Q. Who is the Redeemer of God’s elect?
A. The only Redeemer of God’s elect is the Lord Jesus Christ, who, being the eternal Son of God, became man, and so was and continues to be God and man, in two distinct natures and one person, forever.
Commentary
The catechism names the Redeemer promised in the covenant of grace: the only Redeemer of God’s elect is the Lord Jesus Christ. There is no other name given among men by which we must be saved, no second mediator, no supplement to His work. He alone is able to save because of who He is, the eternal Son of God who became man. As the second person of the Trinity, He is “God over all, blessed forever” (Romans 9:5), of one substance with the Father. Yet “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14), taking to Himself a true human nature without ceasing to be God.
The heart of this answer is the union of the two natures. Christ was and continues to be God and man, in two distinct natures and one person, forever. Both natures remain whole and distinct: the deity did not shrink into humanity, nor was the humanity swallowed up into deity. “In him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily” (Colossians 2:9). At the same time, the two natures are not divided into two persons; they are united in the one person of the Son, so that the same Christ is fully God and fully man. This is the mystery the church confessed at Chalcedon (451 AD), and the Confession states with care, two whole, perfect, and distinct natures inseparably joined together in one person, without conversion, composition, or confusion. He must be God to bear the infinite weight of His people’s sin and to give His work infinite worth; He must be man to stand in our place, obey in our nature, and die our death. Only one who is both God and man can be the “one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5).
The whole comfort of the gospel rests on the person of Christ. Because He is God, His blood is of infinite value, and His power to save cannot fail; because He is man, He is a sympathetic high priest who was tempted as we are and who represents us truly before God. To know this Christ, the God-man, is to have a Redeemer fully sufficient for the deepest need, and the believer rests his whole soul on the One who is and forever will be God and man in one person.
Scripture Proofs
“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).
“To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen” (Romans 9:5).
“Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree’” (Galatians 3:13).
“For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily” (Colossians 2:9).
“For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5).
“Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness: He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory” (1 Timothy 3:16).
2nd London Baptist Confession of Faith of 1689
8.1: It pleased God, in His eternal purpose, to choose and ordain the Lord Jesus, His only begotten Son, according to the covenant made between them both, to be the mediator between God and man; the prophet, priest, and king; head and savior of the church, the heir of all things, and judge of the world; unto whom He did from all eternity give a people to be His seed and to be by Him in time redeemed, called, justified, sanctified, and glorified.
8.2: The Son of God, the second person in the Holy Trinity, being very and eternal God, the brightness of the Father’s glory, of one substance and equal with Him who made the world, who upholds and governs all things He has made, did, when the fullness of time was complete, take upon Him man’s nature, with all the essential properties and common infirmities of it, yet without sin; being conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary, the Holy Spirit coming down upon her: and the power of the Most High overshadowing her; and so was made of a woman of the tribe of Judah, of the seed of Abraham and David according to the Scriptures; so that two whole, perfect, and distinct natures were inseparably joined together in one person, without conversion, composition, or confusion; which person is very God and very man, yet one Christ, the only mediator between God and man.
8.7: Christ, in the work of mediation, acts according to both natures, by each nature doing that which is proper to itself; yet by reason of the unity of the person, that which is proper to one nature is sometimes in Scripture, attributed to the person denominated by the other nature.
8.9: This office of mediator between God and man is proper only to Christ, who is the prophet, priest, and king of the church of God; and may not be either in whole, or any part thereof, transferred from Him to any other.