The Savior of the World
Thomas Boston, 1676–1732
Ettrick, June 7, 1724.
1 John 4:14, "We have seen and testify, that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world."JOHN, the beloved disciple, in his epistles, is still breathing love; love is the string he delights peculiarly to harp upon: so he is either magnifying God's love to us, or pressing our love to God and to one another. And his darling subject, love, is no narrow one, but most comprehensive: it comprehends both the gospel and the law, both faith and works. The love of God to man, is the great doctrine of the gospel, the object of faith; men's love to God and to one another, is the great doctrine of the law of the ten commandments, and the object of holy practice. And there is a near relation between the two: God's love is the fountain, our love the stream; the former the original holy fire, the latter the flame kindled by it. Accordingly, in the text, there is a display of the love of God, for moving us to love one another; the which display of divine love is the substance of the gospel.
Here then we have the gospel, which all the apostles were in one voice to preach unto the world: "We have seen and do testify, that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world." And therein we may consider,
1. The gospel or glad tidings itself, namely, that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. Here is glad news to the world, Christ's mission. The promise of this mission was made to fallen Adam in paradise: believers under the Old Testament lived and died in the faith of it. But the apostles testified it as a thing performed; the Father sent, or has sent the Son. The party sent is the Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ; no other was fit for this mission. The party sending, from whom he had his commission, was the Father, the first person of the glorious Trinity. None of a lower dignity could send one of his dignity. The character in which he was sent, is, "the Son Savior of the world." So the words are without any supplement; of which there is no need here. So Christ is said to have come a teacher from God, John 3:2, that is, in the character of a divine teacher. As one is sent ambassador to such a court, that is, constituted by his prince ambassador to that court, and accordingly sent away in that character; so Christ was constituted, nominated, and appointed by his Father, "Savior of the world," and so sent away into the world in that character. The world is the world of mankind indefinitely, ruined by Adam's sin, John 3:16, "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him, should not perish, but have everlasting life." Therein God's love toward man appeared, Titus 3:4.
2. The certainty of this gospel or glad tidings. All the apostles witnessed with one mouth this great truth: and they witnessed the same as eye-witnesses, having seen the Savior, and conversed with him, and read his commission for that effect, and behold heaven's seal again and again set to it in his miracles. And this matter of their witnessing from their eye-sight, was so much stood upon, that the apostle Paul, who was not called to be an apostle until after Christ's ascension, was allowed first to see with his eyes, before he should bear witness, Acts 26:16, "I have appeared unto you for this purpose, to make you a minister and a witness both of those things which you have seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto you."
DOCTRINE. It is the great truth and testimony of the gospel, that the Father has sent his Son Jesus Christ in the character of Savior of the world.
In prosecuting this doctrine, I shall,
I. Take notice of some things imported in this testimony.
II. Open this character, "Savior of the world," in which Christ was sent.
III. Apply.
I. I shall take notice of some things imported in this testimony.
1. The world needed a Savior; otherwise one had not been provided for them by him who does nothing in vain. It was a sick world, east into a desperate illness by eating of the forbidden fruit; and needed a physician to cure the distemper, Matthew 9:12, "Jesus said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick." It was a cursed world, staked down under wrath by the sentence of the broken law; and needed a Savior to remove the curse, and bring in the blessing, Acts 3:26, "God having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you," etc. It was a lost world, lost to God, lost to themselves, lost to all good, lost and perishing under the wrath of God; and it needed one to seek and save them, Luke 19:10, "For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost."
2. None of inferior dignity to the Son of God could be the Savior of the world. No man, nor angel, was able to sustain the character of Savior of a lost world: the work which lay to that office was above the reach of the whole creation, Revelation 5:3, "And no man in Heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon." Here was a trial of the divine love to man; his case was hopeless and helpless from all the creatures: and it issued in that, "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son," John 3:16.
3. Christ was sent Savior of the world from heaven's proper motion. The plot to save man, was concerted entirely without him. The world did not meet, and send one to the court of Heaven, with a petition for a Savior, that a Savior was granted to their earnest entreaties and supplications: but the Father, of preventing free love, sent his Son Savior of the world. The world's need spoke loud, but they themselves were quite silent; and yet their needs spoke no louder than those of the fallen angels: and sovereign free grace heard the voice of man's need, while it stopped its ears to the voice of the needs of fallen angels, Titus 3:4, "But the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared."
