Galatians 3:20
New International Version
A mediator, however, implies more than one party; but God is one.

New Living Translation
Now a mediator is helpful if more than one party must reach an agreement. But God, who is one, did not use a mediator when he gave his promise to Abraham.

English Standard Version
Now an intermediary implies more than one, but God is one.

Berean Standard Bible
A mediator is unnecessary, however, for only one party; but God is one.

Berean Literal Bible
However, a mediator is not of one; but God is one.

King James Bible
Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one.

New King James Version
Now a mediator does not mediate for one only, but God is one.

New American Standard Bible
Now a mediator is not for one party only; but God is only one.

NASB 1995
Now a mediator is not for one party only; whereas God is only one.

NASB 1977
Now a mediator is not for one party only; whereas God is only one.

Legacy Standard Bible
Now a mediator is not for one person only, whereas God is one.

Amplified Bible
Now the mediator or go-between [in a transaction] is not [needed] for just one party; whereas God is only one [and was the only One giving the promise to Abraham, but the Law was a contract between two, God and Israel; its validity depended on both].

Christian Standard Bible
Now a mediator is not just for one person alone, but God is one.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Now a mediator is not for just one person, but God is one.

American Standard Version
Now a mediator is not a mediator of one; but God is one.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
A mediator is not of one, but God is One.

Contemporary English Version
There is only one God, and the Law did not come directly from him.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Now a mediator is not of one: but God is one.

English Revised Version
Now a mediator is not a mediator of one; but God is one.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
A mediator is not used when there is only one person involved, and God has acted on his own.

Good News Translation
But a go-between is not needed when only one person is involved; and God is one.

International Standard Version
Now a mediator involves more than one party, but God is one.

Literal Standard Version
and the mediator is not of one, but God is one.

Majority Standard Bible
A mediator is unnecessary, however, for only one party; but God is one.

New American Bible
Now there is no mediator when only one party is involved, and God is one.

NET Bible
Now an intermediary is not for one party alone, but God is one.

New Revised Standard Version
Now a mediator involves more than one party; but God is one.

New Heart English Bible
Now a mediator is not between one, but God is one.

Webster's Bible Translation
Now a mediator is not a mediator of one; but God is one.

Weymouth New Testament
But there cannot be a mediator where only one individual is concerned.

World English Bible
Now a mediator is not between one, but God is one.

Young's Literal Translation
and the mediator is not of one, and God is one --

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
The Purpose of the Law
19Why then was the law given? It was added because of transgressions, until the arrival of the seed to whom the promise referred. It was administered through angels by a mediator. 20 A mediator is unnecessary, however, for only one party; but God is one. 21Is the law, then, opposed to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come from the law.…

Cross References
Romans 3:30
since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith.

1 Timothy 2:5
For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,

Hebrews 8:6
Now, however, Jesus has received a much more excellent ministry, just as the covenant He mediates is better and is founded on better promises.

Hebrews 9:15
Therefore Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, now that He has died to redeem them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.

Hebrews 12:24
to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.


Treasury of Scripture

Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one.

a mediator is.

Job 9:33
Neither is there any daysman betwixt us, that might lay his hand upon us both.

Acts 12:20
And Herod was highly displeased with them of Tyre and Sidon: but they came with one accord to him, and, having made Blastus the king's chamberlain their friend, desired peace; because their country was nourished by the king's country.

1 Timothy 2:5
For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;

but.

Galatians 3:17
And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect.

Genesis 15:18
In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:

Genesis 17:1,2
And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect…

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Concerned Go-Between However Implies Individual Mediator Party Represent Whereas
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Concerned Go-Between However Implies Individual Mediator Party Represent Whereas
Galatians 3
1. He asks what moved them to leave the faith, and hold onto the law.
6. Those who believe are justified,
9. and blessed with Abraham.
10. And this he shows by many reasons.
15. The purpose of the Law
26. You are sons of God














(20) The mention of the word "mediator" implies a contract to which there are at least two parties. But where there is a contract there must be also conditions, and if these conditions are not observed the whole falls to the ground. Such was the Law. The Law was not kept, and therefore the blessings annexed to it were forfeited. On the other hand, the promise depends upon God alone. He gave it, and He will assuredly keep it, no matter what man may do. God alone is concerned in it.

This passage is a conspicuous instance of the advance which has been made in New Testament exegesis. It is said to have received as many as 250 or 300 (according to another estimate, even 430) interpretations, but at the present moment there is a tendency to acquiesce in that given above, which, it is hoped, will be thought satisfactory.

Now a mediator is not a mediator of one.--The very idea of a mediator involves two parties at least. The Law had a mediator, therefore the Law involves two parties. In other words, it is a contract.

But God is one.--On the other hand, God, the giver of the promise, stands alone: therefore the promise is not a contract; and, resting on God, it is indefeasible.

