This Week's Focus Passage

1 Timothy 2:5 ‘For there is one God, one mediator also between God and men.’

1 Timothy 2:5

‘For there is one God, one mediator also between God and men.’

Mankind is religious by his very nature. This is attested through history. Man throughout the ages has held this in common. In every century; in every generation, men have sought the way of connection with the ‘higher being,’ whether it be with ‘Mother Nature’ or ‘the Man upstairs.’ Mankind instinctively knows that such a one exists and all have desired to have a means of contact with such a One; to have a mediator; to have a man to stand in the gap between themselves and God. This it is spoken of through the prophet Ezekiel in 22:30 of the book of that prophet when God spoke through him and uttered these potent and prophetic words:

And I sought for a man among them that should build up the wall, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found none.

This speaks of the same One mediator to whom Paul referred in his letter to Timothy. He is the only way. We desperately need a ‘man to stand in the gap.’ Ezekiel 22:30. We require a Mediator, and Paul has taught that God has provided One, but only One mediator between God and men, himself man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all; the testimony to be borne in its own times. Christ was also typified by Moses who ‘stood in the gap’ for God’s covenant people, Israel, when they had sinned against Him in the making of the golden calf—see how they worshipped this god which they had themselves made of their own gold—, because Moses had not returned as quickly as they wished. These are thy gods, O Israel was the cry of the people which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And they forsook Jehovah. But God! But God had provided a man to stand in the gap. We may read of him in the 106th psalm as well as in the sequel of Israel’s sin in Exodus 32:12ff. The psalm-writer’s account is more to our point; he spoke clearly of intercession [mediation].

They forgot God their Savior…therefore he said that he would destroy them, had not Moses his chosen stood before him in the breach, to turn away his wrath, lest he should destroy them.—Psalm 106:21, 23.

Sin has made a breach between God and man. There is a terrible gap insinuated that we are not able to cross. By sinning against our Creator we have rendered ourselves helpless to remedy on our own. We must seek outside of ourselves for the answer to the question of Job, How can man be just with God? The breach; how can we heal it; the gap, how can we cross it? Clearly, it is not by making a golden calf. It is not by manufacturing a god out of our own brains, or designs. That is what Aaron was doing in order to pacify the Israelites. Is it no part of the sinful nature of man to manufacture his own design for salvation? Is that not at the root of Arminianism? Do we imagine we can design our mediator? The Spirit has powerfully proclaimed, There is One Mediator between God and men. In the face of this truth, the Church of Rome has concocted a mediator for themselves in the person of Mary.

It is found in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which reads clearly; “Therefore the Blessed Virgin is invoked in the Church under the titles of Advocate, Helper, Benefactress, and Mediatrix. (#969 in the selection under the title “The Profession of Faith”). John has advised us in no uncertain terms in his first epistle (1 John 2:1) that we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous. Who is the true Advocate? Is it as the Church of Rome claims for Mary that she is an Advocate alongside Christ, or is it as the Scriptures and Paul declare; Jesus Christ?

Who is the True Advocate? We cannot have it divided. Paul claims one Advocate. And who is the true Helper? The True Benefactor? These are offices of the Advocate.

One has well written of this, our focus verse; “When this verse is understood the whole system of the Roman Church falls to the ground, for it invalidates the papacy, the priesthood, and all Mary worship. And it certainly disallows subscription to the title granted her by pope Pius in 1854 when he designated her the “Queen of heaven,” and “Queen of the World,” and when prayers are made to her for salvation.

There is but one place in the Word of God where such a title may be found, and it is not a reference to the wife of Joseph. They are five, and none of them in the New Testament, but each is found in the book of Jeremiah; the first in chapter 7:18, with the remaining four to be found in chapter 44. Since they each refer to the same idolatry, we will be satisfied with simply supplying the first, Jeremiah 7:18:

The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead the dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink-offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger.

One writer considers that this ‘queen of heaven’ was a Canaanitish goddess of fertility, Astarte, or plural, Ashteroth. This is blasphemy in its highest form, as the professed people of God heard from his mouth then, so should their Romish imitators hear now, they provoke me to anger. The Roman Catholic Church says, “The whole Trinity, O MARY, gave thee a name…above every name, that at Thy name, every knee should bow, of things in heaven, on earth, and under the earth” Paul reminds us that God’s Word says different, Wherefore also God highly exalted him, and gave unto him the name which is above every name; that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven and things on earth and things under the earth.

There are some particular things that ought to form a response to this travesty. One, pray for these millions that have been benighted by the wiles of him who goes about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. It is too late to pray the other millions that already passed their time on this earth. Secondly, thank our God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ that it pleased him to rescue so many sinners like ourselves from these wicked soul-destroying teachings.

David Farmer, elder

Fellowship Bible Church

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