4. Christ is fully furnished for the saving of a lost world. His being sent in that character, speaks his ability to answer it, Hebrews 7:25, "Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost, that come unto God by him, seeing he ever lives to make intercession for them." There is no case to be found in the world, but what there is a remedy to be found in Christ for. Whoever in the world shall die, they shall not die because there was no help for their case in the Savior, but because they did not employ him, or put their case in his hand. The Savior of the world is certainly able to save the world; since he was sent of God in that character.
5. Lastly, The salvation of lost sinners of the world of mankind is very acceptable to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus, as well as to himself, otherwise he had not sent his Son Savior of the world, 1 Timothy 2:3, 4. "For this is good and acceptable in the sigh of God our Savior; who will have all men to be saved." Hence it is called "the pleasure of the Lord," Isaiah 53:10. "The pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand." So he is said to make the marriage for his Son, and to send forth to bid to that marriage, Matthew 22. Whence it is evident, that there is no impediment to the salvation of sinners by Jesus Christ, on Heaven's part; it is pleasing to the Father, to his Son, and to his Spirit.
II. I shall open this character, Savior of the world, in which Christ was sent; and for that end inquire into two things. 1. In what sense Christ is Savior of the world. 2. What is the business committed to him as such.
First, In what sense Christ is Savior of the world. A Savior is a name of honor, and a name of business. It is an honorable thing to save and help the miserable; to be destined, appointed, and called to that employment: but the honorable post has business annexed to it; it will not do without activity, which success is expected to attend, as in the case of a teacher, physician, and the like. Now, one may be a Savior, even as a teacher or physician, of a society, two ways.
(1.) In respect of office, as being called to and invested with the office of saving, teaching, or curing that society. And thus one is Savior, teacher, or physician of that society, before ever he save, teach, or cure any of them. In this respect one may be called an official Savior, teacher, or physician.
(2.) In respect of the event and success, as actually and eventually saving, teaching, and healing. As the former arises from an appointment put upon such a one; this arises from the work he manages in virtue of that appointment. In this respect one may be called an actual and eventual Savior. Thus it is said, Nehemiah 9:27. "And, according to your manifold mercies, you gave them saviors, who saved them out of the hands of their enemies. This premised, we say,
1. Our Lord Jesus is the actual and eventual Savior of the elect only, in whose room and stead only he died upon the cross, according to the eternal compact passed between him and the Father, in the covenant of grace, otherwise called the covenant of redemption; for these are not two, but one and the same covenant. Thus the apostle calls him "the Savior of the body," Ephesians 5:23. that is, of the elect, who make up the body whereof he was appointed the head from eternity, and in whose name he contracted with the Father in the eternal covenant. And he is their Savior eventually, as actually saving them, Matthew 1:21. "And she shall bring forth a son, and you shall call his name Jesus; for he shall save his people from their sins." None but these will ever truly employ him as a Savior, or put their case in his hand: and there are none of them but will certainly employ him sooner or later, Acts 13:48. "As many as were ordained to eternal life, believed." John 6:37. "All that the Father gives me, shall come to me; and him that comes to me, I will in no wise cast out."
2. Our Lord Jesus Christ is the official Savior, not of the elect only, but of the world of mankind indefinitely; so our text calls him "Savior of the world." Agreeably to which, God in Christ is called "the Savior of all men," but with a speciality, "the Savior of them that believe," 1 Timothy 4:10. The matter lies here: like as a prince, out of regard to his subjects' welfare, gives a commission to a qualified person to be physician to such a society, a regiment, or the like; and the prince's commission constitutes him physician of that society; so that though many of them should never employ him, but call other physicians, yet still there is a relation between him and them; he is their physician by office; any of them all may come to him if they will, and be healed: So God, looking on the ruined world of mankind, has constituted and appointed Jesus Christ his Son Savior of the world: he has Heaven's patent for this office; and wherever the gospel comes, this his patent is intimated. Hereby a relation is constituted between him and the world of mankind; he is their Savior, and they the objects of his administration: so that any of them all may come to him, without money or price, and be saved by him as their own Savior appointed them by the Father.
