| How Were People Saved Before Christ? |
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| Written by David Lawrence |
| Monday, August 03 2009 00:00 |
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Recently we have been answering a significant question received from a young Christian friend. Another young man, student, friend, Christian, and subscriber to our devotionals provided me with yet another excellent question as stated in the title above. It is a question that often concerns us. I can remember a time when I would have answered that people before Christ were saved by their obedience to the law. That was really illogical and ignorant, for if people could be saved before Christ by the law, then they can be saved after Christ by the law. Yet Scripture says that by the works of the law shall no one be justified (Gal. 2:16). In our sin we could never meet the righteous demands of the law perfectly so as to merit salvation…not before or after Christ. Here is my answer to my young friend: As far as salvation before Christ is concerned, the key passage is Heb. 9:15 which says that Christ died for the transgressions committed under the first covenant so that (all) those called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, now that Christ has died to set them free from their sins committed under that first covenant. Thus no one was saved by animal sacrifices, as the blood of bulls and goats cannot take away sins. They merely were types and shadows pointing to the ultimate sacrifice of Christ. The only efficacious sacrifice is Christ. Salvation was open to them by grace, and those who are saved before Christ were called, just as we are called. No one is saved based on his works, whether before or after Christ. All who are saved, however, are saved by works, the perfect works of Christ: His perfect obedience and complete satisfaction on the cross. Thus Abraham, Moses, David, and all the saints of the Old Testament era are saved (obvious from Jesus' own comments about sitting down with these saints in the eternal kingdom), but saved in the same way as we. Paul asserts that they drank from the spiritual rock of Christ (1 Cor. 10:1-5), said that the gospel was preached to Abraham (Gal. 3:8), and the writer of Hebrews says twice in Heb 4 (vv 2 & 6) that the Israelites had the gospel preached to them. Yet they are justified by faith, as are we (Heb. 11). And the passages in Heb. 4 state that they did not believe the gospel preached to them. It uses the term "disobedience" which actually means that they did not heed the word. Although they did not hear the fullness of the gospel in terms of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ that we do (1 Cor. 15:1-5), what they did hear was the gospel in prophecy and prospect. Those who were called believed it and were saved by the blood of Christ, as are we. |
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