1Timothy 2:5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.
The orthodox interpretation of the above Scripture is that man was separated from God because of God’s wrath against man’s sin. But God had a plan of salvation
to get man back, and that was to offer His sinless Son Jesus as a blood sacrifice, a sin offering which would appease God’s wrath and enable Him to accept us.
This interpretation makes several assumptions: (1) that man was indeed separated from God in actuality, (2) that God can harbor anger against His own creation, (3) that the word mediator
carries in it the dictionary definition of one who intervenes between people in a dispute to bring about an agreement or reconciliation,
(4) that God is capable of killing His own Son, (5) that God couldn’t forgive man (of whatever sin he had committed) on His own, but had to have a blood sacrifice in order to be able to extend that forgiveness to man, and (6) most importantly, that God and Christ Jesus are not one and the same.
Let’s address each of these assumptions.
1. That man was indeed separated from God in actuality. Paul tells us that we are alienated from God in our mind (Colossians 1:21) and that nothing, not even death, can separate us from His love (Romans 8:38-39).
2. That God can harbor anger against His own creation. We learn from John that God is love (1John 4:8,16). And Paul tells us what the characteristics of love are:
1Corinthians 13:5 (NIV) It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
But we are to believe that God kept a record of our wrongs, was angered by those wrongs, and couldn’t forgive us unless those wrongs were paid for.
3. That the word mediator
carries in it the dictionary definition of one who intervenes between people in a dispute to bring about an agreement or reconciliation
[Strong 3316: a go-between, i.e. (simply) an internunciator, or (by implication) a reconciler (intercessor) — mediator].
We see from this entry in Strong’s Concordance that a mediator is one who is a go-between, one who is a reconciler. We learn from Paul that it was God Himself who was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself
–not Christ settling a dispute between us and God —for God and Christ are one. The man Christ Jesus
(the Word made flesh; God descended into this world in the form of Jesus) is what man had to see and handle (1John 1:1) to know that he had never been separated from God and that he could return to Father’s house
from whence he came (Luke 15).
2Corinthians 5:18-19 And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.
4. That God is capable of killing his own Son (and did indeed offer Him as a human sacrifice). One of the Ten Commandments is Thou shalt not kill
(Exodus 20:13). When Jesus (who, remember, is one with God) expounded on this commandment, He said that even to be angry with another is to be in danger of the judgment
(Matthew 5:21-22).
When James and John wanted to call fire down from heaven to destroy their enemies, Jesus (who is one with God)
Luke 9:55-56 … turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. For the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.
Yet we are to believe that God was so angry with us (or at least with our sins) that He would destroy the life of His own Son to appease that anger.
5. That God couldn’t forgive man (of whatever sin he had committed) on His own, but had to have a blood sacrifice in order to be able to extend that forgiveness to man.
When asked by Peter how often should he forgive those who sinned against him (perhaps seven times?)
Matthew 18:22 Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus instructs us:
Matthew 5:44-48 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
Jesus is definitely saying that we are to follow the example of our Father (and Himself, who are one and the same); we are to forgive everyone who wrongs us without demanding anything of them, not even that they ask for our forgiveness. The orthodox response to this statement would be that God could forgive and so can we because Jesus paid for
that forgiveness by offering Himself as a sacrifice for our sins. But the Sermon on the Mount predates the crucifixion.
While on the cross, before the sacrifice
had been completed, Jesus said of those who were crucifying Him:
Luke 23:34 Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.
Anyway, both David and Hosea tell us that God never required sacrifice:
- Psalms 40:6
- Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required.
- Hosea 6:6
- For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.
So why the cross? See Purpose of the Cross.
6. Most importantly, that God and Christ Jesus are not one and the same. Though orthodox Christians maintain doctrinally that they are the same, they really cannot reconcile the God of wrath, judgment and punishment of the Old Testament with the God who took upon Himself the form of the man Jesus, the one who doesn’t judge, punish or condemn, but only loves, accepts, embraces and bids us to just believe and receive the almost too good to be true news that we are the children of God and always have been —but we have to be awakened to that truth.
So Jesus becomes the good guy
of the Trinity, the one who pleads our cause and gives Himself to His wrathful Father to take our punishment so He won’t have to kill us. But even that is not enough to ensure our living forever in the Presence of God. No, if we don’t confess
that we are sinners
and ask God for His forgiveness and call upon the name of Jesus and accept this blood sacrifice, we will still be banished from the Presence of God and left to burn forever in a lake of fire. It is still not dependent only on what Jesus has done, but rather on what we do to accept what He has done.
Is it any wonder that the psychiatric wards of our hospitals are filled with born-again
Christians filled with guilt and tormented with the fear that they probably haven’t really fulfilled all the requirements for being saved
put upon us by this wrathful God. Maybe we really don’t have enough faith
; or maybe we didn’t say the sinner’s prayer exactly right. When I was teaching in a Bible college, I had more than one student —students who loved God with all their hearts and were wanting to know Him above all else— come to me and say, I’m not really sure that I’m saved.
I began to realize that it shouldn’t be this hard, this complex, because Jesus said we should come as little children if we wish to enter the kingdom of heaven Matthew 18:3). So I continued my own search for truth, this time letting the Holy Spirit inside, not the traditions of men,
guide me into truth. What I believe has been revealed to me is written down in these contemplations.