sōtēr

This word names the person who does the saving, not the rescue itself. It points to the rescuer, the deliverer, the one you can thank for still being alive. In everyday Greek it was a heavy, public word. It was given to gods believed to heal or protect, to kings and emperors hailed as the savior and benefactor of their people, and to anyone who pulled others out of danger at sea, in war, or in sickness. So the first readers did not hear a soft, private word. They heard a title of honor.

In the New Testament the title is reserved for two persons: God the Father and Jesus. Behind it stands the whole story of the Old Testament, where God is Israel's deliverer, the one who rescues his people from slavery in Egypt, from their enemies, and from death. The New Testament keeps that meaning and gives the same title to Jesus, who rescues people from sin and from the judgment it brings.

The two groups of verses below simply divide by who is being called Savior. Some name God the Father (this is especially common in the letters to Timothy and Titus, and in Mary's song of praise). Others name Jesus Christ. In a few places the two come so close together that one phrase seems to call Jesus both God and Savior at once, which is part of why the word carries so much weight.