The Four Five Spiritual Laws Part 5
© 02.23.26 By David Eric Williams
It has been a while since we looked at the “five spiritual laws” so before we consider the second law (representation) we will review the five laws as we find them in Luke 11:1-4 (the Lord’s prayer). The five laws are:
1. Father, your name be honored as holy (Sovereignty - God is in charge).
2. Your kingdom come (Representation - Jesus is Mediator, Savior and King).
3. Give us each day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins (Ethos - biblical disposition, character and values that actualize the Kingdom).
4. For we also [feed and] forgive everyone who sins against us (Sanctions - Blessings flow to and through citizens of the Kingdom).
5. And do not lead us into temptation (Continuity - the Kingdom is now and to eternity).
The second law - representation - has to do with Jesus Christ as Mediator, Savior and King. The best place to begin our examination of the second point is found in Paul’s first letter to Timothy. For, There is one God and one Mediator who can reconcile God and humanity - the man Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 2:5).
To moderns, “mediator” brings to mind someone working to arbitrate differences in a relationship by eliciting compromise from both parties to find an agreeable middle ground. That is NOT what Jesus is about. The relationship we have with God is based entirely on his terms. We bring nothing to the table. There is nothing we can do to make our position favorable before God. Humanity has no relationship with God apart from Jesus Christ. Thus, a better translation might be “intermediary.” That is to say, Jesus is the only one through whom we are enabled to have covenant relationship with God.
As the one intermediary between humanity and God, Jesus sums up all God intended for humanity and brings it to a climax. To understand this we need to go back to the beginning. The Bible tells us Adam and Eve were created in the image of God. This means they were given the task of realizing God’s authority and character in creation. They were supposed to actualize the presence of God in creation by imitating him as his dear children. At the same time they were supposed to point the praise of creation back to God.
Adam failed in his task. As a result, a series of “Adams” appear in history attempting but failing at the Adamic task. This didn’t catch God by surprise. Indeed, covenant history shows us God had always intended the Eternal Son as the true Adam. Hence, Jesus is called the “eschaton Adam” (1 Corinthians 15:45, cf. Romans 5:14-15). He is the Son Of Man who is successful in actualizing the kingdom of God in creation while bringing glory to God as high priest lifting the praise of creation to the creator.
Jesus as the last Adam is the true image of God and is the final, full representative of humanity. However, there are additional characteristics of his mediation. While Jesus is the example of the true human in the fullest sense, his mediation brings both blessing and cursing. To better understand what that means we will take a look at Jesus mediation as a substitutionary sacrifice in the next column.
Entire Site Copyright © 2025 By David Eric Williams