Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter 8, Section 3
Chapter 8 of the Westminster Confession of Faith looks at Jesus Christ as Mediator.
Background in church history. The first two centuries after Christ, the church battled mostly against generalized doctrinal errors like paganism and Gnosticism. Between the third and fourth centuries, the Doctrine of the Trinity came under fire. It was at the Councils of Nicea and Constantinople that the statement of the Church’s faith and creeds concerning the orthodox understanding of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit were crystallized.
After that, the big controversy was over the Doctrine of Christ. Between the fifth and seventh century, theologians debated and argued whether Christ was only divine and not human or if he were two persons, one divine and the other human or if he was both divine and human in one person… It was at the council of Chalcedon in AD 451 where the church formulated the true doctrine of Christ’s person. We learn last week that two whole, perfect, and distinct natures, the Godhead and the manhood, were inseparably joined together in one person without conversion, composition, or confusion.
In this section of the Confession we learn how the human nature of Christ was equipped for his mediatorial work by the power of the Holy Spirit. We also see why he needed to be God to perform this work, that he was invested with authority and ability by God the Father to execute this work.
Why did Jesus have to be Man? Only in being man was Christ qualified to become the second Adam to undo the wrong of the first Adam… Only as a man could he keep to the law perfectly where Adam failed in meeting the condition of the covenant of works. Only as a man could Jesus experience suffering and accomplish the work of salvation.
Why did Jesus have to be God? Because a man could not have endured what the mediator endured. If we look at the Old Testament, Moses, Noah, David… they were all men yet they sinned. They could not perfectly fulfill the law of God and were in need of a savior. A mere man could not satisfy divine justice. A mere man could not endure the wrath of God as Christ did. Only by being both divine and human could Christ as mediator fulfill the requirements of the law of God.
In his human nature, united to the divine nature, the Lord Jesus was set apart and anointed with the Holy Spirit beyond measure, having in him all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. In him the Father was pleased to have all fullness dwell, so that—being holy, blameless, and undefiled, full of grace and truth—he might be completely equipped to fulfill the office of a mediator and guarantor. He did not take this office to himself but was called to it by his Father, who put all power and judgment into his hand and commanded him to execute it.
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