Ask a Question: Salvation in the OT

A friend of mine sent me these questions the other day and asked if I could get back to her on them. I did, the reply is 5 pages long...you  might want to break this up into more than one sitting, but I couldn't figure out how to break up the answer into several sections because everything is pretty much related.

How did people in the Old Testament get salvation? Jews were the chosen people so could only Jews have salvation? That seems pretty racist and against who God is and what Christ stood for. If it wasn’t specific to Jews though why are they called God’s chosen people and why was it specifically pointed out after Christ came that salvation was for everyone like it was a new special thing? Could people get converted to Judaism and be saved? I know “Jewish” kind of has two meanings the ethnicity type of meaning and the religious type of meaning. In the Old Testament could someone be religiously Jewish without being ethnically Jewish? How does that thing about the woman who wasn’t a Jew who asked Jesus to heal her daughter come into this? He said that he came for the children not the dogs and then because she said even the dogs get the scraps then he healed her daughter. I always thought it was weird that he was being exclusive and then because she had a clever come back he healed her daughter… maybe that is not why though.

And here's my response:

So I wrote you an essay on this. In reality, I could have written 15 page papers on each question. That’s what seminary does to you, it turns fun questions like this into long answers. But, hopefully this is helpful for you, it’s pretty summarized and condensed even for being 5 pages. You might want to get something to drink and a snack before you start on this, because it’s long! I tried to keep it shorter, but there’s a lot involved in each question, so if you need clarification on anything or have follow up questions, please send them my way! I’m glad you asked because I have been itching to do some writing and stuff but didn’t know where to start. I’ve also decided to publish this answer on my blog. If you have any friends who have the same questions, or want to read the answers, you can direct them here

So, it sounds like you are basically asking the question about whether how we are saved has changed. The answer is: Yes, and No. So helpful, I know. A little background before we get started though. Our current concept of salvation is very much taken from the New Testament (NT). For that matter, so is our concept of hell. When we say we are “saved” today, we generally mean we are no longer slaves to sin as Romans 6:15-18 describes, but slaves to Christ. Therefore, our sin has been atoned for by our faith in Christ (faith that he is the son of God, and died for our sins) and we can stand as righteous before God (This is justification. We are given the label of: righteous, whether we actually are able to live up to it or not). If we cannot stand as righteous before God, then we are destined for hell and eternal separation from the one who created us. So, in salvation as we currently understand it, there is repentance of our sin, atonement for our sin, faith in God’s promises, and our justification before God. It is the same in the Old Testament (OT).

Ok, that being said, your first question was How did People in the OT get Salvation? As I mentioned before, salvation requires repentance (understanding where we are wrong and why we sinned and the resolve to not fall into sin again), an atonement (payment of our debt of sin so we can stand before God righteously), and faith in God’s goodness, will, and word. Though it is not always given in detail, even before the Law was given in Exodus-Deuteronomy, there were still sacrifices being made. The sacrifices atoned for the sin of the people and gave them that right standing before God, but there was also faith in God. Today, we define faith as believing that Christ lived, died, and rose again to pay for our sins. In the OT, faith was the belief that God was good, and that His word and promises were true. Part of this word included the promise of an ultimate deliverer for those who believed in Him, to finally free people from sin. We see this promise realized in Christ.

The sacrificial system is something that doesn’t quite make sense to us today because Jesus was the ultimate sacrifice. In the OT the animals were completely consumed by fire, or as fellowship meals, etc. But there was nothing left, so there was the need to continually make sacrifices. When we talk about Christ being our atonement sacrifice and the only one that is needed, it is because He rose from the grave and stands continually testifying that our sins have been paid for. Therefore, faith in Him gives us that continual standing as righteous (it justifies us), because Christ lives and continues to testify that our debts are paid. So, people were saved by their faith in Gods promises and Word, and by making sacrifices to atone for their sin (see Genesis 15:1-6 where God promises Abraham again that his offspring will be numerous, Abraham believes and his faith justifies him).

