For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all; the testimony in its own times; . -- 1 Timothy 2:5,6, World English.
The above is often quoted by many trinitarians, many unitarians as well as many oneness believers in an effort to prove that Jesus is still, today, "the man Christ Jesus." Actually, this is done by stopping the quote at the end of the verse, and taking the quote out of its context, since the apostle Paul is actually saying: "the man, Christ Jesus who gave himself a ransom [offsetting price] for all. -- 2 Timothy 2:5,6.
1 Timothy 2:5
For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,
1 Timothy 2:6 who gave himself as a ransom for all; the testimony in its own times.
1 Timothy 2:6 who gave himself as a ransom for all; the testimony in its own times.
The man, Jesus, did indeed give himself as an offsetting price to pay the price of sin in Adam. (1 Corinthians 15:21,22; Romans 5:15-19) It is only because he, as a human, did give himself as that offsetting price that he is now exalted above the angels, and is no longer a human being, a little lower than the angels, that he thus becomes the mediator between God and man. (Psalm 9:5; Hebrews 1:4; 2:9; 1 Peter 3:22) It was his human blood that was given for mankind that provides the means of mediation between man and the God of Jesus. Paul is not saying that Jesus is now a human being, but rather that it was the human being who died for us as mediator of the new covenant. (Matthew 26:28; Mark 14:24; 1 Corinthians 11:25) It is that sacrificed human body of flesh and blood that makes Jesus the mediator. (Hebrews 12:24; 13:20) If Jesus has not sacrificed his humanity, then he likewise is not the mediator of that new covenant, and the very basis of redemption in the blood of Jesus is removed. No, Jesus is not now a man, but as a man, he became the mediator in that he as a man gave his humanity, including his human blood, flesh, body, and soul, as a ransom sacrifice.
Jesus is most certainly not confined today with his God and Father in heaven to a body having the terrestrial glory a little lower than the angels. (1 Corinthians 15:40; Hebrews 2:9) Jesus is today no longer a human being; he was put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit. He sacrificed his flesh (John 6:51), his blood (Matthew 26:28) representing his human soul (Deuteronomy 12:23 -- consisting of body of dust and the spirit of life from God -- Genesis 2:7), his human body (Hebrews 10:10), once for all time for sin. As a human being, he is indeed dead forever, else there has been no sacrifice, there has been no price paid for sin. (1 Timothy 2:5,6) The whole basis of the ransom sacrifice as given in the Bible depends on this redemption. -- Romans 5:1-19; 1 Corinthians 15:21,22.
Addendum:
One complains that Charles Taze Russell said, "the man Jesus is dead, forever dead.'' (The At-one-ment Between God and Man, Studies Vol. 5, p. 454), and it is claimed that this statement is blasphemy. Our response is: Yes, Brother Russell is indeed correct in that statement, in harmony with what we have presented above; if the man who gave himself as a ransom for all (1 Timothy 2:5,6) is now alive then he either did not sacrifice himself for us, or else he took the sacrifice back; either way we are left without a savior. The act of the man Christ Jesus, in giving his body of flesh and blood for our sins (Hebrews 10:10), is what makes him mediator between God and man. Without that sacrifice, we have no mediator, and the man Jesus never gave himself as a ransom (offsetting price, corresponding price) for all. There is nothing at all in the statement that Brother Russell said that should give one reason to imagine that the statement is blasphemy (speaking evil).
Jesus, of course, was raised bodily from the dead, but the body that God gave to him was not that of a physical, terrestrial, earthly body of dust, but rather it was a spiritual, heavenly, celestial body. -- 1 Corinthians 15:12-19,20-22,35-45.
One insists that Jesus is still a man, according to 1 Timothy 2:5 (verse 6 is left out his discussion).
We hope we can make this clearer:
We hope we can make this clearer:
To say that he is still a man of flesh would be tantamount to saying Jesus never offered that body of flesh with its blood to his God, which, in effect, would constitute a denial of the purpose for which he came in the flesh, that is to give that flesh in sacrifice to offset the condemnation in Adam.
Luke 22:19 - And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he brake it, and gave to them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me.
John 6:51 - I am the living bread which came down out of heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: yea and the bread which I will give is my flesh, for the life of the world.
1 Corinthians 11:24 - and when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, This is my body, which is for you: this do in remembrance of me.
Hebrews 9:26 - else must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once at the end of the ages hath he been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.
Hebrews 10:10 By which will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Hebrews 10:12 - but he, when he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;
1 Peter 2:24 - who his own self bare our sins in his body upon the tree, that we, having died unto sins, might live unto righteousness; by whose stripes ye were healed.
1 Peter 3:18 - Because Christ also suffered for sins once, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God; being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit.
Jesus' sacrifice included his whole being as a man. It was a man, Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom (price to correspond) for all who are dying in the one man, Adam. -- Romans 5:12-19; 1 Corinthians 15:21,22; 1 Timothy 2:5,6.
The Greek of 1 Timothy 2:5,6 is often rendered and punctuated in such a way as to make it appear that "man, Christ Jesus" is connected in the words before, whereas, in reality, "man, Christ Jesus" is connected with the one who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is in the past.
We believe a better rendering would be:
{1 Timothy 2:5} For [there is] one God, and one mediator between God and men. [A] man, Christ Jesus,
{1 Timothy 2:6} [was] the [man] who gave himself [as] a ransom for all, [to be] witnessed in [its] own times,
The Greek in verse 2 contains no verb at all; however, unlike English, Koine Greek does not need a verb to form a sentence. In translation, however, a verb has to be supplied, or else the wording would appear rather nonsensical. Please note also that all punctuation and capitalization are also supplied either by copyists or translators. In verse 6 we find two verbs in the Greek text, one which is obviously referring to the past and is rendered as "gave" above and another which is referring to the future, rendered as "to be witnessed" above. The verb supplied with "one God' is obviously referring to the present tense, but the verb referring to "man Christ Jesus" of verse 5 should be governed by the verb rendered as "gave" above, with is in the past. The thought is that it was a man who gave himself as a ransom for all.
For related studies, see our resource page
Is Jesus Now Flesh?
Is Jesus Now Flesh?
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