Some church fathers reckoned Jesus as a \u201cGod-man,\u201d and Christians have been doing so ever since. Emil Brunner repeatedly does so in his classic defense of traditional Christology in his book, The Mediator: A Study of the Central Doctrine of the Christian Faith<\/em>.<\/p>\n Those who call Jesus \u201cthe God-man\u201d mean that God literally came down to earth and became the man, Jesus Christ, called \u201cthe incarnation.\u201d They often cite 1 Timothy 2.5 as their sole means of biblical support. Paul writes therein, \u201cFor there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.\u201d<\/p>\n Many scholars think that in 1 Timothy 2.5, the Apostle Paul cites a liturgy commonly used in churches of that time just as he does in 1 Corinthians 8.6, wherein he says, \u201cthere is but one God, the Father.\u201d If 1 Timothy 2.5 is a liturgy, it explains why Paul did not explain its meaning since Timothy would have known it.<\/p>\n Accordingly, this liturgical saying in 1 Timothy 2.5 establishes the first precept of all truth about God, apart from the fact that he exists, which is that he is numerically \u201cone.\u201d This alludes to the Shema\u2013the Jews\u2019 brief creed. It reads, \u201cHear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one!\u201d (Deuteronomy 6.4).<\/p>\n The \u201cone God\u201d in 1 Timothy 2.5 also refers back in this letter to \u201cGod the Father,\u201d who is \u201cinvisible\u201d and \u201cthe only God\u201d (1.2, 17). Thus, Paul says to Timothy, his ministry associate, that the Father is the only God, meaning there is numerically only one God.<\/p>\n Trinitarians argue that \u201cone\u201d in the Shema does not designate God numerically but is a unity, thus allowing for their doctrine of God as a unity of three Persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. But Paul\u2019s juxtaposition of \u201cone God\u201d and \u201cone mediator\u201d in 1 Timothy 2.5 distinguishes two Persons. In other words, if \u201cthe one mediator\u201d identifies one Person, who is Christ Jesus, then, to be consistent the parallel expression \u201cone God\u201d must identify numerically one Person\u2014God the Father. So, rather than this verse indicating that Jesus is a \u201cGod-man,\u201d it distinguishes Jesus from the one God.<\/p>\n What is a mediator? In the Greek New Testament (NT), the word translated \u201cmediator\u201d in 1 Timothy 2.5 is mesites<\/em>. It means \u201cone who stands in the middle,\u201d that is, a \u201cmiddleman.\u201d Bible textual critic B. F. Westcott defines mesites<\/em> as \u201cone who, standing between the contracting parties, shall bring them into fellowship.\u201d<\/p>\n So, a mediator is a third party who attempts to reconcile two parties at variance. The two parties, in 1 Timothy 2.5, are God and sinful humanity. Jesus was not a member of sinful humanity because he was \u201cwithout sin\u201d and therefore \u201cseparate from sinners\u201d (Hebrews 4.15; 7.26; cf. 2 Corinthians 5.21). This mediator\u2014Jesus Christ\u2014attempts to bring these two parties together. Rather than 1 Timothy 2.5 indicating Jesus is God, it does the opposite by necessitating that the mediator, as the middleman, is neither God nor a member of sinful humanity alienated from God. That is the whole point of being a mediator, in which that individual is unique by being neither of the disputing parties.<\/p>\n Jesus is described as \u201cmediator\u201d three other times in the Bible, all in the book of Hebrews (Hebrews 8.6; 9.15; 12.24). These passages, as well as their contexts, contribute to the view that Jesus was uniquely qualified to mediate between God and humankind. As a man and the perfectly righteous Son of God, Jesus was intimately associated with both parties at variance.<\/p>\n The Bible teaches that sinful humanity is alienated from God and thus at enmity with him. God is the One with whom sinners need to be reconciled. The Fourth Evangelist says, \u201cthe wrath of God abides on him\u201d who is without Christ (John 3.36). Paul writes to the Corinthians, \u201cbe reconciled to God,\u201d that is, God the Father (2 Corinthians 5.21; cf. Romans 5.10). Interestingly, the NT never tells people to be reconciled to Jesus. God is the One to whom sinners are accountable because they have broken his laws.<\/p>\n So, God is the ultimate source of reconciliation. He plans and accomplishes it through Jesus as his agent, sending him as the Redeemer. Paul further informs the believing Corinthians, \u201cGod \u2026 has reconciled us to Himself through Christ\u201d (2 Corinthians 5.18).<\/p>\n Some past scholars rightly objected to applying the ascription \u201cGod-man\u201d to Jesus. German Friedrich Schleiermacher, a non-Trinitarian and the most celebrated Christian theologian of the early 19th century, was one who did. He and many others pointed out that the term \u201cGod-man\u201d neither appears in this 1 Timothy 2.5 text nor anywhere else in the Bible. Schleiermacher cautioned that this term requires scrutinizing.<\/p>\n Indeed it does. The concept of a God-man parallels the pagan notion of mythological demigods who are both god and man. In fact, proto-Gnostics of the 1st century CE could describe such a mythological redeemer figure as a \u201cGod man.\u201d<\/p>\n Actually, Paul may have had proto-Gnostics in mind when he penned 1 Timothy 2.5. Perhaps he was contrasting Jesus as the one mediator with the proto-Gnostic belief in a pleroma of many aeons as a chain of mediators linking God and humankind.<\/p>\n It is strange that Christians would identify Jesus as \u201cthe God-man\u201d based only on a single biblical text, it being 1 Timothy 2.5. Instead, this passage suggests that Jesus is not a dual being. For it clearly (1) distinguishes God and Christ Jesus, (2) affirms that God is a single Person, (3) calls Christ Jesus only a \u201cman,\u201d and (4) therefore neither calls him \u201cGod\u201d nor a \u201cGod-man.\u201d<\/p>\n It should be concluded that it is incorrect to identify Jesus either as \u201cGod\u201d or a \u201cGod-man\u201d based merely on 1 Timothy 2.5. Logically, Jesus Christ as a third party cannot reconcile us to God and at the same time be God. Finally, Today\u2019s English Version well paraphrases Paul\u2019s intended meaning in this verse as follows: \u201cFor there is one God, and there is one who brings God and mankind together, the man Christ Jesus.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026.<\/p>\n To see a list of titles of 130+ posts (2-3 pages) that are about Jesus not being God in the Bible, with a few about God not being a Trinity, at Kermit Zarley Blog click \u201cChistology<\/a>\u201d in the header bar. Most are condensations of my book, The Restitution of Jesus Christ<\/a>. See my website servetustheevangelical.com<\/a>, which is all about this book,\u00a0 with reviews, etc. Learn about my books and purchase them at kermitzarley.com<\/a>. I was a Trinitarian for 22 years before reading myself out of it in the Bible.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Some church fathers reckoned Jesus as a \u201cGod-man,\u201d and Christians have been doing so ever since. Emil Brunner repeatedly does so in his classic defense of traditional Christology in his book, The Mediator: A Study of the Central Doctrine of the Christian Faith. Those who call Jesus \u201cthe God-man\u201d mean that God literally came down […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1477,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[224,2994,223],"class_list":["post-3612","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christology","tag-emil-brunner","tag-is-jesus-a-god-man-friedrich-schleiermacher","tag-mediator"],"yoast_head":"\n