Johannes Marck’s Marrow of Christian Theology, Didactic-Elenctic XVIII
James Dodson
Chapter XVIII
Of the Mediator of the Covenant of Grace
I. Because the Covenant of Grace rests upon a Mediator, he must be considered here before its other parts, coll. 1 Cor. 2:2: “I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.”
II. The name Mediator, or μεσίτης [mediator], is read six times in the New Testament, Gal. 3:19, 20; 1 Tim. 2:5, etc. It is sometimes taken more broadly, so as to extend to an internuncio between disagreeing parties, in which sense it is also attributed to Moses, Gal. 3:19, ἐν χειρὶ μεσίτου [in the hand of a mediator], coll. Deut. 5:5: “I stood between Jehovah and you at that time, to show you the word of Jehovah,” etc.; and Heb. 8:6, ὅσῳ καὶ κρείττονός ἐστι διαθήκης μεσίτης [by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant], etc. Sometimes, however, it is taken more strictly; and so the Mediator between God
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and man is truly he who, by satisfaction made to God as the offended party by man, and by the merit of efficacious spiritual grace for man’s conversion and eternal glory, reconciles and most perfectly unites man with God. We prove this meaning of the word, when it is attributed to Christ, from the nature of the parties here disagreeing; also from the synonyms Surety and Savior; and finally from the added mention, with Mediator, of λύτρον [ransom], death, blood, etc. The Socinians object: Objection I. Moses also is called mediator. Reply Less truly and fully than Christ, as being a type of him. Objection II. After the mention of Mediator, testimony is mentioned, 1 Tim. 2:6. Reply The mediation of Christ is there set forth by the giving of ἀντίλυτρον [a ransom in exchange] as the sum of the Gospel testimony: “one Mediator of God and men,” etc.; ὁ δοὺς ἑαυτὸν ἀντίλυτρον ὑπὲρ πάντων, τὸ μαρτύριον καιροῖς ἰδίοις [who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due times].
III. The necessity of a Mediator was plainly from the justice of God and the misery of man, so that the Gentiles sufficiently acknowledged it in their sacrifices and priests.
IV. This Mediator must be such both on the part of man, that man might be powerfully converted to God, Rom. 8:7, τὸ φρόνημα τῆς σαρκὸς ἔχθρα εἰς θεόν [the minding of the flesh is enmity against God]; 1 Pet. 2:24, ἵνα ταῖς ἁμαρτίαις ἀπογενόμενοι τῇ δικαιοσύνῃ ζήσωμεν [that, being dead to sins, we should live unto righteousness], etc.; and also on the part of God, that his wrath might be removed, Isa. 59:2: “Your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God,” etc.; Gal. 3:13: “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us,” etc. The Socinians most wickedly deny this latter point, and object:
Objection 1. God is never said to be reconciled to us, coll. Rom. 5:10.
Reply That is implicitly contained
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in the phrase of our reconciliation with God, and the matter is sufficiently explained by other phrases.
Objection 2. God loves us when he gives the Mediator, John 3:16.
Reply He so wills good to us, that nevertheless satisfaction must be made to his justice for our sins. From mediation on both sides there was also the necessity of the prophetic, priestly, and kingly office in the Mediator: to announce salvation to the ignorant, to acquire it for the guilty, and to apply it to the impotent. The ancient prophecies also intimate this.
V. We further note: I. With respect to nature, the Mediator had to be true man, chiefly because of God’s justice, and true God, because of the infinite evil to be removed and the good to be conferred. II. With respect to attributes, he had to be one, that he might suffice for the apotelesmata; and most holy, lest he be bound to satisfy for himself, or need another mediator, coll. Heb. 7:26: “Such a High Priest became us,” ὅσιος, ἄκακος, ἀμίαντος, κεχωρισμένος ἀπὸ τῶν ἁμαρτωλῶν [holy, harmless, undefiled, separated from sinners], etc. These things were also foretold by the prophets: his humanity, Gen. 3:15, “between thy seed and her seed,” etc.; his deity, Ps. 2:7, “Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee”; Ps. 45:8, “Therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee,” etc.; his unity, Isa. 7:14, “His name shall be called Immanuel”; and his holiness, Isa. 42:1, “Mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth”; Dan. 9:24, “to anoint the Holy of Holies,” etc.
