January 6th: Christ the Mediator (1)
Speaker: Duncan Wyncoll
The longest chapter in the 1689 Baptist Confession is devoted to this key doctrine, which underpins the most amazing work in the history of the world.
1 Tim 2.5 - “There is one God, & there is one Mediator between God & men, the man Christ Jesus.”
· One of the longest chapters in BCF
· It is unique; central to Christianity. No mediator, no salvation. Satan attacked this doctrine first
· The Fall; Sin & death have entered world, & men are separated from God & doomed to everlasting punishment
· A mediator required – Genesis 15 picture. Sin has to be removed to bring us back to God
The Situation is Impossible
A mediator is needed who can ‘pay the price of sin’ to bring God & man together (Atone for sin)
1. He must be a man to be a Fair Substitute. He must suffer as a man; if God could suffer (He cannot) – He would be like a billionaire paying the debts of a poor person
2. He must be God to have the power, authority, & perfection to overcome sin/death – A mere man cannot
· Either you are God, or a man
· A person is either infinite/finite, infinitely strong/weak, creator/created, eternal/mortal, all-knowing/limited knowledge, omnipresent/only in one place – All mutually exclusive
Central Doctrine - The God-Man
· God is going to do something utterly impossible
Galatians 4.4 - “When the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law...”
“His Son” – God
Mark 1.1 - “The Son of God.” Not just an angel but His Son
Mark 1.11 - “Thou art my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased”
John 5.18 - “he…said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God”
“Made of a woman” – A man also, so he could suffer in our place
John 1.1 - “In the beginning was the Word, & the Word was with God, & the Word was God.”
John 1.14 - “The Word was made flesh, & dwelt among us, & we beheld his glory.”
Matt 1.18,23 -“Mary…was found with the child of the Holy Ghost…they shall call his name Emmanuel...God with us.”
Central to the Gospel; take this away, & there is no Gospel
Our Saviour must take our place as man, & yet be God in order to achieve a super-human task
In the Early Church heresies arose (AD 95-110)
1 John 4.2,3 - “Every spirit [teacher] that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God; & every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God; & this is that spirit of antichrist.” Crucial; disastrous heresy to deny this – “the spirit of antichrist”
But the problem remains: How can He be both God & Man?
H Palmer: A Christian ‘Believes Him to be born in time, who was from everlasting, & Him to be shut up in a narrow room, whom Heaven & Earth could never contain.’ (Paradoxes & Seeming Contradictions)
Dual Nature of Christ: One Person, Two Natures
Human nature – Called himself the Son of Man. Born a helpless infant, grew up, was “wearied with his journey” at Jacob's well, slept, was hungry, prayed for strength
Heb 2.16 - “He took not on himself the nature of angels, but … the seed of Abraham” & was
Heb 4.15 - “…tempted like as we are, yet without sin”
Divine nature – Could read thoughts, heal sick, calm storm, raise dead, forgive sins
John 8.58 - “Before Abraham was I am.” - Eternal, without beginning
Mark 2.7 - “who can forgive sins but God only?”
One person – Rom 1.3-4 - “Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; & declared to be the Son of God.” 2 natures mentioned, only 1 person
No wonder that OT believers couldn’t conceive how it would be done.
Paul calls the Gospel…
Col 1.26 – “the mystery which hath been hid from ages & from generations but now is made manifest”
1 Tim 3.16 -“Great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh...”
Plenty of further proofs…
1. Son addresses Father (John 17), & Father the Son: “Thou art my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased” (Mark 1.11). - But God the Son never addresses Jesus the man; not two persons
2. One nature is spoken of in terms true of the other
Acts 20.28 - “Feed the church of God, which he (God) hath purchased with his own blood.”
God doesn't have blood
1 Cor 2.8 - “Had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.”
God doesn't have a body
· Sometimes the divine nature was evident – in miracles. Sometimes the human nature
Mark 13.32 - “Of that day & hour no man knoweth, not even…the Son himself, but the Father only.”
John Calvin said – ‘He laid his glory by. He did not hesitate to endure ignorance for our sakes’
He had a human mind, & a divine mind
Luke 2.52 - “& Jesus increased in wisdom & stature”
Yet he was the one with the wisdom to create the worlds
He had a human will, & a divine will
Mark 14.36 - Nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt’”
John 6.38 - “I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me”
BCofF: “The two natures were united into one person in such a manner that each retained its own properties... The divine nature did not exert itself whenever it was necessary that the human nature should act separately.” Key teaching, without precedent
No hope otherwise.
Luke 24.7 – ‘The Son of Man MUST be delivered into the hands of sinful men, & be crucified’
The God-man is essential – unique to Bible. That’s why no other religion can possibly help
Mysterious. Transcends human reason
Only analogy in life is man's body & soul; Distinct yet united in one person
Attacks - Heresies
No surprise that this came under attack straightaway - the spirit of antichrist at work (1 John 4.2,3)
1. NT times – Gnosticism taught ‘matter is evil’. So Christians wondered – could God take a body?
2. AD70 – Docetism: Jesus a phantom, only appeared to have a real body. Sufferings only apparent
3. Late 1stC – Cerinthus (apostle John alive): birth/crucifixion a mysterious mirage; Christ left the body
4. Early 2ndC – Ebionites (Judaizer sect): Jesus Christ born an ordinary man, died an ordinary man - Endued with divine power only during his ministry
5. Early 2ndC – Marcion thought “was made in the LIKENESS of men” (Phil 2.7) meant he was a phantom. But Rom 8.3 - “God sending his own Son in the LIKENESS of sinful flesh, & for sin, condemned sin in the flesh”
6. AD350 – Apollinarianism – Christ was God, but did not possess true or complete humanity
7. AD400 – Eutychianism – one person, just a divine nature
8. AD430 – Nestorianism – two persons, one divine, one human
Heb 2.14 - “Forasmuch then as...children are partakers of flesh & blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same.”
BCofF: “Two whole, perfect & distinct natures were inseparably joined together in one person, without conversion, composition, or confusion.”
Conversion – Christ's divine nature didn't become human, but human nature was added to divine
Berkhof - “The deity cannot share in human weaknesses, neither can man participate in... the perfections of the Godhead”
Composition – the two natures weren't mixed
Confusion – no incompatibility/no disorder/no contradiction. Not pulling different directions, but divine & human natures perfectly cooperating
Conclusion – The Uniqueness of Christianity
All other religions are impotent to truly save; how can they offer forgiveness of sin?
Rev 5. No one could open the scroll (God's purposes of salvation) except the Lamb
This is why Christ says:
John 14.6 - “I am the way, the truth, & the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me”
