Book of 1 Timothy - Ch. 2, v. 5
Pastor Ben Mitchell
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Transcript
We'll go ahead and get started then we'll go I'd like to turn with me to first Timothy chapter 2 and Just to give
I appreciate our visitors so much for making making it for Sunday school. I know that making it for that Earlier hour could be difficult especially driving in so I thank you guys so much for that means a lot
But just to bring everybody up to speed we're going verse by verse through first Timothy and And Not to rehash the entirety of what we looked at so far
But we're still somewhat at the beginning of chapter 2 and what Paul is doing is he is exhorting
Timothy as an elder the bishop of Ephesus To then exhort his congregation and of course every
Christian that has read this epistle since Has also received this exhortation to pray
Specifically to lift up supplications prayers intercessions and giving of thanks To be made for all men and he goes in in verse 2 and qualifies that Statement by saying for Kings and all that are in authority
And so one of the things we've been talking about the past several weeks is the significance behind this how significant?
It would have been for first century Christians dealing with an incredibly pagan and heathen government one that ruled over them with the totalitarian rule
In the worst way in many cases, of course, of course, we know that the persecution of our brothers and sisters during that time especially in the latter half of the second century was really beyond comprehension and So it would have been very difficult for the first century
Christians to have understood how important it was For prayers be made for their civil magistrates because these were men that otherwise would have invoked hatred in the hearts of those that they were persecuting
What Paul's doing here though is he's saying that in general and I want to emphasize this just one more time in general
Because there is a time and a place to Mimi and I were talking about this at the end of last week.
We've talked about this as a group weeks prior There's a time and a place for what you might call in precatory prayers prayers of judgment upon a particular person
We used Emperor Galerius as one example a few weeks back a man who was is evil
He was the embodiment of evil at the particular time He was living and there were no doubt
Christians at that time praying for the Lord to judge him to bring righteous Indignation upon this man and did happen he died in brutal fashion and so there's a time and a place for us to pray judgment upon people that are that are embodying evil and wickedness in such a way that It they're they're an offense to God's Word to his gospel to his people and they need to be dealt with and of course
Vengeance is the Lord's but in general in general the normative approach that Christians have or should have
Toward their civil rulers is to pray for them And the reason why
Paul goes in to explain in verse 2 That we do this that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life and all godliness and integrity or indignity
KJV puts it honesty there And so there this is to our benefit.
This isn't an arbitrary command that Paul is giving us just so we can feel pious There are true tangible benefits to obeying this particular exhortation and praying for our civil rulers even when
They don't agree with our particular earth. Let's say when their platform is in a
Kind of tension with our worldview and in that which is derived from God's Word We still pray for them because of course the
Holy Spirit is powerful and Paul essentially unfolds this argument for the reason why you do it is because the ideal ends to such an endeavor the ideal ends to To such a thing praying for civil magistrates is their salvation
He goes on and explains that in verse 4 and really all the way through verse 7 this argument is being made
Because when our civil rulers are saved when they are converted then we can have a Christian nation a
Christian government a government that a government that supports true religion and that therefore
Contributes to the the betterment of the citizens in general We've talked about all this
Many weeks unpacking all of this and moving through it And so that's all just to kind of bring everyone up to speed but then you get to verse 5 and so verse 5 we're going to take a tiny bit of a diversion away from the argument being made in Sequence today because there is something here in verse 5 that is worth
Talking about spending a little bit of time on this week and let's read it first And then we'll get into that We'll go ahead and give the full context leading into it in verse 1
He says I exhort therefore the first of all supplications prayers intercessions and giving of thanks be made for all men for Kings and for all that are in authority that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life and all godliness and honesty for this is good
And acceptable in the sight of God our Savior who will have all men to be saved and to come into the knowledge of the truth for there is one
God in one mediator between God and men the man Jesus Christ Who gave himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time?
