NT Text: 1 Timothy 2:5
OT Source(s):
Source: Richard Bauckham, Jesus and the God of Israel (Eerdmans, 2008); Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Reference Type: Allusion
Connection Method(s): Promise-Fulfillment
Anchor Text: Deut 6:4-5 — The Shema
Significance: "For there is one God (εἷς... θεός), and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus." Paul grounds the universal scope of the gospel — God's desire that all people be saved (2:4) — in the Shema's confession, exactly as he does in Romans 3:30: because God is one, salvation is open to all without partiality. But here the monotheistic confession is immediately paired with a second "one": one mediator. The pattern recalls the 1 Corinthians 8:6 structure — alongside the one God stands the one Lord Jesus Christ — except that the mediatorial role is now stressed: the man Christ Jesus uniquely bridges the one God and humanity. There is no plurality of gods to placate and no plurality of mediators to consult; the oneness of God entails the singularity and sufficiency of Christ's mediation, which is then sealed by His self-giving as "a ransom for all" (2:6). The telos: the Shema's "the LORD is one" is not a barrier between God and sinners but the very assurance of access — one God, and one all-sufficient mediator who is Himself God-with-us, so that the believer comes to the one God not in dread of many rival powers but through the one Lord who gave Himself, a mediator near enough to be loved.