'Savior' In the Gospel of John and in the Hellenistic World

'Savior' In the Gospel of John and in the Hellenistic World

John 4:42

The confession of Jesus as “the Savior [sōtēr] of the world” (4:42) is used only once in this Gospel and only once in the Johannine Epistles (1 John 4:14). In the Old Testament the designation of Savior is applied a few times to God as the saving one (e.g., Ps 24:5; Isa 12:2; 43:3, 11; 63:8). It is used in a similar way of God in Luke (1:47), 1 Timothy (1:1; 2:3; 4:10), Titus (1:3; 2:10; 3:4), and Jude (25). It is applied to Jesus by Luke (at 2:11; Acts 5:31; 13:23) and in a few other places (Eph 5:23; Phil 3:20; 2 Tim 1:10; Titus 1:4; 2:13; 3:6; 2 Pet 1:1, 11; 2:20; 3:2, 18).

For the early Christians the designation “Savior” was a strategic confession like “Lord.”205 In the Hellenistic world there were many gods and persons designated as “lords” and “saviors” including the Roman emperors such as Augustus, who was virtually deified in the sixth Ecologue of Virgil.206 In contrast, however, the early Christians confessed that Jesus was indeed the Christ, God’s only Son, the Savior. This confession was enshrined in the symbol of the fish (ichthys).207

The expression “Savior of the world” is particularly Johannine. It coordinates magnificently with the baptizer’s initial confession of Jesus as the paschal “Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). John saw Jesus as the answer to the world’s need. The people of the world were the focus of God’s love in Jesus (3:16). The outcasts of Samaria here articulated the purpose of God because Jesus was their expected Taheb, the Savior of the world. Their confession stands as a vivid contrast to the disgust of the Pharisees in the story of the entry into Jerusalem just prior to Passover when in exasperation they finally complained, “The whole world has gone after him!” (12:19).


Borchert, Gerald L. John 1–11. Vol. 25A. Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1996. Print. The New American Commentary.

205 - For an important discussion of “Savior” see W. Foerster and G. Fohrer, “σωτήρ,” TDNT 7.1003–21. Concerning its use in the Johannine Writings see p. 1016, and concerning the emperors see pp. 1010–11.

206 - Although the precise meaning of the well-known text of the Aeneid 6.791–807 is not totally clear, there is no question that Augustus was being highly praised.

207 - The symbol of the fish, ἰχθύς, was an identifying mark in early Christianity for all followers of the one who fished for people. The word itself is an acrostic: I = Iēsous = Jesus; ch = christos = Christ; th = theos = God’s; u(y) = hyios-Son; s = sōtēr = (our) Savior. The acrostic confession concludes with the assertion that Jesus is the Savior.