Wherein to I am ordained a preacher and an apostle I speak the truth in Christ and lie not a teacher of the
Gentiles in faith and verity So there's the full Thought that Paul is giving us from verse 1 through 7, but let's let's park on verse 5
There is one God and one mediator between God and men the man Christ Jesus now at the very beginning of this study
I Mentioned how in addition to the fact that as a pastoral epistle that being first Timothy here
This is one of the most practical books in the New Testament. That is certainly true We did
Titus right before this one and the same was true there The pastoral epistles are as practical as they get especially
Titus and first Timothy With regard to Christian living behavior in the church how to have peace as a as a local church body
All these things are there and they're amazing. But in addition to that first Timothy is also theologically and doctrinally rich at the same time
Now, of course, we know this is true in some form or fashion of all books in the canon, but first Timothy carries some special weight to it and In this little section between verses 4 and 7
We see some of that on display We see powerful realities regarding God as a loving
Savior Desirous of men of all stripes to be saved and to know the truth
We see a testimony of Paul's ministry to the Gentiles who are equally part of the new covenant just as much as the
Jews are And of Christ as ransom and mediator for those who are saved through faith and that is again what is in view in this particular verse at this point and Obviously, I don't want to lose sight of the context and kind of Paul's overarching purpose in the arguments that he's making here
Of course, we're gonna revisit that Before leaving this passage. We'll make sure we have a Really good grasp of why
Paul is saying what he's saying in these particular verses But like I mentioned a minute ago
I think it's worth slowing down a bit here in verse 5 and really considering what Paul is saying on a theological and doctrinal level
Because while this particular verse is Grossly abused by opponents of the
Christian faith. We'll take a look at that at least briefly in just a moment It's a very important one with regard to our understanding of the
Trinity and the distinct roles that each person within the Trinity has Paul here in verse 5 does something that's really significant with his phrasing and he's done it before in another epistle
But with a different emphasis in the context here in this context in in first Timothy 2 5
What's in view? What have we been talking about for the last several weeks? Prayer for our civil magistrates.
Yes, but to what end ultimately the salvation of our civil rulers That's the context of what
Paul is talking about here that is that's the thing that he's trying to get across and that he wants to impress upon the minds of All believers that he's talking to the salvation of civil rulers.
It is what it is. What's in view in this particular context in this salvation
That he wants that he and God himself desires for these people is founded upon two things
The first is in verse 6 which we're not going to look at in detail today But in verse 6 Paul mentions how
Christ gave himself a ransom Christ gave himself a ransom and secondly, so that's the first thing secondly in verse 5
He mentions how Christ is one mediator between God and men so Just within two quick verses all one thought all one phrase.
We have a couple of the most deep Theological truths that we have in Scripture and Once more the foundation upon which salvation itself is built upon and so the basis of the salvation that we are praying for our civil rulers to experience is number one a sacrificial ransom and number two a
Mediator who is arbitrating the covenant terms based upon that ransom
So the ransom is the blood price that was paid so that that covenant could be brought to bear the new covenant
Christ is mediator is the one that mediates or Arbitrates the covenant terms between God and man looking back to that ransom looking back to that blood price that was made as the basis for that arbitrating in the first place and Of course the really amazing thing is the fact that both of these things the ransom and the mediator
Are both fulfilled in one person and that of course is the man Christ Jesus and so you can see what
I mean by there being really doctrinally rich things right here in This passage ultimately about prayer in the power therein and in the context of some of the most practical
Just day -to -day Christian living type doctrines that we'll see unfold throughout the rest of this chapter as well
It's just a quick snapshot. It's some of these amazing things that are truly truly amazing
Now we're going to return again, I'm diverting a little bit from this passage just to look at some of this this doctrine and As we get into this by the way anything that isn't clear is
Simply My own failings as a teacher here the the doctrines themselves
Couldn't be more clear with regard to how the Apostles Convey them with regard to how
Scripture Conveys all of this to us Hopefully we can weave these things together here in just a few moments
So we're going to return to the theological point Paul is making here in a little bit
But first I want to consider how elsewhere Paul While using a similar phrase structure to what we just read in verse 5 a similar phrase structure
He emphasizes something different same style of argumentation Same phrase structure, but he emphasizes something different in the reason why he emphasizes something different Of course is because the context in which he's giving it is different and so turn with me to first Corinthians 8 for a second and You'll see how all this ties in in a moment,
I believe How this is it? This is important to have in view as we read what is happening in verse 5 here
As you turn there, I'm gonna read verse 5 of 1st Timothy chapter 2 one more time Just so it's in your mind as we read what we're about to read
First Timothy 2 5 says for there is one God and one mediator between God and men the man
Jesus Christ And that is within the context of talking about the desired salvation of civil rulers.
