1 Timothy 2.5-There Is One God And One Mediator Between God And Mankind, A Human Being Christ Jesus
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday March 17, 2011
1 Timothy: 1 Timothy 2:5-There Is One God And One Intermediary Between God And Mankind, A Human Being Christ Jesus
Lesson # 38
Please turn in your Bibles to 1 Timothy 2:1.
The apostle Paul in verse 5 teaches that there is one God and intermediary between God and the human race, namely the man Christ Jesus.
1 Timothy 2:1 First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, 2 for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. 3 This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. (NASU)
“For there is one God” is composed of the conjunction gar (γάρ) (gar), “for” and the nominative masculine singular form of the adjective heis (εἷς) (eece), “one” and the nominative masculine singular form of the noun theos (θεός) (thay-oce), “God.”
The conjunction gar is causal meaning that Paul’s statements in verses 5 and 6 present additional reasons why the Ephesians should intercede in prayer for each and every member of the human race.
In verse 4, we noted that they should do so because it is the Father’s will that each member of the human race be saved and to enter into knowing the truth experientially.
The second reason that Paul presents in 5a is that there is one God or in other words, they should pray for all people “because” the entire human is under the authority of God in the sense that He is their Creator, Judge and Savior.
The third reason follows in 5b-6, namely they should intercede in prayer for each and every member of the human race “because” there is one intermediary between God and the human race, the man Christ Jesus.
In other words, they should pray for the entire human race “because” the incarnate Son of God, Jesus Christ is the intermediary between a holy God and sinful humanity who gave Himself as a ransom for the entire human race.
Therefore, Paul is teaching the Ephesians that interceding in prayer for each and every member of the human race is not only in accordance with the Father’s will but also in accordance with the fact that God is the creator of all people and the judge of all people and the Savior of all people.
In addition intercessory prayer for all men is in accordance with the purpose of Jesus Christ’s substitutionary spiritual and physical deaths on the cross.
The expression εἷς θεός, “one God” rephrases the Shema, which is the central affirmation of Judaism and appears in Deuteronomy 6:4.
Deuteronomy 6:4 Listen, Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! (NET)
Dr. Arno C. Gaebelein commenting on Deuteronomy 6:4, writes, “Jehovah, our Elohim is one Jehovah, thus the name of God is used in this verse. The verse states that to Him alone the name of Jehovah (the Self-Existing One) rightfully belongs, He is the one who is absolutely God. It is the testimony against the polytheism (many different gods) of the Gentiles, which surrounded Israel on all sides.”
So Paul pulls out this expression in verse 5 to refute those pastors in Ephesus who were following the teaching of the Judaizers who were of the conviction that only Israel was worthy of the kingdom of God.
They excluded the Gentiles from the kingdom of God.
These pastors who he does not identify (except for Alexander and Hymenaeus) sought to be teachers of the Law and were occupied with Jewish myths and useless genealogies of the Old Testament and were misinterpreting these genealogies and misusing the Ten Commandments.
The apostle is arguing in 1 Timothy 2:1-7 much as he did in Romans 3:29-30 that the offer of salvation is presented by God through the gospel to both Jews and Gentiles since God is the Creator, Judge and Savior of both groups.
This would refute the sectarian spirit of the Judaizers and these pastors who followed their teaching.
He is arguing as he did in Romans that justification is not by the works of the Law or meritorious acts based upon obedience to the Law but rather through faith alone in Christ alone.
As Mounce rightly observes about 1 Timothy 2:5, “This verse provides one of the strongest arguments that the Ephesian heresy was primarily Jewish.” (Mounce, page 87).
In 1 Timothy 2:5, the cardinal number heis means, “one” in contrast to more than one indicating that there is not a God for the Jew and one for the Gentile since He is the Creator, Judge and Redeemer of all men, thus both groups are under His authority.
Paul is saying that there is one and the same God for both Jew and Gentile and who therefore has only one means of justifying both groups, faith in Jesus Christ.
