What did Christ come to save us from?

What is salvation, salvation from what? (Bible and SOP quotes are acceptable...)

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.

From What? Their sins!

There is nothing like "sinful flesh". Jesus said so. "Jesus called the crowd to him and said, 'Listen and understand. What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.'" (Mat. 15:10-11)

So all the food you eat or drink is immaterial when it comes to your state as a person before God. "'Are you still so dull?' Jesus asked them. 'Don’t you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body?'"

Then he said, "But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them. For out of the heart come evil thoughts — murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander." (Mat. 15:16-19)

Did all of those things come out of the heart of Jesus? I don't think so. Yet he was the son of man, just as we are. In conclusion therefore, there is no such thing as "sinful flesh"; but every man sins when he follows after the enticement of the wicked one. Jesus was without sin.

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1 Peter 2:24 Who his own self bore our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live to righteousness: by whose stripes you were healed.

Romans 8:3-4 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: 4 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

2 Corinthians 5:21 For he has made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

John 14:30, "I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, AND HE HAS NOTHING IN ME."

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John 14:30 Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world comes, and has nothing in me.

Yep! Exactly.

John 17:4 I have glorified you on the earth: I have finished the work which you gave me to do.

Well said!

Heb. 2:18, "For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted (YET WITHOUT SIN), he is able to succour them that are tempted (WHO CONTINUE IN SIN)."

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Being tempted is not a sin, else Christ being tempted would be a sinner, to quote Hebrews 2:18

True. Therefore there is nothing like "sinful flesh", else Christ would be sinful and he was not.

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That is your opinion which I do not share. Romans 8:3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:

The term "sinful flesh" is used ONCE in all of the Bible, i.e. in the passage you quoted. It means "human beings in rebellion against God." Jesus flesh (like that of everyone else) was not sinful. He just came looking VERY MUCH LIKE US, but of a wholly superior pedigree.

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"The flesh" is not merely the meat and blood of a body, nor is it always conscious rebellion against God.
"The flesh" means the drives and passions the bodily pleasures and comforts --
A person living after the flesh may be giving lip service to Christ, but his lifestyle is geared to satisfying all the urges of the flesh where these control him, instead of godly principles controlling them.


"For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting." Gal 6:8

As born again Christians we are to become deaf to the unrighteous demands of the flesh.

Christ was fully human, with a body with all the natural drives common to humans. But He was totally deaf to its unrighteous demands.

1 Cor.9:27 I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.

The body must not be allowed to rule.
Paul compares this to the athletes in a race who are very strict with their bodies in order to have strength and endurance, they must not yield to fleshly desires, pampering the body, and its lusts and appetites if they wish to run successfully.

The same with a Christian -- though not referring to depriving the body of its true needs which are necessary for strength and endurance, it strongly warns of the dangers of following the urgings of the body and indulging it.

How many are trapped in destructive life habits, and life styles due to the urgings of the body, and their giving in to those urgings????



Jesus was born with the same type of body as any other human being, but He never allowed it's urgings to control Him, He was never trapped by them due to indulgence into destructive habits.
His mind ruled the body and kept it in perfect subjection to higher principle.

Whereas, too often humanity allows the body to rule them.
Some even blame God for their sins saying -- "He made me this way, so it must be good", not realizing the sinful urgings and desires have strengthened in humanity through generations of indulgence in sinful living.

Amen! Not only did He save us from our sins (past) He also saves us from sinning (present and future).

"And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin." 1 John 3:5.

"Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin." Romans 6:6.

"This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh." Galatians 5:16.

"Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin; that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God." 1 Peter 4:1-2.

When God says, "Thou shalt not," He in love warns us of the consequence of disobedience, in order to save us from harm and loss.

From an Internet blog:
Salvation is central to Christianity. Yet, despite the fact that salvation is central to Christian existence, few people seem to understand it.

Perhaps we should expect non-Christians to misunderstand salvation, which most do. But this misunderstanding certainly isn’t limited to non-Christians. Christians themselves often don’t seem to understand the Bible’s concept of salvation.

Christians readily claim that they are “saved.” However, the natural follow-up question to this is: They are saved from what?

As obvious as that follow-up question should be, it does not get asked nearly as often as it should. Consequently, some really weird ideas seem to surround the pop-Christian notion of salvation.

A popular Christian claim regarding salvation is that, when they die, the “saved” people go to heaven and the “unsaved” people go to hell. This idea indicates that God is metaphysically relocating people to either a realm of reward (heaven) or a realm of punishment (hell).

If this is the case, then “saved” means saved from the punishment of hell. But, of course, we have to press the question and ask: Who is supposedly responsible for this system of relegating souls to either heaven or hell? The answer must be God.

If that is the case, doesn’t this popular notion of salvation imply that salvation means salvation from God?

Are we supposed to believe that “salvation” refers to a means to escape what God might do to us? Are we “saved” from God’s own potential damnation of us?

And what, pray tell, are these UNRIGHTEOUS demands of the body? Did Adam's body, before he fell, make ONLY RIGHTEOUS DEMANDS?

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He came to "save us from ruin." {GW92 55.3}