| I Timothy 2:5
| For there is one God, and one mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus:
| \f + \fr 2:5-6\ft One mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus: who gave himself a redemption for all. Take all these words together, and we may easily understand in what sense the apostle calls our Saviour Christ, the one or only mediator; that is, he is the only mediator, who at the same time is our Redeemer; the only mediator who could mediate betwixt God, the person offended by sin, and men the offenders; the only mediator who reconciled God to mankind by his incarnation and death, by the infinite price of his blood, by his own merits, independently of the merits of any other. All Catholics allow that the dignity and office of mediator in this sense belongs only to our Redeemer, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, made man to save us. The sense then of this place is, that as there is but one God, who created all, so there is but one mediator, who redeemed all. But yet the name of mediator is not so appropriated to Christ, but that in an inferior and different sense the Angels and saints in heaven, and even men on earth, who pray to God for the salvation of others, may be called mediators, intercessors, or advocates; and we may apply ourselves to them to pray, intercede, and mediate for us, without any injury to Christ, since we acknowledge that all their intercession and mediation is always grounded on the merits of Christ, our Redeemer. The same word for mediator, in the Greek as well as in the Latin, is given to Moses, God's servant. (Galatians 3:19.) See also Deuteronomy 5:5. The words of our Saviour himself, (Matthew xxiii.) taken according to the letter, contain an express prohibition of being called masters, or fathers; and this reason is given, because all men have one Father in heaven, and because Christians have one master, Christ. Yet no one can justly pretend from thence, that in a different sense, a man may not be called father or master, without any injury to God, or to Christ. (Witham) --- Christ is the one and only mediator of redemption; who gave himself, as the apostle writes, a redemption for all. He is also the only mediator, who stands in need of no other to recommend his petitions to the Father. But this is not against our seeking the prayers and intercessions, as well of the faithful upon earth, as of the saints and Angels in heaven, for obtaining mercy, grace, and salvation, through Jesus Christ. As St. Paul himself often desired the help of the prayers of the faithful, without any injury to the mediatorship of Jesus Christ. (Challoner) --- If there be other mediators among the Angels and saints, they are only so in subordination to the first[Christ], who by themselves have no right to mediation or favours, and who cannot demand them but through the merits of him[Christ] who is our only essential mediator. (Estius, Menochius, etc.) Consult Judges 3:9; 2 Esdras 9:17; Acts 7:35. --- A redemption for all. Not only for the predestinated, not only for the just, not only for the faithful, but for all Gentiles and infidels: and therefore he says again, (chap. 4:10.) that Christ is the Saviour of all men, and especially of the faithful. See St. Augustine{ Ver. 6. See St. Augustine (lib. de Spi. et Lit. tom. x. 1 Timothy 33. p. 118) Vult Deus omnes homines salvos fieri....non sic tamen, ut eis adimat Liberum Arbitruim, quo vel bene, vel male utentes, justissimè judicentur. Quod cum fit, infideles quidem contra voluntatem Dei faciunt, cum ejus Evangelio non credunt.|} and St. Chrysostom.{ Ver. 6. St. Chysostom (om. z. p. 277) kai o men Christos kai apethanen uper ellauon....pos oun, phesin ouk episteusan, oti ouk ethelesan, to de autou moros egeneto.|} (Witham)
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