Has Jesus Ever Saved His People From Sins?

A question was asked by B. on behalf of his/her friend:

"Since the bible says that 'he will save people from their sins', should we await another savior or should we maintain that Jesus is the one who is the savior despite the obvious fact that sins has not yet disappeared in the lives of people?"

Dear B, this is an interesting question. It seems that it arose from this beautiful verse:

"And she shall bear a son, and you shall call His name JESUS: for He shall save His people from their sins." Matthew 1:21  

The question that your friend is asking is, 'since we still sin or experience sin - isn't it then the proof that we are not yet saved from sin and that we should look for another savior who can save us from sin?'

Fair question. I would try to answer it in two approach.

I/ What does it mean "He shall save His people from their sins"?

The angel Gabriel introduced Jesus mission as 'save his people from their sin'. His people were initially only referring to the Jews (Israel) and subsequently the rest of the world. However the Angel Gabriel didn't explain what he meant by that statement. So in order to avoid off the chart speculation, we can look at other passages of how Jesus is also introduced in he bible and that might help your friend get some form of an answer:

*. "The next day John sees Jesus coming to him and says, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!" John 1:29

Here John doesn't use the word 'save from their sins' but the statement 'take away the sin'. So it could be reasonably argued that Jesus saved his people from sins, by taking their sins away from them.

Let me use a fictitious example, it is like saying, this Harvard professor will save people from HIV. And if someone else come and said, this Harvard professor has taken away the HIV. We would conclude that they meant the same thing. Since HIV could kill the people, and by taking it away - people who would have died of AIDS (as a result of HIV) would be saved.

Back to our bible. Jesus saved his people (Israel and the rest of us) from their sins by the mechanism of taking away their sins. He took it away from them.

II/ How did Jesus do that? How did He saved his people from their sins and took them away?

There is plenty of scriptures that speaks of that. But for the sake of brevity and clarity, i will touch one which is multiply attested in the Holy Scriptures.

a. "Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins." Act 5:31

In this scripture, St. Peter is pointing at Jesus' saving work in two domains: 1) giving repentance to Israel (his people) and 2) giving forgiveness of sins.

It seems that St. Peter saw Jesus saving works through people's repentance and people's forgiveness of sins. This fits well with what St. Gabriel the angle said about the savior's work:

"And she shall bear a son, and you shall call His name JESUS: for He shall save His people from their sins." Matthew 1:21

b. "But that ye may know that the Son of man [Jesus] hath power on earth to forgive sins, (he saith to the sick of the palsy,)" Mark 2:10  

It seems to me that Jesus' way in dealing with sins on earth was to forgive sins, just like Peter commented about Jesus' saviorhood. So forgiving sins, is the way Jesus take away sins. Hence it is the way he saves people from their sins. A savior needs power in order to save. And Jesus's power among other, is His power on earth to forgive sins. That is how he saves people from theirs sins. He saves them by giving them forgiveness of sins.

Jesus used the parallel of forgiving sins and forgiving debts in the Gospel of Mathew. When we forgive financial debts, we take away the debt from the debtor. Hence when sins are forgiven, it means that sins are taken away from the sinner. Exactly the way John the Baptist introduced Jesus' work in John 1:29.

This leads us into the next point!

c. "[God] Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:" Colossians 1:13-14

When we speak of being saved from something, we also mean that we have been delivered from something. And St. Paul coming from a similar angle as St. Gabriel and St. Peter, informed his readers that God has saved them from the power of darkness by the procedure of the forgiveness of sins. Forgiving sins is the way we have been delivered or saved.

Then the normal question comes, if we have been saved of our pass transgression by the blood - so what will happen to my new transgressions and sins? The bible give the same answers. Just like you were saved from all your past sins, you will be saved from all your new sins in the same way, by the forgiveness of those sins.

How does it work? The same way it worked the first time in the believers' life and going back to the first century. The access to the benefit of God's forgiveness is free. All one has to do to benefit of that saving power of the forgiveness of sins is to do what the Apostle John did and encouraged all other believers to do - it is to confess one's sins.

"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 1John 1:9.

The formula has never changed. It has always been free to all who need forgiveness through the precious blood of Christ, they just have to humble themselves and confess their sins. This is how they are saved from sins or forgiven of their sins.

Hence, beware of people who are discouraging people to confess their sins. For they are standing in between those who need to be saved from their sins and the savior who is saving them of their sins and forgiving them from their sins.

And the answer is no. We do not need to wait for another savior. Jesus is the lamb of God that deliver us from our sins!

UPDATE:

By 'deliver us fro ours sins', I mean believers included. Jesus savior role doesn't stop when we believe. He continues to be our savior. St. Paul recognize as much:

"we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe." - 1Timothy 4:10 ESV

Jesus saving action in saving us from our sins still continues even after our conversion. He still forgive us and cleanse us from any sins and unrighteousness:

"He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world." 1John 2:2