The Alternative Dispute Resolution

1 Timothy 2:5-6a “For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all.”

As we are coming into Christmas week, the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ around the world, its good to remember why this gala of merriment that naturally causes people to shout in joy, and gratitude the exclamation of “hallelujah!”, meaning “Praise ye the  Lord!” from the heart. It’s important because of the secular efforts to take an ax to the foundations of faith by trying to substituting and camouflaging the Savior of the world, the meaning for the Season. I’ve read lately that if anything strikes at the root of the tree of modern pluralism and relativism, it is the claim of exclusivity to any one religion. We have been inundated with the viewpoint that there are many roads that lead to heaven and that God is not so narrow that He requires a strict allegiance to one way of salvation. With today’s redefinitions and distractions from origins, the biblical declaration above is viewed as narrow and down-right un-American by the indoctrinated and deceived to where such a statement is twisted around to be seen as bigoted and hateful. But the Apostle Paul, of course, is not expressing bigotry or hatefulness at all. He is simply expressing the truth of God, the same truth that Jesus taught when He said:  “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. (John 14:6).

A mediator is a “go-between”, someone who stands between two parties that are estranged or involved in some kind of dispute. Paul declares that Jesus Christ is the solitary “alternative dispute resolution” (ADR) between God and men. The writer points out that we have to understand the uniqueness of Christ’s mediation in terms of the uniqueness of His person. Jesus is the God-man, that is, God incarnate, literally God “here, present with us in the flesh”. Jesus Christ is Immanuel (Hebrew עִמָּנוּאֵל "El is with us", the name of the Messiah as prophesied by Isaiah. Isaiah 7:14 Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel. Sin has separated us from our Maker, God. In order to bring about reconciliation between God and humanity, the second person of the Trinity united to Himself a human nature. Thus, Jesus has qualifications to bring about reconciliation, as He represents both sides perfectly. This is what we truly celebrate at Christmas. 

But the pagan humanists and pluralists ask, “Why is God so narrow that He provided only one Savior in His “Plan of Salvation” for Sinners. I do not think that is the question that we ought to ask. Instead, we should ask, “Why did God give us any way at all to be saved?” Who doesn’t admit that “Nobody is perfect”, and essentially that all have sinned against God and man at some time. So the question is: “Why did God not just condemn us all?” He didn’t “have to” provide a way to forgive Sin and its just penalty! Why did God, in His grace, give us a Mediator to stand in our place, to receive the judgment we deserve, and to give to us the righteousness we desperately need? The astonishing thing is not that the One Creator God did not do it in multiple ways, but that He did it in even one way. In 1 Timothy 2:5-6a, Paul brings all the strands together: there is only one God, and God has only one begotten Son, and the Son is the sole Mediator between God and mankind. As we celebrate the birth of Christ, the Savior of the world, this Christmas, it is good for us to remember the uniqueness of Jesus in light of what He himself tells us in John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” May we never suggest that God has not done enough for us, considering what He has done for us in Christ Jesus. Joy to the world, the Lord is come and He is the “Alternative Dispute Resolution” of God.

Romans 3:21-26 But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

Merry Christmas!

In Christ, Brian