Since, therefore, the character of μεσίτης, through whom all things are referred to the Father as to the1—
—πηγὴν καὶ ῥίζαν, font and root of the universe, is innate in the Son and cannot be separated from his hypostatic property, for the twofold order—whether the natural order of creation and conservation, or the supernatural order of reparation and salvation—a twofold μεσιτεία of the Son must be distinguished. And principally that mediation must be distinguished which belongs to him insofar as he is the Word, through whom2 God the Father also made the ages, through whom he sustains all things, and through whom all things are referred to God the Father as to the supreme principle of all. Then that mediation must be distinguished which belongs to the Son insofar as he3 put on flesh and, sent by the Father, made the purgation of sins, reconciled terrestrial things with heavenly things, and restored the paternal work—rightly instituted but corrupted by the wickedness of men—to its pristine integrity and health. When this distinction between the twofold mediation has been observed, everyone easily perceives that not the former but the latter mode is considered by Paul, and that for its sake he writes that there is one mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus.
But this proposition, together with the antecedent by which God is said to be one, not only4 adheres by a copulative nexus, but also by the nexus in which the supreme cause of salvation and the principal means of the same are most closely joined together. It adheres by the copulative nexus which the words manifest of themselves: “for there is one God, and one mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” But it also adheres by the nexus which we mentioned in the second place: for just as the clause “for there is one God” corresponds to this, “for there is one God the Father5, Savior and supreme origin of salvation,” so the clause “and one mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus” comes back to this: “and one mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus, sent by God the Father and Savior, and through whom God the Father, the same Savior, recalled the lost human race to himself as to the supreme font of salvation.”
Accordingly, this is6 the truest circumlocution of the whole verse: “For there is one God the Father, and he the Savior and principal origin of salvation; and likewise there is one mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus, whom the Father sent for this reason, that he might remedy the lost human race and by his mediation bring it back to himself as to the supreme font of salvation.” Namely: a) εἷς θεός, one God the Father, the font and origin that all good things may exist; εἷς καὶ μεσίτης, and one mediator, the man Christ Jesus, through whom they may be preserved intact; b) εἷς θεός, one God the Father, the principal cause of the salvific order; εἷς καὶ μεσίτης, and one mediator, the man Christ Jesus, through whom we believe the order of salvation to have been repaired; c) εἷς θεός, one God the Father, from whom the grace of adoption first flowed into the whole human race; εἷς καὶ μεσίτης, and one mediator, the man Christ Jesus, through whom7 the power of recovering adoption was bestowed upon the children of wrath; d) εἷς θεός, one God the Father, who created all men joined to himself and associated in friendship in their first parents; εἷς καὶ μεσίτης, and one mediator, the man Christ Jesus, through whom he recalled men divided from him and rebelling against him to the covenant of friendship; finally e) just as there is one God the Father, who first was for all the author that they might be well and that they might abound in those things by which, provided only that they willed, they would merit eternal felicity, so there is also one mediator, the man Christ Jesus, through whom all were repaired, all restored to their pristine state, and all endowed with those gifts by whose aid, unless they fail themselves, they may at last enjoy the supreme good.