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He Appoints Himself

12 September 2011 by Matt Gumm

Q. 37. How did Christ, being the Son of God, become man?
A. Christ the Son of God became man, by taking to himself a true body, and a reasonable soul, being conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost in the womb of the virgin Mary, of her substance, and born of her, yet without sin.

Q. 38. Why was it requisite that the Mediator should be God?
A. It was requisite that the Mediator should be God, that he might sustain and keep the human nature from sinking under the infinite wrath of God, and the power of death; give worth and efficacy to his sufferings, obedience, and intercession; and to satisfy God's justice, procure his favor, purchase a peculiar people, give his Spirit to them, conquer all their enemies, and bring them to everlasting salvation.

Q. 39. Why was it requisite that the Mediator should be man?
A. It was requisite that the Mediator should be man, that he might advance our nature, perform obedience to the law, suffer and make intercession for us in our nature, have a fellow feeling of our infirmities; that we might receive the adoption of sons, and have comfort and access with boldness unto the throne of grace.

Q. 40. Why was it requisite that the Mediator should be God and man in one person?
A. It was requisite that the Mediator, who was to reconcile God and man, should himself be both God and man, and this in one person, that the proper works of each nature might be accepted of God for us, and relied on by us, as the works of the whole person.

When God created human beings, we had a single representative in Adam. Scripture records his failure, and the result for us all. As time goes by, God deals with other individuals, in various means and in various ways. Then, when the time is right, God does something extraordinary: He appoints Himself as our representative.

Paul talks about this in 1 Corinthians. After giving his wonderful Gospel summary in 1 Corinthians 15:1–4, Paul goes on to expand his theme of the resurrection of the dead, and compares the “first Adam” who brought death upon humanity to the “second Adam” who brings life to all who believe (1 Cor. 15:21–23).
Just as Adam’s death sealed our physical fate, Christ’s resurrection is the bloom of the promised redeemer and the hope of the future reconciliation. In Paul’s words, just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we will bear the image of the man of heaven. And all of this is made possible through God’s representative—the one and only mediator—the man Christ Jesus.