ook of Enoch, a ah B, pp. 312-317). In all this we have only the kingly rank and influence. There is no indication of the priestly sacrifice of mediation.
In the Synoptic Gospels we have accounts of the realization of the essential elements of these expec- tations, though with a complete conversion of them into spiritual facts and a great elevation of them in character and aim. In Mt’s account of the angel’s announcement to Joseph, Mary’s child is to be called Jesus because ‘it is he that shall save his people from their sins’ (Mt 1”), and the
rophecy about Immanuel in Isaiah is applied to
im (1%). Thus, since in Him God’s presence on earth will be realized, He will be the connecting link between God and man, and by being this accomplish salvation. In Lk’s account of the Annunciation it is promised that He shall be ‘great,’ ‘called the Son of the Most High,’ and receive ‘the throne of his father David.’ Here the Messiahship is distinctly affirmed of Him, and this is connected with a Divine Sonship. We cannot take the latter attribute in its full Christian import—it is used as a title of the Messiah by Caiaphas (according to Mt 26" and Mk 14"), per- haps traceable ultimately to Ps 2’. Still it inti- mates at least a very close connexion with God, and so helps the idea of the mediation of Christ. The life of Christ opens out in the Gospels in
316 MEDIATOR, MEDIATION
accordance with these anticipations, though doubt- less not as they would be interpreted by Jews of the first century. In particular, the following facts may be noticed as indicative of our Lord’s mediatorial character and work. (a) His teaching. As a teacher, Jesus Christ realized the idea of prophetic mediation in the highest degree. The originality, the lofty tone, the spiritual force, the self-evidencing ἘΣΤΟΝ of His utterances pro- claim their Divine origin, and show the speaker to be the medium through which the will of God is revealed on earth. (8) His works. Here also Jesus realizes a form of the descending mediation, bringing down Divine power to effect the cure of disease, ete. Thus He claims to work His miracles by ‘the finger of God’(Lk 115). (γ) His prayers. Jesus carries on the mediation of intercession (e.g. Jn 17). (δ) His death. As we are concerned only with the facts of the history at this point, Gaceatontd not import the subsequent reflexions springing from apostolic teaching and later specu- lations, we must not yet bring in any ‘doctrine of the atonement.’ But, merely contemplating the historical situation, we have in it a vivid picture of mediation. Starting with our Lord’s self-evi- dencing Messiahship in His life, teaching, and work, we see Him fais death and enduring the horrors of the Passion and the Cross, when He might easily have avoided them. Had He re- mained in Galilee, or had He continued in retire- ment such as for a time He sought at Cesarea, in Perea, and at Ephraim, still more had He aban- doned Palestine and gone to Alexandria or Athens, where His teaching would have been welcomed, at all events superficially, for its novelty, He might have eluded the pursuit of His enemies. But any such course would have shattered His aims as the Redeemer of Israel and the Founder of the king- dom of heaven. Accordingly, Jesus is seen sacri- ficing His life for no personal object, but wholly on behalf of His people ; and this we may accept as a fact of history quite independent of specific apostolic teaching and later theological speculation. 2. The teaching of Jesus on mediation. —a. The teaching in the ἀπ τε The descending media- tion of one who comes from God is not onl apparent throughout our Lord’s life on earth ; it is distinctly claimed by Him in His utterances about His own mission. Thus it is implied in His acceptance of the Messianic title (Mk 8539), and His ad 1etic statements concerning His future action in His second advent (Mk 8%). He has come now on behalf of God to establish the kingdom of heaven ; He will come in the future with the glory of His Father and the holy angels to judge the world. Then He is the revealer of God, and no one can know the Father but he to whom the Son is willing to reveal Him (Mt 11”). In the parable of the Vineyard Heis the Son sent by the owner to collect the revenue—a mediator in the form of an agent (Mt 2187, When declaring that He will own before His Father every one who confesses Him on earth, and deny before His Father every one who denies Him on earth, He a proaches the other form of mediation in which ΠΝ words and actions are efficacious with God on our behalf (Mt 10°). There are two passages in the Synoptic narratives that connect this mediation with the death of Christ. The first is the declaration that He came ‘to give his life a ransom for many’ (Mk 10®, Mt 20%). The following points should be observed :—(1) This phrase must be approached from the context, where we find our Lord is teaching the duty of humble service by His own example, as coming to minister and not to be ministered unto, so that the primary intention of