THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PAUL TO TIMOTHY - Chapter 2 - Verse 5

Verse 5. For there is one God. This is a reason for offering prayer for all men, and for the declaration 1 Ti 2:4 that God desires that all men should be saved. The reason is founded in the fact that he is the common Father of all the race, and that he must have the same desire for the welfare of all his children. He has made them of one blood, Ac 17:26, and he must have the same interest in the happiness of all. Comp. See Barnes "Eph 4:6; See Barnes "Ro 3:30".

And one Mediator between God and men. See Barnes "Ga 3:19, See Barnes "Ga 3:20"; See Barnes "Heb 9:15".

This also is given as a reason why prayer should be offered for all, and a proof that God desires their salvation. The argument is, that there is the same Mediator between God and all men. He is not the Mediator between God and a part of the human race, but between "God and men," implying that he desired the salvation of the race. Whatever love there was in giving the Mediator at all, was love for all the race: whatever can be argued from that about the interest which God has in man, is proof of his interest in the race at large. It is proper, therefore, to pray for all. It may be remarked here that there is but one Mediator. There is not one for kings and another for their subjects; one for the rich and another for the poor; one for the master and another for the slave. All are on the same level, and the servant may feel that, in the gift of a Mediator, God regarded him with the same interest that he did his master. It may be added, also, that the doctrine of the Papists, that the saints or the Virgin Mary may act as mediators to procure blessings for us, is false. There is but "one Mediator;" and but one is necessary. Prayer offered to the "saints," or to the "Virgin," is idolatry; and, at the same time, removes the one great Mediator from the office which he alone holds, of making intercession with God.

The man Christ Jesus. Jesus was truly and properly a man, having a perfect human body and soul, and is often called a man in the New Testament. But this does not prove that he was not also divine—any more than his being called God, Joh 1:1; 20:28; Ro 9:5; 1 Jo 5:20

Heb 1:8, proves that he was not also a man. The use of the word man here was probably designed to intimate that, though he was divine, it was in his human nature that we are to consider him as discharging the office. Doddridge.

{a} "one God" Ro 3:30 {b} "one mediator" Heb 9:15