Okay? now we look at 1st Corinthians chapter 8 and The key is in verse 6 but just to give us a little context so you see the difference in context here
Look at verse 4 first This is the Apostle Paul talking he's talking by the way, ultimately about Christian Liberty what that even looks like and The things we need to keep in mind there and of course, he's dealing with the church in Corinth that is
Living within the backdrop of an incredibly pagan culture Many of the Christians that are in this church that are part of this local church body themselves came out of pagan idolatry
We're talking everything from temple prostitution to the worship of gods false gods through that prostitution to the
You know intentional inebriation That require that it requires to communicate with these false gods.
We all know this is this is the demon world. We're talking about here many Christians in this church came from that which is
Really something to think about it Emphasizes the power of the gospel, of course that God's mercy and grace far surpasses any amount of evil we can partake in Interestingly enough in 1st
Timothy We just finished talking about how Paul uses himself as an example of what that power looks like the chief of sinners
He calls himself once blasphemous an insolent man Persecuting Christ Church and yet he experienced
God's mercy So right here in 1st Corinthians chapter 8 verse 4. It says as concerning therefore the eating of those things
That are offered in sacrifice unto idols We know that an idol is nothing in the world and that there is none other than God but one and notice
Notice some of the things he emphasizes here. There is none other God but one For though there be that are called gods whether in heaven or on earth is there be
God's many and Lord's many but to us There is but one God the
Father of whom are all things and we in him And one
Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all things and we buy him now one more reminder
Rather than salvation being the primary context here like it is in 1st
Timothy chapter 2 The main thing that Paul is talking about here is the contrast between Christ as God with idols
Now so so you can see the the cut the the context is different therefore the emphasis is going to be different Now in this passage
Paul does something amazing just a couple of quick things to throw out there is
This is one of the greatest testimonies to the deity of our Lord that we have in Scripture 1st
Corinthians 8 6 one of the reasons why is Oh, let me say this to this is kind of a neat side note
The way that Paul phrases verse 6 it is kind of in the form of a creed in other words a reduction a reductio a summation of Certain theological truths in one phrase and set of course a creed can be many phrases, but in this case, it's a single verse and What that means is that there's a possibility he's reciting something that was already kind of in circulation if you will within the early church
Something that they were proclaiming that was something they were confessing together and he brings it into the context here under inspiration of the
Holy Spirit and in addition to it being in this kind of creedal form for there's
But one God the father of whom are all things and we in him and one Lord Jesus Christ By whom are all things and we by him it's poetic you can see that just in even in the
English But certainly in the Greek it would have been What Paul is doing here is he is actually quoting from and Expanding one of the most significant passages that we have in the
Old Testament that being in Deuteronomy chapter 6 What he's doing is he's quoting and expanding something that is today referred to as the shema which is a essentially
It's simply the quotation of a verse I'll read to you just a second Deuteronomy that Jews that religious
Jews to this day recite every single day It's a prayer that they recite and they're simply reciting
Moses's words and I'll read it now It's Deuteronomy 6 and verse 4 says here. Oh Israel.
The Lord our God is one Lord Here. Oh Israel. The Lord our God is one Lord that's recited that has been recited every day by religious
Jews from the time Moses Gave those words in Deuteronomy 6 all the way to present -day and just just for the sake of of The full thing here in verse 5 he goes on to say and thou shalt love the
Lord thy God with all thy heart with all Thy soul with all thy might the greatest commandment that this is what
Jesus quotes when the lawyer asks him Master what is the greatest commandment and he quotes
Moses? Deuteronomy chapter 6 the preceding verse to that quotation of Moses that we all know so well.
