Commentaries:
Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown
For there is one God--God's unity in essence and purpose is a proof of His comprehending all His human children alike (created in His image) in His offer of grace (compare the same argument from His unity, Romans 3:30; Galatians 3:20); therefore all are to be prayed for. 1 Timothy 2:4 is proved from 1 Timothy 2:5; 1 Timothy 2:1, from 1 Timothy 2:4. The one God is common to all (Isaiah 45:22; Acts 17:26). The one Mediator is mediator between God and all men potentially (Romans 3:29; Ephesians 4:5-6; Hebrews 8:6; Hebrews 9:15; Hebrews 12:24). They who have not this one God by one Mediator, have none: literally, a "go-between." The Greek order is not "and one mediator," but "one mediator also between . . . While God will have all men to be saved by knowing God and the Mediator, there is a legitimate, holy order in the exercise of that will wherewith men ought to receive it. All mankind constitute, as it were, ONE MAN before God [BENGEL].
the man--rather "man," absolutely and genetically: not a mere individual man: the Second Head of humanity, representing and embodying in Himself the whole human race and nature. There is no "the" in the Greek. This epithet is thus the strongest corroboration of his argument, namely, that Christ's mediation affects the whole race, since there is but the one Mediator, designed as the Representative Man for all men alike (compare Romans 5:15; 1 Corinthians 8:6; 2 Corinthians 5:19; Colossians 2:14). His being "man" was necessary to His being a Mediator, sympathizing with us through experimental knowledge of our nature (Isaiah 50:4; Hebrews 2:14; Hebrews 4:15). Even in nature, almost all blessings are conveyed to us from God, not immediately, but through the mediation of various agents. The effectual intercession of Moses for Israel (Numbers 14:13-19, and Deu. 9:1-29); of Abraham for Abimelech (Genesis 20:7); of Job for his friends (Job 42:10), the mediation being PRESCRIBED by God while declaring His purposes of forgiveness: all prefigure the grand mediation for all by the one Mediator. On the other hand, 1 Timothy 3:16 asserts that He was also God.
Other commentary entries containing this verse:
Exodus 19:3-6
Deuteronomy 5:5
Job 9:33
Job 42:8
Ezekiel 9:2
Galatians 3:20
Colossians 2:18
1 Timothy 2:1
1 Timothy 2:1
1 Timothy 2:5
Hebrews 9:12
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