… and Christ Jesus our Savior.
Summary: What does it mean that Jesus is Christ and Savior? The words have simple meanings that describe things beyond human understanding.
Finally! Paul, after a literary marathon of a ninety-two-word sentence, gets to the point: Jesus!! Grace and peace come from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.
What can we say about this Jesus? Paul refers to him as “Christ” and as our “Savior.” What does that mean? You might as well ask, “What is the whole Bible about?” They are the same question.
Actually, in fairness to the Bible, it tells us about many things. All are related to Jesus in some way, but there are layers. For example, Genesis 1 tells us about the creation of the world. John 1 tells us that Jesus was involved in the creation of the world. (“All things were made through him [Jesus}, and without him was not any thing made that was made.” – John 1:3)
The Bible tells us a lot about God and a lot about people, too. The Bible tells us things about God and Jesus but does not explain things in detail. For example, the Bible tells us that God made the world and that the world was made through Jesus, but it doesn’t explain how God and Jesus did this.
This makes sense, of course. There are many things we cannot understand. My wife likes to knit and sew. She makes wonderful things, but I have no idea how. I see her clicking her knitting needles together, but the skill and knowledge of knots and yarn are beyond me. People who build rocket engines or submarines might look like regular people, but they have very specialized knowledge and skills that allow them to do what they do. In some cases, it takes the better part of a lifetime to acquire the knowledge needed to achieve a specialized skill.
To create the world requires knowledge and skill that includes every known human endeavor plus an unknown number of unknown areas of knowledge and skill. If one person in one lifetime can only acquire the tiniest fraction of knowledge needed to do one specialized skill, how can we hope to understand how God made the world, or how God and Jesus are one? (John 10:30)
The word “christ” comes from the Greek, “christos,” meaning “anointed one” or king. In the old days, the prophet of God would indicate who was to be king by anointing God’s choice with oil. Jesus was anointed by the Holy Spirit (Luke 4: 16-19). Savior means “one who saves.” So the question becomes, who is this king, Jesus, and what has he saved us from?
The sad truth is that all mankind has been alienated from God. Our sin is that we can see both good and evil, and we do not have the strength to resist evil (Genesis 3:4-7; Romans 3:23). God, on the other hand, is holy (Leviticus 11:45) and righteous (Psalm 11:7). Even though God gave us his Ten Commandments (Exodus 20), man was not able to keep to these simple rules.
If God had done nothing, creation would have been lost. All creation would have ended up in the trash heap of good ideas gone bad. But God our Father is not one to give up. He needed a means to redeem or salvage his creation. That is where Jesus comes in. (Keep in mind that we cannot understand how God did what he did.)
God became man. He became one of us. He was born as a baby and grew to be a man (Matthew 1:21). Then he allowed the very people who were supposed to be God’s representatives on earth to crucify him. Why? That is one of those complicated things that the Old Testament explains in detail. It has to do with making man and God one, or “at one.” The word “atone” is the combination of those two words and describes what Jesus did to put the broken creation back together again. (Romans 6:23)
Jesus is called a “savior” because he saves us from the trash heap. He saves us from being thrown out. He saves us from being a slave to our sinful nature. (John 8:34)
Application: Accept the fact that without God we are slaves to our sinful nature. Accept the fact that we need God to be saved. Accept the fact that Jesus and God are one.
Food for Thought: What changes for the person who accepts Jesus as his savior?
Great devotion brother.
It may be easier to ask “what doesn’t change?” One thing that changes is we relinquish control to Jesus and He sits on the throne of our lives and rules over every thought and decision. At least, that is the goal. We will fail sometimes, but He becomes Lord over every aspect of our lives (Luke 6: 46; 2 Corinthians 10: 5).
We also have a relationship with our Creator for which we were made (Matthew 11: 28 – 30).
Rich,
I agree! It is a bit like walking from a dark, cold room out into the bright, warm sunshine, isn’t it? Hard to describe. Being in a relationship with our Creator, as you point out, changes everything.
