SECTION SECOND

THE MEDIATION OF JESUS CHRIST

CHAPTER I

THE MYSTERY OF MEDIATION AND OF INCARNATION

1. Nature of Mediation. The adorable personality of Jesus becomes still more impressive and affecting when studied in connection with his redemptive ministry of mediation. The words mediator and mediation imply two parties who are at variance, and an efficient mediator is one who can fairly represent the two and make peace between them. The peace thus secured is called a reconciliation. According to 1 Tim. ii, 5, "There is one God, one mediator also between God and men, himself man, Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all." A competent mediator must be vitally acquainted with the feelings and interests of both the parties whom he would bring together, and when those who are alienated are, as in this case, God and man, the efficient mediator must be at once a partaker of the divine nature and also of flesh and blood. Such was Jesus Christ. Although in glory with the Father and partaking of his love before the world was, he was in the fullness of time born of a woman, grew up as other men from infancy to manhood, was tempted in all points as we are, and suffered and died the death of the cross. Thus "it became him, for whom are all things and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the author of their salvation perfect through sufferings." The perfection of this human experience was as essential to the world's Mediator as was his heavenly preëxistence in the bosom of the everlasting Father. Hence it is that, from a New Testament point of view, all the problems of the moral universe center in Jesus Christ, and through his mediatorial ministry they are to find their ultimate solution.

2. Doctrine and Ideals of Incarnation. In the prologue of John's gospel we have a very remarkable presentation of the doctrine of divine incarnation. The eternal Word of God became flesh and dwelt among men in a way adapted to show forth the glory, grace, and truth of the eternal Father. The mediation of Jesus Christ cannot receive a full biblical exposition apart from

this fact and doctrine of incarnation, for "God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself." The idea of incarnation may be shown to have had from the beginning both a cosmical and a personal expression in many different ways. The outward expression of God's everlasting power and divinity may be seen in natural phenomena to which it has not always occurred to man to give a spiritual interpretation. The heavens have declared his glory, and the wonders of creation have made known his wisdom and power, but the vain reasonings of men have too generally perverted the import of these cosmic revelations of God. Even in the myths current among the nations, and in the strange superstitions of the earth, we are able to discern the concepts of divine incarnation written in the heart of man. Some writers maintain that the idea of incarnation is a crude belief of rude society in its earliest stages: uncivilized and ignorant tribes conceive God as a great man, but later and more accurate thinking begets the conviction of an impassable gulf between God and man. We reject this construction of the facts alleged, and submit as a more trustworthy and tenable opinion that this human way of thinking about God is eminently proper. The biblical doctrine is that man is himself the highest visible image and likeness of the invisible God, and surely the heavenly Father may be most properly conceived as partaking of the qualities of his noblest offspring. The various ideas of incarnation traceable in the religious thought and in the mythologies of the nations may be studied as so many different indications of the one great truth that our God and Father thus condescends to make himself known to his human offspring. Zoroaster is said to have received his revelations through an archangel of colossal form, nine times as large as an ordinary man. Hindu mythology is particularly noted for its innumerable stories. of incarnation, or descents of the various deities. The god Vishnu is remarkable for his numerous manifestations. Whenever iniquity seems to triumph and religion is exposed to danger he issues forth from the unseen realms in some new avatar.' In the older cult of Brahmanism Brahm is conceived as the divine spiritual essence from which all things proceed, and Brahma is his first manifestation, the first lawgiver of India, and the inspirer of the Vedas. The doctrine of transmigration, so conspicuous in all the native religions of India, is essentially a concept of reincarnation. Buddhism furnishes a most remarkable conception of the doctrine of incarnation. Its fundamental tenet is that the successive Buddhas

'So in the Bhagavad Gita (iv, 7, 8) he says: "I manifest myself from age to age for the defense of the good, for the suppression of the wicked, and for the establishment of justice."

are beings who repeatedly make their appearance in human form, yet only after immense intervals of time. Previous to his incarnation in human form the Buddha is believed to have passed through various births, at one time appearing as a reptile, at another as a bird; but when at last he appears as Buddha, he is always born of a woman, and born under the ordinary laws of human life. The distinguishing qualities of the Buddha are calmness, gentleness, and repose, and these thus become incarnate in their highest manifestation. Here, then, is an ideal of all that is noblest and best in moral attainment set forth before us in the form of a perfected human being. But while the Father has not left himself without witness among the nations, all other manifestations of himself have been eclipsed by the incarnation and mediation of Jesus Christ. Even the superior revelations of God given in the books of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms are consummated and superseded by the manifestation of the Christ; how much more completely has this manifestation consummated and eclipsed the inferior revelations of the whole Gentile world!

