What the Bible says about Christ as Savior
(From Forerunner Commentary)
In our culture, one's name means little, most often merely as a way of identifying and distinguishing people. We can glimpse how significant it was to people in biblical times when we realize that we link reputation or prestige to a person's name. We use phrases like “he ruined the family name” or “his name is mud” to express that someone is of low repute or character.
An individual's name meant far more than that in ancient times. Then, a person and his or her name were bound together, the name representing the person's essence. In the Old Testament, certain persons' names defined them. For example, Jacob means “heel-catcher,” characterizing his underhanded, deceptive nature, but God renames him Israel, “one who prevails with God,” after his conversion. Christ Himself is named Jesus, “Savior.” God's names likewise identify His character traits: He is Eternal, Creator, Almighty, our Banner, our Healer, our Sanctifier, our Peace, our Righteousness, our Shepherd, our Master, etc.
Thus, the request in Matthew 6:9—and God's command in the third commandment (Exodus 20:7)—means more than just how we use or pronounce God's names. It implies that we revere what God's names stand for. He desires that we regard His names and thus Him and His character reverently, taking the pursuit of Him and His way of life seriously as a matter of profound aspiration.
Richard T. Ritenbaugh
The Model Prayer (Part Three): Hallowed Be Your Name
No sign announcing His identity could be more clear. The long-awaited Promised Seed, Messiah, Redeemer, Savior, and Creator—all in one living, divine Being—had arrived on earth to do His work and was duly announced as no other had ever been.
John W. Ritenbaugh
Leadership and Covenants (Part Eleven): SignsRelated Topics: Christ as Messiah | Christ as Savior | Jesus Christ as Redeemer | Leadership and Covenants | Promised Seed
He says He had glorified the Father. Since the Son has returned to the Father in heaven, and the church is formed and joined to the Son as one organism, the church now has the responsibility to glorify the Father. How? By becoming one with Him just as the Son was—by the power of God's Spirit given to us.
Christ glorified the Father by successfully completing the work the Father gave Him to do. He qualified to be our Savior, Redeemer, and High Priest, and along the way, He preached the gospel to others. Our responsibility is to yield to Him, allowing Him to form us into His image by growing, overcoming, producing fruit, and carrying out the works of the church as He assigns them.
John W. Ritenbaugh
All in AllRelated Topics: Bearing Fruit | Christ as Savior | Church as Organism | Fruit, Bearing | Glorifying God | Glorifying God by Our Example | Glory | Jesus Christ as High Priest | Jesus Christ as Redeemer | Jesus Christ as Savior | Overcoming | Unity in Christ | Unity with God | Yielding to God | Yielding to God's Will