Borrowed Light

Does 1 Timothy 2:5 Teach That Jesus Isn’t God?

January 9, 2019Mike Leake

For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 1 Timothy 2:5

I had a discussion awhile back with one of those groups who believe that Jesus is not God. As we were discussing they brought up 1 Timothy 2:5 as a proof-text for their belief that Jesus is but a man—an important man (the Mediator) but not God. To them the text was clear, there is one God and one mediator and that mediator is a man just like you and I.

I doubt many of my readers are buying the possibility that this text teaches that Jesus isn’t God. But I still thought it beneficial to interact with the question because it can help us sharpen our Bible study skills.

The first thing for us to consider with this passage is that the biblical writers weren’t idiots. If we can find something a few verses later where it claims that Jesus is God then we certainly this ought to inform our understanding of 1 Timothy 2:5. Scripture does not contradict itself.

Though it’s a bit disputed it’s quite likely that Paul equates Jesus with God in 1 Timothy 3:16. He is the one manifested in the flesh and with God being the one in the preceding verses it seems most likely that “He” refers to “God” (as some manuscripts have). But even if this isn’t the case Paul elsewhere clearly refers to the Lord Jesus as God. (Consider especially Titus 2:13).

So the biblical writers weren’t idiots. And even if you want to say that others (like the Nicean council) scrubbed the Bible to make it say what they wanted, it’s unrealistic to believe that they would allow a verse like this to squeeze through. Clearly they too were not idiots. If they didn’t want any place to even reek of saying that Jesus was just a man they wouldn’t have left a verse like this one there, it’d have been clearly scrubbed. The best conclusion is that there wasn’t a vast conspiracy to change the Bible and that’s why this verse is still there.

Secondly, we have to consider the context. Paul is encouraging his readers to pray for everybody. It’s a bit more difficult to pick up in some of our English translations, but notice this:

“First of all, I urge that supplications…be made for all ANTHROPOS…” Paul then goes on to list different classes of people and picks up his argument again in verse 4. “who desires all ANTHROPOS to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and there is one mediator between God and ANTHROPON, the ANTHROPOS Christ Jesus.”

So Paul is saying that there is one God and therefore there is only the need for one mediator. This is not denying His deity but rather confessing His humanity. He is a fitting representative—a fitting mediator—between God and man. He is the one who Job longed for, the one who would be able to “touch us both”. He is fully God and fully man. Paul, likely quoting an early Christian creed, is affirming this.

There is one God. There is one mediator. And this is for all people. Kings don’t come through a different door than the peasants. There is only One who fittingly and accurately represents God and that is God manifested in the flesh—Christ Jesus. Likewise, there is only One who is able to faithfully mediate for sinful humanity and that is the sinless man, the spotless lamb, Christ Jesus. Therefore, let us pray for all people (whether they be kings or commoners) that they would come to know this One true mediator. Because God desires all manner of men to be saved.

So what does 1 Timothy 2:5 proclaim? The same thing that John 14:6 does. “No man comes to the Father except through me”. And because of this truth we must be passionate about praying for every person to come to the only Gate which leads to eternal life.

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Read This! 01.08.19

January 8, 2019Mike Leake

Blasphemy Trials

This was such an interesting read to me.

10 Critical Religious Liberty Cases in 2019

Something to keep an eye on

4 Marks of a Potential Bible Study Leader

This is how to find a female Bible study leader, but I don’t see why this wouldn’t equally apply to finding a male leader.

Why Twitter Is Even More Toxic Than You Think

The biggest problem is that it’s kinda real, I guess.

52 Ideas For Inviting Someone to Church This Year

It doesn’t hurt to try!

How Much of the Internet Is Fake? Turns Out, a Lot of It, Actually

But how can you trust this article?

The Father Was Not Angry with the Son at the Cross

A very helpful and important distinction to make.

10 Tips for Reading in 2019

Solid.

Oh my, this is definitely the smoothest moonwalk ever. How is this even possible?

Why Is God Upset with Threshold Jumpers?

January 7, 2019Mike Leake

“On that day I will punish everyone who leaps over the threshold…” –Zephaniah 1:9

There are some verses in the Old Testament which leave us scratching our heads. I’ve always kind of laughed at the condemnation of sacred raisin cakes in Hosea 3. I know its because I’m missing the full significance of what raisin cakes symbolize, but it seems to me that there are much bigger fish to fry than raisin cakes. And so, because I’m not aware of the idiom, I think it’s a little funny.

Zephaniah 1:9 is another one of those places that seems a bit like an overreaction. A threshold is that strip of wood, metal, or stone which is at the doorway when you enter a room. It’s also that thing you carry your new bride over when you walk into the door. It’s a type of entry point. And so for us it has come to symbolize a new beginning. This is what think of today when we carry our new bride over the threshold—we are carrying her into a new phase of life.

So why is God so upset with those who leap over thresholds?

For homes in Zephaniah’s time, the threshold was made of a single stone that spanned the doorway and was raised slightly above the door. Entryways in ancient culture were considered both sacred and vulnerable. In fact, this is actually where the carrying of the bride over the threshold comes from. It was thought that many demons would be lurking about around the entry to your home. If your new bride stepped upon them then she would be carrying demons into the home. A similar thing is why people in Zephaniah’s day were leaping over thresholds. They leaped over the threshold so as not to allow evil spirits and evil gods to gain admission.

Some Middle Eastern cultures still have similar superstitions today. (And I suppose our carrying the bride over the threshold means that we do too). Even still, why is God so upset with this silly little superstition?

This is actually exhibit A to display the depth of the Israelites idolatry. They went to great trouble to adhere to the most minute detail of superstition and yet they trampled upon God’s law and ignore the most fundamental aspects of it. Their lives were controlled and patterned by “laws” that weren’t prescribed by God. It was evidence that they were receiving instruction from their surrounding culture instead of Yahweh.

So God is punishing threshold jumpers not because he has some weird aversion to people jumping in through a door frame, but because it is symbolic of their idolatry and disdain for His law. I cannot help but think that we might have similar issues. Have you ever known someone who would actually become concerned and incredibly anxious at the sight of someone walking under a ladder, throwing salt on the floor, breaking a mirror, opening an umbrella in a house, etc. and yet will not bat an eyelash at the prospect of sitting among gossip, slander, grumbling, foolish talk, or other expressions of ungodliness?

Thankfully Christ died for threshold jumpers. Because the truth is, that’s all of us. We all put things—even silly little superstitions—above God’s Law. By nature we treasure our own unwritten codes of conduct against God’s clear way of living. We like to think we exert control over our environment. We’d rather “play it safe” and jump over thresholds “just in case” instead of trusting wholly in God’s provision for us. But Jesus is in the process of redeeming our threshold jumping hearts and replacing it with those who defiantly walk over them knowing the blood of Christ slays any demon—real or imagined.

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Photo source: here