Love the Lord thy God That the entirety of the New Testament is built upon by the way is this prayer
Here. Oh Israel. The Lord our God is one Lord and so Paul quotes this
But he also expands it at the same time. We know that in the Old Testament though The the
Eternal Son and the Holy Spirit were eternal with the Father The revelation of the
Trinity what we now refer to as the Trinity the triune persons the Godhead the revelation of that did not take place until Jesus came on the scene until the
Eternal Son became incarnate and Was being baptized in the River Jordan by John the
Baptist Where you hear the voice of the Father booming from heaven This is my beloved Son in whom
I am well Pleased as the Sun is standing in the water and as the Holy Spirit descends as a dove upon his shoulder
That was when the Trinity was revealed. And of course it had eternally existed in this way but the
Old Testament emphasizes the singular reality of a one true
God All throughout in contrast to what the pervasive false idols that every other nation was was bending the knee to all throughout
Israel's history and so we have The monotheism that is the foundation of the
Christian faith. Yes, we're Trinitarian, but the foundation of Orthodox Trinitarianism is monotheism
There is one God and Paul affirms that right here in 1st Corinthians as well and it's emphasized all throughout the
New Testament It is one God that subsists in three distinct persons and What Paul is doing here is
Number one is he gives us an apologetic against false idol worship and he does so by saying
I'll just read it one more time as Disconcerting therefore these things that are offered to to in sacrifice and idols
We know that an idol is nothing in the world and that there is none other God but one
For though there have been called gods whether in heaven or in earth as there are many gods many
Lords But to us there is one God the Father of whom are all things and we in him and one
Lord Jesus Christ By whom are all things and we buy him. This is Paul's apologetic his defense of the
Christian faith Against idol worship in this very very pagan culture that he and these other believers find themselves in and so that's what he's doing there and he's given this he's giving us this apologetic while proving the deity of Christ at the
Same time and we'll talk more about that specifically how he does that in just a moment our main text for the morning first Timothy 2 5 in that Paul is proving the full humanity of Jesus Which of course is necessary in order to provide that ransom and to provide that mediation between God and men
Here he's using a similar phrase structure, but proving the deity of Jesus fully
God fully man two different contexts in one case first Timothy Paul is emphasizing the fact that That Jesus is fully man.
And in this context, he's emphasizing that Jesus is fully God Which is an amazing thing similar phrase structures different contexts proving different things
One of the ways that we know What Paul is doing here? before we leave this
Corinthians passage is Is everyone familiar with something called the Septuagint?
It's the Greek translation of the Old Testament So we know the Old Testament was originally delivered in Hebrew and some portions in Aramaic But By the time
Jesus is on the scene and the Apostle the Apostles are on the scene The Old Testament was almost exclusively read by the the common man in Greek And that's what we refer to as the
Septuagint the Old Testament translated into Greek Now, of course if you went to synagogue
To the synagogue on the Sabbath day to hear the Word of God Proclaimed they would have opened to the scrolls and they would have been read in Hebrew But Generally speaking
Christian the first the first Bible the Bible of the first century of first century Christianity was the
Old Testament in Greek and if you look at that Deuteronomy passage that I just quoted a second ago
Deuteronomy chapter 6 in the Septuagint and This is a lot easier if you're looking at them side by side then for me to verbally
Explain it, but if you're looking at Deuteronomy 6 in Greek Side by side with 1st
Corinthians chapter 8 verse 6, which also of course was delivered in Greek You see that Paul is explicitly quoting this passage in Deuteronomy And not only that this is the amazing part in there when you look at the
Hebrew you have These four letters that pop up from time to time for Hebrew letters that Is referred to sometimes as the
Tetragrammaton it's essentially the four letters that represent the divine name of God Sometimes we refer to that as Jehovah Which is fine
Scholars today many scholars today will will pronounce it Yahweh because Given the four letters that we have it's kind of the best we can do in my opinion
We we're not going to know how that name was pronounced when when
God Told Moses his name for the first time For whatever reason in God's providence it happened this way
But the Hebrews decided to conceal that name that was originally given to Moses by not fully spelling it out
And so I believe we won't know how that name was pronounced until we see Jesus again someday
But when you read the Old Testament, you see this this divine name popping up usually in Translations, it'll be just Lord in all caps
Sometimes God in all caps and if you look at the Hebrew, it's those four letters the Tetragrammaton Yahweh Jehovah, however, you know, both of those are in my opinion equally fine because we don't really know how it was pronounced in the
Septuagint though What the translators decided to do every time they came upon the divine name of God was rather than transliterate it
Which would have been You know like Yahweh or something like that rather than doing that they simply translated it from the
Hebrew four letters to curious curious the Greek term which means
Lord and Curious is the number one name given to Jesus throughout the
