Mediation
| Strong's Lexicon | |
|---|---|
| Original Word | μεσίτης |
| Part of Speech | Noun, Masculine |
| Transliteration | mesités |
| Pronunciation | meh-SEE-tace |
| Phonetic Spelling | (mes-ee'-tace) |
| Definition | Mediator |
The Greek word mesitēs comes from mesos, meaning “middle.” A mediator stands between parties. A priest or intercessor can serve a related role, though neither is an exact Hebrew equivalent of mesitēs. See the Strong's Lexicon entry.
What Does a Mediator Do?
Moses described his role between the LORD and Israel:
“while I stood between the LORD and you at that time, to declare to you the word of the LORD.” — Deuteronomy 5:5 (ESV)
Moses conveyed the Father's words to Israel. He was standing between them did not make Moses the Father. This illustrates what mediator means, not that Moses and Jesus have identical roles.
Jesus, the Human Mediator
Paul identifies who mediates between the Father and humanity:
“For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” — 1 Timothy 2:5 (ESV)
Paul distinguishes the one God from the man Christ Jesus. Jesus gave himself “as a ransom for all” (1 Timothy 2:6). His death establishes the new covenant through which forgiveness and access to the Father become possible. Hebrews describes the relationship between his death and his mediation:
For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant. — Hebrews 9:13-15 (ESV)
Was His Mediation Only at the Crucifixion?
Christ “suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18). Paul calls Jesus the one mediator between God and humanity and says he gave himself “as a ransom for all” (1 Timothy 2:5–6). His statement concerns the breadth of Christ's ransom. It does not say that every person is automatically reconciled or specify how the mediator acts for each person.
Yet his work on our behalf did not end at the crucifixion. Paul wrote that:
Christ Jesus is the one who died — more than that, who was raised — who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. — Romans 8:34 (ESV)
A queue of individual hearings is one imagined way to explain intercession, but no text describe such a queue nor rule out every form of individual advocacy.
For example, John wrote:
My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. — 1 John 2:1-2 (ESV)
Hebrews 7:25 likewise says he “always lives to make intercession for them.” These passages affirm his continuing intercession.
Paul also wrote:
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. — Romans 5:1-2 (ESV)
Note
Note the plurals that the apostles are using. This seems to suggest that mediation or intercession is done collectively. Neither author says Jesus hears every sin separately or presents every individual's cases one by one.
What they do affirm is a single ransom with broad scope, access received through faith, and the risen Jesus' continuing intercession for believers.
What Does Mediator Mean in Terms of Jesus?
Jesus is the human mediator between the Father and humanity because he gave himself once as a ransom for all and continues to intercede. Through him believers share access to the Father by faith, and John's assurance of an advocate applies if anyone sins.