"For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus" (1 Timothy 2:5). To understand this verse, we must examine it within its context where it appears in a discussion on salvation. It is God's holy desire to see the redemption of all people, not just the Jews or some elite group of Gentiles, but all people without exception.

"God," declares the Scripture, "wants all men to be saved…" (verse 4). Furthermore, to make salvation possible, Jesus came and "gave himself a ransom for all men." (verse 6). The captives need to be set free and the ransom required is the sacrifice of God's Lamb.

When Scripture speaks of the salvation of man it presupposes that mankind is lost and needs to be saved. And we are. Because we are unable to save ourselves, God in his love and mercy sent the Saviour to do for us what none of us can ever do for ourselves. The lost need to be found, the guilty need to be pardoned, the aliens need to be reconciled. And Jesus claimed exclusive rights on being the one who can bring us into a relationship with the Father. He said, "I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:6) Between lost man and God stands the only one who can save us – "the man Christ Jesus."

Paul expresses it this way: "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us…" (Galatians 3:13) Between the curse of the law, with its pronouncement of condemnation for all offenders, and guilty man stands the Lord Jesus Christ. He has taken our place by becoming a curse for us so we can become children of God. Peter expresses the same thought about Jesus being our substitute when he states "He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree…" (1 Peter 2:24) Through his redemptive offering of himself upon the cross, Christ brings into existence a relationship between us and God that would otherwise never have been possible. And, because of this, he is the only one qualified to be our mediator.