Dear Editors,
Thank you for your work in the Supplementary Discussion addressing the meaning of mesitēs (EJournal of Biblical Interpretation, Vol 6, No. 1, Jan 2012): it is an important discussion which merits this treatment.
If I may, I would like to introduce further aspects of Scripture’s portrayal of this intermediary role that bears upon the discussion. There are two matters not mentioned (other than in passing by Paul) that I want to raise en route to what I believe to be a further conclusive argument for the intermediary sense.
The first is the mention by Paul that the law was ordained by angels “in the hand of a mediator” (Gal 3:19). This is a clear reference to Exod 32:15 which states: “Moses turned, and went down from the mount, and the two tables of the testimony were in his hand”. We shall see as we proceed, quite apart from the evidence already provided by Andrew, that it is right to see in ‘mediator’ (Gal 3:19) a reference to Moses so that ‘in his hand’ is represented as ‘in the hand of a mediator’. But it is also important to lay Gal 3:19 alongside the testimony of Stephen who said: “this [Moses] is he, who was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spoke to him in the Mount Sinai, and with our fathers: who received the lively oracles to give to us” (Acts 7:38). The work of God’s angels through Moses to the people is clearly seen in both descriptions and this indicates it is right to see ‘mediator’ (Gal 3:19) as a reference to Moses. The “two tables of the testimony” (Exod 32:15) that were in the mediator’s hands are “the tables of the covenant” (Heb 9:4). This establishes a further important point which will be developed as we proceed. The work of the intermediary is not merely that of a messenger, it is the work of a messenger appointed to bring the word of the covenant to people who are invited to accept this word and become one in God through Christ.
Moses was in this role of bringing the two tables of the covenant, in part, because of what had happened at the theophany on Mount Sinai before all the people who in dreadful fear said to Moses: “You speak with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die” (Exod 20:19). Nearly forty years later Moses reflects back on this incident to a new generation: “The Lord made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day. The Lord talked with you face to face in the mount out of the midst of the fire, (I stood between the Lord and you at that time, to show you the word of the Lord: for you were afraid by reason of the fire, and went not up into the mount” (Deut 5:3-5). There is here clear confirmation that Moses was descending the mount with the two tables of the covenant because he now stood between the Lord and the people to show them the word of the Lord due to their fear.
The word ‘between’ speaks of Moses’ role as intermediary and anticipates the six uses of mesitēs in the apostolic writings. It is clear that mesitēs is from the same family of words as mesos (‘midst’ or ‘middle’); of course, when speaking of being in the midst of just two parties, (such as God and the people), it is also appropriate to use the expression ‘between’. Whilst I agree with Andrew that it is right to excise the term ‘between’ in his revision of the KJV of 1 Tim 2:5, nevertheless it is important to reflect on why leading English language versions (NKJV; ASV; ESV; KJV; NASB; NIV; NKJV; RSV; NET) persist in having the term between in this verse following ‘mediator’ (or ‘intermediary’ in the case of the NET). It is evident that these translators see some sense of ‘between’ (for the midst of two parties) in mesitēs and this confirms the association I have made with Moses standing “between the Lord and [the people]”. In sum, Moses standing between the Lord and the people to show the word of the Lord to the people was Moses’ mediatorial role.
Now we can proceed to the significance of this, because Moses makes further reference to these circumstances. He later says to the same generation: “According to all that you desired of the Lord your God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I die not. And the Lord said to me, They have well spoken that which they have spoken” (Deut 18:16-17). And what was it that the Lord appointed in response to this?
The Lord your God will raise up to you a prophet from the midst of you, of your brothers, like to me; to him you shall hearken… And the Lord said to me, They have well spoken that which they have spoken. I will raise them up a prophet from among their brothers, like to you, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak to them all that I shall command him. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken to my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him (Deut 18:15,17-19)
Moses clearly has his own foreshadowing of this in mind when he spoke of standing between the Lord and the people when he introduced this part of his speech saying: “Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in your ears this day, that you may learn them, and keep, and do them” (Deut 5:1). Notice also Stephen’s association of his words, which are parallel to Gal 3:19’s portrayal of Moses as mediator of the law (cp. Acts 7:38), with this promise of the prophet like to Moses: “This is that Moses, which said to the children of Israel, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up to you of your brothers, like to me; him shall you hear” (Acts 7:37).
This shows that the role of a mediator in Scripture is a prophetic role. Like a prophet, a mediator shows the word of God to the people. The thing that distinguishes a mediator from a prophet is that the mediator, more particularly, standing between God and the people, shows the word of the covenant to the people inviting them to accept this and to become one with God. The very common association of the work of a mediator with the role of a priest is seen not to be Scripture’s association.
