Do the Scriptures have a distinct word for this intercessory role? It turns out that, in fact, they do.

Ἐντυγχάνω, “I intercede” is used throughout both the Septuagint text of the Old Testament and the New Testament—it is used, for example, in Hebrews where we find the most frequent use of mesitēs (mediator), which shows that not only do the above-listed contexts from the Scriptures make it clear that mesitēs deals with covenant arbitration, but that they regard intercession as a different activity.

Why should this matter? Because, when we understand the word St. Paul is using, according to the way that he means it, it helps us to understand what the Scriptures are saying here. Further, it is always crucial that we do not read a verse from the Scriptures in isolation from the rest, especially the verses leading up to it. So what is the context provided by 1 Timothy 2:1–6? Let’s turn to the text:

(1) Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, (2) for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. (3) For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, (4) who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. (5) For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, (6) who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time. (ESV)

(1) Παρακαλῶ οὖν πρῶτον πάντων ποιεῖσθαι δεήσεις προσευχὰς ἐντεύξεις εὐχαριστίας ὑπὲρ πάντων ἀνθρώπων, (2) ὑπὲρ βασιλέων καὶ πάντων τῶν ἐν ὑπεροχῇ ὄντων, ἵνα ἤρεμον καὶ ἡσύχιον βίον διάγωμεν ἐν πάσῃ εὐσεβείᾳ καὶ σεμνότητι. (3) τοῦτο καλὸν καὶ ἀπόδεκτον ἐνώπιον τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν θεοῦ, (4) ὃς πάντας ἀνθρώπους θέλει σωθῆναι καὶ εἰς ἐπίγνωσιν ἀληθείας ἐλθεῖν. (5) Εἷς γὰρ θεός, εἷς καὶ μεσίτης θεοῦ καὶ ἀνθρώπων, ἄνθρωπος Χριστὸς Ἰησοῦς, (6) ὁ δοὺς ἑαυτὸν ἀντίλυτρον ὑπὲρ πάντων, τὸ μαρτύριον καιροῖς ἰδίοις.

Interestingly, Paul is here beseeching Timothy that his flock intercede (ποιεῖσθαι … ἐντεύξεις) for all people. That role is mentioned, and it is mentioned in connection with the Christians themselves. Then, in verse 4 we hear that Christ desires all to be saved—how is this accomplished? Well, as we have seen in our survey of this word’s meaning, it is accomplished because Christ himself mediates the covenant between the Father and all humanity, which is made explicit by the reference to Christ as the ransom—the covenant in his blood (see Matt 26:28 Luke 22:20). What is the significance of mesitēs, blood, ransom? It is this: a covenant was not “made” so much as “cut” (this is the verb used in Hebrew)—this is because an animal victim would be cut in two as a sign of the covenant between the two parties. In the new covenant (which is a better translation of καινή διαθήκη which we usually render “new testament”), the blood offering is Christ himself on the Cross by which he establishes the relationship between God and humanity. He is the only mediator—arbitrator of the covenant—because only he could be the offering in whose blood this covenant could be established. Why? Because only Jesus Christ is both fully God and fully human—he is, existentially, the one who shares both godhood and humanity, and therefore in his very being he is the arbitrator between divinity and humanity.

But we find intercession used throughout the Scriptures, and commands for Christians to intercede on behalf of others. Clearly then, we see the distinction not only from the use of the word mesitēs throughout the Scriptures, not only from the context of 1 Timothy 2, but also from these Scriptural commands that we are to intercede, which would not be possible, even for biologically living Christians, if Christ were the “only intercessor” rather than “only mediator”.

The other matter here is that we believe the resurrection of Christ means that all who believe in him do not perish, but pass from death to life (cf. John 3:16), and that God is not the god of dead people but of living people (cf. Mark 12:27, Luke 20:38). The language of the dead sleeping applies to us on this side of the veil—we see their bodies laid down as in repose—it is not speaking of their very aware and active state in the heavenly presence of God. Those who are in the heavenly presence of God are absolutely aware of this world, what is going on in it, and they continue to follow the Scriptural command to intercede on behalf of all. Where do we see this? In the account of the Transfiguration of Christ, for one, and in St. John’s Revelation—his un-veiled image of what life in the Kingdom is like now, how it will be at the end of the world, and then after the triumphant second coming of Jesus Christ.

In the accounts of the Transfiguration, Christ reveals himself as he truly is to the three disciples, Peter, James, and John. Moses and Elijah also appear with him, and they even discuss with Christ his coming passion (Luke 9:30–31).

