Parts of the biblical text can become so familiar to us that we read them without thinking, assuming we understand when, in fact, we may be missing the point or even failing to notice a potential problem. One such passage for me was...
In preparing the general unit on soteriology, I collected most of the verses that refer to salvation, redemption, forgiveness, and atonement in order to get an overall understanding of biblical usage. What I discovered surprised me.
I. Salvation required knowledge of God.
II. Salvation required devotion to God.6
What to remember: Despite the few references to spiritual salvation in the Old Testament, Old Testament saints understood what it meant to know God and to be able to call on Him for physical salvation. The devotion they describe and exemplify is the same kind New Testament writers describe and exemplify, the kind that characterizes a proper (and permanent) relationship with God. In other words, God has dealt with people the same way throughout history, offering them salvation on exactly the same terms. He also saved them on exactly the same basis—the atoning sacrifice of Jesus, "the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world" (Rev 13:8).14 Therefore, in regard to salvation, there is no difference between the Old Testament and the New Testament.15
For the very extensive Endnotes, see the pdf here.
Rom 4:1 What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather, discovered in this matter? 2 If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about—but not before God. 3 What does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness."I had considered it, as I assumed Paul intended, to be one of the clearest statements that God has always justified (i.e., saved) by faith, that there was no difference between the way people got saved before or after the New Testament. However true that may be, when I looked more closely, I noticed a problem with the Old Testament text Paul cites and the way he uses it.
Gen 15:5 [The LORD] took [Abram] outside and said, "Look up at the heavens and count the stars—if indeed you can count them." Then he said to him, "So shall your offspring be." 6 Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.What is the problem? ...The Genesis passage is not about salvation.2 How, then, does this affect (our understanding of) Paul's argument?
In preparing the general unit on soteriology, I collected most of the verses that refer to salvation, redemption, forgiveness, and atonement in order to get an overall understanding of biblical usage. What I discovered surprised me.
- First, I expected physical salvation to be prominent in the Old Testament, as it indeed is; but I did not expect so few references to spiritual salvation.
- That usage is almost the exclusive domain of the New Testament. (The only explicit Old Testament mention I could find is in Ps 51.)
- This suggests that Old Testament saints did not have a well-defined concept of soteriology, as we have been studying it.
- That may be irrelevant, however, because the second thing that surprised me is that the Old Testament requirements for physical salvation are the same as those for spiritual salvation.
- In other words, Old Testament saints may not have understood the theological details of spiritual salvation as well as New Testament writers did, but they did know what having a relationship with God entailed; and that is what determines salvation...of either sort (physical or spiritual).
What attributes, then, did Old Testament writers consider part of a proper relationship with God, the kind of relationship that allowed them to appeal to God for physical salvation and gave them confidence that He would respond?
- This is essentially Paul's argument in Rom 4, when he appeals to the example of Abraham. The Old Testament context (Gen 15:1-6) has nothing to do with salvation...of either kind—it is about Abraham's belief that God would fulfill the promise of an heir—yet Paul cites this instance of faith to indicate the kind of attitude that God honors with salvation.
I. Salvation required knowledge of God.
A. Old Testament saints knew what attributes motivate Him to save.
1. Compassion3
- Judg 2:18 Whenever the LORD raised up a judge for them, he was with the judge and saved them out of the hands of their enemies as long as the judge lived; for the LORD had compassion on them as they groaned under those who oppressed and afflicted them.
- Neh 9:28 "But as soon as they were at rest, they again did what was evil in Your sight. Then you abandoned them to the hand of their enemies so that they ruled over them. And when they cried out to you again, you heard from heaven, and in your compassion you delivered them time after time.
2. Love4
- Ps 6:4 Turn, O LORD, and deliver me; save me because of your unfailing love.
- Ps 109:21 But you, O Sovereign LORD, deal well with me for your name's sake; out of the goodness of your love, deliver me... .26 Help me, O LORD my God; save me in accordance with your love.
3. Righteousness
- Ps.71:2 Rescue me and deliver me in your righteousness; turn your ear to inc and save me.
B. Old Testament saints knew what attributes enable Him to save.
1. Power5
- Ps 20:6 Now I know that the LORD saves his anointed; he answers him from his holy heaven with the saving power of his right hand.
- Ps 106:8 Yet he saved them for his name's sake, to make his mighty power known.
2. Authority
Keep in mind that this list is illustrative only. Old Testament saints knew more about God than what we see here. These divine attributes are merely ones that biblical writers explicitly associate with salvation.
- Ps 71:3 Be my rock of refuge, to which I can always go; give the command to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress.
II. Salvation required devotion to God.6
A. Old Testament saints knew what they must do to receive salvation.
1. Repent7
- Ps 79:9b ...deliver us and forgive our sins for your name's sake.