VI. The question is too curious, whether God, by his infinite wisdom and power, could have freed men by some other means; since at least no other mode is known to us, and this one is in every respect most becoming to God, so that it is not fitting to seek another.
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VII. To convince the Gentiles that Jesus is the Mediator, one may press his most holy and most efficacious doctrine; his intercession and priestly passion; and also his kingly power, clearly in the gathering, governing, and defense of the Church, especially through the miracles performed, which even his most unhappy enemies were unable to deny.
VIII. Against the Jews we set in the front line those places which determine the time of Messiah’s advent, namely, that he had to be present before the government was fully taken away from Judah, Gen. 49:10: “The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet,” עד כי יבא שילה [until Shiloh come], “and unto him shall the obedience of the peoples be”; while the family of David, distinct yet depressed, still remained, Isa. 11:1: “There shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots”; in the days of the fourth kingdom, Dan. 2:44, 45; and within the seventy weeks from the issuing of the edict for the return of the Jews from Babylon and the rebuilding of the city, Dan. 9:24, 25, 26: “Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to seal up sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness,” etc.; finally, while the second temple was still standing, Hag. 2:8, 10: “And the desire of all nations shall come, and I will fill this house with glory,” etc.; “the glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith Jehovah of hosts, and in this place will I give peace,” etc.; Mal. 3:1: “And the Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his temple,”
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“and the Angel of the Covenant, whom ye delight in,” etc. Nor ought that time to have been delayed by the sins of the Jews.
IX. We argue next that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, that very place which God had indicated, Mic. 5:1: “And thou Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall come forth unto me one who is to be ruler in Israel; and his goings forth are from the beginning, from the days of eternity,” etc.; coll. Matt. 2:5, οἱ δὲ εἶπον αὐτῷ, ἐν Βηθλεὲμ τῆς Ἰουδαίας, οὕτω γὰρ γέγραπται διὰ τοῦ προφήτου [and they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet], etc.; and John 7:42, οὐχὶ ἡ γραφὴ εἶπεν [hath not the Scripture said], etc.; καὶ ἀπὸ Βηθλεὲμ τῆς κώμης ὅπου ἦν Δαυὶδ ὁ Χριστὸς ἔρχεται [and that Christ cometh from Bethlehem, the village where David was?].
X. The prophets also announced the lineage from which Messiah would arise: from Abraham, Gen. 18:18: “In him shall all the nations of the earth be blessed”; from Isaac, Gen. 21:12: “In Isaac shall thy seed be called”; from Jacob, Num. 24:17: “There shall come a star out of Jacob, and a sceptre shall rise out of Israel”; from Judah, Gen. 49:8, 10: “Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise,” etc.; “until Shiloh come,” etc.; and from David, Jer. 23:5: “I will raise unto David a righteous Branch,” etc. Elsewhere his mother is foretold, Isa. 7:14: “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign: Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son,” etc. For by the wordעלמה [virgin; young woman] we must understand such a woman, because of its root, usage, and the miraculous sign proposed here. Many have also referred Jer. 31:22, “a woman shall compass a man,” etc., to the same matter; but, as it seems to others, less rightly.
