Mediator, a jicrson parties at variance, in order to reconcile them. The ur in the Old Test., but the idea is con-
penalty due to ourselves has been found to be the most effectual softener of the rebel heart, and the condition of genuine contrition is the best safeguard against tlie abuse of clemency. In this light the scheme of Chris- tian mediation is most abundantly sanctioned by actual experiment, and the Cross becomes the glory of the re- deemed. See Kedkmption.
m<in betwixt us, that might lay his hand upon us both." Tlie lleijrcw words are. T'J^ n"r"^ "".r?"-\? ^'^ ?;":'^"'p" ".T^; literally, "There is not Ixlirttn us a re- prover—he shall place his hand upon us both." This the Sept. translates, or rather paraphrases, tirt »/»/ o fit-
(3.) It is not to be imagined, however, that in this (jioripwr. See Daysman. In the New Test, it is the vicarious atonement Jesus Christ actually ex])erienced invariable rendering of /ifiriV/K; a word which is rather the aggregate amount of suffering due for the sins of
every human being. In the first jilace, this was uimic- essarji. The object to be attained was not a given amount of penal infliction, whether to jilacate the Al- mighty, to reform the offender, or to vindicate the stat- utes infracted. This is obvious from tiie foregoing dis- cussion. Had these ends rigidly reciuired an exact l)al- ance-sheet of debit and credit on this basis, no snbstitu-
rare in classical (ireek — Polybius and Lucian being, it would appear, nearly the only classical authors who em- ploy it (see Kobinson. X.-T. Lex. s. v.). Its meaning, however, is not difiicult to determine. This seems e\-i- dcntly to be. 7»/i meilio itiU r ihio stat—hc who takes a mid- dle position between two parties.and principally with the view of removing their (lifterences. Thus Suidas para- phrases the word by ftiaiyyvni:, and also by lyyi'tfriir,
lonor vicarious satisfaction had been admissible at all. /(trrof ci'O ftipwv. In the Sept. the word apjiears to The strict terms of the law are, '-The soul that sinueth, ' occur only ouce, namely, in the above p.issage of Job.
MEDIATOR
23
MEDIATOR
1. It is used, in an accommodated sense, by many of the ancient fathers, to denote one who intervenes between two dispensations. Hence it is applied by them to John the Baptist, because he came, as it were, between the Jlosaic and Christian dispensations. Thus Greg. Nazi- anzen {Orat. xxxix,p.6o3) calls him o TToXaiaq Kal viag /u£(TiV?/c- Theophylact, commenting on Matt, iii, gives him the same denomination.
2. Again, it signilies, in its more proper sense, an in- ternuncius, or ambassador, one who stands as the chan- nel of communication between two contracting parties. Thus most commentators think that the apostle Paul, in Gal. iii, 19, calls Moses mediator, because he conveyed the expression of God's will to the people, and reported to God their wants, wishes, and determinations. In ref- erence to this passage of Scripture, Basil {De Spiritu Sancto, cap. xiv), says, " Mosen figiiram reprosentasse quando inter Deum et populum intermedius extiterit." Many ancient and modern divines, however, are of opin- ion that Christ himself, and not Moses, is here meant by the apostle, and this view would seem to be confirmed by comparing Deut. xxxiii, 2 with Acts vii, 38-52. Christ it was who, surrounded by angelic spirits, communicated with Moses on JMount Sinai. On this point, the words of the learned and pious Chrysostom, on Gal. iii, are very express : " Here," says he, " Paul calls Christ Me- diator, declaring thereby that he existed before the law, and that by him the law was revealed." This applica- tion of the passage will be the more evident if we con- sider the scope of the apostle's argument, which evi- dently is to point out the dignity of the law. How could he present a clearer demonstration of this than by showing that it was the second person of the ever- blessed Trinity who stood forth on the mount to com- municate between God the Father and his creature man ! Moreover, to contradistinguish Christ's media- tion from that of Moses, the former is emphatically styled jU£(TiV//eK-(0f(Vroi'ot,'Cia3'/j(c'?fCHeb.viii,G). This, however, implies that Moses was the mediator of the former covenant, and Eadie, in his Commentary on Ga- latians (ad loc), shows at length that this is the meaning of the passage, in opposition to all other views. Moses is likewise often styled 'I^OIp, or mediator, in the rab- binical writings (see Schbttgen and Wetstein, ad loc). But be this as it may, far more emphatically and othcially
3. Christ is called Mediator (1 Tim. ii, 5 ; Ileb. viii, G; ix, 15; xii, 24) by virtue of the reconciliation he has effected between a justly-offended God and his rebel- lious creature man (see Grotius, De Satli/actione Christi, cap. viii). In this sense of the term Moses was, on many occasions, an eminent type of Christ. The latter, however, was not Mediator merely by reason of his coming between God and his creatures, as certain here- tics ^vould affirm (see Cyril. Alex. Dial. I de Sancta Trinitale, p. 410), but because he appeased his wrath, and made reconciliation for iniquity. "Christ is the Mediator," observes Theophylact, commenting on (Jal. iii, " of two, i. e. of God and man. He exercises this office between both by making peace, and putting a stop to that spiritual war which man wages against God. To accomplish this he assumed our nature, joining in a marvellous manner the human, by reason of sin un- friendly, to the divine nature." '• Hence," he adds, " he made reconciliation." OJ^cumenius expresses similar sentiments on the same passage of Scripture. Again, Cyril, in his work before quoted, remarks : '• He is es- teemed Mediator because the divine and human nature being disjointed by sin, he has shown them united in his own person ; and in this manner he reunites us to God the Father." If, in addition to the above general remarks, confirmed by manj^ of the most ancient and orthodox fathers of the Church, we consider the three great offices which holy Scripture assigns to Christ as Saviour of the world, viz. those oi prophet, priest, and Mn;;. a further and more ample illustration will be af- forded of his Mediatorship.