Christ the Mediator?

An underappreciated aspect of Christology today is the role of Christ as mediator. Christ's "mediation" between God and human beings played a central role in the theology of the early Church and in Augustine and Aquinas. This reflection came from their reading of 1 Timothy 2:5 - "there is one mediator between God and humankind, Christ Jesus."

Premodern Christian theology could sometimes have a much more creative and expansive meditation on the work of Jesus Christ in reconciling the world to himself than we have today. Aquinas, for instance, thought not only that the atoning sacrifice of the Cross was necessary in a way for our salvation, but also that the Incarnation, the Resurrection, and even the Ascension play essential roles in our salvation as well. Contemporary Christology, of various stripes and predilections, tends to focus the mystery of our salvation solely on the Cross. The sole emphasis of some preachers and authors on Jesus' death being a "satisfaction" of God's anger, for example, passes over this richer history.

Part of my inspiration for this comes from me working on my French by making a very elementary, very unofficial translation of a recently published article by Gilles Emery on Christ as Mediator in the Greek Fathers, Augustine, and Aquinas. Emery traces the history of reflection on Christ's mediation all the way back to Irenaeus who, in reference to 1 Tim. 2:5, said that Jesus Christ must be both divine and human to have "kinship" with both parties of God and humanity, so that, in Christ, "God might meet human beings and human beings might offer themselves to God."