The Savior

1 John 4:14
“And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.”

“The essential doctrine concerning Jesus of Nazareth is always this two-fold doctrine: His person and His work. We cannot understand the work and the nature of the work until we are perfectly clear with regard to the person Himself.

The word “Savior” does not merely mean a helper. We are not told the Father sent the Son to help mankind. It does not mean He is just someone who assists. It does not mean He is just one who teaches or indicates to us what we ought to do. He is not merely an instructor.

The element that is seen in all of those ideas is this: that you and I have to ultimately save ourselves, and what the Lord does is to aid and assist us. If that is all that is meant by the word “Savior,” then Jesus is no savior at all. That is something that has already been tried. It failed before He ever came into this world. God confronted the children of Israel and gave them the Ten Commandments and the moral law. But the whole story of the Old Testament shows us that Israel failed.

No, God sent Jesus into the world to do something. We are saved as a result of something He has done, apart from ourselves and our own action. He has acted and it is His action that produces salvation and the way of escape for us.

So how does the Lord Jesus Christ save us?

First of all, He saves us by His life of perfect obedience to God’s holy law. The law pronounces its judgment upon us: the wages of sin is death. Jesus lived a life of absolute obedience to it. In all things, He fulfilled righteousness. Every demand of the law positively was answered and satisfied by His blameless, spotless life.

The second thing that the Lord has to do is deal with the problem of the guilt of man face to face with the law of God. He gave Himself as an offering and a sacrifice. He died passively upon the cross. There God poured upon Him His wrath against the sins of man. He is our Savior by His atoning death as well as His blameless, spotless life of obedience.

Thirdly, we are told that He is seated at the right hand of God and He is there interceding on our behalf. Our prayers are taken by Jesus and He offers them up to the Father. He adds the incense of His own holiness. He takes our unworthy prayers and petitions and He transmutes them with His own perfection and present them to the Father.

And lastly, He saves us also by coming to dwell in us by His Holy Spirit. We need to be perfected, be cleansed and purified. So the Lord Jesus enters within us by His Spirit and works within us both to will and do of His good pleasure.”