Interesting Questions-27
A man giving Salvation
Letter to the Editor:
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)
“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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