God created man for relationship. Even though the English word “relationship” does not appear in the King James Version, that understanding, thinking, or consideration is there. God said, “Let us make man in our image” (Gen 1:26). You see the intertrinitarian relationship with the plural pronouns “us” and “our,” one member speaking to the other two. The creation of man expanded that relationship.  Jesus referred to it in the upper room discourse in John 14-16 and His prayer in John 17. Jesus said in John 16:27-28:

27 For the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God. 28 I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father.

The Father himself loved the disciples of Jesus Christ. They loved Jesus. The Father loved them. And this reads like the relationship that Jesus had with the Father, the Father had with His disciples, and they had with Jesus.

The relationship the Father had with the disciples and they had with Jesus, the Father and Jesus wanted also between each disciple, even as seen in the prayer in John 17. Jesus said in John 17:20-21:

20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; 21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.

The Father wanted the disciples and all future disciples, “them also which shall believe on me,” to have the relationship with each other that the Father and Son had with each other. He prayed for that.

Human Limitation

Disciples, true believers of Jesus Christ, have limitations that the Father and the Son do not have, relating to one another. They trespass one against the other. Until their glorification, when they see Jesus in glorified bodies and are like Him (1 John 3:2), they will struggle for unified relationship with one another because of the nature of the flesh.

Broken relationships are seen in the prime illustrations of Adam and Eve and then Cain and Abel right from the top. It reminds one of what occurred in heaven before that between the angels and God. As you might continue reading the Bible, you witness fractured relationships between husband and wife, children and parents, siblings, families at large, and tribes and nations. As an example of the extent, notice the betrayal of Edom in Obadiah. James in James 4:1-2 speaks:

1 From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? 2 Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not.

Judas betrayed Jesus as a paradigm of classic defection. 1 John 2:19 speaks of those going out from us because they are not of us. Paul and Barnabas, two godly men, Acts 15:39 says, “[T]he contention was so sharp between them, that they departed asunder one from the other.” Sad.

Restoration through Mediation

Scripture, however, provides the way back. For true believers, there is no temptation without a way of escape (1 Cor 10:13). Especially focusing on two people, they can get back together. Relationship can be restored. The two sides are given a protocol in the Bible. One side at least must initiate reconciliation, and very often, let’s say, most of the time, use mediation. The two sides agree on what they think is a neutral judge.  He brings the sides together in a negotiation.

Making peace between two parties imitates what God did.  He entered the Garden to talk reconciliation between Him and man. He arrived and man hid. God searched. He initiated out of love. What looked like a permanent situation was not. God would provide for reconciliation and use mediation to do it.

Mediation is like a debate between two contentious sides that has a moderator, who does his job. I watched a debate in recent days between two men on a theological issue. In their strong opposition to one another, one of the two was very disrespectful to the other. This is why debates need moderators, who are really mediators. The disrespectful party himself helped create an atmosphere where he could run over the moderator.  The moderator obliged. He did not moderate, so mediation did not occur.

To Be Continued, Lord-willing