The caveat is that the atoning sacrifice was not nearly as important as faith and the state of our hearts. Think of the thief on the cross with Jesus. He is told that he would be with Christ in Paradise. Another good example is Amos 5:21-24. The people have been making the sacrifices and keeping the laws and festivals, but they did so without faith. It is possible to do all the right things and still not be saved because it comes down to whether we truly believe we are sinners in need of a savior, or if we are just trying to keep our “fire insurance” policy good. So God says in Amos,

“I hate, I despise your religious festivals; your assemblies are a stench to me. Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Though you bring choice fellowship offerings, I will have no regard for them. Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps. But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!”

These are pretty strong words to describe that faith in God is more about the relationship and the heart, than anything else we do. And it’s the same today. The question of atonement though, is found in Christ. Christ died for the sins of the world past, present, and future. So, everyone is technically covered. The question of being saved or not comes down to one of faith: did they believe in God and worship Him and follow His commands for their life? The hard part about this is that the Bible isn’t written to point out who was and was not saved in the OT. It was written to show who God is and what he does to keep His people holy and to display His glory.

Next question was whether salvation was reserved for just the Jews and what it meant when we say they were God’s chosen people. Salvation wasn’t just reserved for the Jews. The term “Jews” didn’t come into existence until the end of the Exile, so before that they were called “the people of God”, or “children of Israel”, or just “Israel” and/or “Judah” during the divided monarchy time. There are two key verses here to understand who the children of Israel were supposed to be. The first is found in Genesis 12:2-3, and the second is in Exodus 19:5-6.

Genesis 12:2-3 details the call of Abraham and the promise God made to Abraham: “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you, I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” The key is in the last phrase, that all people would be blessed through Abraham and his descendants.  Next, in Exodus 19:5-6, “Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” So here we see the purpose of the people of Israel. They were supposed to be a kingdom of priests who would bring the glory of God to all people, and be channels of blessing for the rest of the world. In our churches today we don’t just say that priests, pastors, and clergy are the only ones who are saved, they are the ones who teach us about God, and help us to worship Him and create opportunities to know Him better and serve Him. This is what the Israelites were supposed to be, and this is what we are supposed to be today. When Paul talks about Gentiles being grafted into the Olive Tree in Romans 11: 11-24, he is speaking about the Abrahamic Covenant. That is why we can say that we are not under the law today, because we were not brought into the Mosaic Covenant and Law, but to Abrahams so that we could God’s ambassadors to the world.

We don’t do this very well all the time, and neither did they. Sin, pride, fear of differences, etc all get in the way. The thing is, God is not racist because His intention was to bring blessing to all people of the world, but God’s people can be. Jonah is a perfect example. Jonah didn’t want to go to Ninevah because he was horrified that God would want to save the Ninevites (part of the Assyrian people). He says in Jonah 4:2, “Isn’t this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity.” He knew that if he preached to the Ninevites, they would repent and be saved, and he didn’t want that. Racism is a human invention, it is not of God. Also note, that the people of Ninevah repented and changed their ways, but there isn’t a mention of sacrifices to atone for their sin. So, again, here’s an example of what I said before that faith and repentance are more important than the atoning sacrifice because Christ was ultimately the sacrifice for everyone past, present, and future.

Now, as with Jonah’s example, the Ninevites weren’t a part of the people of God, yet there is decent evidence that they were saved – at least those present at the time of Jonah. So a person didn’t have to be a part of the people of Israel to be saved. Faith was the key. There were those who chose to covert and become part of the people of Israel by undergoing circumcision and observing the Mosaic Law, but just being part of the people of God didn’t save them. Faith is what saved them. Take a quick read through 1 & 2 Kings and you will see all the bad kings and some good kings that were listed. I can guarantee you that these bad kings didn’t just get a free pass into heaven because they were part of the nation of Israel. It never worked like that. Look back at Amos 5 quoted above. Trying to live righteously in obedience to God’s commands and wishes and faithfully believing that He was the one in control and who would deliver them from their sinful ways is what saved them. So yes, there were those who were culturally or ethnically Israelites or Jews, but religiously not because they didn’t follow God’s commands and they worshiped other gods.

That being said, there were foreigners who worshiped God, but didn’t become ethnic Israelites. The Mosaic Law even makes provisions for the non-Israelites living amongst them in the Promised Land who wanted to worship God. It tells how they were to be accommodated and incorporated into worship because God is not just about one people group, He is interested in all of His creation.

