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Communion with God is our only happiness; it is the very heaven of heaven, and it is the beginning of heaven here on earth. The only foundation of this communion is the covenant of grace; and it is the great excellency of this covenant of grace, that it is established in such a mediator, even Jesus Christ.

I. THE ONLY WAY OF FRIENDLY INTERCOURSE BETWEEN GOD AND MAN. It is through a mediator; that is implied. Whether man in the state of innocency needed a mediator, is disputed among persons learned and sober; but in his lapsed state, this need is acknowledged by all. God cannot now look upon men out of a mediator but as rebels, traitor, as fit objects for His vindictive wrath; nor can men now look up to God but as a provoked Majesty, an angry Judge, a consuming fire.

II. THE ONLY MEDIATOR BETWEEN GOD AND MEN. "One mediator," that is, but one. Some acknowledge one mediator of reconciliation, but contend for many of intercession. So is Christ said here to be "one mediator," that is, but one. This mediator is here described partly by His nature — "the Man"; and partly by His names — "Christ Jesus."

1. His nature — the man"; that is, "That eminent man," so some; "He that was made man," so others. "But why is this mediator mentioned in this nature only?"(1) Negatively: not by way of diminution, as if He were not God as well as man, as the Arians argue from this Scripture; nor as if the execution of his mediatorship were either only, or chiefly, in His human nature, as some affirm.

(2) Positively: to prove that Jesus Christ was the true Messiah whom the prophets foretold, the fathers expected, and who had in that nature been so frequently promised: as in the first gospel that ever was preached (Genesis 3:15), He is promised as the Seed of the woman.

2. His names — "Christ Jesus." Jesus, this was His proper name; Christ, this was His appellative name. Jesus: that denotes the work and business for which He came into the world. Christ: that denotes the several offices, in the exercise whereof He executes this work of salvation.

III. THAT THERE IS NOW NO OTHER WAY OF FRIENDLY COMMUNION BETWEEN GOD AND MAN, BUT THROUGH A MEDIATOR. And, indeed, considering what God is, and withal what man is; how vastly disproportionable, how unspeakably unsuitable our very natures are to His; how is it possible there should be any sweet communion betwixt them, who are not only so infinitely distant, but so extremely contrary? God is holy, but we are sinful. In a word: He an infinitely and incomprehensibly glorious majesty, and we poor sinful dust and ashes, who have sunk and debased ourselves by sin below the meanest rank of creatures, and made ourselves the burden of the whole creation. If ever God be reconciled to us, it must be through a mediator; because of that indispensible necessity of satisfaction, and our inability to make it (Romans 8:7). If ever we be reconciled to God, it must be through a mediator; because of that radicated enmity that is in our natures to everything of God, and our impotency to it.

IV. THAT THERE IS NO OTHER MEDIATOR BETWEEN GOD AND MAN, BUT JESUS CHRIST. "And one mediator"; that is, but one. And indeed there is none else fit for so high a work as this but only He.

1. The singular suitableness of His person to this eminent employment. To interpose as a mediator betwixt God and men, was an employment above the capacity of men, angels, or any other creature; but Jesus Christ, in respect of the dignity of His person, was every way suited for this work. Which you may take in these four particulars.

(1) That He was truly God, equal with the Father, of the same nature and substance. For the further confirmation, take these arguments —

(a) He whom Scripture honours with all those names which are peculiar unto God, must needs be God. That Christ hath these names ascribed to Him appears from these instances: He is not only styled God — "the Word was God" (John 1:1).

(b) He in whom are those high and eminent perfections, those glorious attributes, of which no creature is capable, must needs be more than a creature, and consequently God.

(2) As He is truly God, so is He complete and perfect man; having not only a human body, but a rational soul; and in all things was like to us, sin only excepted. That He had a real, not an imaginary, body, appears from the whole story of the gospel.

(3) He is God and man in one person.

V. THE SINGULAR FITNESS OF CHRIST FOR THIS WORK OF MEDIATION ARISES FROM HIS BEING GOD-MAN IN TWO NATURES, UNITED IN ONE PERSON WITHOUT CONFUSION OR TRANSMUTATION.

1. Had He not been truly God, He had been too mean a person for so high an employment. It was God that had been offended, an infinite Majesty that had been despised; the person therefore interposing must have some equality with him to whom he interposes. Had the whole society of persevering angels interposed on man's behalf, it had been to little purpose; one Christ was infinitely more than all, and that because He was truly God.

2. Had He not been completely man, He had been no way capable of performing that indispensably-necessary condition, upon which God was willing to be reconciled; namely, the satisfying of that righteous sentence which God had pronounced: "In the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die" (Genesis 2:17).

3. Had He not been God and man in one person, the sufferings of His human nature could not have derived that infinite value from the Divine nature. We could not have called His blood "the blood of God," as it is called (Acts 20:28): it would have been no more than the blood of a creature, and consequently as unavailable as the blood of bulls, etc. (Hebrews 9:12; Hebrews 10:4).

4. Had He not been God-man without confusion of natures, His Deity might either have advanced His humanity above the capacity of suffering; or His. humanity might have debased His Deity below the capability of meriting, which is no less than blasphemy to imagine. And this is the first reason, the singular fitness of Christ for this work, because of the dignity of His person. The singular fitness of Christ for this employment in respect of the suitableness of His offices. There is a threefold misery upon all men, or a threefold bar to communion with God.

(1) The guilt of their sins, which themselves are never able to expiate, or satisfy for.

(2) The blindness of their minds, the cure whereof is too difficult for any creature-physician.

(3) Their bondage and captivity to sin and Satan, which are enemies too strong for man to deal with. Suitably to these three great necessities, Jesus Christ is anointed of God to a threefold office, of a Priest, a Prophet, a King: the former of which offices he exercises on our behalf to God, and the last two from God to us.

(a) The priestly office of Christ is the great, the only relief we have against the guilt of sin. The work of the priesthood consisted, under the law, chiefly of these two parts.

(1) Satisfaction for the sins of the people (Leviticus 4:15-19, etc.).

(2) Intercession unto God on their behalf (Leviticus 16:15-17). Both which were verified in Christ our great High Priest (Hebrews 4:14). His satisfaction, in discharging those debts which His people had run into with Divine Justice to the utmost farthing.

(3) His intercession; this is the other part of His priestly office. His satisfaction — that was performed on earth; His intercession is per formed chiefly in heaven. By the former He purchased pardon and reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:19, compared with verse 21), by the latter He applies the benefits He hath purchased.

(b) The prophetical office of Christ is the great, the only relief we have against the blindness and ignorance of our minds. He is that great Prophet of His Church whom Moses foretold, the Jews expected, and all men needed (Deuteronomy 18:15; John 1:24, 25, 45; John 6:14); that Sun of Righteousness, who by His glorious beams dispels those mists of ignorance and error which darken the minds of men; and is therefore styled, byway of eminency, "that Light" (John 1:8), and "the true Light" (John 1:9). The execution of this prophetical office is partly by revealing so much of the will of God as was necessary to our salvation; partly by making those revelations powerful and effectual.

(1) In revealing the will of God.

(2) In enlightening effectually the souls of His people. In causing the blind to see, and making them who were once darkness to be "light in the Lord (Ephesians 5:8) Thus He instructs by His word and by His Spirit (1 Peter 1:12).

(c) The kingly office of Christ is the great, the only relief we have against our bondage to sin and Satan. He to whom "all power is given in heaven, and in earth" (Matthew 28:18).

(W. Whitaker, M. A.)

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KJV: For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;

WEB: For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,