In my Bible reading a couple of days ago, I was struck by Paul’s use of Savior (σωτήρ) in Titus. Several things stood out to me. First, it occurs 6 times in the small letter of only 46 verses—twice per chapter. It occurs only 24 times in the whole NT. So it’s significant that 25% of the NT occurrences are in Titus.
Second, it occurs three times with reference to the Father and three times with reference to the Son. Paul alternates consistently between calling the Father our Savior followed by the Son as our Savior. The occurrences in chapters 1 and 3 even share the same main thought.
Titus 1:1–4
1 Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness, 2 in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began 3 and at the proper time manifested in his word through the preaching with which I have been entrusted by the command of God our Savior; 4 To Titus, my true child in a common faith: Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.
Titus 1:1–4
Titus 2:9–14
Slaves are to be submissive to their own masters in everything; they are to be well-pleasing, not argumentative, 10 not pilfering, but showing all good faith, so that in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior. 11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, 12 training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, 13 waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, 14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.
Titus 2:9–14
Titus 3:4–7
But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
Titus 3:4–7
I’m sure I’m not the first to take note of this, but it is always exciting to spot little things like this for the first time.
Implications
What are the implications of this? Two come to mind.
- It highlights the equality and oneness of the Father and Son. They are not two separate Saviors. Paul doesn’t refer to God, one of our Saviors, and Jesus, our other Savior. The singular expression, our Savior, applies equality to both, yet does not result in more than one Savior.
- It underscores the unity of the Father and Son in the work of redemption. Jesus didn’t undertake the work of redemption against the will of the Father, who wanted nothing more than to pour out his wrath on us. The Father and the Son acted in a shared love to bring about our salvation.
Other Occurrences of Σωτήρ
Out of curiosity, I looked up the other occurrences of σωτήρ in the NT. Here are the data:
References to the Father (8×)
And Mary said: “My soul glorifies the Lord 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior . . . .
Luke 1:46–47
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope . . . .
1 Timothy 1:1
I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people—2 for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. 3 This is good, and pleases God our Savior, 4 who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.
1 Timothy 2:1–4
That is why we labor and strive, because we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all people, and especially of those who believe.
1 Timothy 4:10
Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ to further the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness—2 in the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time, 3 and which now at his appointed season he has brought to light through the preaching entrusted to me by the command of God our Savior . . . .
Titus 1:1–3
Teach slaves to be subject to their masters in everything, to try to please them, not to talk back to them, 10 and not to steal from them, but to show that they can be fully trusted, so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive.
Titus 2:9–10
At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. 4 But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.
Titus 3:3–7
To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy—25 to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.
Jude 24–25
References to the Son (16×)
Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.
Luke 2:11
They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.”
John 4:42
God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might bring Israel to repentance and forgive their sins.
Acts 5:31
“From this man’s descendants God has brought to Israel the Savior Jesus, as he promised.
Acts 13:23
For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior.
Ephesians 5:23
But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,
Philippians 3:20
but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.
2 Timothy 1:10
To Titus, my true son in our common faith: Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.
Titus 1:4
while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ,
Titus 2:13
whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior,
Titus 3:6
Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours:
2 Peter 1:1
If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and are overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning.
2 Peter 2:20
I want you to recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the command given by our Lord and Savior through your apostles.
2 Peter 3:2
But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.
2 Peter 3:18
And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.
1 John 4:14
It’s worth noting that Titus 2:13 and 2 Peter 1:1 are examples of the Granville Sharp rule.
I am in the habit of using Savior exclusively of the Son. I am going to make a concerted effort to refer to both the Father and the Son as our Savior.
Tom says
I usually think of him as my “saviour” but to each his own ;-) Thanks for this interesting post.
Joe Miller says
hi Phil, I maybe I am missing it. Where does this book reference “Father” as savior?
I see
Jesus = Savior
God = Savior
But where is the reference to Father?
Phil Gons says
In the NT God is usually a reference to the Father.
In Titus 1:1 Paul calls himself “a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ.” The most natural reading is that Paul has two different people in view. In verse 4, God refers to the Father (i.e., “God the Father”). The reference to God immediately preceding (i.e., the end of verse 3) is most naturally a reference to the Father.
In Titus 3:4–7, we have *God our Savior* saving us by the “renewal of the *Holy Spirit*, whom *He* poured out on us richly through *Jesus Christ our Savior*.” Here God clearly does not refer to Jesus or the Spirit, so the most natural understanding is that the Father is in view—a beautiful Trinitarian text.
Hope this helps.
Joe Miller says
hmmm.. I see what you are saying. I did a quick Logos “Bible Speed Search” and noticed that Paul almost exclusively says “God and Father.”
One more question though, if you don’t mind. I think your 2nd point makes absolute sense. But, If these passages teach an equality of Jesus as God (your point one), then why do you suppose Paul never refers to Jesus as “God/”
PS
I came across your site from the Logos news group. I am a trinitarian, and ordained pastor. So please don’t misunderstand my question as someone trying to come in here to “trap” you. I just am looking for a comprehensive understanding of the specific text.
Nick Norelli says
Joe,
In a few disputed passages Paul does refer to Jesus as God (e.g., Rom. 9:5; Tit. 2:13). But I think that the simple answer is that it would have been too confusing for those living within a first century Jewish/monotheistic paradigm (Paul of course being a first century Jewish author).
I think Paul’s way of including Jesus in the “divine identity” (to steal Richard Bauckham’s term) was much more subtle but just as potent. You’ll notice that Paul uses the term “Lord” (κυριος) something like 200 times in his epistles. I believe (and this is without doing a search) 180 of these uses are in reference to Jesus. This has significance because of course κυριος was the dominant translation of YHWH (יהוה) in the Septuagint.
Many scholars (e.g., Martin Hengel, Larry Hurtado, Richard Bauckham) see 1Cor. 8:6 as Paul’s reinterpreted Shema (Deut. 6:4), in which he equates the one Lord, Jesus with the one God, the Father. Of course the Shema was Israel’s foundational confession of faith in YHWH as their God alone.
If I might suggest a few books that you might be interested in (if you haven’t already read them):
Lord Jesus Christ: Devotion to Jesus in Earliest Christianity – Larry Hurtado
God Crucified: Monotheism and Christology in the New Testament – Richard Bauckham
Pauline Christology: An Exegetical-Theological Study – Gordon D. Fee
Putting Jesus In His Place: The Case for the Deity of Christ – J. Ed Komoszewski & Rob Bowman, Jr.
All of these books address your question with much more detail than I have above. You might also be interested in some of these papers:
Christological Resources Online
Trinitarian Resources Online
Phil Gons says
Hi, Joe,
You asked,
As Nick mentions, Titus 2:13 is an example of where Paul does refer to Jesus as God—if you accept the Granville Sharp rule. Here’s the text:
The article governs both God and Savior, which function as a unit, and Jesus Christ is an appositive.
2 Peter 1:1 is another example:
Other possibilities include:
Joe Miller says
Thanks to both of your for the responses. Lots of good references. I will read on :-)