For a long, long time, the Jewish people had been waiting for the kingdom of God. When it arrived, the Lord would bless His people and vanquish their Gentile rulers and foes. He would set everything right.
Israel wanted a Savior.
The Old Testament proclaims the Lord God to be the Savior of His people. Take the confidence of David as an example:
“They will receive blessing from the LORD and vindication from God their Savior.” – Psalm 24:5
And Hosea reports the word of the Lord as follows:
“But I have been the LORD your God ever since you came out of Egypt. You shall acknowledge no God but Me, no Savior except Me.” – Hosea 13:4
The New Testament holds to this belief, too. In her song, Mary declares,
“My spirit rejoices in God my Savior” – Luke 1:47
But the New Testament describes both God and Jesus as Savior. Here’s Luke’s report of a comment in one of Paul’s sermons:
“From this man’s descendants God has brought to Israel the Savior Jesus, as He promised.” – Acts 13:23
In this verse, God kept His promise to Israel by sending Jesus the Savior.
But elsewhere, Paul refers to God, not Jesus, as the Savior. Paul uses this language in his first letter to Timothy:
“Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope” – 1 Timothy 1:1
So is Jesus our Savior or isn’t He?
We can attach another question, too. Is Jesus God or not?
Yes to both!
“While we wait for the blessed hope–the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ” – Titus 2:13
“Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours” – 2 Peter 1:1
The apostles Paul and Peter treated Jesus the same way the Old Testament prophets regarded the Lord. He was God and Savior.
The Scriptures declare the divinity of the Son.
“Thomas said to Him, ‘My Lord and my God!’” – John 20:28
“Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen.” – Romans 9:5
But Jesus didn’t come to this world to impress people or put on a miracle show.
He came to save.
In Christ, God gave the Israelites they’d been waiting for. And in Him, the Father offers to everyone what they need.
If you ask me who’s my savior, I’d answer “Jesus!” without hesitation. That’s the basic gospel truth – Jesus is the Savior. And because I trust in Christ, He’s my Savior. As He Himself said,
“For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” – Luke 19:10
That’s me! Recalling the line from “Amazing Grace,” “I once was lost, but now I’m found.” The good news is that Jesus can and will save anyone who calls for His help.
“Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” – Romans 10:13
In a general sense, Christ saves because God does. Six times the Old Testament identifies God as our Savior (see 1 Chronicles 16:35, Psalms 65:5, 68:19, 79:9, and 85:4). And in the New Testament, Jude 25 repeats this phrase.
In spite of having written thirteen letters, the apostle Paul uses this expression only in two of his three Pastoral Epistles (1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, and Titus). These are the letters he penned to apostolic assistants he’d dispatched to the churches of Ephesus and Crete. These congregations needed help getting their teaching and leadership in order. Since Paul wasn’t able to come to their aid, he sent Timothy and Titus in his place.
Here are the verses that mention “God our Savior” or use similar terminology:
“Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope, 2To Timothy my true son in the faith: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.” – 1 Timothy 1:1-2
“This is good, and pleases God our Savior, 4who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.” – 1 Timothy 2:3-4
“That is why we labor and strive, because we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all people, and especially of those who believe.” – 1 Timothy 4:10
“and which now at his appointed season he has brought to light through the preaching entrusted to me by the command of God our Savior,” – Titus 1:3
“Teach slaves to be subject to their masters in everything, to try to please them, not to talk back to them, 10and not to steal from them, but to show that they can be fully trusted, so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive” – Titus 2:9-10.
“But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, 5he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.” – Titus 3:4-5a
Paul’s choice of words surprises me. Like I said at the beginning of this post, when I think of my Savior, I think of Jesus. I know Paul agrees. Twice He calls Jesus our Savior.
“To Titus, my true son in our common faith: Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.” – Titus 1:4
“But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, 5he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, 6whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.” – Titus 3:4-7
But Paul isn’t confused. He doesn’t believe we have two saviors. Instead, he identifies Jesus as our divine redeemer:
“We wait for the blessed hope–the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ” – Titus 2:13
What an amazing confession! Jesus is so much more than a great religious teacher. He’s the Lord God who saves us! There’s no one like Him!
Given the uniqueness and majesty of Jesus, it strikes me as odd that Paul refers to God as Savior twice as often as He refers to Jesus that way. Since he was dealing with Christians, shouldn’t he have emphasized Christ?
But Paul knows what he’s doing. The people in Ephesus and Crete were getting caught up in Jewish teachings about issues like the Mosaic law and genealogies. Some folks were stirring up trouble by imposing legalistic morality on believers. This heretical teaching concluded that if we want to be saved, we owe God our best efforts. The more religious our behavior, the more spiritual we are.
The apostle reminds Timothy and Titus to stress God’s grace. If anyone gets saved, it’s only due to the mercy and lovingkindness of the Lord. Salvation is God’s work, not ours. And the reason why salvation is the work of the Lord is because of who He is. God Himself is our Savior. Were it otherwise, He wouldn’t have sent His Son. He would have withheld His Holy Spirit, too, seeing that we’re unworthy to receive Him.
God’s work of salvation flows from His character and His heart. It’s God’s plan fulfilled by Jesus and instilled in us by the Spirit. Paul stresses God as our Savior to highlight divine grace. Because it’s only by God’s grace that we’re saved.
Recent Comments