New Testament of everybody else Jesus calls himself the Son of Man more times than anything else but that which the disciples the
Apostles and all the writers of the New Testament referred to Jesus more times than any other is Curious Lord and that's significant because while yes, you could have an earthly Lord curious
Remember context is what defines words not just the word itself words have range of meaning we've talked about this recently
All words whether regardless of the language you're looking at they have a semantic domain
They can have different meanings depending upon what the context and so when you look at the context in which
These men are referring to Jesus as curious Lord. You realize what they're doing is they are applying that divinity that the
The divinity that is attached Intrinsically to that name in the Old Testament to Jesus Christ it's a proof of his deity and so when you read verse 6 here and You see that what
Paul does is he says we have one God or Theos Which would have been the
Greek equivalent of Elohim in the Old Testament We have one Theos the father
Of whom are all things and we in him and one curious Jesus Christ by whom are all things and we buy him the particular word the particular
Greek term that Paul attributes to Jesus explicitly here is curious that which is the divine name in the
Old Testament an explicit quotation of Deuteronomy Hero, Israel the
Lord our God Excuse me. The Lord our God is one Lord an explicit quotation of that Applying the divine name to Jesus and of course also giving a distinction between the father and son
So it's one of the most unbelievable Trinitarian passages that we have the unity the oneness of God is in view while making a distinction between father and son and Attributing the divine name to Jesus all in one fell swoop all in a singular verse
Let me just throw out one quick thing there are people that will look at this that of course are non -trinitarian and they'll say
Wait a second. It says one God the father and of whom are all things and one
Lord Jesus Christ Obviously two different gods or certainly two different people are in view We would agree with that two persons are in view here
But they would say obviously they can't be the same God because look at the way it's phrased if you
Two things number one you can take any verse in isolation and make it say whatever you want So that's the first thing we all know that you have to interpret based upon the whole of Scripture And that is an absurd argument when taken in the whole of the
New Testament But the second thing is this if you want to argue That by Paul phrasing things the way that he is by saying one
God the father means that the father Gets that Godhead exclusively
Then they have a big problem because he goes on and says one Lord Jesus Christ and One thing they wouldn't agree with is that the father
Doesn't have the right to lordship as well in Revelation the John tells us
I can't remember which chapter it is, but he refers to the Lord and his Christ The father is called the
Lord in some places But here it says Jesus is one Lord so if you want to make the argument that by saying one
God the father means exclusively the father is God and Jesus can't be then you have a big theological problem when you say that then the
Lord has Exclusivity to the title Lord, excuse me when Jesus has exclusivity to the title
Lord because the father is called Lord in other places It's just terrible argumentation It's not it's cheating really because again, it's trying to take a singular text in isolation
Shoehorn a Unitarian doctrine into it and totally ignore the rest of Scripture, which is so dishonest
It's difficult to even have these conversations in good faith because that's not a good faith argument
So now all of that being said Again, this is such a diversion from our passage of first first Timothy this particular verse
And you can turn back there with me if you'd like to first Timothy 2 5 we'll we'll finish there
The this is such a unique verse That I I felt it was appropriate to kind of look at these somewhat parallel passages different contexts different emphasis but Paul is is doing something similar in both ways by showing us the distinction between father and son
The distinction in their roles and in their personhood while also showing the unity at the same time
For there is one God one mediator between God and men the man Jesus Christ Back to this main passage here many opponents of the faith especially
Unitarians Muslims Jehovah's Witnesses basically anybody that would reject the deity of Jesus and reject the doctrine of the
Trinity They will use verse 5 here in a similar way to what I just described is a quote -unquote proof text where they their argument is essentially something along the lines of There's only one
God in Jesus isn't him because here it says there's one God and one mediator between God and men the man
Jesus Christ and Again Similar to what
I just said a moment ago In order to make an argument like that You have to ignore the fact that this exact same
Apostle the Apostle Paul calls Jesus God straight on in Titus 2 13
He equates Jesus or I should say he attributes the divine name of Yahweh to Jesus in Philippians chapter 2 and he did it just a second ago in 1st
Corinthians 8 6 as well And he does so by the way while maintaining the distinction between father and son
He ascribes creatorship to Jesus in Colossians chapter 1 The same
Apostle the same Apostle that wrote this verse so to try to make an argument that in this singular verse The Apostle Paul is blowing up the doctrine of the
Trinity by saying no No, there's one God only and then there's a man over here. That's the mediator between God and man
Jesus can't be God it ignores the entire Corpus of the Apostle Paul all of his work once more you have to read
Scripture in light of the rest of Scripture He can't it doesn't and cannot Contradict itself.