XI. All these things concur in our Jesus, who was openly descended from Judah and David, Heb. 7:14, πρόδηλον γὰρ ἐξ Ἰούδα ἀνατέταλκεν ὁ κύριος ἡμῶν [for it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Judah]; Rom. 1:3, περὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ αὐτοῦ τοῦ γενομένου ἐκ σπέρ-
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ματος Δαυὶδ κατὰ σάρκα [concerning his Son, who was made of the seed of David according to the flesh], as also the genealogies of Joseph and Mary teach, Matt. 1; Luke 3; since Elizabeth was related to Mary either by her maternal line or his paternal line. And Mary, although for weighty reasons betrothed to Joseph, was altogether a pure virgin in the birth of Jesus, Luke 1:34, πῶς ἔσται τοῦτο, ἐπεὶ ἄνδρα οὐ γινώσκω [How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?]; Matt. 1:18, 25, μνηστευθείσης γὰρ τῆς μητρὸς αὐτοῦ Μαρίας τῷ Ἰωσήφ, πρὶν ἢ συνελθεῖν αὐτούς, εὑρέθη ἐν γαστρὶ ἔχουσα ἐκ πνεύματος ἁγίου [for when his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost], etc.; καὶ οὐκ ἐγίνωσκεν αὐτὴν ἕως οὗ ἔτεκεν τὸν υἱὸν αὐτῆς, τὸν πρωτότοκον [and he knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son], etc.; which, by God’s incomprehensible power, ought not at all to be doubted. As, therefore, that virginity was pure, whether of herself or of her parents [some words blurred], so after the birth, because of the greatest benefit of God, it is most probable and piously believed that she herself remained always a virgin. The old fictions of Helvidius do not solidly prove the contrary.
Objection 1. Mary was Joseph’s wife.
Reply This must be referred to cohabitation and to the state of contracted marriage, not to carnal union.
Objection 2. Joseph is said not to have known her “until” the birth of Jesus, Matt. 1:18, 25.
Reply Often the following time is not excluded by such a form of speech, coll. 2 Sam. 6:23: “Michal the daughter of Saul had no child unto the day of her death,” etc.; and this is not necessary to the nature of our faith.
Objection 3. Christ is called “firstborn.”
Reply This means that no other had been born before him.
Objection 4. Brothers and sisters are collected from the Gospel.
Reply They are understood to be kinsmen.
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XII. The prophecies concerning Christ agree further:
1. Concerning the preparation of the way, Isa. 40:3: “The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of Jehovah,” etc.; coll. Mark 1:3; Matt. 11:10, 14: “This is he of whom it is written, Behold, I send my angel before thy face, who shall prepare thy way before thee,” etc.
2. Concerning the state, doctrine, and works of Messiah, Isa. 35:5, 6: “Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped; then shall the lame man leap as a hart, and the tongue of the dumb shall sing,” etc.; coll. Matt. 11:4, 5: “Go and show John again those things which ye do hear and see: the blind receive their sight,” etc.
3. Concerning the consequences: the devastation of the land, Dan. 9:26: “and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined,” etc.; the overthrow of idolatry, Zech. 13:2: “And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land, and they shall no more be remembered,” etc.; and the calling of the nations, Gen. 49:10: “and unto him shall the obedience of the peoples be,” etc.
XIII. The Jews object:
Objection 1. Messiah ought to be a very great king.
Reply Yet not a worldly one, coll. Zech. 9:9: “lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.”
Objection 2. Messiah ought to be the leader of the Jews.
Reply Not of them alone, nor of all of them, since he was to be rejected by very many, Isa. 8:14: “He shall be for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem”; Ps. 118:22: “The stone which the builders refused,” etc.
Objection 3. Messiah would come at the end of days, and after Elijah.
Reply All the days of the New Testament are the last days, and Elijah was seen in John the Baptist.
Objection 4. The greatest works are attributed to Messiah by the prophets.
Reply These
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are commonly to be understood spiritually; nor are all to be immediately joined with his first advent.
XIV. As the Socinians wrongly diminish the office of Mediator, so also the Papists most wrongly establish several mediators besides Jesus, contrary to 1 Tim. 2:5: “There is one Mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus”; Acts 4:12: “Neither is there salvation in any other,” etc.; and contrary to Christ’s sufficiency and the manifold defects of all creatures. Nor is anyone a mediator of intercession who is not also a mediator of redemption, since intercession must rest upon shed blood, just as this was formerly shadowed forth in the high priest entering the sanctuary with blood.
XV. Jesus is Mediator according to both natures, since both are named here, Acts 20:28, τὴν ἐκκλησίαν τοῦ θεοῦ ἣν περιεποιήσατο διὰ τοῦ ἰδίου αἵματος [the Church of God, which he purchased with his own blood]; 1 Cor. 2:8, εἰ γὰρ ἔγνωσαν, οὐκ ἂν τὸν κύριον τῆς δόξης ἐσταύρωσαν [for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory], etc.; and this is required for the apotelesmata. Thus Osiander badly says that Christ is our Mediator according to the deity alone, and Stancarus, with the Pontificians, according to the humanity alone.
