Jesus is Savior to all.
I read this statement recently. I was immediately caused to consider the accuracy of this statement.
Understand, there are ways in which I could explain this statement to be an accurate statement. But without getting into involved explanations, without having to qualify points, without getting into ifs, ands, ors, and buts — just taking it as a simple, straightforward statement — is Jesus Savior to all?
It would be great to build the suspense, but I realize the cat is already out of the bag. My answer to that question is no. No, Jesus is not the Savior of all.
The first problem I see with this statement is that if (in a simple, straightforward understanding) Jesus is Savior to all, then all will be saved. But the Holy Scriptures are clear that there will be a population in hell. “Then shall He say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels (Matthew 25:41, also verse 46, John 5:29, Revelation 20:15, and other places of Scripture). Why would the Holy Spirit warn us time and again of eternal punishment if none were to suffer it?
This leads us to the second problem with this statement. If Jesus were supposed to be the Savior of all, if that was His desire, if that was why He came and died on the cross but not all will be saved, then Jesus failed. If He failed to save even one, can we trust that He saved any? Dare we say, even hint, that the Lord has ever failed?
Such is not the case; He never fails at what He determines to do. In Isaiah 46:10 He says, “My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure,” in the 11th verse He states, “I have purposed it, I will also do it.”
King Nebuchadnezzar declared that there wasn’t anyone who could stop Him from performing His will or even cause Him to pause to justify His actions (Daniel 4:35). No! He is never disappointed in His purpose.
So, if Jesus is not the Savior to all, who is He the Savior to? He is the Savior of those who have faith; He is the Savior of those who believe that He is the Lord (Romans 3:26).
As the angel put it to Joseph, He is the Savior of His people (Matthew 1:21). As Jesus Himself stated, He is the Savior of all that God the Father gave Him (John 6:37). Jesus is the Savior to all of these, for He will not lose a single one of them (John 6:39-40). He will, He has, saved every one of them. In His prayer in the 17th chapter of John, Jesus certified to the Father that He had not lost any which the Father had given to Him (v. 12).
To say that Jesus is Savior to all is not a true statement. We either find ourselves saying that all are saved, which is not true; or we find ourselves saying that He failed in what He came to do, which really isn’t true.
What we can say is that Jesus is the only Savior (Acts 4:12). And we can say that He is a faithful Savior, for He did not fail when He came to earth to save.
•Philip Green is pastor of Greenwood Primitive Baptist Church.
