SAVIOR (σωτήρ, G5400, deliverer, preserver). A term applied to mighty men, rulers, and ancient gods, but supremely in the Bible to Jesus Christ (John 4:42; Eph 5:23). Basic to the OT is the concept that God is the deliverer of His people. No man could save himself; only God was Savior (Ps 44:3, 7; Isa 43:11; 45:21; 60:16; Jer 14:8; Hos 13:4). In Heb. “savior” is a participle, not a noun, which may indicate that in the thought of the OT this term is not so much a title as it is a description of God’s activity in behalf of His people. Although not a Messianic term in the OT, the Messiah is described in the OT as one coming to offer salvation to all nations (Isa 49:6, 8; Zech 9:9). Mighty men whom God used as instruments of deliverance for His people were also in the OT called by the term “savior” (Judg 3:9, 15; 2 Kings 13:5; Neh 9:27; Obad 21). The LXX used σωτήρ, G5400, in place of the term “salvation,” and thus the term was common to the hearing of those who used that VS of Scripture.

Soter was commonly used among the Greeks as a divine appellation. They, as did the Hebrews, used the term for the mighty men, of philosophers such as Epicurus, of rulers such as Ptolemy I. The Romans used it for their emperors from Nero’s time.

In the NT in contradistinction to other usage, the term is never applied to a mere man, but only to God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. God is described as “savior” in the NT because He authored the salvation that Jesus brought to men (Luke 1:47; 1 Tim 1:1; 2:3; 4:10; Titus 1:3; 2:10; 3:4; Jude 25). “Savior” is in the NT preeminently the title of Jesus. From the beginning He was announced to the world as Savior (Luke 2:11). Although the term is not used by Matthew, Jesus’ mission is described in that gospel as the One to save His people from their sins (Matt 1:21). The distribution of the twenty-four uses of the term in the NT would indicate that, although the term was employed from the beginning in Christianity, it became esp. important toward the close of the NT period. Two-thirds of the usage occurs in the later books: ten in the Pastoral Epistles; five in 2 Peter; and one each in John, 1 John, and Jude. The gospel of Mark and the earlier Pauline epistles do not include “Savior.”

Additional words associated with “Savior” in the NT give insight into its significance in early Christianity. Jesus was described by John as “Savior of the world” in his record of the encounter with the Samaritan woman. Jesus’ significance was such as could not be confined to any single race or people. In the Pastoral Epistles, “the appearing of our Savior” is used (2 Tim 1:10; Titus 2:13), which testifies both to His supernatural origin and glory. The term is also associated with “loving kindness” (philanthropia) in Titus 3:4. Such associations of soter were common in the usage of the Greeks also.

Jesus Himself interpreted His mission as one of salvation, saying “For the Son of man came to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10). The term presupposes a danger, a disaster, from which the rescuer snatched the one whom he helped. The term in both the OT (Isa 53) and the NT suggests deliverance from the worst affliction and trouble known to mankind—deliverance from sin. There is an emphasis also (as in the declaration of the angel) in Jesus’ ministry regarding the recipients of His deliverance; He was the Savior not only of the mighty and the rich or of the learned, but also of shepherds and outcasts such as Zacchaeus.