Verse 20. - This verse, closing the short paragraph commencing the verse which precedes it, appears designed to mark the difference of the relations which subsisted between the Lord and Israel at the time of the giving of the Law, compared with those which subsist between God and Abraham's seed in the covenant of grace. Now a mediator is not a mediator of one (ὁ δὲ μεσίτης ἑνὸς οὐκ ἔστιν). The article with μεσίτης, literally, "the mediator," marks the noun as a class noun, giving it the sense, "a mediator as such." Compare the use of the article in τοῦ ἀποστόλου, in "the signs of an apostle" (2 Corinthians 12:12); in ὁ ἀγαθὸς ἄνθρωπος, "a good man" (Matthew 12:25); in ὁ ἐργάτης, "the labourer is worthy of his hire" (Luke 10:7). The clause means this: a mediator implies the existence of more than one party, of two parties at least, for him to mediate between; of two parties not at one, but standing on such terms towards each other as make his intervention necessary. So far as it characterized the giving of the Law viewed in contrast with the establishment of the covenant of grace, the mediation of Moses, as has been already observed, did not put an end to the estrangement between the Lord and Israel: the estrangement went on throughout Moses' life; throughout, the Israelites stand marked with the brand of "transgression." The genitive ἑνός, "of one," is the same as the genitive in μεσίτης Θεοῦ καὶ ἀνθρώπων, literally, "Mediator of God and men," in 1 Timothy 2:5: it marks the party or parties towards whom the function of mediation is exercised; so that what the apostle here affirms is that there cannot be only one such party. But God is one (ὁ δὲ Θεὸς εῖς ἔστιν). When we consider the number of interpretations given of this clause in connection with the preceding, which have literally been computed by hundreds (the reader will find a spieilegium of some sixty or eighty of them in Meyer), we may infer with certainty that the sense which the apostle intended to convey is not an obvious one - not one which lies near the surface. So much appears, however, in the highest degree probable, that he refers either to some disadvantageous circumstance attaching to the Law or to some advantageous circumstance attaching to the covenant of promise, and is viewing the two in contrast the one with the other. On these grounds the present writer has long since acquiesced in the view propounded by Windischmann in his Commentary on this Epistle, and which is accepted by Bishop Ellicott, that the unity here predicated of God is the oneness subsisting between the Father and the Son. God is one in the Father and in his Son - Christ our Lord. The fact is now present to the apostle's mind, and is presently after stated by him (Galatians 4:4), that the Son has been "sent forth" by God to redeem us and make us sons, and has thus become the "Christ," that "Seed of Abraham" to which the promises had been made (ver. 29 of this chapter). Hereby the most perfect oneness is established between God and the heirs of the promise; for these are "clothed with Christ" (ver. 27) the Son of God; and he being one with the Father, they in and through him are really and permanently "reconciled into God," as the apostle writes in Colossians 1:20. Compare our Lord's words in his intercessory prayer (John 17:21, 23), "That they all may be one; even as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be in us. I in them, and thou in me; that they may be perfected into one." That this sense lies deep down in the apostle's words and would not have readily been presented by them to the minds of his readers, forms no valid objection to this interpretation; for the history of the exegesis of the passage proves that this must have been the case with the sense which the apostle really designed to indicate, whatever that was. On the other hand, it is a sense which perfectly suits the requirement of the context; for it illustrates the superiority of the covenant of the promise to the covenant of the Law in the strongest manner possible. The nut has a very hard shell, but it yields a delicious kernel.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Greek
A mediator
μεσίτης (mesitēs)
Noun - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 3316: From mesos; a go-between, i.e. an internunciator, or a reconciler.

is
ἔστιν (estin)
Verb - Present Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 1510: I am, exist. The first person singular present indicative; a prolonged form of a primary and defective verb; I exist.

unnecessary,
οὐκ (ouk)
Adverb
Strong's 3756: No, not. Also ouk, and ouch a primary word; the absolute negative adverb; no or not.

however,
δὲ (de)
Conjunction
Strong's 1161: A primary particle; but, and, etc.

[ if there is only ] one [ party ];
ἑνὸς (henos)
Adjective - Genitive Masculine Singular
Strong's 1520: One. (including the neuter Hen); a primary numeral; one.

but
δὲ (de)
Conjunction
Strong's 1161: A primary particle; but, and, etc.

God
Θεὸς (Theos)
Noun - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 2316: A deity, especially the supreme Divinity; figuratively, a magistrate; by Hebraism, very.

is
ἐστιν (estin)
Verb - Present Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 1510: I am, exist. The first person singular present indicative; a prolonged form of a primary and defective verb; I exist.

one.
εἷς (heis)
Adjective - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 1520: One. (including the neuter Hen); a primary numeral; one.


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NT Letters: Galatians 3:20 Now a mediator is not between one (Gal. Ga)
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