was was through Faith in Jesus Christ. Gal. 3:22-26 and 1 Tim. 2:5. The law reveals sin --but by adoption the justified believer is a heir in God's family with all rights and privileges. Gal. 4:14-17--Romans 8:14-17--Hebrews 8:6--9:15--12:24. God reveals the True Mediator THE MAN CHRIST JESUS, our risen Lord who mediates a new covenant which is better than the old covenant of Moses because it involves faith in God's Word and trust in His redeeming GRACE. Jesus Christ is the one and only one mediator between between God and Man. He represents God because as the Son of God HE was sent to live an exemplary life of holiness and He became obedient unto death. Jesus represents man kind because He is the man Jesus Christ and bore our mortal nature, all our weaknesses, died as an offering for sins, God raised Him from the dead, gave Him God's own nature---Immortality--made Him High Priest. The one and only mediator between God and Man. 1 Tim 2:5
- Jesus causes our reconciliation goes to the Father and makes intercession for us and then the Father Forgives us of all our sins--therefor we seek Him and desire to serve Him. Jesus is in Heaven seated at the right hand of the Father and He is our High Priest. Heb 4:14-16.We live under the dispensation of GRACE not the dispensation of the law ONLY GRACE.
- G's Statement is as follows----Jesus is his only access no other source to God. Not Mary, nor the saints nor the Pope. Jesus is his pope absolution and confession is only to Him.The church teaches that your access is only tradition, I sure hope that this helps you Anne and I will send more to you tomorrow regarding your other questions. Love you. L.
Intercession is Mandatory
Our role as intercessors does not denigrate Jesus' role as the sole Mediator between God and Man. 1 Tim 2:1-4 are all about intercessory prayer! The people who quote 1 Tim 2:5 against the intercession of the saints are suffering from tunnel vision! They see only the fifth verse and ignore the first four!
1 First of all, then, I ask that supplications, prayers, petitions, and thanksgivings be offered for everyone,
2 for kings and for all in authority, that we may lead a quiet and tranquil life in all devotion and dignity.
3 This is good and pleasing to God our savior,
4 who wills everyone to be saved and to come to knowledge of the truth.
5 For there is one God. There is also one mediator [μεσίτης] between God and the human race, Christ Jesus, himself human,
6 who gave himself as ransom for all.
Rom 8:26-27: The Holy Spirit intercedes for us--without diminishing the "one mediatorship" of Jesus.
Works of art reveal the artist
A work of art is never in competition with the artist. When we admire an artist's handiwork, we are admiring the artist. A poem reveals the poet, a novel reveals the novelist, a letter reveals the heart and the mind of the person writing the letter, the things we say are sacraments of the self--outward signs that reveal inward realities.
Artists love to show their works to audiences. They are thinking of doing so when they begin to fashion the piece and keep the audience in mind as they work on it.
Mary and the saints are works of art.
They are masterpieces of grace.
The Mona Lisa is beautiful. So is the man who created it.
Mary is beautiful. She is full of grace. The Lord who created and blessed her is beautiful and gracious.
Mary leads us to God. She does not stand in the way. She is not an obstacle, any more than a sign saying "New York City 100 miles" is an obstacle or substitute for New York City. She is a signpost, a light, a guide, and a model for us to imitate.
The saints are pilgrims who have finished their pilgrimage. God sends them to us to show us the way and to give us blessed assurance that we, too, can reach the heavenly Jerusalem and find the place that He has prepared for us.
Elements of an answer
It is grossly unfair to attribute a teaching to the Church that is not part of Church teaching.
This is known as creating a "straw dog" or a "paper tiger."
Nothing in the Church's teaching about the intercession of the saints or the sacramental ministry of reconciliation directly or indirectly implies that there is any other Way to the Father other than through Jesus Christ.
The saints and priests live and act through Him, with Him, and in Him. Our work is an extension of Jesus' mediation, not an alternative to it. The members of the Body of Christ do not substitute for or interfere with Jesus' unique mediation; they embody it!
When His disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray, He taught them the "Our Father."
- 1. Jesus did not suggest that they were unable to talk to the Father directly and personally. "The Spirit comes to us and enables us to say, 'Abba,' Father."
- 2. The form of the "Our Father" is communal: we pray together to our Father. We ask that God's will be done in us: forgiveness of sin, sustenance for body and soul, and deliverance from evil. When we say the "Our Father," we are interceding for our brothers and sisters in the Lord.
Our ability to pray is the effect, the consequence, the fruit of Jesus' mediation. We are members of His Body, equipped with His same Spirit, and called to join with Him and with each other in prayer.
References
- ↑ NAB footnote: The descendant: Christ (Gal 3:16). By angels: Dt 33:2–4 stressed their presence as enhancing the importance of the law; Paul uses their role to diminish its significance (cf. Acts 7:38, 53). A mediator: Moses. But in a covenant of promise, where all depends on the one God, no mediator is needed (Gal 3:20).