Wed Devo

Old Testament Salvation Question: Before the death of Christ, how were people saved? Answer: The same way people have been saved after the death of Christ. Here’s why. Romans 3:25—whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. I can remember a few years ago when this question came to me. I don’t know why but it took a while for me to even think of such a question. I always thought that if Jesus had not yet died then there was no forgiveness of sins. I thought that through the Old Testament sacrifices people where saved when in fact, these sacrifices could not take away sin (Hebrews 10:4). These sacrifices were considered sacraments just like baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Being dunked in water doesn’t make you a new person but it is symbolic of the death of your old spirit and the new life that comes with the new spirit, which is Christ. When we partake of communion we are not actually eating flesh and drinking blood but this symbolizes the atoning work of Christ in the life of a believer. The same is true with the animal sacrifices in the Old Testament. These sacrifices did not atone for sin but were symbolic of the atonement of Christ. Let’s look back at Romans 3:25. We see that it is not the blood of animals that is the propitiation (the removal of God’s wrath by the removal of our sin from his sight) for us but that it is the blood of Christ. We receive this through faith. So the Old Testament people were required to have faith in the blood of Christ to be saved. In speaking with reference to time, the Old Testament believers faithfully looked forward to the sacrifice of Christ for salvation, while we look back to the sacrifice of Christ. Regardless of when you lived, salvation is only possible through faith in Christ. The ability to look forward to the sacrifice was only because of divine forbearance. When Romans says that he passed over former sins, it does not mean that he just forgot about them and didn’t hold them against the people. It means that what Christ did on the cross 2000 years ago was effective before it even came to pass (Ephesians 1:4-6). The Bible establishes salvation in one way: faith in Christ. If it were possible to live perfectly then you would be saved. But Romans 1:18-3:20 is a staggering reminder that we are all sinners and therefore not perfect. Our hope for salvation is the same hope that was present for Isaiah, Deborah, Abraham, Moses, and Hosea. Only faith in Christ’s atoning work on the cross saves us. Nothing else.