He will save His people from their sins. Jewish people?

Question

Matthew 1:21

And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins.”

Why does he save His people only?

Answer 1

God can only save those who have answered the call of the gospel of Christ.

>"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." (1 Cor. 12:13, KJV)

Jesus' sacrifice was not just for one nation, but for all nations of people. That is what the Feast of Nations - or the Feast of Tabernacles - signified. It was the fulfillment of the prophesy of Isa. 2:1, that people of all nations would flow into the house of the Lord.

So, the answer is determined by knowing who His people are, and they are all those from every nation that have answered the call and been immersed into Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection. That includes the Jews, the house of Cornelius of the Italian band, the Ethiopian eunuch, the Roman jailer with Paul - anyone who will be immersed for the forgiveness of their sins into Christ.

"27 For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." (Gal. 3:27 - 29, KJV)

If we are immersed / baptized into Christ Jesus, and if we are then counted for Abraham's seed/ descendants, then all who are in Christ - no matter from which geographical nationality on this earth - are the true Israel of God, the true house of the Lord, and are His people.

He cannot save anyone who has not been baptized into Christ, because He will only forgive the sins of those who have. All those who have rejected Jesus as the Son of God and the Savior of the world are outside of the covenant relationship, and they will face the judgment of their sins (Matt. 22:11-13).

It has nothing to do with the blood line, and everything to do with the faith line of the faith of Abraham (Gen. 17:19-21, Rom. 4:3-16).

So,then who are His people? His people are all those of every nation who have answered the call of the gospel of Christ (Acts. 22:12-16).

Answer 2

Yes, He will save His people from their sins, as promised in Psalm 130:8, which parallelism indicates that He is the same one, the same Lord mentioned in this psalm, because from political oppression and occupation even a human liberator can be envisaged, but for liberation from oppression and tyranny of sins neither man, nor angel, but God only is fit.

But what are those sins? Only body-related sins like inclinations to adultery, lust, gluttony etc.? Or also psychological sins like anger, envy, jealousy? But are those two categories enough for encompassing the notion of "sin"? Does not cognition and ideas apply to this category? Yes, of course also cognition and ideas, the world-view, the theological visions etc.

Now, the Lord Jesus Christ will liberate the Jews from their cognitive sin of regarding themselves higher than other nations and not seeing in representatives of other nations their brethren and sistern. Indeed, the Lord Jesus Christ debunks this egotistic and theologico-chauvinistic conviction of Jewish teachers by many teachings and actions of His, just remember Him speaking with a representative of not only non-Jew, but even the arch enemy of Jews, a Samaritan woman, or Him healing a Phoenician woman, or Him speaking about instances of prophets to come not to Jews but to representatives of other nations due to them being more eager and receptive to the prophetic presence and words (cf. Luke 4:27), for saying of which He so enraged the Jews present in that synagogue that they attempted to kill Him (Luke 4:29).

So, if this epistemological sin will be cleansed from Jews by the Lord Jesus Christ, then they will understand that His mission is universal and He heals all sins: a) body-related, b) psychological and c) epistemological/cognitive not only in Jews but in all humans worldwide.

Answer 3

Jews or Israelites were the chosen people for God's revelation, covenant and promises (Romans 9-11) however the whole nations belong to God. Being saved from sins implies repentance from ungodliness and turning to godliness. Such people are called his chosen, his children or people. It was never exclusive to the chosen Israelites. The Bible teaches that religion does not save anyone. James 2, Romans 2. And the wall that separated the nations from the covenant of God has been broken through the new covenant of faith in Christ, see Eph 2.

Acts 10:34-35 ESV So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.

1 Tim 4:10 NASB For it is for this we labor and strive, because we have fixed our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of believers.

Answer 4

I agree with Gina's excellent answer. Here, I'll supplement a little.

Matthew 1:

20 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

Joseph would have understood the term "his people" as the Jewish people. Matthew was a Jew. He showed how Jesus fulfilled the Jewish prophecies, Matthew 2:

6 “’But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’”

So, it made perfect sense that the angel spoke to Joseph that way. However, we also know that that was not the whole story. Luke, the Gentile, told us more in Luke 2:

8And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. 11Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.

Jesus was for all the people, Jews and Gentiles.

Not every Jew would be saved, Matthew 12:

46 While Jesus was still talking to the crowd, his mother and brothers stood outside, wanting to speak to him. 47Someone told him, “Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you.”

48 He replied to him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” 49Pointing to his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. 50For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”

Not every Gentile would be saved either, John 1:

11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

Why does he save His people only?

The angel spoke to Joseph in terms of "his people" to show that Jesus fulfilled the OT Messianic prophecy. However, the meaning of this term was broader than what Joseph had understood.