Hi Mike,

It’s been awhile since I’ve written. I hope you and your family are doing well. I’m doing quite well myself and am continuing to enjoy your ministry. I had a question pop into my head as I was driving from work today. What is your opinion of the oft- used term, “personal Savior” as in “accepting Jesus Christ as your personal Savior?” Is it scriptural?

Thank you, Brother,
D____

Hi D____,

It is always good to hear from you. We are doing just fine here in Flowery Branch, and I am glad to know you are doing well and are enjoying the iswasandwillbe. com site.
You ask if the phrase ‘personal savior’ is scriptural? Yes, it certainly is. God is not at this time working with large groups of men, but He is the personal Savior of a few scattered sheep. Being our personal Savior is not a Biblical phrase, but it certainly is the Biblical meaning of these verses:

Luk 17:20 And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:
Luk 17:21 Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you [ personally].
1Co 3:16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and [ that] the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? [ personally]
Col 1:27 To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you [ personally], the hope of glory:
Joh 10:4 And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice [ personally].
Joh 10:5 And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.
Joh 10:14 I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am [ personally] known of mine.
Eph 4:16 From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.
Php 2:5 Let this mind be in you [ personally], which was also in Christ Jesus:

None of these verses deny that there is also a corporate body with many members, but that corporate body of Christ is a group of individuals who all, individually, have been given the same “mind of Christ.” This corporate body cannot say or act as if is it has no need for the rest of the body, nevertheless, every part of this body personally knows the voice of the true shepherd.

1Co 12:12 For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is [ the] Chris t.
1Co 12:13 For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether [ we be] Jews or Gentiles, whether [ we be] bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.
1Co 12:14 For the body is not one member, but many.
1Co 12:15 If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?
1Co 12:16 And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?
1Co 12:17 If the whole body [ were] an eye, where [ were] the hearing? If the whole [ were] hearing, where [ were] the smelling?
1Co 12:18 But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him.
1Co 12:19 And if they were all one member, where [ were] the body?
1Co 12:20 But now [ are they] many members, yet but one body.
1Co 12:21 And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you.
1Co 12:22 Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary:
1Co 12:23 And those [ members] of the body, which we think to be less honourable, upon these we bestow more abundant honour; and our uncomely [ parts] have more abundant comeliness.
1Co 12:24 For our comely [ parts] have no need: but God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honour to that [ part] which lacked:
1Co 12:25 That there should be no schism in the body; but [ that] the members should have the same care one for another.
1Co 12:26 And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it.
1Co 12:27 Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.

And while we function as a spiritual body, is not God interested in each of us in particular?

Luk 15:4 What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?
Luk 15:7 I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.

I hope these verses all serve to demonstrate that Christ knows and loves each of us personally, and yet we are all a corporate body which shows the same personal and individual care for each of its members.

Your brother in Christ,
Mike