Objection 1. Christ Jesus is called “the man” Mediator, 1 Tim. 2:5.
Reply This name is of the person, not of the nature; and the deity is also implicitly mentioned there in the giving of himself as ἀντίλυτρον [a ransom in exchange].
Objection 2. Others say that the Mediator is not distinguished from God as the offended party.
Reply The Son as God is distinguished from the Triune God and from the Father, because he is economically considered as offended and as judge.
Objection 3. The Mediator had to suffer and serve God.
Reply He did not have to suffer according to the whole person; and his subjection was voluntary and economic.
XVI. Jesus is Mediator neither of angels nor
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of all men, but only of the elect, Matt. 1:21: “He shall save his people from their sins”; Eph. 5:23: “He is the Savior of the body,” etc.; and these are certainly saved through him. And he is plainly Mediator of all these, without distinction of state, age, sex, etc.; Gal. 3:28: “There is neither Jew nor Greek; there is neither bond nor free; there is neither male nor female; for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.” Gal. 5:6: “In Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but faith which worketh by love,” etc.; and also of the old and new economies, 1 Tim. 2:5: “There is one Mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus”; John 14:6: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father but by me”; Acts 4:12: “Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved”; Heb. 13:8: “Jesus Christ yesterday, and today the same, and forever,” etc. Although under the New Testament those things which had to be done by him as Mediator were fulfilled more than formerly, and thus the Mediator was consummated.
XVII. The Mediator was made such by the constitution of God, most wise, best, and eternal, which is called unction, foreknowledge, etc.; Prov. 8:22: “I was anointed before the age, before the beginning, before the first principles of the earth.” 1 Pet. 1:20, προεγνωσμένου μὲν πρὸ καταβολῆς κόσμου [foreknown indeed before the foundation of the world], etc.; indeed also by a covenant of suretyship and an eternal covenant, according to Luke 22:29, κἀγὼ διατίθεμαι ὑμῖν καθὼς διέθετό μοι ὁ πατήρ μου βασιλείαν [and I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me]; Heb. 7:22: “By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better covenant,” etc. In this the Father stipulates from the Son obedience unto death, John 10:18: “This commandment have I received of my Father,” etc.; and pronounces to him glorious dominion
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in the Church, Ps. 2:8: “Ask of me, and I shall give thee the nations for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.” The Son, moreover, accedes to this condition, namely, that he will faithfully perform it, Ps. 40:7, 8, 9: “Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not; mine ears hast thou opened,” etc.; “then said I, Lo, I come,” etc.; “I delight to do thy will, O my God, and thy law is within my heart,” etc.; and he restipulates the promised reward, Job 33:24: “Deliver him from going down to the pit; I have found a ransom,” etc. Hence was Christ’s merit for himself.
XVIII. Very many passages adduced to prove this covenant look more directly to its temporal execution. Nor should they be thought to do much here: either David’s soliloquy with his soul, Ps. 16:1, 2: “Thou hast said unto Jehovah, Thou art my Lord; my goodness extendeth not to thee,” etc.; or the counsel of peace between those two, who are rather the king and the priest named than the Father and the Son, Zech. 6:13; or διαθήκην προκεκυρωμένην [a covenant previously confirmed], which is the covenant formerly confirmed with Abraham, Gal. 3:17.
XIX. This constitution of the Mediator is immutable: on the part of the Father, Ps. 110:4: “Jehovah hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest forever,” etc.; and on the part of the Son, because of his unstained holiness. And there followed in time the manifestation of the Mediator, through the Proto-Gospel and many other prophecies; his delineation, by types, real events, and persons; his mission in the fulness of time; his solemn unction through various degrees of the outpoured Spirit; the public administration and visible exercise of the office; and finally the fullest revelation by the Gospel, and hereafter the uni-
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versal and visible revelation by his advent to judgment.