Bill Mounce

For an Informed Love of God

σωτήρ

σωτήρ means “savior.

“Today in the town of David a σωτήρ has been born” (Luke 2:11).

Mounce's Expository Dictionary (abridged): 

Noun: σωτήρ (sōtēr), GK G5400 (S G4990), 24x. Whereas in the OT the noun yešûꜥa, (“Savior”) describes Israel’s God, in the NT σωτήρ becomes a title for Jesus. The angel in Bethlehem announced the birth of a “Savior” in the town of David (Lk. 2:11). The townspeople in Sychar, after meeting Jesus, told the Samaritan woman, “We know that this man really is the Savior of the world” (Jn. 4:42). Typical in the NT letters are references to “our Savior Jesus Christ” (Tit. 1:4; 2:13; 2 Pet. 3:18).