Great Comments. 2 Corinthians 5:17-19. In the smaller picture, we are no longer our own god…what a relief. We start to fully trust His Word without having to worry about how it’s possible or worrying about how the next “scientific discovery” will change our faith in nothingness. 1 Timothy 6:20, 21. I love standing on the only firm foundation, my Lord Jesus Christ. Matthew 7:24-27.
Thank you, JEC!
Nice to hear from you! I personally appreciate your comment that “we are no longer our own god … what a relief.” What a relief, indeed! Well put. (Link to JEC’s verses here.)
We are born again…
And we have everlasting life….
And we have a relationship with the heavenly Father…
And we are made holy…
And we are forgiven….maybe should have mentioned this one first
Rob,
Great list! Thank you!!
One thing for sure,..what changes is the attacks from the devil and his demons,..
If I did not accept Jesus as my Savior,..I would be just doing the same old dead to sinful stuff I was doing,..the devil and his demons would just walk on by and leave me alone,..Jesus changed all that. He saved me from the sinful nature of life,..but the old devil still lurks with his temptations in life and certainly works hard at making things look good,..so good that we may think this is all from God,..I mean if it doesn’t feel like a sin,..is it? Ahh yes,..
It really is a fight we are in,..daily,..the fight changes so much that it becomes real,..fighting words are lifted up in prayer and wrote in a journal because we know God is real and will fight for us,..we may not see it but there are heavenly angels gathered around fighting as we speak,..fighting with the words from our prayers that have been lifted up as a pleasant fragrance of incense,..
What changes in a person is the reality of what Jesus did,..it’s not just a tribal myth,..it is the real thing,..God took on flesh and walked in and on His creation,..allowed us to show Him what He already knew what would take place and let us put Him on a cross to die,..some people can’t accept the fact of what Jesus did or the fact that they need Him as their Savior. We really do need to be saved from our bad self,..and I thank God He did just that,..saved me from my bad self
Thanks again,..Jeff
What changes for the person who accepts Jesus as his savior?
The truth is, Before accepting Christ, we are spiritually dead beings walking around in decaying bodies, seeking to satisfy our inner desire for peace from things made by or pointed to by other spiritually dead beings. We know something is not right but the people all around us keep telling us no, no we are living the good life, just do more of what you’re doing and you will see. It’s a lie.
When we accept Christ, we receive eternal life in Christ. We are actually made into a new creation, free from all past, sin which we once sought, free from the power of sin which drew us as we searched for peace. Through Christ we become holy, children of God. Our eternal spirits are given life as we are joined with God by the power of the Holy Spirit, we are “Born Again”
Like waking from a deep sleep, we begin to see the things of this world, power of this world for what it truly is. It’s attraction begins losing it’s appeal as we begin to respond to the Holy Spirit, and seek the righteousness of God which brings peace we had been searching for. We enter into the process of regeneration or transformation, growing from babies to adults.
Christ gives each a new start, a new purpose and a new life. An opportunity to experience living our eternal life in God right now. We begin reading the bible, learning what it means to be a disciple of Christ as the Holy Spirit reveals Gods truths to us, and we begin living our Christian lives as works in progress. We learn the power of fellowship through prayer, making friends and joining a church. Living in obedience to God becomes more and more important as we experience the great peace and contentment which comes into our lives as we seek His will over our own, or that of others.
We have freedom from fear, seek peace with others, and give an increasing amount of time to God as we seek to support all that is good.
Ephesians 4:22-24
Thank you, Ron!
That is a great description of the process of change we go through as Christians. “A new start…” is one of the most amazing things ever about knowing Jesus.
What changes for us? Everything. Every part of our lives, every decision we make, every thing we can hope for or want. Every aspect of our lives should change. Everything that we are and strive to be should change. I know it has with me and I am thankful every day for it.
Tim,
Thank you for sharing! Some of us come to know Jesus slowly over a long period of time. It is harder to see then changes when things move slow. Your experience with Jesus brings the changes into much tighter focus. I love how you express the change; “every part of our lives!” Well said!