Q & A 21: The Redeemer.

Q. 21 Who is the Redeemer of God’s elect?

A. 21 The only Redeemer of God’s elect is the Lord Jesus Christ, who being the eternal Son of God, became man, and so was, and continues to be, God and man in two distinct natures, and one person, for ever.

As answer 20 previously noted, the covenant of grace involves salvation through the Redeemer-it required a mediator. As a mediator must mediate between two parties, it was important that the Redeemer be both God and man in one person. “Now a mediator does not mediate for one only, but God is one” (Gal. 3:20). “Inasmuch as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same” (Heb. 2:14a Cf. Rom. 9:5). “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (Jn. 1:14a). “For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all” (I Tim. 2:5-6a Cf. Heb. 7:24). A Redeemer was necessary because there was a ransom that had to be paid for humanity’s violation of the first covenant, which we broke. This clearly was and is a position which only Jesus Christ, “the eternal Son of God,” could fulfill. No one else qualifies as being such a mediator. “Nor is there salvation in any other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). These two natures-human and Divine, are not two persons. Both natures are distinct, and this makes up the person of our Redeemer, which personhood He possesses for ever. By this truth we are to also learn that there never is any admixture of the human and Divine, even in the person of the Son. Human and Divine have been brought together only in the unique personage of the eternal son of God. Furthermore, the only way that fellowship can be restored between God and humanity is through this Mediator, who is the Mediator on behalf of the elect only.