Charles Ellicott Commentary 1 Timothy 2:5

"For there is one God, one mediator also between God and men, [himself] man, Christ Jesus," — 1 Timothy 2:5 (ASV)

For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.—“For.” This gives the reason why it is good and well-pleasing in the sight of God that Christians should pray for all—for there is one Savior, God the Father, who wills that all should be saved, and there is one Mediator, Christ Jesus, who has given Himself as ransom for all. Surely then, to us who call ourselves by the name of Christ, the fate of those who do not yet know Christ cannot be a matter of indifference. We must in our praise and prayer include these strangers whom the Father wills should come to Him, for whose sake the Son has given His life.

The man Christ Jesus.—St. Paul with special emphasis speaks of the “one Mediator between God and man” as “the man Christ Jesus,” no doubt wishing to bring into prominence the true humanity of the Lord. It is also a silent refutation of the docetic errors of some of the false teachers, whose doctrines Timothy was warned to guard against. These teachers would have persuaded people that the Christ Jesus who was nailed to the cross was not a man, but simply a phantom.

The human nature of Christ is also specifically mentioned because in this human state He performed His office as Mediator. In the statement of the next verse, we find another reason for St. Paul’s allusion here to the fact of the Mediator being a man.

The Messiah must have taken human nature upon Himself before He could have suffered the death that was the ransom for all. Again, the human nature of the Mediator is brought forward to show that the mediatorial office extended over the whole human race—a grand thought, expressed in the following words: who gave Himself a ransom for all.