WCF 8: Of Christ the Mediator

 By William Boekestein - Posted at Place for Truth:

One complaint against theology is that it complicates simple matters. Do we really need doctrine if we believe the Bible and trust Jesus? Might we not lose our first love while stockpiling spiritual information? We might. And so we must resist replacing faith with mere knowledge.

But the objection that theology complicates faith is also naïve. In no other worthy endeavor does it make sense to reject deep and intimate knowledge in favor of a primitive attachment to an idea. Love should be fed by knowledge. Faith in Jesus must be child-like (Matt. 18:1–4) but not childish. We should press on, leaving behind “the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity” (Heb. 6:1). Faith can be as simple as “Jesus loves me.” But it should want to know more of how Christ the mediator loves sinners, even when that knowledge is intricate.

The work of a mediator implies estrangement and disagreement. In our natural alienation with God (Rom. 5:10) only Jesus can make us pleasing in his sight. How he does so can be summarized in four ways.

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