There is another conclusion that arises from this: that Christ is a prophet like to Moses, a promise established in the context of Moses’ appointment to stand between God and the people to show the word of the Lord, shows that it is not right to contrast Moses’ mediatorial role as that of ‘mere messenger’ with Christ’s mediatorial role as necessarily a different, fuller sense of ‘mediator’ (though, of course, the new covenant of which Christ is mediator is better than the old covenant of which Moses was mediator; but this better than relationship contrasts the qualities of the covenants not the roles of Moses and Christ as mediators). Rather, since Christ is a prophet like to Moses, Moses’ role as mediator likewise foreshadows Christ’s fulfillment of the same role for the new covenant.
Bringing these conclusions from a consideration of Exodus 32 and Deuteronomy 5 & 18 to bear on uses of ‘mediator’ about the Lord Jesus Christ yields the following further insights:
- 1 Timothy 2:5’s use is clearly set in a context of the new covenant being brought to all men, gentiles as well as Jews, that they might be saved. God’s will to have all men to be saved is dependent on them coming “to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim 2:4): the man Christ Jesus is the mediator of God and all men to show the word of the Lord to all men by which they come to this knowledge. Paul’s appointment as preacher, and an apostle, a teacher of the gentiles (1 Tim 2:7) was clearly one way by which Christ fulfilled his role as mediator of God and all I say “all men” because that is the purpose of the apostle’s further identification of the man Christ Jesus as one “who gave himself a ransom for all” (1 Tim 2:6): that Jesus gave himself for all is proof indeed that the word of the Lord must be shown to them through Christ’s mediatorial work that they might be saved. It is for this reason that the apostle opens this part of the letter with exhortation, first of all, that supplications, prayers, intercessions and giving of thanks “be made for all men” (1 Tim 2:1): God will have all men to be saved. It is clear that “the man Christ Jesus” cites the expression “the man Moses” (Num 12:3) and not Zech 6:12. Not only because “the man [name]” structure plainly appears in both contexts whereas it is absent in Zechariah, but, more significantly because Numbers 12’s portrayal of Moses as a special prophet with whom the Lord speaks mouth to mouth to speak to the people resonates with Christ’s role as mediator in 1 Timothy 2.
- The ubiquitous expression “mediator of… covenant” about Jesus in Hebrews picks up Moses’ role of showing the word of the covenant to the people.
- Hebrews 8:6 speaks of Jesus’ more excellent ministry which was established on better promises for which he is “the mediator of a better covenant”. The better promises, the covenant of which he was mediator, are explained in fuller detail in the lengthy citation from Jer 31:31-34 in Heb 8:8-12. Note how this work of Christ’s ministry, being the mediator of a better covenant, is described: “I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts… all shall know [the Lord], from the least to the greatest”. As we saw in 1 Timothy 2, this knowledge of the Lord with his laws in their mind and heart, is accomplished by Christ in his role as mediator through the work of preaching of this covenant.
- The “redemption of the transgressions that were under the first covenant” by means of the death of Christ (Heb 9:15) is the promise of the new covenant: “I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more” (Heb 8:12). Thus, the death of Christ for the redemption of transgressions is a reference to one of the outcomes of the ‘new covenant’ of which Christ is mediator (Heb 9:15), not an explanation that his work as mediator is a work of expiation. Christ’s role as mediator of the new covenant is to show the word of the new covenant to a people, who hearing and obeying, can then have this said about them: “they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance” (Heb 9:15). These people were called to this inheritance because of the work of the mediator of the new covenant through faithful servants such as Paul preaching the gospel that they might be called (2 Thess 2:14).
- The mention of “Jesus the mediator of the new covenant” (Heb 12:24) occurs in a context that pervasively draws on the events of Exodus 19 & 20, the historic situation in which Moses was appointed to stand between God and the people to show the word of the Lord to them. Having spoken in many different terms of the things to which the Hebrew believers had come, including “to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant”, he warns them, picking up the language about the prophet like to Moses in Deuteronomy 18: “see that you do not refuse him that speaks [Deut 18:18,19]” (Heb 12:25). Having been called to the general assembly and church of the firstborn by the work of the mediator of the new covenant, the apostle warns them they must not turn away, refusing the one that had spoken (and who continued to speak) calling people to the new covenant.
There is much in what Paul writes about the many and gracious accomplishments of God in Christ with which we can all agree. But that Christ is the one through whom God accomplishes these is not evidence that his work as mediator is the title amongst his very many titles that speaks of these things.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One