The noun theos, “God” appears twice in 1 Timothy 2:5 and in both instances it refers to the Father since in verses 3 and 4 Paul taught the Ephesians that they should intercede in prayer for the entire human race because it is the Father’s will that the entire human be saved and to enter into knowing experientially the truth.
“And one mediator between God and men” is composed of the nominative masculine singular form of the adjective heis (εἷς) (eece), “one” and the conjunction kai (καί) (keh), “and” which is followed by nominative masculine singular form of the noun mesites (μεσίτης) (mah-seeteez), “mediator” and the genitive masculine singular form of the noun theos (θεός) (thay-oce), “God” and the conjunction kai (καί) (keh), “and” which is followed by genitive masculine plural form of the noun anthropos (ἄνθρωπος) (ahn-throe-poce), “men.”
The noun mesites means “intermediary” and not “mediator” since the latter conveys the idea of compromise and a holy God did not compromise with sinful humanity.
This word speaks of the fact that Jesus Christ is the Father’s delegate or representative to the entire human race while at the same time He represents the entire human race before the Father.
He can do so because He is both God and man, thus, this term implies that Jesus of Nazareth is God.
This term also alludes to the doctrine of reconciliation, which is a peace treaty between a holy God and sinful humanity that is the direct result of the spiritual and physical deaths of Jesus Christ on the Cross since it propitiated the holiness of God that expresses itself in righteous indignation against sin and sinners.
This time the cardinal number heis functions as an adjective modifying the noun mesites, “intermediary” and means “one” in contrast to more than one.
This word indicates that the offer of eternal salvation is universal by virtue of what the intermediary Jesus Christ accomplished through His substitutionary spiritual and physical deaths on the cross.
It also makes clear that there is only one way to receive eternal salvation and that is through this intermediary, Jesus Christ.
This echoes what Peter and the Lord taught (See Acts 4:10-12).
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” (NASU)
Commenting on 1 Timothy 2:5 and this expression “one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus”, Towner writes, “Paul anchors universal access to God’s salvation in the one act of redemption and the one message about it.” (Towner, Philip H., The Letters to Timothy and Titus; page 181; William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company; Grand Rapids, MI, 2006)
The noun theos, “God” once again refers to the Father since in verses 3 and 4 Paul taught the Ephesians that they should intercede in prayer for the entire human race because it is the Father’s will that the entire human be saved and to enter into knowing experientially the truth.
The conjunction kai appears a second time in 1 Timothy 2:5 and is used in a copulative sense uniting the noun theos and anthropos signifying that a holy God has been united with sinful humanity through the intermediary Jesus Christ.
The noun anthropos denotes a “person, human being” and is used in a generic sense for the human race and in the plural means “people” or “human race.”
“The man Christ Jesus” is composed of the nominative masculine singular form of the noun anthropos (ἄνθρωπος) (ahn-throe-poce), “the man” and the nominative masculine singular form of the proper name Christos (Χριστός) (cree-stoce), “Christ” and the nominative masculine singular form of the proper noun Iesous (Ἰησοῦς) (yee-soose), “Jesus.”
This time the noun anthropos means “man” or “person” referring to the humanity of Christ in hypostatic union whose substitutionary spiritual and physical deaths on the cross reconciled sinful humanity to a holy God.
The Son of God through His sinless humanity suffered a substitutionary spiritual and physical death on the cross in order to reconcile a holy God with sinful humanity.
By emphasizing the humanity of Christ, Paul is not saying that He is not God but rather is emphasizing that the Son of God, through His sinless human nature reconciled the human race to the Father through His spiritual and physical deaths on the cross.
The proper name Christos emphasizes that Jesus of Nazareth, the incarnate Son of God delivered sinners from the sin nature, personal sins, the devil and his cosmic system, spiritual and physical death and eternal condemnation through His substitutionary spiritual and physical deaths and resurrection.
The proper name Iesous is the Greek spelling of the Hebrew word Jehoshua, “Jehovah saves,” and refers to the human nature of the incarnate Son of God, Jesus of Nazareth.