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Objection 1: It would seem that it is not proper to Christ to be
the Mediator of God and man. For a priest and a prophet seem to be
mediators between God and man, according to Dt. 5:5: "I was
the mediator and stood between God and you at that time." But it is
not proper to Christ to be a priest and a prophet. Neither,
therefore, is it proper to Him to be Mediator.
Objection 2: Further, that which is fitting to angels, both good
and bad, cannot be said to be proper to Christ. But to be between
God and man is fitting to the good angels, as Dionysius says (Div.
Nom. iv). It is also fitting to the bad angels---that is, the
demons: for they have something in common with God---namely,
"immortality"; and something they have in common with
men---namely, "passibility of soul" and consequently unhappiness;
as appears from what Augustine says (De Civ. Dei ix,
13,15). Therefore it is not proper to Christ to be a Mediator
of God and man.
Objection 3: Further, it belongs to the office of Mediator to
beseech one of those, between whom he mediates, for the other. But
the Holy Ghost, as it is written (Rm. 8:26), "asketh" God
"for us with unspeakable groanings." Therefore the Holy Ghost is a
Mediator between God and man. Therefore this is not proper to
Christ.
On the contrary, It is written (1 Tim. 2:5): "There is .
. . one Mediator of God and man, the man Christ Jesus."
I answer that, Properly speaking, the office of a mediator is to
join together and unite those between whom he mediates: for extremes
are united in the mean [medio]. Now to unite men to God
perfectively belongs to Christ, through Whom men are reconciled to
God, according to 2 Cor. 5:19: "God was in Christ
reconciling the world to Himself." And, consequently, Christ
alone is the perfect Mediator of God and men, inasmuch as, by His
death, He reconciled the human race to God. Hence the Apostle,
after saying, "Mediator of God and man, the man Christ Jesus,"
added: "Who gave Himself a redemption for all."
However, nothing hinders certain others from being called mediators,
in some respect, between God and man, forasmuch as they cooperate in
uniting men to God, dispositively or ministerially.
Reply to Objection 1: The prophets and priests of the Old Law
were called mediators between God and man, dispositively and
ministerially: inasmuch as they foretold and foreshadowed the true and
perfect Mediator of God and men. As to the priests of the New
Law, they may be called mediators of God and men, inasmuch as they
are the ministers of the true Mediator by administering, in His
stead, the saving sacraments to men.
Reply to Objection 2: The good angels, as Augustine says (De
Civ. Dei ix, 13), cannot rightly be called mediators between
God and men. "For since, in common with God, they have both
beatitude and immortality, and none of these things in common with
unhappy and mortal man, how much rather are they not aloof from men and
akin to God, than established between them?" Dionysius, however,
says that they do occupy a middle place, because, in the order of
nature, they are established below God and above man. Moreover,
they fulfill the office of mediator, not indeed principally and
perfectively, but ministerially and dispositively: whence (Mt.
4:11) it is said that "angels came and ministered unto
Him"---namely, Christ. As to the demons, it is true that they
have immortality in common with God, and unhappiness in common with
men. "Hence for this purpose does the immortal and unhappy demon
intervene, in order that he may hinder men from passing to a happy
immortality," and may allure them to an unhappy immortality. Whence
he is like "an evil mediator, who separates friends" [Augustine,
De Civ. Dei xv].
But Christ had beatitude in common with God, mortality in common
with men. Hence "for this purpose did He intervene, that having
fulfilled the span of His mortality, He might from dead men make
immortal---which He showed in Himself by rising again; and that
He might confer beatitude on those who were deprived of it---for
which reason He never forsook us." Wherefore He is "the good
Mediator, Who reconciles enemies" (De Civ. Dei xv).
Reply to Objection 3: Since the Holy Ghost is in everything equal
to God, He cannot be said to be between, or a Mediator of, God
and men: but Christ alone, Who, though equal to the Father in His
Godhead, yet is less than the Father in His human nature, as stated
above (Question 20, Article 1). Hence on Gal. 3:20,
"Christ is a Mediator," the gloss says: "Not the Father nor the
Holy Ghost." The Holy Ghost, however, is said "to ask for
us," because He makes us ask.
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