That Christ is thus the Savior of the world, appears, if you consider,
1st, Scripture testimony, which is plain. Our text expressly calls him so: and so do the believing Samaritans profess their faith in him, John 4:42. "We have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world." You have the appointment of Heaven very plain thereanent, John 3:16. "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him, should not perish, but have everlasting life;" even as the brazen serpent lifted up on the pole in the wilderness was the ordinance of God for healing to the stung persons of the whole camp of Israel. Hence Christ's salvation is called the common salvation, Jude verse 3; a salvation which any of mankind sinners may lay hold on. So the Savior's birth is said to be "glad tidings for all people," Luke 2:10, 11; which it could not have been, if he had not been a Savior for all people. Wherefore he himself testifies, that he came to save the world, John 3:17. "God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved." Chapter 12:47. "I came not to judge the world, but to save the world." This was his office; to save sinners indefinitely; not this or that sort of sinners, but sinners of mankind indefinitely, without exception, 1 Timothy 1:15. "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners;" the lost, Luke 19:10. "The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost;" 2 Corinthians 5:19. "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them." To the same purpose he declares himself "the light of the world," namely, by office, John 8:12. that whoever will employ him may have the light of life.
2dly, If it were not so, he could not warrantably be offered with his salvation to the world indefinitely, but to the elect only; more than he can be offered lawfully to fallen angels, who are not within his commission as a Savior. For the ministerial offer can never lawfully carry the matter beyond the bounds of Christ's commission from his Father. But Christ and his salvation may be warrantably offered to the whole world of mankind-sinners, with assurance that whoever of them will employ him to save them, he shall be saved: Mark 16:15, 16. "Go you into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature." "He who believes, shall be saved; but he who believes not, shall be damned." Moreover, if it were not so, the unbelief of hearers of the gospel, not elected, their not coming to Christ for salvation, could not be their sin: for it can never be one's sin not to do a thing he has no warrant for; not to employ one to save him, whom God never appointed to be his Savior. So it is not the sin of fallen angels, that they believe not in Christ for salvation, because they are not within the Savior's commission; nor of those who never heard of Christ, because his commission was never intimated to them. But not believing in Christ the Savior, is the sin that ruins the hearers of the gospel who do at all perish, John 3:19. "And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil." Finally, if it were not so, the elect themselves could never believe in Christ, until in the first place their election were revealed to them; which is contrary to the stated method of grace: for they can never believe on Christ for their salvation, until they see him to be a Savior for them.
There are two things further to be remarked on this head.
1. The ground upon which Christ might be constituted Savior of the world by office. And that was the sufficiency of the merit of his death and sufferings: for though Christ died only in the room and stead of his elect, on the cross sustaining their persons only, according to that John 10:15. "I lay down my life for the sheep;" yet the price paid for them being of infinite worth, was sufficient in itself to save the whole world. The bread provided for them, namely, a crucified Christ, was sufficient to give life to and feed, not them only, but the whole world of mankind: and therefore he might be appointed Savior of the world, John 6:33, 51. "The bread of God is he which comes down from Heaven, and gives life unto the world. I am the living bread, which came down from Heaven: if any man eat of this bread, be shall live forever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world."
2. The reason why he actually was constituted Savior of the world. Among several reasons that might be given for this, I shall only observe here this one, namely, that it was put upon him as a piece of honor, the reward of his great service, in laying down his life for and instead of those who were the objects of his Father's electing love, Isaiah 49:6, 8. "And he said, It is a light thing that you should be my servant, to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give you for a light to the Gentiles, that you may be my salvation unto the end of the earth. Thus says the Lord, In an acceptable time have I heard you, and in a day of salvation have I helped you: and I will preserve you, and give you for a covenant of the people." The Father for that cause invested him with "all power in Heaven and earth," Matthew 28:18. John 5:21, 22. "As the Father raises up the dead, and quickens them; even so the Son quickens whom he will. For the Father judges no man; but has committed all judgment unto the Son." And it was a reward suitable to his work.
Secondly, What is the business committed to him as Savior of the world. Not to descend into particulars here, we may take it up in these two.
1. It is to save sinners from their sin, Matthew 1:21. "You shall call his name Jesus; for he shall save his people from their sins." Satan ruined the world by bringing sin upon them: thereby they were bound with the cords of guilt, the image of God in them was defaced, they were polluted and made loathsome, and shut up in the hands of a strange lord. God has appointed Christ Savior of the world, that sinners may come to him, and be delivered from their sins, 1 John 3:8. "He who commits sin, is of the devil: for the devil sins from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil." It was an inveterate disease, the cure of which was quite beyond the reach of any mere creature, as far as the raising of the dead is: so he was appointed Savior in the case, Psalm 89:19. "I have laid help upon one that is mighty; I have exalted one chosen out of the people."
2. It is to save sinners from misery, to free them from destruction, Hosea 13:9. "O Israel, you have destroyed yourself, but in me is your help." They are by sin made objects of wrath, laid under the curse of the broken law, liable to revenging wrath for time and for eternity: he is appointed to save them from all this, upon their coming to him, and employing him for that purpose, Isaiah 32:2. "And a man shall be as an hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land." Sin let in a deluge of miseries on the world, which flow about the sinner continually in greater or lesser measure: he is a Savior to dry it up to them, 1 Corinthians 1:30. "But of him are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption."
