Whether It Is Proper to Christ to Be the Mediator of God and Man?
Objection 1: It would seem that it is not proper to Christ to be the
Mediator of God and man. For a priest and a prophet seem to be
mediators between God and man, according to Deut. 5:5: "I was the
mediator and stood between God [Vulg.: 'the Lord'] and you at that
time." But it is not proper to Christ to be a priest and a prophet.
Neither, therefore, is it proper to Him to be Mediator.
Obj. 2: Further, that which is fitting to angels, both good and bad,
cannot be said to be proper to Christ. But to be between God and man
is fitting to the good angels, as Dionysius says (Div. Nom. iv). It
is also fitting to the bad angels--that is, the demons: for they have
something in common with God--namely, _immortality;_ and something
they have in common with men--namely, _passibility of soul_ and
consequently unhappiness; as appears from what Augustine says (De
Civ. Dei ix, 13, 15). Therefore it is not proper to Christ to be a
Mediator of God and man.
Obj. 3: Further, it belongs to the office of Mediator to beseech one
of those, between whom he mediates, for the other. But the Holy
Ghost, as it is written (Rom. 8:26), "asketh" God "for us with
unspeakable groanings." Therefore the Holy Ghost is a Mediator
between God and man. Therefore this is not proper to Christ.
_On the contrary,_ It is written (1 Tim. 2:5): "There is . . . one
Mediator of God and man, the man Christ Jesus."
_I answer that,_ Properly speaking, the office of a mediator is to
join together and unite those between whom he mediates: for extremes
are united in the mean (_medio_). Now to unite men to God
perfectively belongs to Christ, through Whom men are reconciled to
God, according to 2 Cor. 5:19: "God was in Christ reconciling the
world to Himself." And, consequently, Christ alone is the perfect
Mediator of God and men, inasmuch as, by His death, He reconciled the
human race to God. Hence the Apostle, after saying, "Mediator of God
and man, the man Christ Jesus," added: "Who gave Himself a redemption
for all."
However, nothing hinders certain others from being called mediators,
in some respect, between God and man, forasmuch as they cooperate in
uniting men to God, dispositively or ministerially.
Reply Obj. 1: The prophets and priests of the Old Law were called
mediators between God and man, dispositively and ministerially:
inasmuch as they foretold and foreshadowed the true and perfect
Mediator of God and men. As to the priests of the New Law, they may
be called mediators of God and men, inasmuch as they are the
ministers of the true Mediator by administering, in His stead, the
saving sacraments to men.
Reply Obj. 2: The good angels, as Augustine says (De Civ. Dei ix,
13), cannot rightly be called mediators between God and men. "For
since, in common with God, they have both beatitude and immortality,
and none of these things in common with unhappy and mortal man, how
much rather are they not aloof from men and akin to God, than
established between them?" Dionysius, however, says that they do
occupy a middle place, because, in the order of nature, they are
established below God and above man. Moreover, they fulfill the
office of mediator, not indeed principally and perfectively, but
ministerially and dispositively: whence (Matt. 4:11) it is said that
"angels came and ministered unto Him"--namely, Christ. As to the
demons, it is true that they have immortality in common with God, and
unhappiness in common with men. "Hence for this purpose does the
immortal and unhappy demon intervene, in order that he may hinder men
from passing to a happy immortality," and may allure them to an
unhappy immortality. Whence he is like "an evil mediator, who
separates friends" [*Augustine, De Civ. Dei xv].
But Christ had beatitude in common with God, mortality in common with
men. Hence "for this purpose did He intervene, that having fulfilled
the span of His mortality, He might from dead men make
immortal--which He showed in Himself by rising again; and that He
might confer beatitude on those who were deprived of it--for which
reason He never forsook us." Wherefore He is "the good Mediator, Who
reconciles enemies" (De Civ. Dei xv).
Reply Obj. 3: Since the Holy Ghost is in everything equal to
God, He cannot be said to be between, or a Mediator of, God and men:
but Christ alone, Who, though equal to the Father in His Godhead, yet
is less than the Father in His human nature, as stated above
(Q. 20, A. 1). Hence on Gal. 3:20, "Christ is a Mediator [Vulg.:
'Now a mediator is not of one, but God is one']," the gloss says: "Not
the Father nor the Holy Ghost." The Holy Ghost, however, is said "to
ask for us," because He makes us ask.
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