Everyone needs a Savior
Can you feel it? The world is looking for a savior right now.
Everything happening in the world – COVID19, racial injustice, riots, mental illness, emotional suffering, medical malpractice, economic uncertainty, cancer, insect plagues, political posturing and games, and on and on and on – add to that list our personal issues and burdens…we all ache for someone to step forward and FIX all that is seemingly broken beyond repair.
As we wrap up our study of Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well, we find something that can help us today:
John 4:39-42
Now many Samaritans from that town believed in Him because of what the woman said when she testified, “He told me everything I ever did.” So when the Samaritans came to Him, they asked Him to stay with them, and He stayed there two days. Many more believed because of what He said. And they told the woman. “We no longer believe because of what you said, since we have heard for ourselves and know that this really is the Savior of the world.”
But what, exactly, do we mean by the word Savior? The Greek word (soter) means savior, one who delivers from grave danger. Note that in the New Testament, this always refers to God the Father and Jesus as the Savior of those who believe…saved from experiencing God’s righteous wrath, and saved to a proper relationship with God. Sometimes the saving is from eternal consequences (like here in John 4), and other times the saving is from living under God’s wrath in the here and now because of willful sin in our lives.
But the Jews expected the Messiah to be their national savior. For the Messiah to also be the Savior of the world would have been a foreign concept. However, if Jesus is the Savior of the entire world, not just Savior of the Jews…this means that, through Him, the Samaritans could have what they have desired for many generations: they were finally included in God’s family.
Here’s an interesting observation from Dr. Constable:
The title “Savior of the world” is unique to John, occurring only in John 4:42 and 1 John 4:14 (cf John 1:29, 3:17). John’s original readers would have been familiar with the title, because the Greeks and Romans gave it to several of their gods and emperors. Nevertheless, Jesus was the true “Savior of the world”, whom these Samaritans recognized as such. Jesus was “God in action”, saving the world. This does not mean that everyone will experience eternal salvation, as the doctrine of universalism teaches, but that Jesus has made everyone savable, and that those who believe on Him obtain salvation.
For clarity, and because of what we’ve learned in our study of John 4, I would add after Dr. Constable’s last word salvation “and eternal life”.
But did Jesus really atone (i.e. – pay) for the sins of the whole world? Some people think that Jesus’ death on the cross only paid for the sins of believers, and that unbelievers were left out of the punishment that Jesus’ took on at the cross. If that is what you have been taught, I suggest you consider these passages:
John 1:29
The next day John [the Baptist] saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Here is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”
1 John 2:2
He Himself is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours, but also for those of the whole world.
Jesus is the Savior of the world, not in the sense that everyone will be saved (the error-filled teaching of universalism) but that His light shines for all (John 1:9) and is available to all (John 12:32). The light is not limited to the nation of Israel, but is for “every nation, tribe, people, and language” (Revelation 7:9)
Because of Jesus, all of humanity no longer has a SIN problem anymore, we have a SON problem…i.e. – whose son are we? Our need now is for eternal life…which only Jesus can give us.
And that’s what we’ve learned through the story of the Samaritan woman that Jesus met at the well. He offered her – the societal outcast – living water and that with one drink, her belief in Him would become a wellspring of eternal life. That same offer is available to Jews and non-Jews…everyone, including you.
Jesus truly is the Savior of the world.
Keep Pressing,
Ken