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SALVATION: A UNIVERSAL TRUTH

If something is true of all dispensations for all men, I refer to it as a “universal truth”. There are three universal truths that impact on salvation as a universal truth and will be discussed in the sections below:

THE NATURE OF GOD

SALVATION BY GRACE THROUGH FAITH

REWARDS

THE NATURE OF GOD

We read in Heb. 13:8, “Jesus Christ, the same yesterday today and forever”. Jesus Christ is the manifestation of Jehovah (please the paper on this web-site Jesus Christ Is The Manifestation of Jehovah). Jehovah is, of course God’s Name as given in the Old Testament. Some have said that in Old Testament times God was an angry God, but in the New Testament God is a God of love. But that cannot be true because God, i.e. Jehovah/Jesus Christ, is “the same yesterday and forever”.

What is different is the emphasis. That is to say, it is true that the New Testament has much more to say than the Old Testament about the love that God showed in sending His only begotten Son. But that certainly does not mean that Jehovah was not a God of love in Old Testament times. The fact that Old Testament saints will be raised for resurrection life is proof that God was and always has been a loving God.

As I Peter 1:19-20 will prove, God showed His love in the plan of salvation even before the foundation of the world, “But with the precious blood of Christ as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot; Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world…..”. It was Christ as the sacrificial Lamb, the Lamb upon Whom our sins were placed, that was chosen even before this world was created. Therefore, God loved the world even before Old Testament times, but that love was not emphasized in the record of His dealings with man until Christ came to fulfill His office of Lamb of God.

The reason there is, in the Old Testament, a different emphasis of God’s nature, is because the Old Testament has to do primarily with God’s relationship with His people, the nation of Israel. That relationship was, in part, defined by the covenant He made with Israel. Lev. 26 describes that covenant. We read in verses 3 and 4 of that chapter, “Ye shall walk in My statutes, and keep My commandments, and do them; then I will give you……”. What follows is a description of how God would bless Israel if they obey His commandments. But verses 15 and 16 give us the other side of that covenant, “And if ye shall despise My statutes, or if your soul abhor My judgments, so that ye will not do all My commandments, but that ye break My covenant: I also will do this unto you…..”. What follows is the description of the punishments of God if Israel disobeyed His commandments.

Let us consider just a few of those promised blessings and punishments. Lev. 26:4-5, “I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall yeild their fruit. And your threshing shall reach unto the vintage and the vintage shall reach unto to sowing time: and ye shall eat your bread in the full, and dwell in your land safely”. It is clear that these blessings having nothing to do with resurrection life, they are blessings to be enjoyed in one’s temporal life on this earth.

Now let us consider the punishment if Israel disobeyed. Verse 16, “I will even appoint over your terror, consumption, and the burning ague that shall consume the eyes, and cause sorrow of heart: and ye shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it”. It is clear that these punishments also having nothing to do with resurrection life, they are punishments to be endured in one’s temporal life on this earth.

Salvation is one of the proofs of God’s love. But the emphasis in the Old Testament was not on salvation, it was on the temporal blessings if Israel obeyed, and temporal punishments if Israel disobeyed. The Old Testament was, for the most part a history of Israel’s covenant relationship with God. It’s emphasis was not on God’s love as evidenced through His plan of salvation, it was on God’s blessings and His punishments of Israel which showed His angry character. But God did not change from anger to love in the New Testament. He is “the same yesterday today and forever”. It is only the recorded emphasis that changed.

SALVATION BY GRACE THROUGH FAITH

As mentioned above, the primary emphasis of the Old Testament was not salvation, but temporal blessings and punishments. Many have assumed a salvation message in the Old Testament that was not there, and have falsely concluded that in Old Testament times, Israelites were saved by faith plus works. We will examine that assumption in this section.

It may surprise some to know that, apart from the types described in the sacrificial law, there are only five scriptures in the entire Old Testament that speak of salvation. (It is entirely possible that I may have missed one or two, but the point is that there are very few Old Testament scriptures that speak of salvation.) They are: 1) “Abraham believed God and it was counted unto him as righteousness” (Gen. 15:6). 2) “I know that my Redeemer liveth” (Job 19:25). 3) “The just shall live by faith” (Hab. 2:4). 4) Ezekiel chapter 37 which speaks of the resurrection. 5) “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity” (Ps. 32:1-2). My point is that the Old Testament rarely speaks of the gospel of salvation.