Revelation 5:8 - Καὶ ὅτε ἔλαβεν τὸ βιβλίον, τὰ τέσσαρα ζῷα καὶ οἱ εἴκοσι τέσσαρες πρεσβύτεροι ἔπεσαν ἐνώπιον τοῦ ἀρνίου ἔχοντες ἕκαστος κιθάραν καὶ φιάλας χρυσᾶς γεμούσας θυμιαμάτων, αἵ εἰσιν αἱ προσευχαὶ τῶν ἁγίων
“Now when [Christ, the Lamb] had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.” (ESV which has “He,” which I’ve elaborated for clarity)

Revelation 8:3–4 - (3) Καὶ ἄλλος ἄγγελος ἦλθεν καὶ ἐστάθη ἐπὶ τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου ἔχων λιβανωτὸν χρυσοῦν, καὶ ἐδόθη αὐτῷ θυμιάματα πολλά, ἵνα δώσει ταῖς προσευχαῖς τῶν ἁγίων πάντων ἐπὶ τὸ θυσιαστήριον τὸ χρυσοῦν τὸ ἐνώπιον τοῦ θρόνου. (4) καὶ ἀνέβη ὁ καπνὸς τῶν θυμιαμάτων ταῖς προσευχαῖς τῶν ἁγίων ἐκ χειρὸς τοῦ ἀγγέλου ἐνώπιον τοῦ θεοῦ.
(3) “Then another angel, having a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. (4) And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God from the angel’s hand.” (ESV)

The first account shows that Moses and Elijah are both aware of Christ’s activity in this world, and the two passages from John’s Revelation demonstrate something about the holy ones in heaven—humans and angels—that they bring the prayers of the saints (which, as we see throughout the New Testament, refers to faithful Christians) before Christ who reigns. This image of bearing the prayers to Christ is seen as their continuing faithful response to the Scriptural command for Christians to intercede on behalf of all; they themselves are praying together as one Church in heaven and on earth (cf. Matt 6:10). Why would God assign them this role? Why does he assign *any* of us this role? Because God reveals himself as Father.

A father desires his children to be involved in his life, activity, work. He trains up his children to be like him by having them participate in what he is doing. God continually involves creatures—Adam and Eve, angels, patriarchs, prophets, apostles, you and me—in his work. Not because he needs us, but because he *wants* us. The only way we can become like our Father is to participate in his life, and interceding on behalf of the world is one of the ways he has commanded us, through the Scriptures, to participate in that life of love and mercy. This command is not nullified simply because we pass through death to eternal life in Christ, rather it is increased as we see in the Revelation of John.

Why do we ask the saints for their intercession? Because we ask all our loved ones to pray for us, because God commands us to pray for one another, and because our God—the God of the living—desires us to be one community, his family, working his will on earth as it is in heaven.

Although it may seem that this power of loosing and binding (the keys) was given by the Lord only to Peter, we must nevertheless know without any doubt that it was given to the other apostles.” -Homilies on the Gospels: Book I: Advent to Lent, Hom. I.20, p. 202

-St. Bede (735)

To be right in everything, we ought always to hold that the white which I see, is black, if the Hierarchical Church so decides it." — St. Ignatius of Loyola

W]hen one loves the Pope, one does not say that he did not speak clearly enough… his orders are not questioned... the field in which he can and must exercise his authority is not limited"

~ Pope Saint Pius X, 1912

From Cardinal Fernandez's book. He is currently the head of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith of Roman Catholicism.

We ought ever to hold as a fixed principle that what is white that I see I will believe to be black if the superior authorities in Rome define it so." – St. Ignatius Loyola

Every cleric must obey the pope, even if he commands what is evil; for no one may judge the pope." – Pope Innocent III

The pope is not only the representative of Jesus Christ, but he is Jesus Christ Himself, hidden under the veil of the flesh." – St. Pius X

The Pope is God on earth Jesus has placed the pope higher than the prophets, than John the Baptist, and than all the angels Jesus has put the Pope on the same level as God Himself!" – St. John Bosco

Even if he [the Pope] were an incarnate devil we ought not to raise up our heads against him, but calmly lie down to rest on his bosom.” – St. Catherine of Siena

"If the Pope errs by commanding vices or forbidding virtues, then the Church must believe that vices are good and virtues bad, unless one wants to sin against conscience." – St. Robert Bellarmine

according to the testimony of the Gospel, the primacy of jurisdiction over the universal Church of God was immediately and directly promised and given to blessed Peter the Apostle by Christ the Lord. ... Whence, whosoever succeeds to Peter in this See, does by the institution of Christ himself obtain the Primacy of Peter over the whole Church. ... The Roman Church possesses a superiority of ordinary power over all other churches, and that this power of jurisdiction of the Roman Pontiff, which is truly episcopal, is immediate; to which all, of whatever rite and dignity, both pastors and faithful, both individually and collectively, are bound, by their duty of hierarchical subordination and true obedience, to submit not only in matters which belong to faith and morals, but also in those that appertain to the discipline and government of the Church throughout the world, so that the Church of Christ may be one flock under one supreme pastor through the preservation of unity both of communion and of profession of the same faith with the Roman Pontiff. ... And since by the divine right of Apostolic primacy the Roman Pontiff is placed over the universal Church, we further teach and declare that he is the supreme judge of the faithful, and that in all causes, the decision of which belongs to the Church, recourse may be had to his tribunal, and that none may re-open the judgment of the Apostolic See, than whose authority there is no greater, nor can any lawfully review its judgment. Wherefore they err from the right course who assert that it is lawful to appeal from the judgments of the Roman Pontiffs to an œcumenical Council, as to an authority higher than that of the Roman Pontiff."

— Vatican I, Pastor Aeternus, ch. I, III

Whoever calls himself universal bishop, or desires this noscript, is, by his pride, the precursor to the Antichrist.”

- St. Gregory the Dialogist, Pope of Rome