WLC 38

Q38. Why was it requisite that the Mediator should be God?

It was requisite that the Mediator should be God, that he might sustain and keep the human nature from sinking under the infinite wrath of God, and the power of death; give worth and efficacy to his sufferings, obedience, and intercession; and to satisfy God's justice, procure his favor, purchase a peculiar people, give his Spirit to them, conquer all their enemies, and bring them to everlasting salvation.

Proof texts

• Acts 2:24-25 — [24] God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it. [25] For David says concerning him, “‘I saw the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken;
• Rom. 1:4 — [4] and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord,
• Rom. 4:25 — [25] who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.
• Heb. 9:14 — [14] how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.
• Acts 20:28 — [28] Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.
• Heb. 7:25-28 — [25] Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. [26] For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. [27] He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself. [28] For the law appoints men in their weakness as high priests, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever.
• Heb. 9:14 — [14] how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.
• Rom. 3:24-26 — [24] and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, [25] whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. [26] It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
• Eph. 1:6 — [6] to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.
• Matt. 3:17 — [17] and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”
• Titus 2:13-14 — [13] waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, [14] who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.
• Gal. 4:6 — [6] And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”
• Luke 1:68-69,71,74 — [68] “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people [69] and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David, [71] that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us; [74] that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear,
• Heb. 5:8-9 — [8] Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. [9] And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him,
• Heb. 9:11-15 — [11] But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) [12] he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. [13] For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, [14] how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. [15] Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.

For discussion

1. The Assembly cited Acts 2:24-25 in support of this answer. Read it in context — how does it bear on what is claimed here?
2. 15 passages are cited here. Which does the most work, and is anything claimed that the proofs do not obviously carry?
3. WSC Q21 treats the same ground. What does it add, and why might it put things differently?
4. HC Q29 treats the same ground. What does it add, and why might it put things differently?

Read alongside

WSC Q21 · HC Q29 · HC Q37 · BC 5.2 · BC 5.3 · BC 5.4 · BC 5.5 · BC 5.6 · CD 2.1 · 1689 8.1