Jesus mediates for 144,000, not the other 8.7 million
AdmittedThe Watchtower's own publications admit these facts. You can make this point from their library alone.
What they teach
A mediator is a go-between. The Watchtower teaches that Jesus is not the go-between for most Witnesses.
Questions From Readers in The Watchtower of April 1, 1979 (p. 31) says it plainly: "So in this strict Biblical sense Jesus is the 'mediator' only for anointed Christians."
The 1986 book is plainer still
Worldwide Security Under the Prince of Peace (1986, p. 10) says Jesus "is not the Mediator between Jehovah God and all mankind." He stands, it says, between Jehovah and spiritual Israel.
That is capped at 144,000 members. So about 8.7 million of 9 million active Witnesses are left outside.
The verse it collides with
One sentence says the opposite. "For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, a man, Christ Jesus, who gave himself a corresponding ransom for all" (1 Timothy 2:5-6, in their own Bible).
The reach of the go-between is set by the reach of the ransom. And the ransom is for all.
Their answer, at full strength
The Greek word mesites is a legal term about covenants. Moses stood between God and Israel alone.
Foreigners still gained by it. So Jesus stands for the 144,000 in the new covenant, while everyone gains from the ransom it carries.
They read the verse as tying the benefit to "all sorts of people", their own wording. The great crowd still prays through Jesus and is saved by his blood.
How strong is this argument?
They admit this themselves, in those words. Their defense works only inside the two-class system.
The verse ties one go-between to a ransom given for all. Quote it and let people compare.
What to say
"Read 1 Timothy 2:5 in your Bible. Is Jesus the mediator for you, personally?"
How they answer this — at its strongest
Mediator is a covenant term. All mankind still gains from the ransom.
The Witness defense is that mediator, mesites, is a legal word about covenants. Moses mediated the Law covenant for Israel alone. Foreigners still gained by it. In the same way, Jesus stands as mediator of the new covenant for the 144,000. Meanwhile all mankind gains from the ransom that covenant carries.
They read 1 Timothy 2:5-6 as tying the go-between role to the ransom's benefit. That benefit reaches 'all sorts of people,' in the NWT rendering. The verse is not about who is inside the covenant. And the great crowd still prays through Jesus and is saved by his blood.
The verdict
They admit it themselves. Read 1 Timothy 2:5 and ask who Jesus mediates for.
The teaching is stated in exactly these words in their own publications. Quote them directly, and let readers compare with 1 Timothy 2:5-6.
The covenant-legal steelman holds together, but only inside the two-class system. The verse itself binds 'one mediator between God and men' to a ransom given 'for all.' The NWT's 'all sorts of' gloss is a patch on the translation.
Severity is high. This touches whether ordinary Witnesses have direct access to Christ's mediation at all.
Sources
- jwfacts — Why the Watchtower teaches Jesus is not your Mediator
- Believers Web — Destroying the Mediatorship of Christ
- Dan Englund — Is Jesus the Mediator Only for the 144,000?