Prior to Christ coming, being saved meant having a life of worship with God and with the people of God. This could only be done at the Temple in Jerusalem because that is where a special manifestation of God’s presence dwelt. People would make yearly pilgrimages to Jerusalem for this reason, usually around the time of Pentecost, which is why so many people were saved in Acts 2 when the disciples began speaking in tongues. When Jesus came, he declared that there was now a new way to worship God, and that God would no longer just indwell the Temple, but that each believer was a holy Temple and would be indwelt by God’s Holy Spirit. So that’s the new thing. Salvation and Redemption has always been available for everyone, it was just difficult to understand and maintain because of the prevailing mindset of the day: that there were many gods, and you worshiped the ones that did stuff for you. By contrast, the people of Israel worshiped only one God and to worship another was a sin worthy of death. That’s pretty harsh when you consider that most people worshiped around 7-15 gods during the OT time period. That’s a big shift in thinking. God’s intention has always been for the world to know Himself and His glory, the shift in the NT is how they did this. It wasn’t by going to the temple and following a checklist of sacrifices and offerings to atone for sin, it was by acknowledging His presence in your life and letting His will have reign over it. When we are saved, the Holy Spirit indwells us and ministers to us. That’s the difference. In the OT, God’s Spirit would rest on some, or come upon them, for special reasons (Such as David playing his harp for Saul), but it didn’t fully indwell them.

So now we come to your question about the Syrophoenician woman in Mark 7:25-30 or Matthew 15:21-28. This is an interesting story and it is helpful if you have a commentary to get some background on it. I can recommend the Zondervan NIV Bible Commentary, Volume 2: The New Testament. It is a basic commentary that gives over views of passages and is useful for gleaning a bit more understanding than is often offered in Scripture itself. Anyhow, there are some historical things to understand here: First, the basic NT pattern that Jesus and the apostles follow is going to the Jew first, then the Gentile. Even Paul, the apostle to the Gentile, observed this be always going to a synagogue first. In Matthew, Jesus demonstrates this in 15:24 by saying, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel”. Also, see Matthew 10:6 where Jesus sends out the 12 disciples for their first round of healing and ministry. He tells them only to go to the Jews, and not to the Gentiles or Samarians. Second, the term “dog” was the standard insult for the Jews to use towards Gentiles. Third, in Matthews account, the woman calls Jesus, “Son of David” which clearly indicates she sees him as the prophesized one in David’s line who would be the Messiah. In a time when even the disciples still doubted Jesus sometimes, this woman acknowledges that he is the promised Messiah.

With those things in mind, it seems likely that Jesus is testing this woman’s faith and persistence. It is true that he limiting his activity to the Jews because as we saw in Exodus 19, they were to be the kingdom of priests that would bring blessing to the rest of the world. Jesus is whipping his priesthood into shape before releasing them to minister to the world. Also, Mark records Jesus as using a diminutive form of the word “dog” so as to imply a small household pet or a puppy, so it might not have been quite as harsh an exchange as it seems. The woman is not asking for the same portion of mercy and blessing that is being applied to the Jews to be applied to her, she is simply asking for mercy and help. When she acknowledges and says that even the dogs (Gentiles) eat the crumbs (experience the blessing of God poured out on the Jews living among them), Jesus relents and heals her daughter.

So, this is not about Jesus just being exclusive, it’s about the timing of Jesus’ ministry and mercy. God is not so strict in his time table and plans that He will not stop and be merciful and kind to those who need it. God is graceful towards us, even when we are not saved if you will. How would we ever know the incredible love of God if He did not stop and show us mercy and kindness when we were still sinners? The Gentiles were always meant to be included in God’s blessing and Kingdom, Jesus is preparing his disciples to be ministers to them and to the Jews so that all could experiences the blessing and grace of God. That being said, I don’t know if this woman is saved, and that’s not the point of the story. The point is to show that the Gentiles were are part of God’s Kingdom, even if Jesus didn’t go to them first to minister.

So, I hope that covers all your questions. Let me know if you think of something else. I’s glad I could help you out here!