Definition · Webster 1828 · Scriptures · Corruption · Roots · Usage · Related
📖 Biblical Definition
Christ the Mediator is the doctrine that the Lord Jesus is the one and only go-between who reconciles the holy God and sinful men, standing between them to make peace and bring them together. There is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all. A mediator stands between two estranged parties to reconcile them, and Christ is supremely fitted for this office by His very person: as the God-man, He lays His hand upon both, partaking of the nature of God whom He represents to men and of the nature of men whom He represents to God, the one person in whom both meet. He executes His mediation through His threefold office—as Prophet revealing God to men, as Priest reconciling men to God by His sacrifice and intercession, and as King ruling and defending the reconciled. He is the Mediator of a better covenant, the new covenant, established upon better promises and ratified by His own blood; He is the surety, the daysman who lays His hand upon both parties, the one in whom God and man are brought together. His mediation is necessary because the breach between God and man is real and deep: God is holy and just, man is guilty and corrupt, and no sinner may approach the consuming fire of the divine holiness except through a mediator who satisfies justice and bridges the infinite distance. And His mediation is sole and sufficient: there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved, no coming to the Father but by Him, no other go-between—not Mary, not the saints, not the priesthood, not any human work—for the one Mediator has accomplished all. To rest in Christ the Mediator is to come to God through Him alone, assured that the one who stands between is mighty to reconcile, having made peace through the blood of His cross.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
Webster 1828 defines MEDIATOR as one that interposes between parties at variance to reconcile them; specifically, Christ, the mediator between God and man.
expand to see more
MEDIATOR, n. — 1. One that interposes between parties at variance for the purpose of reconciling them. 2. By way of eminence, Christ is the mediator, the divine intercessor through whom sinners may be reconciled to an offended God. 1 Tim. ii.
MEDIATORIAL, a. — Belonging to a mediator; as the mediatorial office or kingdom of Christ.
📖 Key Scripture
1 Timothy 2:5 — "For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus."
Hebrews 9:15 — "And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death... they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance."
John 14:6 — "...I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."
Job 9:33 — "Neither is there any daysman betwixt us, that might lay his hand upon us both."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
Christ’s sole mediation is corrupted by every rival go-between—Mary, the saints, the priesthood, sacraments, or human works set up as additional channels between God and men.
expand to see more
The mediation of Christ is corrupted by the erection of rival mediators that compromise His unique office. Rome teaches the faithful to seek the mediation of the Virgin Mary—hailed as ‘Mediatrix’—and the intercession of the saints, and lodges access to God in a sacrificing priesthood and a sacramental system administered by the church. The Eastern churches likewise multiply heavenly patrons. Each of these, however piously intended, crowds the one Mediator with others, teaching the sinner to approach God through Mary, the saints, the priest, or the rite, rather than through Christ alone. But the apostle is emphatic: there is one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; to add others is to deny the sufficiency of the one.
The error appears in subtler Protestant forms wherever the sinner’s access to God is made to rest, even partly, on his own works, experiences, or righteousness, as though something of his own must be added to the mediation of Christ to render him acceptable. But the glory of the doctrine is its exclusivity and sufficiency: the one Mediator, being the God-man, lays His hand upon both parties—the daysman Job longed for—and by His blood has made peace, opening a new and living way into the holiest. There is no other name given among men whereby we must be saved, no coming to the Father but by Him. To rest in Christ the Mediator is to renounce every rival go-between and every supplement of one’s own, and to come to God through Him alone—assured that the one who stands between is fully able to reconcile, having Himself satisfied the justice that separated us and joined in His own person the God and the man He came to reconcile.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
The doctrine rests on the one mesitēs (mediator) between God and men, the daysman (Hebrew yākach, to arbitrate) who lays his hand on both.
Usage
"Christ the Mediator is the one go-between who reconciles God and men, fitted for it as the God-man who touches both."
"There is one Mediator—to add Mary, the saints, or the priesthood is to deny the sufficiency of the one."
"He is the daysman Job longed for, who lays His hand upon both parties and makes peace by the blood of His cross."