USE. I. Of information.
1. Behold here, admire, and believe the great love of God to a lost world, in providing a Savior, and such a Savior, for them, even his own Son. The Scripture speaks of this in a very high strain, John 3:16. "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son," etc. There was a man-love in God, Titus 3:4. "But the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared;" a love of the kind, mankind. It has appeared in two eminent instances.
(1.) In securing, by an irreversible decree, the salvation of some of them.
(2.) In providing a Savior for the whole of the kind, constituting his own Son Savior to the lost family of Adam indefinitely. Believe it with application to yourselves. If upon this a secret murmur begins to go through your heart, But it was not for me; crush it in the bud, for it is a bud of Hell. If you are not one of the devil-kind, but of sinful mankind, it was for you. The Father gave Christ a Savior for you, that if you would believe on him, you should not perish: he sent his Son from Heaven with full instructions and ample powers to save you, if you will believe. And is not this love? Believe it, and it will be the way to let you in to a sight of more love.
2. Behold here a broad and firm foundation of faith for all and every one of you; that you may come to Christ, whatever your case is, and claim his righteousness and his whole salvation for yourselves; that you may betake yourselves to him as the refuge appointed for you by the Father, from sin and wrath, with as much freedom as a stung Israelite might have looked to the brazen serpent; that you may wholly trust on him, that he will save you from sin and wrath. For he was sent of the Father Savior of the world; and if by the Father's appointment he is Savior of the world, he is by office your Savior, and my Savior, since we are members of that world of mankind: so that we may by faith claim his saving us from sin and wrath; as a scholar bred in a place may claim teaching of him who is appointed master of a free school in that place; as those of a congregation may claim preaching of their own minister; and as the wounded in battle may claim healing of their own physician, who has a commission to be physician to their regiment. "For we testify, that the Father sent the Son Savior of the world."
3. Sinners living in their sins, pining away, and about to perish eternally in them, are without excuse. For "we testify, that the Father has sent the Son Savior of the world:" John 15:22. "If I had not come, and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloak for their sin." Sinners are destroyed with their living and raging lusts, they are run down with them as with running sores, their souls are bleeding to death with them as with mortal wounds: in this case they hold on over the belly of their convictions; and they say, they cannot help it. One cannot help his swearing; another his sensuality; another his pride, passion, covetousness, gross ignorance, his old corrupt unrenewed heart. But the truth is, you will not have it helped, John 5:40. "You will not come to me, that you might have life." If you cannot help it, you have a Savior who can help it, and would certainly help it if you would employ him. Know it of a truth, if any of you shall perish, and if you go on in your sins you shall perish, you shall not perish for want of a Savior. At the tribunal of God, the devils may say, we could not be saved from our sins; for there was no Savior appointed for us: the pagans may say, we could not be saved; for though we were within the compass of the Savior's commission, yet we never heard of it, it was never intimated to us. But what will you have to say, that you are not saved from your sins; when your Savior shall sit judge upon you, and condemn you, to suffer the vengeance of eternal fire, for that you would have none of him, nor his salvation; you would not be saved from your sins, would not put your case in his hand; though he had his Father's commission to be Savior of the world, and your Savior, and it was read to you, you would not receive him as your Savior, but would rather die in your sins than employ him?
4. Believers themselves may be ashamed and confounded, for that iniquity prevails so against them. Alas! it is a sad sign the Savior is little employed among us. Little living by faith, makes little holiness of life. O look to that sin that so easily besets you, that has so often wrecked your soul's case: believe you have a Savior for it, and employ him.
USE II. For trial.
Try whether the Savior of the world by office is your actual Savior; whether or not he has saved you. Think not that Christ puts off his saving of sinners until they come to Heaven: true, they are not completely saved until they be there; but if your salvation by Christ is not begun here, you shall never get there: Titus 3:5. 6. 7. "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Spirit; which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior: that being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life." And you have no right before the Lord to his table, if he has not been a Savior to you actually and eventually, in having saved you from sin and wrath initially, though not completely: for if it is not so, it is an evidence you have not received him as your Savior; for no sooner is he employed by a sinner but he begins to save that sinner.