- Isa 30:15 This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says: "In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it.
2. Believe8
- Ps 22:4 In you our fathers put their trust; they trusted and you delivered them. 5 They cried to you and were saved; in you they trusted and were not disappointed.
- Ps 86:2 Guard my life, for I am devoted to you. You are my God; save your servant who trusts in you.
- Isa 25:9 In that day they will say, "Surely this is our God; we trusted in him, and he saved us. This is the LORD, we trusted in him; let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation."
3. Fear9
- Ps 85:9a Surely his salvation is near those who fear him....
- Ps 145:19a He fulfills the desires of those who fear him....
4. Love
- Ps 91:14 "Because he loves me," says the LORD, "I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.
B. Old Testament saints knew what they must be to maintain salvation.
1. Humble10
- Ps 18:27a You save the humble....
- Ps 149:4 For the LORD...crowns the humble with salvation.
2. Obedient11
- Judg 10:13 But you have forsaken me and served other gods, so I will no longer save you.
- Ps 119:155 Salvation is far from the wicked, for they do not seek out your decrees....166 I wait for your salvation, O LORD, and I follow your commands.
3. Righteous12
- Ps 37:39 The salvation of the righteous comes from the LORD; he is their stronghold in time of trouble.
- Isa 64:5 You come to the help of those who gladly do right, who remember your ways. But when we continued to sin against them, you were angry. How then can we be saved?
4. Grateful13
- Exod 15:2 The LORD is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise him, my father's God, and I will exalt him.
This list of attributes is not exhaustive. It merely illustrates that Old Testament saints knew what relating to God involved. They knew what kind of deity had chosen them as His people and what He expected from them. They may have lacked the details of salvation available to us, but they still had a good understanding of God's ability and willingness to intervene on their behalf as well as an appreciation of their proper place before Him. God does not help His people physically under conditions different from the help He extends spiritually. That was Paul's point in using Abraham as an example of saving faith. (Moreover, our final salvation is both physical and spiritual.)
- Ps 106:47 Save us, O LORD our God, and gather us from the nations, that we may give thanks to your holy name and glory in your praise.
What to remember: Despite the few references to spiritual salvation in the Old Testament, Old Testament saints understood what it meant to know God and to be able to call on Him for physical salvation. The devotion they describe and exemplify is the same kind New Testament writers describe and exemplify, the kind that characterizes a proper (and permanent) relationship with God. In other words, God has dealt with people the same way throughout history, offering them salvation on exactly the same terms. He also saved them on exactly the same basis—the atoning sacrifice of Jesus, "the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world" (Rev 13:8).14 Therefore, in regard to salvation, there is no difference between the Old Testament and the New Testament.15
For the very extensive Endnotes, see the pdf here.
Hebrew children in the Old Testament were born into God's covenant, both male and female. Circumcision was the sign of this covenant for boys, but the sign was not what saved them. Faith saved them. Rejecting the sign, circumcision, for boys, either by the parents or later as an adult himself, was a sign of a lack of true faith, and therefore the child was "cut off" from God's promises as clearly stated in Genesis chapter 17:
ReplyDelete"Every male among you shall be circumcised. 11 You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. 12 He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised. Every male throughout your generations, whether born in your house or bought with your money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring, 13 both he who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money, shall surely be circumcised. So shall my covenant be in your flesh an everlasting covenant. 14 Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.”
What was the purpose of this covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? God tells us in the beginning of this chapter of Genesis:
"And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you."
This covenant wasn't just to establish a Jewish national identity or a promise of the inheritance of the land of Caanan, as some evangelicals want you to believe. In this covenant, God promises to be their God. Does God say here that he will be their God only if they make a "decision for God" when they are old enough to have the intelligence and maturity to decide for themselves? No! They are born into the covenant!
If Jewish children grew up trusting in God and lived by faith, they then received eternal life when they died. If when they grew up, they rejected God, turned their back on God, and lived a life of willful sin, when they died, they suffered eternal damnation. Salvation was theirs to LOSE. There is no record anywhere in the Bible that Jewish children were required to make a one time "decision for God" upon reaching an "Age of Accountability" in order to be saved.
Therefore Jewish infants who died, even before circumcision, were saved.
The same is true today. Christian children are born into the covenant. They are saved by faith. It is not the act of baptism that saves, it is faith. The refusal to be baptized is a sign of a lack of true faith and may result in the child being "cut off" from God's promise of eternal life, to suffer eternal damnation, as happened with the unfaithful Hebrew in the OT.
Christ said, "He that believes and is baptized will be saved, but he that does not believe will be damned."
It is not the lack of baptism that damns, it is the lack of faith that damns.
Gary
Luther, Baptists, and Evangelicals
An orthodox Lutheran blog