Articles
What Does It Mean to Believe in Jesus (4)
What Does It Mean to Believe in Jesus (4)
Mike Willis
One of the most recognized terms used to describe Jesus is “Savior.” The Greek word sōtēr means “one who rescues, savior, deliverer, preserver” (BDAG, 985). The word was used in various ways in the Old Testament, but is used only 24 times in the NT, 8 times descriptive of God and 16 times of Jesus. Though men are sometimes designated as deliverers, Yahweh was the great deliverer for Israel. In the NT, both God and Jesus are designated as man’s Savior.
Jesus was called the “savior” at His birth (Luke 2:11); the people of Samaria recognized Him as the “Savior of the world” in John 4:42. The early apostles preached that Jesus is the Savior (Acts 5:31; 13:23). Jesus is described as the Savior of the body, i.e, the church (Eph. 5:23). Christians expect the second coming of the “Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Phil. 3:20). Other places where Jesus is called “Savior” are 2 Timothy 1:10; Titus 1:4; 2:13; 3:6; 2 Peter 1:1, 11; 2:20; 3:2; 1 John 4:14.
The sense in which Jesus is our Savior is that He has saved us from sin (Matt. 1:21; Luke 19:10; John 3:17) and the wrath of God (Rom. 5:9). He is the one who “takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). Jesus’s “greatest act of salvation was not to set the Jews free from Roman rule—as many expected of their Savior. Rather, He came to save the whole world from sin. This salvation cost Him death on the cross. This salvation costs us nothing, but to accept Jesus’ gracious act of salvation on our behalf” (Eugene E. Carpenter and Philip W. Comfort, Holman Treasury of Key Bible Words, 387).
Every man has sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23) and the wages of sin is death, eternal separation from God (Rom. 6:23). One who admits his guilt of sin and affirms that he believes in Jesus, does not truly believe in Him unless he accepts Him as his Savior. The Lord Jesus plainly explained what His apostles should tell the world about what they must do to be saved, saying, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned” (Mark 16:15-16). One who has not done what the Lord Jesus commanded him to do, has not truly believed in Jesus as his Savior.
