Galatians 3:20 Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one. The argument is based on the fact that when God blessed Abraham, He used a singular and not a plural word, and said, not "seeds," but "Seed:" "to Abraham and his seed were the promises made." "The Seed," therefore, must be One Individual. And who could that single Individual be, but Christ only? Therefore all the promises in the Old Testament are to Christ. Not primarily, nor chiefly, to Isaac, or to Jacob, or to Judah, or to any other earthly descendants; but to one, to Christ. Stop a moment, and consider what that assertion involves. All the promises in the Old Testament are to Jesus only. Nay more, all the promises in the Bible centre in Jesus. They pass to us only through Him. How often have we taken the comfort of some beautiful promise in Deuteronomy; or in the Psalms; or the Proverbs; or in Isaiah; or any of the Prophets, without thinking of this. But not one of those promises was originally made to us. They were made to Christ. How then, could we dare to appropriate them, or even to touch them? Where do we find a right or a title to any one of them? Only by a union to Him to whom they were made. You must have a part in Christ. You must be "in Him;" a member in His mystical body. Thus and thus only, does any promise really belong to and to all that are in Him, what is the use of the law. "Wherefore then serveth the law?" "The law" is not "covenant," it was "four hundred and thirty years" after covenant. The law does not give us the promises. "Wherefore then serveth the law?" Our fallen nature, and our sins, made it necessary. "It was added (after the covenant) because of transgressions," to prevent transgressions; to punish transgressions; but not to give pardon, or peace, or salvation, or heaven. It was a beautiful and holy law; and if any law could have saved a man, that would have saved him. "If there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law." But no law can give life. But now let us consider the mode of the giving of that law which St. Paul introduces as a further link in his chain of argument. "It was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator" (see Deuteronomy 33:2). It is clear, therefore, that in some way, at the giving of the law on mount Sinai, "angels" were employed for the ordering, disposing, and arranging the solemnities of that awful occasion. St. Paul introduces the fact to enhance the glory of the "second" and better "covenant"; he goes on to a climax; the first covenant was very glorious, "it was ordained by angels"; but how much more glorious when Christ did all Him. self, in His own Person, by His own act, alone! Then St. Paul passes — from "the angels," and the order of the solemnities on mount Sinai — to "the mediator," Moses, who was employed by God to communicate God's will to man, the Creator's law to His creatures. "It was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator." And at that word "mediator" St Paul (as is his custom), breaks off to the thoughts which that word "mediator" suggested to his mind. "A mediator!" — what is it? What does that word involve? And so we come to the text, "Now a mediator is not a mediator of one; but God is one." This short sentence is so difficult in its conciseness, so abstruse, and capable of so many meanings, that it is not too much to say that it has more interpretations than any other passage in the Bible. Amongst all the meanings, however, which have been attached to it, there are two which stand out so distinct, and are far superior (as far as I can judge) to all the rest, that the true understanding of the words must be, I think, in one or the other, or in both unitedly. The one is this. "Now a mediator is not a mediator of one." A "mediator" implies that there are two parties concerned. There cannot be mediators unless there are two between whom ."the mediator" is to act. And the two must be, more or less, at variance, otherwise there would be no need, or occasion, for the mediation. Here, then, there must be two. Two? God is one of the two, one of those two between whom the mediation takes place. Then, who was the other? Man. In what condition, then, must man be? At enmity with God! Else, he would not need a mediation. The other interpretation is this. The words are in. tended to draw a contrast between the law and the gospel. The mediation of the law — which was conducted by Moses — was of the nature of a contract between two parties — God, on the one side, man on the other. And each must fulfil his part in the contract, or else it would not be valid. Therefore the contract of the law, observe this! leaves the issue uncertain — for it depended, on one side, on man's obedience, which was an exceedingly doubtful thing; it certainly cannot be depended upon! But just the contrary to that is the contract of the gospel. In that contract God is all in all. It depends on the will and power of God. It is all, from beginning to end, His work. He elects the soul: He makes the faith: He makes the obedience: He makes the holiness; and He has provided, and He Himself gives, and is, the reward. There is nothing but God in it. So the unity of God is complete. There is nothing but God. "God is one." The mediation is entirely different from the mediation of the law. There, the parties mediated, were two. Here, all are one. God the Author, God the Finisher; only God on either side, in His electing love, in the sinner's penitence, in the sinner's peace, in the sinner's eternal life. It is all God. One; alone. Of these two explanations I myself very much prefer the first. But why may we not embrace the two, reading the verse thus? Man is separate from God. The fact that there is a Mediator, the necessity of a Mediator, proves it. We are all at variance with God. A controversy between a man and God is, on reasonable and rational principles, hopeless. I am one and alone in my deep, sinful degradation. God is one and alone in the solitude of His infinite and unapproachable holiness. There is not the vestige of a hope for me unless there be a Mediator. "But God is one." One, up in heaven, in His foreordaining love; one, in my poor heart, working there in His grace and mercy; one, in His eternal sovereignty; one, in His power and will to make me all He would have me to be; one to plan, one to execute, His grand design. One to begin, and one to perfect, my salvation. One to save me and glorify Himself by my everlasting happiness. "A mediator is not a mediator of one" — then God and I are at enmity. "But God is one." And, in His unity, I and God are one for ever. (James Vaughan, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one. |
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