Salvation in the Old Testament

Today I want to be a little more scholarly in my thoughts. I was recently asked a question by a fellow faith member that kind of went like this, how did the people in the Old Testament get saved and how did Jesus death play out for them. Here is my answer to that question.

   Faith is a vital attribute of the believer that is talked about greatly throughout the Bible. The acts of the faithful and the description of faithfulness is scattered throughout Scripture. The eleventh chapter of the book of Hebrews focused on the faithful servants of God. Faith was an important description of the New Testament believer. Paul continually writes about faith in his letters to the early church. He mentions faithfulness in the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22), he twice gives faith a description as an armor to put on from God (Eph. 6:16, 1 Thes. 5:8), and he commends many different people and individuals for their faith as a strength for him. Faith is discussed in great detail in the Old Testament as well. Habakkuk 2:4 says, “Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith”. Faith was a saving component in the Old Testament person. Many people are commended for their faith but also many people are condemned for their faithlessness. Ultimately faith was the deciding factor for a person. The Old Testament individual was saved by God through their faith in a coming Messiah and also their faith in God to take away sin in His grace that He had promised.

            But how did grace from God play a part in the life of the Old Testament saint and how was it different for them to receive the grace since there was no physical form manifested yet in Jesus Christ? As we have already seen, grace was played out in the original law that was given to Moses. God was providing a way for His grace to be sustained without His son arriving yet. God showed His favor or grace many different times and many different ways throughout the Old Testament. To Adam, God gave a way and promise out of his sin. To Noah, God gave a way and promise to escape the coming flood. To Abraham, God gave a promise of the coming seed or heir even after Abraham thought he could do it his own way. God showed Abraham the ultimate grace when in Genesis 15:6 it says, “And he believed the Lord, and He counted it to him as righteousness”. Many other stories tell of God’s favor being shown to men and women who did not deserve it. Paul reminds us in Galatians 3:18, “For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise”. Paul was saying that God showed His grace to them by the Law, which kept them under His grace because they could never keep the Law themselves, so God showed them His grace. The law is inferior to Christ, who is the fulfillment of the law.  He provided a way that never had to be kept.  True salvation, according to Paul, comes from God keeping His word, not by human action under the law. That is why Jesus Christ abolished the Law and gave us a new freedom in Him.