$5 Book of the Month
$5 Book of the Month
The Problem of Sin and Why We Need a Mediator
The Idea of a Mediator
What is a mediator? A person might first think of all of human beings who act as middlemen between two parties. Priests in the Old Testament mediated between God and man. More precisely, Aaron and his sons were appointed as priests to mediate between God and his people Israel. Melchizedek is also named as a priest:
And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. (He was priest of God Most High.) (Gen. 14:18)
The Lord has sworn
and will not change his mind,
“You are a priest forever
after the order of Melchizedek.” (Ps. 110:4)
Melchizedek served Abraham as a priest. And the Israelite people were descended from Abraham. We can infer that he served other people as well within his own time. So the concept of priesthood and mediation extends beyond the people of Israel.
Mediator
Vern S. Poythress
This study explores the mediatorial people, events, and objects that God used throughout the Old Testament to communicate his word and his power, and explains how these symbols foretell the one perfect mediator, Jesus Christ.
False Mediation
There were also false priests belonging to false religions. A few passages mention them:
Only the land of the priests [in Egypt] he [Joseph] did not buy, for the priests had a fixed allowance from Pharaoh and lived on the allowance that Pharaoh gave them; therefore they did not sell their land. (Gen. 47:22)
And he [Josiah] deposed the priests whom the kings of Judah had ordained to make offerings in the high places at the cities of Judah and around Jerusalem; those also who burned incense to Baal, to the sun and the moon and the constellations and all the host of the heavens. (2 Kings 23:5)
The inhabitants of Samaria tremble
for the calf of Beth-aven.
Its people mourn for it, and so do its idolatrous priests—
those who rejoiced over it and over its glory—
for it has departed from them. (Hos. 10:5)
The priests of Pharaoh in Genesis 47:22 served the gods of Egypt. The priests whom Josiah deposed included those “who burned incense to Baal” and other false gods (2 Kings 23:5). The “idolatrous priests” mentioned in Hosea served an idol, “the calf of Beth-aven” (Hos. 10:5).
All this is disturbing. But it is not really surprising. Wherever there is false religion—as there was at times even within the borders of Israel—it will at times include false priests. These priests are a counterfeit imitation of the true priesthood of the true God. The false priests pretend and claim to be mediators of the holy presence of the gods, to be intermediaries between the human and the divine. In a perverse way, even the false priests bear witness to the need for mediation—people cannot get to God on their own—but they corrupt the one true mediation. They falsify it; they counterfeit it.1
Because of sin, the alienation between God and humanity is many-sided. In the Old Testament, there are instances of mediation outside the priesthood. The most prominent instances are human figures who perform some kind of go-between function between God and man (beyond a strictly priestly purpose). But the idea of mediation can be expanded even further than people. Processes and institutions in the Old Testament that address the need to overcome alienation are also mediatory. Such is the symbolism of animal sacrifice. Animal sacrifice plays a mediatorial role in dealing with sin by presenting to God what is due to him. The tabernacle of Moses is a mediatorial institution, symbolizing how the Israelite worshiper is supposed to approach God.
To attend to all these kinds of mediatorial functions, a broad definition of mediator is useful. Here is one to help: A mediator is one who brings divine authority, power, and presence to another person or persons. By doing so, the mediator also brings the other person into contact with the divine. A mediator, simply put, is a person, thing, institution, or process that brings a person or persons into contact with divine authority, power, and presence.
These three terms—authority, power, and presence—derive from a triad formulated by John Frame for describing God’s lordship. In studying the Bible, Frame found that God’s lordship always shows three interlocking aspects: authority, control, and presence.2 Power is an alternate description of control. Frame repeatedly uses these three aspects in his theological formulations across each of his main books.3 God’s lordship in relation to the world always includes the exercise of all three aspects. But in some works of God, one aspect may be more prominent. For example, the exodus from Egypt shows God’s power and control—over the plagues, over the waters of the Red Sea, even over Pharaoh’s heart. The giving of the Ten Commandments shows God’s authority—he has authority to specify moral norms. The special cloud accompanying the Israelites shows God’s presence. The cloud is a miraculous appearance, so it also displays God’s control. And it implies that God has the right to take care of Israel, so it displays his authority. The same holds with other instances when God displays his lordship.
