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MEDIATOR
MEDIATOR
to hold communion. They apjjiopriate the atone- ment, and as they appropriate it, it becomes for them a i)ropitiation.
2. Acts of the Apostles and Epp. of St. Peter, St. Jude, and St. James. — The simple teaching about our Lord conveyed in Acts, more especially in chs. 1-12, and in the First Epistle of St. Peter and that of St. Jude and of St. James, justihes us in placing these books in a class by themselves. They represent a theology which in character, if not in date, is primitive, and in close touch with Judaism.
(«) In Acts Jesus is set forth as Prophet, Messiah, Son of God, and Redeemer. From the first He is the Lord Jesus (1®- -^^^ And at Pentecost St. Peter proclaims that ' God hath made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom ye crucified ' (2^^). He is the Prophet whom Moses had foretold, and those who will not hearken to Him will be utterly de- stroyed (3'^^- -^). His Mcssinnic. lordship is re- peatedly preaclied ; He is the Holy and Righteous One, the Prince of life, the Saviour, the Stone or foundation of the true temple, the Stone now exalted to be the Head of the corner (3"- ^^ 531 411). He is Lord of all (10^''), and there is salvation in none other (4^-). Miracles are regarded as His work, though He is no longer visibly present. He is preparing for the ' Day of the Lord,' when the Divine Kingdom will be vindicated, and He has Himself poured out the Holy Gliost to fit the dis- ciples for that day (2^^). Moreover, His unique Sonship is implied in the expression ' the Father ' as used in the beginning of the book (1^-'' 2^^). Fitly does St. Stephen direct to Him his dying l^rayer, and Saul declare that He is the Son of God (9-'^). The whole mission and work of Jesus is therefore mediatorial. His death has also an atoning mediatorial worth. Of great importance in Acts is the identification of our Lord with the suttering Servant of the Lord in Is 53. Our Lord had so identified Himself, as is shown not only by the quotation in Lk 22^' but by the whole tenor of His life from the time of His "baptism. In Acts a keynote is struck by St. Peter's words, 'the God of our fathers hath glorified liis Servant Jesus' (3'^). When Philip meets the Ethiopian eunuch he finds that he is reading Is 53, and resolves his doubts by explaining that the vicarious sufferer is Jesus. Acts shows plainly that the Christian Church of the most primitive period applied to Jesus this prophecy. 'Of a truth in this city against thy holy Servant Jesus, whom thou didst anoint, botli Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, were gathered together, to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel fore- ordained to come to pass ' (4'^^- -8).
These Apostolic words show precisely how the Church re- garded the death of Christ. He died, not as any ordinary martyr, but as the Messiah and the atoning Servant. The death was a necessity, not because it was simply inevitable from the sur- roundings in which Jesus lived and against which He struggled, but because God Himself required it as an indispensable means for the realization of His will for man. It took place by His foreknowledge (2-^), it was foretold by His prophets (318). Further, it would have been impossible for the Apostles to attribute this meaning to the death of Christ, unless they had been able to point to the empty grave, to assert that the Messiah lives, and that a direct relation can be established between Him and His sinful people. The Servant in Isaiah, though he died, lived again to ' prolong his da\s.' And because they were able to assert positively that Christ had risen, the first Christians were able to make the death of Christ a fundamental thing in their gospel. Repentance, faith, baptism, the gift of the Holy Spirit, are the distinctive gifts which flow from the death and resurrection of .Jesus Christ. St. Peter exerts himself to deepen a sense of sin in his hearers by pointing to the cross. Thev tried to destroy the Saviour, but God thwarted their effort bv raising Him from the dead. Their act, so far from accomplishing what they desired, fulfilled God's counsel. Let them repent while there is time, before Christ returns to judgment (''l■^2l 319- 20 410.11 530. ai io:!B-4:i). God offers forgiveness to those who are baptized in the name of .Jesus Christ, and He offers the bestowal of the Holj- Spirit to make a new life possible (238).
If we compare this very early doctrine with that of St. Paul, we see that, simple though it is, it is radically the same. And against all modern attempts to represent St. Paul as the first man who inseparably joined together the thought of Christ's death, of sin, and of atonement, St. Paul's own words protest : ' I delivered unto you first of all that which also I received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures' (1 Co 15^). He affirms that he received it, and his testimony is true.
(6) In First Peter the mediatorial character of Christ's death is always present to the writer's mind. The doctrine of tiiis Epistle may possibly have been influenced by that of St. Paul, but it is considerably less developed, and is such as we might well expect from St. Peter. The doctrine with regard to our Lord's Person is simple. It is taught that He existed before He was born on earth, for He was not only ' foreknown indeed before the foundation of the world' (P"), which might not necessarily imply a personal pre-exist- ence, but His S^jirit was in the prophets before the Incarnation (1"). To Him, as to a Divine Being, gloiy and dominion are ascribed (5^^). In conse- quence of His resurrection, bajjtism 'saves' us (3"'). It has an inward power to cleanse the soul in response to the interrogation of a good con- science, because Christ rose and lives.