There is only one way, has been only one way, and will be only one way, to be saved. Salvation is by Faith, and not by works.
Salvation in the Old Testament
Judaism has often been critisiced because of the Law. Was the law evil? Most preaching on offer might well lead you to conclude this. Scritpure, that is the Bible, says otherwise. Was Judaism in error to have kept the Law? Again, from most preaching you might well conclude this. But the Law was given to Israel by God. Scripture clearly makes the case that the Law is perfect. Therefore we must conclude that the Law is not evil, and that Israel was correct to have made every effort to keep the Law.
The question is raised therefore concerning the relationship of Law and Grace. How can the Law produce salvation if salvation is by Grace? How was salvation by Grace accomplished under the Mosaic Law?
Charles C. Ryrie says this:
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[The] answer to the question of the relation of Grace and Law is this: The basis of salvation is always the death of Christ; the means is always faith; the object is always God (though man's understanding of God before and after the Incarnation is obviously different).1
We believe... that the principle of faith was prevalent in the lives of all the Old Testament saints. However, we believe it was historically impossible that they should have had as the conscious object of their faith the incarnate, crucified Son, the Lamb of God (John 1:29), and that it is evident that they did not comprehend as we do that the sacrifices depicted the person and work of Christ2
One must see two aspects of to this entire matter-the unchanging basis of salvation in the grace of Christ and the changing content of revelation, which affects the conscious object of faith.3
Atonement is only a covering of sin, not a removal of it. Fruchtenbaum says this:
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...the blood sacrifices only covered the sins of the saints, but that did not remove them. AS Hebrews 10:1-4 emphasizes, it is impossible for that the blood of bulls and goats [the blood of animals] should take away sin. The reason the blood sacrifices, while sufficient to keep the Old Testament Saints out of Hell, were not sufficient to get them into Heaven is because the blood sacrifices only covered sind, but they did not remove it. Nevertheless, Abraham's Bosom, where Paradise was located, was a place of bliss for the immaterial part of the Old Testament saint or the soul of the Old Testament saint. 4
This is why that the Old Testament believers were resident in Abraham's Bosom, instead of Heaven. The blood sacrifices covered the faithful believer's sins, so they did not go to hell. The act of making the sacrifice was an act of faith, and a costly one for most observant Jews.
For a full discussion on "The Place of the Dead", please see Dr Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum's work The Place of the Dead at www.ariel.org.
Footnotes:
- Charles C. Ryrie, Dispensationalism, Revised and Expanded, Moody Publishers, pp 140
- Ibid, pp 134
- Ibid, pp 135
- Dr. Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum, The Place of the Dead, pp 13