Prophet, King, and Priest
The three aspects of God’s lordship correspond roughly to three “offices” in the Old Testament—prophet, king, and priest. Though there is some overlap in functions, each office has a distinct focus. A prophet mediates the authority of God by speaking the word of God. A king mediates the control of God by exercising control over a kingdom. A priest mediates the presence of God by facilitating the presence of God among others and by bringing others into the presence of God. This special presence of God can be seen in specific locations of holiness such as the tabernacle.
Jesus Christ fulfills all three offices.4 All three are mentioned together in Hebrews:
Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. (Heb. 1:1–3)
Verse 2 says that God “has spoken to us by his Son,” thereby comparing him to the earlier communications that came “by the prophets” (Heb. 1:1). Verse 3 indicates Christ’s kingly rule by saying that “he upholds the universe by the word of his power.” Verse 3 also indicates his priestly work by saying that he made “purification for sins.” In the Old Testament, this “purification” was a distinct responsibility of the priests. Jesus Christ brings to a culmination and climax what these three offices meant in their Old Testament form.
When it comes to the relationship between God and humanity, there is an enormous barrier—sin.
Mediation and Barriers
Finally, consider the idea that a mediator overcomes a barrier. When it comes to the relationship between God and humanity, there is an enormous barrier—sin. God is holy and is separated from sin. Every person since the fall is sinful and is under the just judgment of God’s wrath. The relation between God and humanity is deeply troubled. The need for a mediator makes sense because a mediator can step in to overcome the barrier.
Analogous things are true in typical cases of mediation between two earthly parties. Picture a case where there is a dispute between management and labor in a particular business. The workers are about to go on strike. The management and the workers are so frustrated with each other that they can scarcely talk to each other. One solution is to call in a mediator. The mediator asks for representatives from both sides to sit down at a table, and the mediator endeavors to cool the parties down and get them talking and listening to each other. In some cases, the law may specify that the mediator has legal power to make a binding decision and force both parties to compromise.
One point to note here is that people are going to consider bringing in a mediator only when friendly relations between management and labor have broken down. The mediator comes in only because the relationship needs to be fixed. No mediator is needed until an intractable problem arises.
A second point to note is that a mediator may or may not succeed. Even if management and labor agree on a compromise, it may be a compromise that neither side likes. And the emotions of frustration or suspicion or hostility may still be there when the two parties agree. They agree to conditions that enable them to go on with life and enable the business at least to limp along. But full reconciliation and full trust may often be illusive.
So the comparison of such human situations with mediation in the case of God is a limited comparison. God’s goal in sending Christ as the final mediator is not merely a limited truce between parties who still detest one another. The goal is full reconciliation. And that is not easy. God’s justice and wrath have to be satisfied thoroughly, and the hearts of human beings have to be changed from hating and fleeing God to loving and worshiping him. The message of reconciliation in the Bible is wonderful and rich precisely because it is so satisfying in comparison with many human situations in which mediation achieves nothing more than a minimal truce.
Notes:
- Vern S. Poythress, “Counterfeiting in the Book of Revelation as a Perspective on Non-Christian Culture,” Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 40, no. 3 (1997): 411–18, https://frame-poythress.org/.
- John M. Frame, “A Primer on Perspectivalism (Revised 2008),” The Works of John Frame and Vern Poythress, June 6, 2012, https://frame-poythress.org/.
- John M. Frame, The Doctrine of the Christian Life (P&R, 2008); The Doctrine of God (P&R, 2002); The Doctrine of the Knowledge of God (P&R, 1987); The Doctrine of the Word of God (P&R, 2010).
- The Westminster Confession of Faith summarizes: “It pleased God, in his eternal purpose, to choose and ordain the Lord Jesus, his only begotten Son, to be the Mediator between God and man, the Prophet, Priest, and King,” in Creeds, Confessions, and Catechisms, ed. Chad Van Dixhoorn (Crossway, 2022), 197 (8.1). Emphasis added.
This article is adapted from Mediator: A Biblical Theology by Vern S. Poythress.
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