1 Timothy 2:5–6

Judaism was the revelation and testimony of the one God. Christianity also reveals the true God. But it brings out an equally great truth: there is only one mediator, just as there is only one God. And this one mediator is the Man Christ Jesus, who came into the world and who gave Himself a ransom for all.

Israel had the truth of the one, true, invisible Jehovah, Maker of heaven and earth. He was not revealed then, but He truly was all this. Moses, too, was the mediator between that same Jehovah and His people, and there was no ministry. But now God has revealed Himself. The Mediator stands between Him and men — not just Israel — and there is a ministry towards all men.

God is the One offended by sin: man, the offender: the Man Christ Jesus, the Mediator.

Long before Christ appeared the hearts of men longed for a mediator. The book of Job is evidence of this, for that man felt the immense gulf that lay between God and himself... The One who steps in as arbiter or Mediator must Himself be God, to represent God fully. He must be Man, to represent man rightly. The Man Christ Jesus is He.

This proves the utter worthlessness of all men. Only Christ can bring men to God, and every one of them needs bringing. The Mediator is great enough to put His hand on the throne of God. By taking Manhood and going into death, He stooped low enough to put His hand on the sinner, so that He could bring him to God righteously.

So, just as we need, we have an adequate image of the invisible God. This Jesus is "mediator of God and men," though mediation goes further than representation. There are two parts in it — His manhood and His ransom. Both matter greatly if we are to know God, and if man, sinful man, is to be blessed as he should be in the knowledge of God.

Does not 1 Timothy 2:5 sweep away at one stroke the intercessor-saints of the Roman system? It says plainly, "there is… one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all." The Virgin Mary did not give herself as a ransom. Our Lord did. And we can well trust the One who did that when we come to Him, rather than turn to any go-between.

A great point in these letters is the good and loving nature of God. We must be blind if we fail to see it. That nature would have us look at all men without exception... "There is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men." This is always the ground and character of First and Second Timothy. It is not the Father and His family; it is God and man.

Later still Paul writes of Him as "The Man Christ Jesus" (1 Tim. 2:5). He does not speak of Him as the One who once was the Man Christ Jesus. He is a Man today.

And then — oh, wonder of wonders! — the Mediator became the Ransom. As Man He could rightly offer Himself as the ransom price for men. As God, the ransom price He offered had infinite value. So no one is shut out on God's part.

In the New Testament the word is lutron, or antilutron, from a word meaning "to loose, set free." Christ gave Himself, His life, a ransom for many. The precious blood of Christ shows that every claim of God against the believer has been met.

A ransom is the price that sets captives free. And the Lord Jesus has paid that price to free all who believe in Him from captivity to Satan, the power of sin, and the fear of death.

When, as in Matthew, it is a ransom for many, the meaning is clearly defined. The "for" there is "instead of" (anti) many. It is strict substitution. When, as in 1 Timothy, all are in view, it is simply "on behalf of" (hyper) all. "For" does not always have the same sense in Scripture.

Some have twisted this statement, handling the Word of God dishonestly, to make it mean that the whole human race will be saved in the end, including all the wicked dead… He has given Himself a ransom for all. His propitiatory sacrifice makes provision for the salvation of the whole race. But faith is needed to receive this salvation.

This is one of those Scriptures that tells us the scope and reach of the death of Christ, rather than the effects it actually produces. Not all are saved, as we sadly know, but the blame for that lies on their side, not on God's.

"The testimony given at the proper time" points to the testimony now declared, after man's time of testing had shown every other option powerless. For long years God patiently bore with man and waited, giving him every chance to prove himself without a Mediator. Now the exact time has come for the revelation and testimony of the One Mediator.

The proper time, or its own time, for that testimony to be given came when Christ finished the work on the cross. The one mediator between God and man gave Himself a ransom for all. Ever since then, the message of God's love and grace has been preached.

We must be blind if we fail to see that a great point in these letters is the good and loving nature of God, which would have us look at all men without exception. How far God's counsels reach, and how far He applies the effective work of His grace, is another question. But nothing alters God's nature.