3. Mystery and Purpose of the Ages. It appears from the teachings both of John and of Paul that the marvelous incarnation of God in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, is the great mystery of the ages, hidden during the times of the eternal past, but disclosed through the personal manifestation and mediation of the only begotten Son of God. We are to conceive this great mystery and purpose of God as a process going on through the ages. These ages have their epochs, and crises, and consummations. The regeneration of mankind is not brought about in one thousand years, nor are human hearts with their many experiences of emotion and intelligence the creation of an instantaneous act of omnipotence. Times and seasons of world-wide significance, and the many modes of his self-revelation are matters which the everlasting Father keeps within his own counsels, but it is his good pleasure to make known to men such blessed truths as make for their well-being. The revelation of God in Christ is often spoken of, especially in the writings of Paul, as a holy "mystery" (μvorýplov). In the twenty-seven passages of the Greek Testament where this word occurs it always denotes some noble spiritual truth, some hidden fact or mystical relation, which, though withheld from the many who care for none of these things, is made known to them that have the Spirit of God. Paul speaks of "God's wisdom in a mystery, that which has been hidden, which God foreordained before the ages unto our glory" (1 Cor. ii, 7). In the doxology with which he concludes the epistle to the Romans he speaks of "the revelation of the mystery which hath been kept

in silence through times eternal, but now is manifested and is made known unto all nations unto obedience of faith" (xvi, 25, 26). In Eph. i, 9-11, we read of "the mystery of his will, according to the good pleasure which he purposed in him unto a dispensation of the fulness of times, to sum up all things in Christ, the things in the heavens and the things upon the earth." The same idea finds repeated statement in Eph. iii, 9, 11, and in Col. i, 26. Other epistles witness the same eternal truth. The earth, the world, the universe has its deep mystery and purpose, which comprehends all things in the heavens as well as the things in the earth. The Lord Christ in the continuous ministry of his mediation between God and man is bringing into light this mystery of the ages. His redeeming work and its eternal purpose of love have their origin in the bosom of the Father, and this sublime concept accords notably with all that is highest and best in the theistic arguments of teleology. This universe of being shows manifold evidences of intelligent design, and the divine "purpose of the ages" means that back of all phenomena there exists not only an invisible Energy by which all things are held together, but also a Supreme Intelligence, which sees all things and rules all things from beginning to end. We, who can see but parts of his ways, gladly study what may now be known of him as he reveals himself in the one great Mediator.

CHAPTER II

OLD TESTAMENT IDEAS OF MEDIATION

1. Value of Old Testament Ideas. The scriptures of the Old Testament enable us to see, in great measure, how God's eternal purpose of the ages was gradually unfolded. The everlasting Father made himself known to the Melchizedeks and Jethros of ancient time as truly if not as fully as to Abraham and Moses. The Wisdom from above has cried aloud in the high places and along the pathways of the sons of men (comp. Prov. viii, 1-4), and all nations of men have heard the heavenly voice and have shown "the work of the law written in their hearts." But God bestowed exceptional advantages upon the Jewish people, and chiefly in the fact that they were intrusted with the records of a divine revelation (comp. Rom. iii, 2), which show how God spoke unto the fathers in many different ways. And these Hebrew scriptures are still profitable for us in our study of the ever-unfolding mystery of God and of Christ.

2. Primitive Priesthood and Mediation. It is quite natural for any worshiper of a supernatural Power to resort for assistance to some mediator between himself and the Deity. This fact has been to some extent apparent among the devotees of all the religions of the world. Among savage tribes we note the need and the reverence felt for the medicine man, the soothsayer, or the priest, who is supposed to possess some superior influence with the powers invisible. In the biblical narratives of early patriarchal times the head of the household acted as priest and mediator. Melchizedek is mentioned in Gen. xiv, 18, as "king of Salem" and "priest of God Most High." Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Jethro, priest of Midian, are represented as building altars, offering sacrifices, and calling upon God, as if acting the part of mediators and intercessors. Especially noteworthy is the account of Abraham standing as an intercessor before Jehovah, and pleading for the cities of the plain when their enormous wickedness had exposed them to the sentence of destruction from the righteous Judge of all the earth. The hero of the book of Job is depicted as an ancient patriarch and priest, offering up burnt offerings for the sins of his sons and daughters (Job i, 5). Such mediation, intercession, and sacrifice, whatever their various forms among the different peo