CHAPTER 8: Of Christ the Mediator
(Parts One & Two)
God’s plan to save sinners, which is actually about His grace more than it is about our salvation, begins with His decision from all eternity past that the eternally begotten Son of God be the Savior of His people (Matthew 1:21). He alone is the perfect Mediator between God who is holy and man who is sinful (1 Timothy 2:5).
He is the perfect Prophet who represents God to man and gives man God’s Word (Matthew 7:28-29, John 4:19). He is the perfect Priest who represents man to God, interceding on man’s behalf (Hebrews 4:14-15, 7:25-26). He is the perfect King who rules over all with perfect justice and who teaches by His example that the way to rule is to serve (John 12:14-15, 1 Timothy 6:13-15, Revelation 19:16). He is the perfect Head over the company of those He saves, which we call the Church (Ephesians 1:22, Colossians 1:18).
He is the Heir of all things—all things are His because He is God (Hebrews 1:2).
He is the perfect Judge of all the world because as God, He knows all things and is righteous in all His ways (Matthew 25:31-46). The Father has given to Him from all eternity an elect people who He has graciously redeemed from sin (John 18:9), called to Himself, justified (declared righteous because of what He has done for them), is sanctifying (making holy), and will glorify (one day removing them from all sin and delivering them safely into the presence of God in Heaven for eternity.)
(Part Two)
The Confession rightly points out that the Bible teaches that Jesus, the Son of God, is God (John1:1). He is the second Person of the Trinity. (We dealt more specifically with the Trinity when we covered Chapter 2 of the Confession.) What is pertinent in this chapter is that Jesus, the Son of God, is God. He is one in essence and being with the Father and the Holy Spirit. He is co-equal and co-eternal with the Father and the Spirit. The Son is the co-Creator of all things; He sustains and governs all things that He has created.
At a specific point in time, the Son became a Man in every way (except without sin). In so doing He never ceased, even for an instant, to be less than God in every way. He is the only Person ever to have both a human and divine nature. His two distinct natures are inseparably joined together in one Person and cannot be co-mingled into one hybrid nature, or separated into two persons. While His deity is from eternity past, His humanity began when He was conceived in the womb of the virgin, Mary. He is the God-Man forever into eternity future. As the God-Man, Jesus is the only Mediator between God and man (1 Timothy 2:5).
Our Mediator lived for us (sinlessly), died for us (vicariously), rose for us (victoriously), intercedes for us (ceaselessly), and will return again for us (triumphantly).