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Heb. 7:22 the term egguos itself is applied to Christ. There is one passage, however, in which
the word mesites has a meaning that is more in accord with the ordinary sense of the word
“mediator,” as one who is called in to arbitrate between two parties and to reconcile them,
namely, I Tim. 2:5. Here Christ is represented as Mediator in the sense that, on the basis of His
sacrifice, He brings God and man together. The work of Christ, as indicated by the word
mesites, is twofold. He labors in things pertaining to God and in things pertaining to man, in the
objective legal sphere, and in the subjective moral sphere. In the former He propitiates the just
displeasure of God by expiating the guilt of sin, makes intercession for those whom the Father
has given Him, and actually makes their persons and services acceptable to God. And in the
latter He reveals to men the truth concerning God and their relation to Him with the conditions
of acceptable service, persuades and enables them to receive the truth, and directs and
sustains them in all circumstances of life, so as to perfect their deliverance. In doing this work
He employs the ministry of men, II Cor. 5:20.
IV. The Dual Aspect of the Covenant
In speaking of the contracting parties in the covenant of grace it was already intimated that the
covenant may be considered from two different points of view. There are two different aspects
of the covenant, and now the question arises, In what relation do these two stand to each
other? This question has been answered in different ways.
A. AN EXTERNAL AND AN INTERNAL COVENANT.
Some have distinguished between an external and an internal covenant. The external covenant
was conceived as one in which a person’s status depends entirely on the performance of
certain external religious duties. His position is entirely correct, if he does what is required of
him, somewhat in the Roman Catholic sense. Among Israel this covenant assumed a national
form. Perhaps no one worked out the doctrine of an external covenant with greater consistency
than Thomas Blake. The dividing line between the external and the internal covenant was not
always represented in the same way. Some connected baptism with the external, and
confession of faith and the Lord’s Supper, with the internal covenant; others thought of
baptism and confession as belonging to the external covenant, and of the Lord’s Supper as the
sacrament of the internal covenant. But the trouble is that this whole representation results in
a dualism in the conception of the covenant that is not warranted by Scripture; it yields an
external covenant that is not interpenetrated by the internal. The impression is created that
there is a covenant in which man can assume an entirely correct position without saving faith;
but the Bible knows of no such covenant. There are, indeed, external privileges and blessings of
the covenant, and there are persons who enjoy these only; but such cases are abnormalities