Mark 1. If Christ has really begun to save you, you will have the saved man's thoughts of sin, and of the wrath of God. If a drowning man were pulled alive out of a water, or a filthy stinking puddle; and standing at the side of it, looking to it after that gliff; what would be his thoughts of that water, that puddle, where he was once over head and ears, and almost gone? Such will be your thoughts of sin, and of the wrath of God. You will have awful and reverend thoughts of the wrath of God above all awful things: Hebrews 12:28. 29. "Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and godly fear." For our God is a consuming fire." Matthew 10:28. "Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in Hell." Of all terrors it will be to you the most terrible. Those in the state of wrath, they are either so as they have lost their senses in it; they know not where they are, they are dreaming of some pleasant place; and so they go on peacefully in their sins, undisturbed with thoughts of wrath: or else they have some terrible apprehensions of it; but there is something more terrible; and therefore they will rather sin than suffer the hardships attending duty, yes attending mortification: or else their heart is fire-hot with the terror of the wrath of God, and in the meantime, at least, key-cold of love and child-like affection to the God whose wrath it is. But the saved soul looks on it as of all things the most awful, but in the meantime with a child-like reverence of and affection to that God whose wrath it is.
Mark 2. You will have a transcendent esteem of and love to your Savior, 1 Peter 2:7. "Unto you which believe he is precious." His conscience-purifying blood, his soul-sanctifying Spirit, will be more valuable to you than a thousand worlds. You will desire them above all things, pant and long after them, and yes more and more of them: and in comparison of them, all the world will be but trifles in your eyes, which you would be content to part with to gain them: Matthew 13:46. "The merchantman when he had found one pearl of great price, he went and sold all that he had, and bought it." Luke 14:26. "If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple." Philippians 3:8, 9. "Yes doubtless, and I count all things but loss, for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung that I may win Christ, and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith."
Mark 3. Lastly, You will be groaning under the remains of the disease of sin you are saved from; your conscience will witness you would gladly be wholly rid of it, Romans 7:24. "O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death!" Your souls will be longing for the complete salvation; that the enemies you see today, you may see no more forever; that you may get a complete victory over all your corruptions: Romans 8:23. "We ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body."
USE Last.
Receive the Lord Jesus, then, O sinners, in that character wherein his Father sent him, as the Savior of the world, and your Savior. You are lost in your sins, and lost under the wrath of God, and the curse of the law; come to him for his whole salvation. Employ him, put your case in his hand as your Savior by the Father's appointment; and slight him no more.
Motive 1. Consider you need a Savior. Your disease of sin will ruin you, if you be not saved from it. The guilt of it will stake you down under wrath, and the wrath of God will sink you into Hell. And while sin keeps its dominion over you, be sure the guilt is not removed: Matthew 9:12. "They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick." Genesis 2:17. "But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat of it: for in the day that you eat thereof, you shall surely die."
Motive 2. There is no Savior besides Christ, Acts 4:12. "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under Heaven given among men whereby we must be saved." All others are physicians of no value. All your own endeavors will not save you, nor anything any creature can do for you.
Motive 3. He is able to save you, Hebrews 7:25. "He is able to save them to the uttermost, that come unto God by him." Whatever be your case, there is infinite merit in his blood to take away the deepest guilt, 1 John 1:7. "The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin." There is an infinite efficacy of his Spirit to sanctify the most unholy, 1 Corinthians 6:11. "And such were some of you: but you are washed, but you are sanctified, but you are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." If you doubt it, you dishonor Christ, and his Father who sent him, Psalm 89:19. "Then you spoke in vision to your holy One, and said, I have laid help upon one that is mighty; I have exalted one chosen out of the people."
Motive 4. He is willing to save you, Revelation 22:17. "And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that hears, say, Come. And let him that is athirst, come. And whoever will, let him take the water of life freely." The only thing wanting is your willingness to be saved, Jeremiah 13:27. "Woe unto you, O Jerusalem, will you not be made clean? when shall it once be?" There is no fear of being rejected if you come, John 6:37. "Him that comes to me, I will in no wise cast out." He has taken on him the office of Savior of the world, and he cannot refuse the business of it.
Motive 5. Lastly, You must either receive him as your Savior from sin and wrath, according to his commission from Heaven; or you will be, and be held refusers of him for your Savior, after his Father has nominated and commissioned him for that effect. Consider how you will answer that before the judgment-seat.
Question. How shall I receive him, and employ him? Answer. By faith, by believing on him. Being convinced of your sin and cursed state, and desiring to be saved from both, believe Christ is your Savior by his Father's appointment; and so wholly trust on him as a crucified Savior, for his whole salvation, on the ground of God's faithfulness in his word.