And so we have to remember that this passage in isolation this verse in isolation proves absolutely nothing outside of the full context of Scripture So what is
Paul doing? What is Paul doing in this verse and it's an unbelievably beautiful thing and it's a shame that we you know
Have to have silly Unitarian Trinitarian debates around it because it loses the four
I mean you at least lose sight of the force in this verse which is
Paul's whole argument is that God's salvation is indiscriminate with regard to social class in other words
He saves Kings and civil rulers even pagan ones Just as much as he would save someone like Anna or Simeon or John the
Baptist Or any of the other disciples? His salvation is indiscriminate based upon social class and that salvation had to be bought with something
What did it have to be bought with? This will be more in view next week as we look at verse 6 more fully
But it had to be bought with a ransom price It had to be bought with the price of blood that ransom that ransom price was the blood of Jesus Christ the man
The last Adam the son of David Who has since? Giving himself as that ransom been raised and is now active as mediator between God and man and What this verse is doing is it is a defense against the
Gnostics They want to say that Jesus was only pure spirit because he couldn't have been an aeon
He couldn't have been a true God Had he been a man because the physical flesh the material universe is just evil
Only the spirit things are good and the Apostle Paul says absolutely not God created the physical material universe good as well
And in fact God entered that created universe as a man as a sinless man so that he could redeem that universe and So Paul's argument here is based upon the fact that Jesus is fully man
He gave the ransom price in his sacrificial self -giving and he now actively mediates or arbitrates the terms of the covenant between us sitting in this room and God the
Father Pointing back to that ransom price saying this is why This is a better covenant this is why these people are going to be able to enter eternity with us
This is why I'm a better mediator than Moses Moses prophesied about Jesus saying one is coming like me but he'll be better than me and Moses prefigured
Jesus in the sense that he was the mediator of the Old Covenant, but Moses died Moses died and was buried by God himself in the mountain.
No one knows where his body is to this day and The Israelites had to go on without him
The second mediator came and he also died but he was raised again and is still the mediator
He is still mediating as we speak. That is what's in view in verse 5 and so Of course, we affirm as Trinitarians the fullness of Jesus's humanity, which is exactly what
Paul has in view here That does not negate the fullness of his deity, which Paul has in view in that Corinthians passage
It's all there it's all beautiful and like I said, it couldn't be it couldn't be more rich than this so we'll end there
Looking at this again is a wonderful proof of the humanity of Jesus as mediator as ransom and Next week we'll get back to really the the overarching argument being made
We'll kind of review a little bit verses 4 all the way through verse 7 and in this little section of our study in First Timothy, but if anyone has any thoughts if anything, you know anything y 'all like to share feel free to do so Go ahead dad
Yeah It can't be right, but I Couldn't I couldn't agree more
The again if you if you look at what Paul intends to say here It makes total sense why he is phrasing it the way that he's phrasing it
You had to have that second Adam come fulfill that which the first Adam failed
So that just like the the first Adam was the federal head of the depravity of man
The second Adam is now the federal head of the regeneration of mankind the new creation and So Jesus had to be fully man in order to fulfill that and another thing is that you know,
God can't die by necessity If he did everything would implode and cease to exist and we wouldn't we wouldn't be here having this lesson today
So what he had to do was he had to enter into his own creation in a finite body
Now keep in mind the Eternal Son never ceased being divine. He never ceased being infinite he never ceased being
God in the fullness thereof, but he veiled himself in The Form of a man but a legitimate man not just it wasn't
God in a man suit. He was fully man fully man and while in that finite body
He was able to fulfill everything that was demanded upon First Adam, but secondarily those that were living under the law in the
Old Testament Something we could never do something that in fact was our very condemnation
Because God says you want to you want to be good in my sight you want to enter my presence Here is exactly what you need to do he delivers the
Ten Commandments and then the Ten Commandments are expounded upon and the rest of the law and he says
You want to know how to how to get to me? This is it and they keep failing and failing and failing and failing they had to do these meager animal sacrifices to cover their sins and Push it forward and by the way that in of itself was grace because those animals meant nothing
The only reason why they meant anything in any kind of practice was because God was gracious enough to accept the blood of a bull
And the blood of a goat he didn't have to do that, but he did in the only reason he did the only reason he could be patient enough to be okay with these meager animal sacrifices was because of his anticipation of his son coming and in the perfect blood being shed on our behalf and so We're doing all this stuff.
We're under the condemnation of the law. We couldn't do it. So Jesus came and As a man to live all of it out perfectly so that we didn't have to because we couldn't
And also so that blood could be shed because God cannot die But if he enters the body of a man and we there's another theological concept known as the hypostatic
Union The the dynamic between there being one person that being Jesus, but two natures his divine nature his human nature
That was the only mechanism if you will that that could have led to the to the crucifixion and And it's just again
It's just unbelievable the way all of this works and the way it ties into our redemption and these things and so like dad said when you look at verse 6 it go figure that Paul makes the argument that he does because in order to have a ransom we
Had to have a man that could have died in our place and When it when it comes to the
Muslims that like to use verse 5 is like a proof text saying Oh see one God and Jesus isn't him.
