1b. The New Testament Basis for the Doctrine
Rev A W MacColl
In the Gospels, Christ is everywhere assumed to be, at one and the same time, perfectly divine and perfectly human. His conception and His birth by the Virgin Mary are set forth as supernatural, miraculous and of unique importance for the salvation of God’s people: “the Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee, therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God” (Lk 1:35).
In the Gospel accounts, Christ is clearly portrayed as fulfilling the office of Mediator and doing so in the functions of Prophet, Priest and King. He is the One that came “in God’s great name to save”; thus it was said: “Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins”. We see Him opening His blessed mouth and teaching the people as the heaven-sent Prophet, so that men were astonished at His doctrine, and even His erstwhile adversaries were constrained to say, “Never man spake like this Man”. He was acknowledged by Nathanael, when he first met Jesus, to be “the Son of God, the King of Israel,” and Christ then proceeded to unfold how Nathanael would increasingly derive blessing from Him as Mediator: “Thou shalt see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man”.
1The first section of this paper, last month, gave the Old Testament basis for the doctrine.
Matthew sets forth Christ as Prophet and King with a particularly Jewish emphasis; Mark and Luke recall in detail the activity of Christ in His earthly ministry: “The blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, to the poor the gospel is preached” (Lk 7:22). In John’s Gospel we are given a view of how conscious the Saviour was of His relation with the Father, and of His heavenly commission to His great work. Indeed, it is an acute observation of Geerhardus Vos that there is less emphasis in John on Christ performing His works by the Holy Spirit than there is in the Synoptic Gospels2, simply because the immediate relationship between Jesus the Mediator and His Father, who sent Him, is so prominently brought into focus in John’s account.3
In all four Gospel narratives, however, the culmination of the work given Christ to do is clearly the cross. The physical sufferings of Christ on Calvary are only given as much treatment as is absolutely necessary for our understanding, and the theological significance of the cross is fully elaborated in the epistles of Paul, not in the Evangelists. Nevertheless, the descriptions which are given in the Gospels, of how Christ offered Himself for the sins of His people on the cross, lie at the very foundation of our doctrine of the Mediator, of our preaching of Christ, and of the hope that any sinner can entertain of obtaining salvation.
When we turn to the Epistles, the classic New Testament proof for the doctrine of the Mediator is 1 Timothy 2:5, where the Mediator’s work is especially bound up with His offering up a ransom, to be testified in due time. The actual term “Mediator” also occurs in Galatians and in Hebrews. The threefold office of the Mediator – as Prophet, Priest and King, is seen in the reference to the blessings it brings to believers, in 1 Corinthians 1:30: “Who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption”. The first chapter of Revelation describes Christ as “the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto Him that loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood and hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father, to Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever.” We see that this description also centres on Christ’s priesthood, and its effects in the salvation of the Church and in the praise that flows to the Redeemer from the redeemed multitude.
The Epistle to the Hebrews also features a special emphasis on this priestly aspect of His mediation. Indeed, it is in Hebrews that we learn particularly about the activity of the High-Priestly Mediator in heaven, since it is a theme not unfolded to the same extent in any other New Testament
2That is, Matthew to Luke.
3Vos, Biblical Theology, Banner of Truth reprint, 1975, p 347.
book. There are statements in John’s writings, however, which also point to Christ’s ongoing heavenly activity. In his Gospel, for example, the famous words occur: “I go to prepare a place for you” (14:2). Again, in his first Epistle, we learn that “if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father” (2:1). Those statements in Revelation 4-5, where Christ receives the worship of the saints and angels, may also be regarded in this light, as extending our knowledge of the Mediator’s presence within the veil.
Neither ought we to neglect Paul’s statement, in Ephesians, where he tells us that believers have “all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ” (Eph 1:3). This points to the representative character of the Mediator, as Forerunner of His people and to the privileges which belong to believers both now and in the future.