What Is the Source of Salvation?

Read the Scriptural answer.

In some contexts, salvation or victory can come through human battles (Judg. 15:18; 1 Sam. 19:5; 2 Sam. 23:10-12; 1 Kings 13:17; 1 Chron. 11:14).

However, this post talks only about salvation coming from God alone. He alone is the source.

Let’s look at some key verses.

1.. God is called “Savior.”

1 Chron. 16:35 is part of a long song of praise from Asaph, the lead musician, appointed by king David. It is a prayer that God would deliver Israel from other nations. “God our Savior!”

Ps. 25:5 says that he trusts God and prays that God would teach him his paths. “You are God my Savior.”

In Is. 43:11, God prophesies poetically that Israel and his servant are his witnesses. And one fact to which they are witnesses is that they have no other Savior but he.

In Is. 45:15 and Is. 45:21, the prophetic poem says God is Israel’s national Savior. Israel lived in a rough neighborhood, so this nation needed protection.

Mic. 7:7 teaches us that the southern kingdom, Judah, was so degraded that family members would snitch and betray each other. However, the prophet trusts in only the LORD, his Savior.

2.. God is Israel’s salvation.

Ex. 15:1-2 is part of the song that Moses and the Israelites sang after God delivered them from Egypt through the Red Sea. God was truly their salvation.

Ps. 27:1 teaches us that since God is our salvation, we have nothing to fear. He is our strong fortress.

According to Is. 12:2, after the Root of Jesse (David’s father) will stand as a banner, then Israel will say individually that the LORD himself is his salvation. The root turned out to be Yeshua ha Meshiach, Jesus the Messiah, offspring of David.

Jnh. 2:9 teaches that when Jonah was going through the toughest time in his life—buried in a big fish’s belly, like Jesus was buried in the tomb—he sang a song of deliverance. “Salvation comes from the LORD.” The word could have been translated “rescue” comes from him.

3.. Worldwide salvation is promised through God.

Ps. 67:2 says that when God saves Israel, the surrounding nations will know and also experience God’s salvation. Of course this was fulfilled the most clearly in Yeshua (Jesus) and how church that spreads the gospel to all nations.

Is. 49:6 tells us that Israel will be a light to the nations (Gentiles). Again, this was fulfilled in Yeshua the Messiah and through his church.

Is. 52:10 says that as the LORD was rebuilding ruined Jerusalem, all the ends of the earth will see God’s salvation. Verses 13-14 go on to describe the first glimpse of the suffering servant, Yeshua.

4.. Christ is the Savior.

Salvation is in his name alone.

In Acts 4:12, the high Jewish council (Sanhedrin) had experienced some degree of salvation because God favored Israel. Elohim and YHWH (same being—God) saved them. However, Peter stood before and told them that it was only the name of Jesus that would save them now—no other name under heaven but his is the way to salvation.

In Acts. 10:43, Peter is surprised to learn that God through Christ offers salvation to the Gentiles, as well as the Jewish people. This fulfills the promises in Psalms and Isaiah discussed above.

Rom. 10:13 says that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

Jesus is called Savior.

In Luke 2:11 an angel of the Lord appeared to shepherds in the night and proclaimed that in Bethlehem the Savior has been born to them. He was the Savior for the world and for the shepherds.

In Acts 5:31, Peter preached before the high Jewish council that God exalted the Messiah Jesus to his own right hand, as Prince and Savior.

Eph. 5:23 says that Christ Jesus is the head of the body—his own church—and its Savior.

In Ti. 1:4, Paul greets Titus, his mentee and fellow-missionary, asking for him God’s grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus their Savior.

Also, Ti. 2:13-14 teaches us about the deity of Christ. We await the return of the great God and Savior, Christ Jesus. So here Jesus is God.

He saves his people from sin.

Matt. 1:21 says that Jesus’s very name (Yeshua) means salvation. Joseph was to name him that because he will save his people from their sins.

He saves the lost.

Luke 15:3-10 unfolds two stories about a shepherd that lost one sheep and went to look for it, leaving behind the ninety-nine other sheep. He found it and celebrated with his neighbors. Then a woman lost one silver coin out of ten and turned her house upside down to look for it. She found it and celebrated with her neighbors. So angels rejoice when one sinner repents.

Luke 19:10 says that salvation came to Zacchaeus’s household because he had decided to do good acts, returning money to those whom he cheated. The Son of Man came to seek and save the lost.

He saves the world.

John 3:16-17 proclaims that God loved the world so much that he sent his Son into the world, to save it, not condemn it.

John 12:47 proclaims that same idea. Jesus won’t even judge people who do not keep his words, because he came to save the world, not (yet) judge it.

1 John 4:14 teaches us that God sent his Son into the world to be its Savior.

How does this post help me grow in Christ?

I would like to elaborate on Acts 4:12, which says that only in Jesus’s name is salvation offered—no other name. In a pluralistic society people do not like exclusivism. However, believers in Jesus should not be afraid to proclaim the exclusivity of Jesus and salvation through him alone.

He is the source of salvation.

Other religions claim that their religion is better than other ones. Gautama left Hinduism because it was inadequate. He became the Buddha. Hindus say that Buddhism is deficient because it does not honor their gods. Shinto priests attacked Catholic priests when they landed in Japan. Islam? Do we really need to talk about it? Pagans were attacked and killed. Jews and Christians, people of the Book (Bible), could remain as they were but pay a second-class citizenship tax.

But the goal here is not to analyze these different religions (See my post Ten Big Differences between Christianity and Other Religions). Rather, the goal is to strengthen you in the proclamation of the gospel in Jesus’s name.