Why is Jesus called “the one Mediator”?

The terms mediator , paraclete , and advocate all mean the same thing: one who speaks on behalf of another. The scholar Origen says, “our Saviour also is called the Paraclete in the Epistle of John, when he says, ‘If any of us sin, we have a Paraclete with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and He is the propitiation for our sins’ (1 John 2:1) … For in Greek, Paraclete has both significations—that of intercessor and comforter. On account, then, of the phrase which follows, when he says, “And He is the propitiation for our sins,” the name Paraclete seems to be understood in the case of our Savior as meaning intercessor; for He is said to intercede with the Father because of our sins. In the case of the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete must be understood in the sense of comforter, inasmuch as He bestows consolation upon the souls to whom He openly reveals the apprehension of spiritual knowledge.”⁷⁴⁷ St. Cyril the Great describes the prayer of Christ in chapter 17 of the Gospel of John as the prayer of the High Priest, the heavenly Advocate for all humanity.

The apostle Paul says, “For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time” (1 Tim. 2:5–6).

Here, some might ask: Why does he emphasize “ the Man Christ Jesus”? We answer as follows:

In the same passage he calls Him “ one God ,” so the apostle Paul is not denying His divinity.

He wrote this to refute certain heresies that mixed some Gnostic teachings of the far East with Christian teachings. These heresies included the existence of mediators (“ aeons ”) between the Supreme Being and humanity. One aeon mediates with a higher aeon, who turn mediates with another aeon higher still, all the way up to the Supreme Being at the top. Here, the apostle Paul dismisses the idea of aeons, for the Lord Christ is the one God; and at the same time, the one Mediator between the Father and humanity.

Certain groups with Gnostic tendencies had arisen who believed that matter is evil and that the Supreme Being did not create the material world or the body. Accordingly, these groups prohibited marriage, among other things. Therefore, they thought that Christ had no real body and was not really crucified, but that His body was illusory or descended from

746 St. John Chrysostom, Homilies on Hebrews 17.3 (NPNF I/14:447).

747 Origen, De Principiis (On First Principles) 2.7.4 (ANF 4:286).

heaven, etc. This is why the apostle Paul needed to assert the incarnation of the Word, and that He became fully human; otherwise, He could not have completed the salvation of humanity.

St. Ambrose says, “I will not glory because I am profitable or because anyone is profitable to me, but because Christ is an advocate in my behalf with the Father (cf. 1 John 2:1), because the blood of Christ has been poured out in my behalf.”⁷⁴⁸

St. Augustine says, “If you had a case, to be tried by some judge, and you instructed counsel, you would be defended by the counselor, who would conduct your case as best he could; and if he didn’t complete it, and you heard he was going to come as the judge, just imagine how overjoyed you would be, because the one who a short while before had been your advocate could now himself be your judge.”⁷⁴⁹