Christ the Mediator
Set out who the one Mediator is, the two natures united in his one person, the three offices by which he saves, and the two states through which he passed in accomplishing redemption.
The covenant of grace promises life through a Redeemer; this lesson asks who he is and how he saves. The Standards answer with care, for everything depends on the Mediator being neither less than God nor other than truly man, and on his executing in our place the whole work of prophet, priest, and king.
One person, two natures
The only Redeemer of God's elect is the Lord Jesus Christ, who, being the eternal Son of God, became man, and so was and continues to be God and man in two distinct natures and one person forever. He took to himself a true body and a reasonable soul, conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost in the womb of the virgin Mary, yet without sin. The natures are united, not confused; each retains its own properties, yet they belong to one undivided person.
The Standards insist on both natures because both are necessary. The Mediator must be God to sustain the infinite weight of divine wrath and give his sufferings worth, and must be man to obey, suffer, and die in the nature that had sinned.
Prophet, priest, and king
As Redeemer, Christ executes the threefold office for which his name, the Anointed, fits him. As prophet he reveals to us, by his Word and Spirit, the whole will of God for our salvation. As priest he once offered up himself a sacrifice to satisfy divine justice and reconcile us to God, and continually makes intercession for us. As king he subdues us to himself, rules and defends us, and restrains and conquers all his and our enemies.
These offices answer exactly to our threefold need as sinners: we are ignorant and need a prophet, guilty and need a priest, and enslaved and need a king. Christ meets all three needs in his single person.
Humiliation and exaltation
Christ executes these offices in two successive states. His humiliation consisted in his being born, and that in a low condition, made under the law, undergoing the miseries of this life, the wrath of God, and the cursed death of the cross; in being buried, and continuing under the power of death for a time. His exaltation consists in his rising again on the third day, ascending into heaven, sitting at the right hand of the Father, and coming to judge the world at the last day.
The two states are not a defeat reversed by an afterthought but a single ordained path. The one who was humbled is the very one now exalted, so that the work of mediation reaches its appointed end in glory.
Study the full text, Scripture proofs, and commentary on each:
- Read WLC 38 to 39 and ask why the Standards argue the Mediator had to be both God and man.
- Map the three offices in WSC 24 to 26 onto our threefold need as sinners, and follow the proofs for each.
- Compare the account of humiliation and exaltation in WSC 27 to 28 with the fuller treatment in WLC 46 to 56.
See how this doctrine is stated across the Reformed confessions side by side.
Christ the Mediator →