Sunday School | 1689 Lesson 3

Jesus Chosen For Mediation

1 Timothy 2:5–6 CSB

For there is one God and one mediator between God and humanity, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, a testimony at the proper time.

1 tim 2

Isaiah 42:1 CSB

“This is my servant; I strengthen him, this is my chosen one; I delight in him. I have put my Spirit on him; he will bring justice to the nations.

John 17:1–5 CSB

Jesus spoke these things, looked up to heaven, and said: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you, since you gave him authority over all flesh, so that he may give eternal life to everyone you have given him. This is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and the one you have sent—Jesus Christ. I have glorified you on the earth by completing the work you gave me to do. Now, Father, glorify me in your presence with that glory I had with you before the world existed.

Before Creation, God the Father and God the Son existed (so also did God the Holy Spirit, but Jesus is focusing on the conversation between Father and Son).

They existed, and the Father sent the Son to redeem.

Is the Son inferior to the Father?

Philippians 2:6 CSB

who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be exploited.

The three Persons of the Godhead are equal. Just because the Father sent the Son and that the Father and the Son sent the Spirit doesn’t make the Son inferior to the Father, nor the Spirit inferior to the Father and the Son.

This is what the 1689 calls “the eternal covenant transaction between the Father and Son concerning the redemption of the elect.”

Jesus’s Titles

Prophet, Priest, King

We will talk about this one later

Head of the Church

So in the 26th chapter of the confession, the 1689 describes Jesus as the head of the church, but it goes on to make an interesting note. Certainly not something found explicitly in Scripture, but you’l see what I mean.

Confessing the Faith: The 1689 Baptist Confession for the 21st Century XXVI. The Church

The Lord Jesus Christ is the head of the church. By the Father’s appointment, all authority is conferred on Him in a supreme and sovereign manner to call, institute, order and govern the church.7 The Pope of Roman Catholicism cannot in any sense be head of the church; rather, he is the antichrist, the man of lawlessness, and the son of destruction, who exalts himself in the church against Christ and all that is called God. The Lord will destroy him with the brightness of His coming.

We can talk about the Pope as the Antichrist some other time, perhaps (though I will say right now that I agree with the confession here), but the point here is that Jesus is the Head, with the authority over all the goings on in the Church.

Savior of the Church

He is the Savior of the Church. Again this is definitely something that we will be looking at in more detail later in this series.

Heir of all things

This is pretty much straight out of .

Hebrews 1:2 CSB

In these last days, he has spoken to us by his Son. God has appointed him heir of all things and made the universe through him.

Judge of the World

Again,

Acts 17:31 CSB

because he has set a day when he is going to judge the world in righteousness by the man he has appointed. He has provided proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”

A People for the Son

John 17:6–9 CSB

“I have revealed your name to the people you gave me from the world. They were yours, you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything you have given me is from you, because I have given them the words you gave me. They have received them and have known for certain that I came from you. They have believed that you sent me. “I pray for them. I am not praying for the world but for those you have given me, because they are yours.