From: Peter Ruest (pruest@pop.mysunrise.ch)
Date: Sat Jun 21 2003 - 00:34:45 EDT
George Murphy wrote:
> Peter Ruest wrote:
> > a) How does "one _and only_ Mediator" go beyond what I Tim.2:5 says?
> > b) How does it go beyond biblical teaching in general?
>
> If the passage in the old Statement of Faith is understood as a reference to I
> Tim.2:5, the addition of "and only" is interpretive. While this verse clearly speaks of
> a unique mediatorial role for Christ, it cannot be understood to mean that there can be
> no other mediator in any sense - specifically, in the sense of one human being praying
> to God on behalf of others...
The "and only" clearly is an addition to the Greek text. But I consider
it a quite legitimate interpretation, faithfully reflecting Paul's (and
God's) intention. I never understood it to exclude humans praying (to
God!) on behalf of others (an interpretation that looks odd to me), but
to exclude any creature from being elevated to a mediatorial position
like Christ's (such as "Maria mediatrix"...).
> ... My point here was not to argue for the invocation of departed saints, but to
> note that the previous statement had language which seemed to exclude - unfortunately in
> my view - some Christians. & if one's intention is in fact to make a distinctively
> protestant statement, some more fundamental issue ought to be the focus.
> This & related issues were discussed extensively in the 8th round of US
> Lutheran-Roman Catholic Dialogue. Papers can be found in H. George Anderson et al.
> (eds.), _The One Mediator, the Saints, and Mary_ (Augsburg, 1992).
Would you care to give me some thoughts of your own re. my second
question? I don't care about "distinctively protestant", but about
"biblical".
Peter
-- Dr. Peter Ruest, CH-3148 Lanzenhaeusern, Switzerland <pruest@dplanet.ch> - Biochemistry - Creation and evolution "..the work which God created to evolve it" (Genesis 2:3)
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