A man giving Salvation
Letter to the Editor:
GOD'S MESSAGE, December 2009, p.3
GOD'S MESSAGE, December 2009, p.3
CORRECT ME IF I'M MISTAKEN, but the Bible directly teaches that God the Father is Savior and so is Jesus Christ. This is one of the proofs that Jesus is indeed God—something which the Church of Christ adamantly refuses to believe. If the Savior Jesus Christ were not God, then why do we need Him if we already have the Father for salvation? And if He were just a man as you believe obstinately, so how can a man give salvation?
Name withheld
Editor's reply:
It is true that God the Father is Savior (Isa. 45:21 -22) and that Jesus Christ is also Savior (John 4:42; Eph. 5:23). However, to assume that Christ is also God because He is Savior is to ignore the teachings of the Holy Scriptures on how He became Savior:
"It was Jesus, a descendant David, whom God made the Savior of the people of Israel, as he had promised." (Acts 13:.23, Today's English Version)
"Him God has exalted to His right hand to be Prince and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins." (Acts 5:31, New King James Version)
Clearly, therefore, Christ is Savior because He was exalted and made as such by God. Now, if Christ's being made Savior made Him God, then comes the absurd conclusion that Christ became God because He was made as such by another God.
The Holy Scriptures also teaches that Christ Himself needed salvation from God (Heb. 5:7, Ibid.) Could this have meant that one God "offered up prayers and supplications" to another God "who was able to save Him from death"? Surely not, as this contradicts the doctrine of the Bible that there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things" (I Cor. 8:6, ibid.)
To further ask, "Why do we need Jesus if we already have the Father for salvation?" and "How can a man (Jesus) give salvation" is to overlook, to say the least, the biblical pronouncements on the manner through which the Father will grant salvation? The Father, who alone is God (John 17:3), will give salvation through "the man" He has ordained, Jesus Christ. The Bible explains:
"And now—all glory to him who alone is God, who saves us through Jesus Christ our Lord ... " (Jude 1:24, Living Bible)
"Because He [God] has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead." (Acts 17:31, NKJV)
As Jesus was ordained or appointed to be "the man" through whom God will judge the world, it is Him (Christ) who will come on the "end of the age" (Matt, 24:3, NKJV) to bring judgment on all (Jude 1:14-15, TEV). Jesus will grant salvation or the right to "inherit the kingdom" to His sheep (Matt. 25:31 -34} or the members of His Church (John 10:16; Acts 20:28, Lamsa Translation; Eph. 5:23) because God gave Him the authority to give eternal life (John 17:2). Indeed, Christ became Savior by virtue of the authority given to Him by the Father.
"Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?” (Matthew 24:3, NKJV)
It was Enoch, the sixth direct descendant from Adam, who long ago prophesied this about them:
"The Lord will come with many thousands of his holy angels to bring judgment on all, to condemn them all for the godless deeds they have performed and for all the terrible words that godless sinners have spoken against him!" (Jude 1:14-15, TEV)
"The Lord will come with many thousands of his holy angels to bring judgment on all, to condemn them all for the godless deeds they have performed and for all the terrible words that godless sinners have spoken against him!" (Jude 1:14-15, TEV)
“When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:" (Matthew 25:31-34, NKJV)
And as regards the nature of Christ's being, the Bible explicitly declares of Him through whom salvation is to be found:
"Listen to these words, fellow Israelites! Jesus of Nazareth was a man whose divine authority was clearly proven to you by all the miracles and wonders which God performed through him. You yourselves know this, for it happened here among you. (Acts 2:22, TEV)
"Salvation is to be found through him alone; in all the world there is no one else whom God has given who can save us." (Acts 4:12, TEV)
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