Salvation in the Old Testament - Online Christian Library

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John S. Feinberg, “Salvation in the Old Testament” Tradition and Testament. Essays in Honor of Charles LeeFeinberg. Chicago: Moody Press, 1981. Hbk. ISBN: 0802425445. pp.39-77.Messiah, would have to die for the sins of His people (cf. Dan. 9:24-26―commentators generallyagree that in order for the things mentioned in verse 24 to be accomplished, Messiah the princewould be cut off, as mentioned in verse 26).In addition to the theme of sacrifice, there is the theme of promises. Some promises concernsalvation from sin and thus overlap the theme of sacrifice. Others are of a national, political, andsocial nature. Walter Kaiser has argued that the theological center of the Old Testament canon isthe notion of promise. 19 One can hardly read Kaiser’s work and not be convinced that the conceptof promise is crucially important for the whole of Old Testament life.Thus we see that in each period of the Old Testament economy, the specific content revealed formen to believe involved truths about sacrifices and promises. The change of dispensations did notabrogate existing promises but rather supplemented and amplified them. Passages such asGenesis 3:15-16, Genesis 9 (Noahic covenant), Genesis 12 and 15 (Abrahamic covenant),Deuteronomy 28-30 (Palestinian covenant), 2 Samuel 7 (Davidic covenant), and Jeremiah 31(New Covenant) show that even though dispensations changed, God did not abrogate Hispromises. He amplified and clarified them.Promises were not only important in terms of believing that in the future God would do what Hepromised. They were also important from the standpoint of past fulfillment. The ways God haddemonstrated His faithfulness in the past formed a basis for trust in Him for salvation and forfulfillment of promises in the future. Paul states very clearly that the giving of the law did notnullify the promises made to Abraham (Gal. 3:16-17). God’s revelation concerning His promisesis cumulative.The specific content to be believed, then, was cumulative, and it was composed of two majorcomponents: sacrifice and promise. 20 The believing Jew, therefore, whether he understood whathe was doing or not, was committing himself to the God of the promises, the God who hadfaithfully formed the nation of Israel and brought her out of Egypt and into the land, and the Godwho had revealed all along that sin could be atoned for by means of blood sacrifice. This is whatit means to say that the content of faith in the Old Testament is cumulative. The person whocommitted himself in faith to that God, and all that He had revealed about His saving and keepingpower, was saved.But only since the time of Jesus Christ has the revealed content to be believed coincided entirelywith the basis, or ground, of faith. During the age of grace, God has revealed the fulness ofsalvation through the shed[p.61]blood of Jesus Christ (the basis of salvation in any age). Neither God’s acts in history nor Hisrevelation concerning His acts had given man the complete content about Christ. We must becareful not to think that during the Old Testament economy it was necessary to accept the contentover and over again to be saved. For example, one might think that since during Old Testamenttimes a sacrifice was required for each sin, the person was being saved with each sacrifice. As weshall see, such a view is a misunderstanding of the function of Old Testament sacrifices as well as
John S. Feinberg, “Salvation in the Old Testament” Tradition and Testament. Essays in Honor of Charles LeeFeinberg. Chicago: Moody Press, 1981. Hbk. ISBN: 0802425445. pp.39-77.a confusion of the requirement for salvation with the expression of faith that a saved personwould make. Moreover, merely doing sacrifices never justified anyone. What did justify therepentant sinner was a one-time commitment to the God who had revealed that sin was to beatoned for by blood sacrifice (as well as whatever else He revealed for that economy). The OldTestament believer might fall out of fellowship with the Lord and need to return to Him, but theredoes not seem to be an indication that once a person was saved he could lose that salvation andneeded to be saved over again.BELIEVER’S EXPRESSION OF SALVATIONJust as the specific content of faith changes as revelation progresses (the content is cumulative),so there is an aspect of change in regard to the fifth element of salvation, the believer’sexpression of his salvation. It is crucially important not to confuse this element with therequirement for salvation. The requirement (faith) confronts a nonbeliever as he contemplatesGod’s message of salvation. The specific expression of faith confronts the believer as hecontemplates how he is to live out the salvation he has already been given. It is his way ofresponding to God in obedience as evidence that he has already believed.The believer’s expression of faith must take into consideration at any given point in history threekinds of elements. First, elements that are constant, such as the moral law. Since the moral lawreflects the nature of an unchanging God, it, too, is always binding. Thus, at all times, a believeris to express the fact that he is saved by adhering to the moral law. Such adherence will not savehim; but it will provide evidence that he already has met the requirement of salvation. Second, inany given age, there seem to be elements that conclude with a given age. A good example of thisis the bringing of animal sacrifices. Through the time of the Mosaic law, the offering of suchsacrifices was important as the believer expressed his trust in God. However, with the advent ofthe age of grace, the believer no longer expresses his devotion to God through bringing animalsacrifices. There are ways by which he can receive cleansing from sin as a believer and expresshis devotion to God, but animal sacrifice is not one of[p.62]them. Finally, there are items in the believer’s expression of his faith that commence in a givenage. For example, in the age of grace the believer can express his obedience to the Savior throughobservance of the Lord’s Supper and baptism. Before the age of grace, such expressions of faithwere not open to the believer.A final point in regard to the expression of faith is simply to reiterate that though it may changefrom one age to another, it does not entail a change in God’s one method of saving men. Howcould it, since it has nothing to do with what God and the nonbeliever do in order to bring thenonbeliever to the point of (in New Testament terms) conversion, regeneration, and justification?In the previous pages, I have suggested what I take to be God’s one method of salvation as taughtby all of Scripture. Even the items that vary from one dispensation to the next (specific revealedcontent of faith and expression of faith) do not necessitate multiple ways of salvation. Moreover,
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