They deny the very next verse Anyway, they don't believe that Jesus was the mediator for mankind or that he is media
They don't believe that he was the ransom for mankind and that he is now mediator. They deny that anyway So why should we take their interpretation of verse 5 seriously?
We shouldn't because it's not a proper interpretation It's not a fair interpretation And so on and so forth so anyway any other thoughts
Yeah, go ahead, oh, sorry No, go ahead Mimi and I'll get you
Yannick right after Exactly.
They believed Jesus was fully man and a prophet Well, I they don't believe that he was perfect.
They don't believe that he was sinless. They believe that he was a prophet in the line of Abraham down through In the same line of Muhammad they believe
Jesus is the same line of prophets as Muhammad was in and And that's why they don't believe he was a ransom and that he couldn't be mediator
He was a prophet and a fine one at that. But certainly certainly not what Paul is
Enunciating here in in first Timothy Yeah. Yeah, that's true as well
Yes, and this is a huge point to Ashton's point when this the religion of Islam was being invented around 600 something
AD Muhammad lived hundreds of miles away from the geographical location that all of Jesus's life happened within he had no access to to the
Christian literature and Was literally just taking shots in the dark as to what the
Christian faith was even based upon But saying that this is what it said for sure so when you read the Quran It makes allusions to the
New Testament of things that are nowhere to be found in the New Testament And so it was all shoddy.
It was all terrible Terrible use of the the
New Testament texts But the religion was built upon that being and in the
Word of God the Quran being the Word of God and infallible interpretation of the Christian texts even though Even though they weren't even in view that they had no idea what the gospel was
They had no idea what the Apostles had to say about Jesus or what his disciples were saying but under the influence of demons he wrote
He wrote the Quran and and here we are the sons of Ishmael this these many thousands of years later in that blood feud between Jake Ishmael and and Isaac remains
Yannick. What was your thought? Mm -hmm
Right a price was necessary, but the only thing that could be efficacious was a priceless ransom and only one person could do that and that was
I was Jesus Christ and we'll dive into more of this doctrine of ransom next week is
What we'll look at verse 6 more thoroughly, but it's so important and you guys remember when we began this section oftentimes this particular passage is used in the in debates regarding salvation debates regarding the extent of the atonement so Terry ology things like that and one of the biggest things that is missed is
What what ransom means? We'll look at that more next week, but Just as importantly is what does mediator mean?
What does mediator mean for whom is he mediating is his mediating efficacious or is he?
kind of on a knife's edge of mediating for for some but You know if they if they fail
And they're then denial of the gospel or something like that Then you know his mediation needs to kind of turn course things of that sort
There's some very important issues that we need to discuss In verses 5 and 6 even still so we'll be doing that in more detail next week, but that's a great thought there
Yanni All righty guys. Well, we've used up our time. So I'll go ahead and dismiss us and then we will move into our next service
Heavenly Father we thank you so much for bringing us together this morning and allowing us to open up the pages of Scripture and Though we tackled something a little bit heavy this morning a little bit
Doctrinally dense we thank you that your your scriptures are still clear any struggle with the weaving together of these doctrines of course falls strictly on those that are
Attempting to parse it out and teach it like myself and father I pray that the teaching this morning was clear and that it was able to to bring a sense of Further clarity to these passages and not less certainly but we thank you that regardless of what failings myself or any other teacher may have at any point that your word is clear that it is
As clear as we could possibly need it to be in order to Have an understanding of how gracious you are how merciful you are and to constantly have the arc of redemption in view so that we can
Like the Apostle Paul exhorts us in so many places be thankful Be thankful for all that you have done for us to be thankful for the fact that you gave your son
So that he could be a ransom and a mediator for us to this day that he is our advocate to this day and Because of his perfect work as a man
Keeping your divine law and its fullness so that we did not have to be under its condemnation anymore
Lived that life went to the cross in obedience and now here we are today Able to talk about the word that was delivered the covenant documents that were given through his
Apostles After he sealed it on the cross So that we could be comforted so that we could be edified
We ask that we take these words with us into the following services into the following week And that you be with us all we ask these things the name of your son.