When the New Testament opens, Christ and His apostles were addressing, for the most part, Israelites. Christ and His apostles understood the mindset of those Israelites, because they understood that their mindset came from the Old Testament, and they addressed their audience with that thinking in mind. We must have the same thinking as did the first audience of Christ and His apostles if we are to understand their teachings. The New Testament did not come out of a vacuum, it began as a continuation of the teachings of the Old Testament.

So when we read such statements as Mark 10:17, “…..there came one running and kneeled to Him and asked Him, ‘Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?’ “, we must understand that this man’s thinking came from the whole tenure of the Old Testament. Our Lord’s answer as recorded in verse 19 was, “Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, do not kill……..”. But verse 20 records the man’s reaction, “Master, all these have I observed from my youth”. Verse 21 records Christ’s answer, “One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven; and come take up the cross, and follow Me”.

Does this passage teach that in order to be saved one must do what the Lord required of this young man, or that one must do anything other than believe? It does not. (The scriptural evidence of that will be given below.) What it does teach is that faith without works is dead. James 2:14-17 reads, “What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works, can that faith save him? If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, and one of you say unto them, ‘Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled’; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit? Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone”.

Paul expresses the same thought in Phil. 2:12, “…..work out your own salvation with fear and trembling”. Philipians is, of course, a prison epistle and written to believers of the dispensation of the mystery. My point is that this “other side of the coin” is also a universal truth. Just as salvation by grace through faith is a universal truth, so too is the concept of faith being dead without works.

Paul expressed this same concept of faith proved by works in Romans 2:13, “For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified”. But a few chapters later Paul says the exact opposite. We read in Romans 3:20, “Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh shall be justified in His sight…..” But we know that there are no contradictions in the perfect Word of God. I believe that Paul is saying that all men have been saved by grace through faith, but that faith without works is dead. But lest some may object that in the dispensation of law Israelites were saved by faith plus works, let us look at Romans 3:24-4:8.

Romans 3:24-28, “Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is Christ Jesus………that He might be the just and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. …….Therefore we conclude that a man is justfied by faith without the deeds of the law”. Can it be said of Old Testament believers that they were justified by faith without the deeds of the law? Yes, it absolutely can be said of Old Testament believers. . As Paul goes in 4:2-8, “For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God. For what saith the scripture? ‘Abraham believed God and it was counted unto him for righteousness‘. …….to him that worketh is the reward not recknoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth the righteousness without works…..”.

Paul tells us in this passage that both before (in the case of Abraham) and after (in the case of David) the law was given, man was justified by faith alone. If works had been involved in salvation at all, justification would have been counted as a debt. But justification is not given as the fulfillment of a debt, it is a gift given to those who have believed and who have proved their belief by their works.

Let us also look at Romans 3:21, “But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested being witnessed by the law and the prophets“. The phrase “the law and the prophets” obviously refer to the Old Testament. That is to say, salvation apart from the law, had been witnessed to by the law and the prophets of the Old Testament. This is further proof that salvation in the Old Testament was apart from the observance of the law. And, we have seen the prophets statements that “Abraham believed God and it was counted unto him as righteousness” (Gen. 15:6). And Habbakuk wrote “The just shall live by faith” (Hab. 2:4).

REWARDS

We read of rewards given to those who are overcomers of the tribulation in Rev. 20:4, “And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them; and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years”.

In Matthew 5:19 we read of rewards to some in the kingdom of Heaven, “Whosoever therefore, shall break one of the least commandments, and shall teach men, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of Heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdomof Heaven”.

The dispensation of the mystery also has its rewards, II Tim. 2:12, “If we suffer, we shall also reign with Him……”.

To be sure, the promised rewards are different in different dispensations, but the same principle applies. That is to say, God will give rewards for faithful living to those in all dispensations.

CONCLUSION

While it is true that the Old Testament record does not emphasize God’s loving nature, it is not true that He was not a loving God. The emphasis of the record is on God as an angry God because of the conditional covenant of promised blessings or punishments.

Salvation was never by faith plus works. If it had been it would have made salvation the payment of a debt. But Paul tells us that salvation was not the payment of a debt, it was a gift.

Faith without works is dead. But that is a much different concept than faith plus works is needed for salvation. Works that prove one’s faith lead to rewards.

This paper was written by Joyce Pollard. If you would like to respond please write to me at: [email protected]