Contemporary evangelical thought refers time and
again to Jesus "bringing" and "delivering" 17 salvation, as if
salvation were the beneficial product which Jesus the
"delivery-boy" came to provide. Darrell Bock refers to
Jesus as "the divine dispenser of salvation," 18 apparently
casting Jesus into a role similar to a bubble-gum dispenser
or a medical dispensary. How often have you heard
someone refer to another who allegedly "got saved," as if
salvation were some "thing" that we get and possess or
some static experience or event? These epistemological
concepts rend salvation from the necessary coherence with
the Savior, so that the historical redemptive work of the
Savior is detached and separated from the present
experience of salvation. The risen and living Lord Jesus
and His on-going "saving life" (Rom. 5:10) become but an
unnecessary redundancy, for salvation stands alone as a
mechanical divine effect of an historically enacted event.
God forbid that such should be promulgated in the name of
Christianity!
Salvation cannot be separated from the Savior. There is
no salvation apart from the ongoing, continuous, dynamic
saving life and action of Jesus the Savior. The divine
source and the salvific effect are combined. His saving
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