ACC ~ 1 Timothy 2 v5b

HIS BODY A SHARED BED. ORIGEN: Through his body the church has been allied to Christ and has been enabled to become a partaker in the Word of God. We know this both from the fact that he is called the “mediator of God and humanity,” and from the apostle’s saying that “in him we have access through faith in the hope of the glory of God.” COMMENTARY ON THE SONG OF SONGS 3.2.

THE MEDIATOR IS TRULY GOD AND TRULY MAN. AMBROSE: But what is he who is at once the Most High and man, what but “the Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus who gave himself as a ransom for us”? This text indeed refers properly to his incarnation, for our redemption was made by his blood, our pardon comes through his power, our life is secured through his grace. He gives as the Most High; he prays as man. The one is the office of the Creator; the other of a redeemer. Be the gifts as distinct as they may, yet the Giver is one, for it was fitting that our Maker should be our Redeemer. OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH 3.2.8.

HIS MEDIATORSHIP ETERNAL. GREGORY OF NAZIANZUS: O how beautiful and mystical and kind! For to intercede does not imply to seek for vengeance, as is most men’s way (for in that there would be something of humiliation), but it is to plead for us by reason of his mediatorship, just as the Spirit is also said to make intercession for us. For “there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” For he still pleads even now as man for my salvation. He continues to wear the body which he assumed, until he makes me divine by the power of his incarnation; although he is no longer known after the flesh—the same as ours, except for sin. THE THEOLOGICAL ORATIONS 30.14.

THE MYSTERY OF GODLINESS. GREGORY OF NYSSA: By the distinction implied in the word mediator he reveals to us the whole aim of the mystery of godliness. Now the aim is this. Humanity once revolted through the malice of the enemy, and, brought into bondage to sin, was also alienated from the true Life. After this the Lord of the creature calls back to him his own creature and becomes Man while still remaining God, being both God and man in the entirety of the two separate natures. Thus humanity was indissolubly united to God, the man that is in Christ conducting the work of mediation, to whom, by the firstfruits assumed for us, all the lump is potentially united.AGAINST EUNOMIUS 2.12.

AS MEDIATOR BOTH PRIEST AND OBLATION. AUGUSTINE: Christ Jesus, himself man, is the true Mediator, for, inasmuch as he took the “form of a slave,” he became “the Mediator between God and men.” In his character as God, he received sacrifices in union with the Father, with whom he is one God. Yet he chose, in his character as a slave, to be himself the sacrifice rather than to receive it, lest any one might take occasion to think that sacrifice could be rendered to a creature. Thus it is that he is both the Priest who offers and the Oblation that is offered. THE CITY OF GOD 10.20.

THE SEPARATING MIDDLE. AUGUSTINE: But how are we reconciled unless what separates us and him is broken? For he says through the prophet, “The Lord’s ear is not dull, that it cannot hear, but your sins separate you and your God.”Therefore, because we are not reconciled unless what is in the middle has been removed and what should be in the middle has been put there—for there is a separating middle, but over against it is a reconciling mediator. The separating middle is sin. The reconciling mediator is the Lord Jesus Christ, “For there is one God and one mediator of God and man, the man Christ Jesus.” And so, in order that the separating wall which is sin may be taken away, that Mediator has come, and the Priest himself has become the sacrifice. TRACTATES ON JOHN 41.5.

MEDICINE FOR WEAK EYES. ISAAC OF NINEVEH: May attention to the economy of God which ministered to those of former times be reckoned by you as precious medicine for weak eyes. Let the memory of it stay with you at all times of the day. Meditate, apply your mind, and learn wisdom from it, that you may be able to receive into your soul with honor the memory of the greatness of God and find eternal life for yourself in Christ Jesus, the Mediator between God and mankind and the Uniter in his two natures. ASCETICAL HOMILIES 3.

1 Tim