Who Is Our Savior?

Question from a Site Viewer
I’m quite new to Christianity and in the future I intend to get a tattoo with a cross and the words “Our Savior” under the cross. But my question is, “Who is our savior?” For example, when we pray and get help does God or Jesus Christ give us help and answer our prayes? And if I did have “Our Savior” below my cross who would this be referring to?

Tim’s Answer
Thank you very much for writing. You state that you are new to Christianity. You also ask who is “our Savior”? The Savior in Christianity is Jesus. Please let me explain.

The Bible is a book in which God reveals to us His character, His work, and His great desire to have a close, intimate love relationship with each of us. The Bible is a collection of 66 books, starting with Genesis and ending with Revelation. Most of the individual books of the Bible are divided into chapters. And the chapters are divided into verses. This makes it easier to reference specific material in the Bible. Thus, you can find the reference “John 3:16” by finding the book of John in the index to your Bible and then finding chapter 3, and finally finding verse 16 of that chapter. The Bible uses history, stories, poetry, and instruction to teach us about God with a goal of drawing us into a relationship with the living Jesus. I hope you have a Bible. I will give you several passages from the Bible that you can find and read. I encourage you to read not only the passage, but also the surrounding context of the passage. It will help you learn about God.

When God made Adam and Eve in the beginning of time, he made them without sin. You can read about this in Genesis 1 and 2 in the Bible. God told them not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for if they ate of it they would die. Adam and Eve disobeyed God and ate of that tree, thereby sinning, and bringing upon themselves and on all their children death (Genesis 3; Genesis 5; Romans 5:12). Since the time of Adam, almost everyone who is born ultimately dies (Hebrews 9:27). However, living with sin and death is not God’s desire (Ezekiel 18:19-32). God promised to send One who would take away our sin (Isaiah 53:4-12). That Person would be God Himself (Isaiah 9:6; 59:16-20). He is the Savior (Isaiah 45:21-22).

Scripture also teaches us that God is a Trinity, composed of three separate and inter-related persons; namely, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19; John 1:1, 14; John 14:26). God the Son, whom we know as Jesus, performed the work of a Savior for us. At Christmas time, we celebrate the coming of Jesus to this world. In Matthew 1:21, Joseph (Jesus’ step-father), was told that the child to be born should be called Jesus,

for He will save His people from their sins.

Jesus is also known as “Christ,” a word meaning “anointed one.” Significant people (kings and priests) were anointed with oil to signify their position. Jesus was the anointed one. He was the Christ.

Jesus lived among the Jewish people and died around 33 A.D., being crucified on a cross by the Romans who were the rulers at that time. But His death was no ordinary death. As prophesied in Isaiah 53, and as foretold by Jesus, His death was the means by which He bore on Himself our sins, taking the penalty of sin from us, so that we can go free (1 Peter 2:21-25). At Easter time, we who are Christians celebrate His death on our behalf and His physical resurrection three days later.

The Apostle Paul sums up this incredible story of God’s love for us in 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 with these words:

Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.

Everyone who places their hope in this work of Jesus on their behalf and seeks to follow Him is saved (1 Corinthians 15:2; Romans 10:9-13; John 3:16). Jesus, then is both our God and our Savior (Titus 3:13; 4:4-7).

Becoming a Christian is not at all like joining some religion. It is not primarily a way of living rightly. Rather, at its very core, it is about a faith relationship with the Jesus of the Bible. It is about loving Him with all of our heart, soul, strength, and mind and loving our neighbors as ourselves (Matthew 22:37-40). The Apostle Paul states that if anyone does not love the Lord Jesus Christ, let that one be accursed (2 Corinthians 16:22). As Jesus Himself stated:

This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.
(John 17:3)

The idea of “knowing” here is to know intimately, to love deeply. We are also taught to love one another. In fact, the Apostle John tells us that if we say we love God and hate our brother we are a liar (1 John 4:20). Christianity is about drawing close to Jesus.

And in the future, Jesus has promised to return to this earth and take those who love Him to heaven to be with Him forever (John 14:1-3, 18; Acts 1:11; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; Revelation 22:12-17).

So, in answer to your question, if you reference “Our Savior,” you reference the God who has saved us. God is composed of three persons who are distinct and yet united in one being; namely, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. God the Son, who is Jesus, is the person who died to save us from our sins. So, generally, when Scripture speaks of our Savior, it is referencing Jesus Christ. And when we think of our Savior, we generally think of Jesus who died on the cross for our sins.

You ask about prayer and who it is that helps us. In the Bible, all three persons of the Trinity work together to help the saints of God. Jesus taught us to pray to the Father (Matthew 6:9-13) in the name of Jesus (John 16:23-24) and the Father would help us. But Jesus also stated that if we ask in His name He will help us (John 14:13-14). The Apostle Paul sums up our prayer access to God this way:

For through Him [Jesus] we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.
Ephesians 2:18

And the writer of the book of Hebrews tells us:

Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Hebrews 4:14-16

Finally, if I may, I would like to comment on your desire to get a tattoo. I commend your desire to mark yourself permanently in your body as a follower of Jesus. However, I think it may be helpful for you to know that the Bible talks about tattoos. Someday, if you read your Bible, you will come across some instructions that forbid tattoos. For instance, in Leviticus 19:28, God told the children of Israel that they were not to make any tattoo marks on their bodies. This was part of the law that God gave to Israel. I am letting you know this so that you can make your own decision on this matter without being surprised later to find out that the Bible talks about tattoos. I do not believe that the Leviticus passage directly applies to Christians today. However, as with all things, I encourage you to pray and seek the will of God before you make a decision to get a tattoo. This is, in fact, the life of the follower of Jesus. We learn to seek His direction about everything we think about doing.

May the Lord Jesus guide you into a closer, more intimate, and more personal relationship with Himself. May you come to know the height, depth, length, and breadth of His love. May His peace guard your heart. And may you love Him deeply.

A servant of Christ,

tim