Were Old Testament Believers Saved Without Jesus?

One of my favorite questions to ask a new group of Bible school students is, “How were people saved in the Old Testament?”

I usually get one of two answers, “By keeping the law” or “By animal sacrifices.” I then remind them of two verses dealing with the relationship of the law and sacrifices to our salvation: “By the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight” (Romans 3:20), and “it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins” (Hebrews 10:4). The students are then left to come to the conclusion that Old Testament saints had to be saved the same way we are, by faith in Jehovah, known to us as Jesus Christ.

But those Bible school students, though they presently are born again, represent in a small way the attitude of the world about salvation. Most any unsaved person you meet believes if their good works outweigh their bad works, they will be allowed to go to heaven. Although it is a gamble, they are willing to throw scripture aside and bet their eternity on their opinion. The beauty of trusting in Jesus and giving your life to Him is the guesswork is over. You don’t have to worry now or at death about any amount of good works opening heaven for you. No wonder the first reward you receive after receiving Jesus is peace now and an abiding peace for the rest of your life (see Romans 5:1).

The Purpose of the Law & Sacrifices Was Never to Save

The Law and the sacrifices were not given to save mankind but to teach us of the One who can. “The law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith” (Galatians 3:24). The law teaches that man is a sinner. He cannot save himself. The law was given to teach man he is the problem, not the answer. On the other hand, the sacrifices teach us that man needs, and has, a Savior. He cannot remove his own sins. He needs a sacrifice outside of himself. Each sacrifice teaches that Jesus is our answer, our sacrifice, who must die for us to remove our sins. The law teaches that man is a sinner and the sacrifices teach us that Jesus, the perfect sacrifice, came to be our substitute and provide salvation for us. The law teaches us we can- not save ourselves, and the sacrifices teach us of the One who can save us.

Why Were the Law and Sacrifices Given to Only One Nation?

The law, the sacrifices, and the gospel were only given to Israel. No other nation had them or was meant to have them. The law and animal sacrifices could save none of the Jews and could truly not save a Gentile. Again, the purpose of the law was to teach Israel of their inability to save themselves. They could not keep any of the law for any length of time. The sacrifices taught them of the work of the Lord. The sacrifices taught Israel of the substitute who would die for them—the Lord Jehovah. They were not to take the law to the nations surrounding them, but they were to take the message the law taught.

A Bible can tell you how to get saved, but a Bible cannot save you. It is a book filled with information. If you correctly learn from the Bible and use the information, you can find eternal life, joy, and peace as you grow in righteousness. The Bible did not do that, but the information in it did. Many people with one or a number of Bibles in their homes will end up in hell. Getting the message out of the Bible and into your heart is the issue.

The gospel for Israel was the same gospel as is given to the Church today. Their great commission was to take faith in the Lord to the world as the only means of salvation, not the law.

How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news [the gospel], who proclaims peace, who brings glad tidings [good news] of good things, who proclaims salvation (Isaiah 52:7).

Those who had received the Lord by faith were obligated to take the message to the world with their feet. And they were to preach peace as the

first result of their salvation. Does this sound like our calling, once we are saved? Our feet bring the gospel of peace, and peace is a title for our message (see Ephesians 6:15). Peace is and always has been salvation’s first result (see Romans 5:1). Just as the Church has been given the Great Commission today to take to all the world, Israel was given God’s same plan and same message in the Old Testament. Israel was not to take the law to the world and neither should the Church. Human works are just as repulsive to God today as they were under the time of the law.

So, How Were People Saved in the Old Testament?

We know we are saved by simple faith in the work of Jesus. Salvation is a gift to be received, and our human works have nothing to do with our eternal life.

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast (Ephesians 2:8-9).

Nether Jews nor Gentiles were ever saved by the Mosaic law or the sacrifices, though God gave them both. Sadly, keeping the law is still taught today for salvation. If no one could keep it in the Old Testament, how can anyone keep it today? This was Peter’s defense in his day before the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem who were trying to put newly saved Gentiles under the law of Moses.

Now therefore, why do you test God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? (Acts 15:10)

Works have never saved anyone before, during or after the law. Works have never and will never save anyone. If our good works could save us or anyone, why did Jesus have to come and die for us?

Paul Taught Us Salvation Does Not Come by the Law or the Sacrifices

By the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight (Romans 3:20).

For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins (Hebrews 10:4).

No person has ever been saved by the law before, during, or after the law. Neither Jews nor Gentiles at any time were saved by the law. The blood of animals could never save but did a good job teaching of the One whose blood could save—the blood of Jesus.

No person, outside of Jesus, kept the law perfectly. But Paul, reflecting back on his life as Saul of Tarsus, claimed to have come close.

Concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless [“found blameless,” ASV] (Philippians 3:6).

But even if he could have kept or did keep the law, he would still not have been saved by his religious perfection.

You cannot get to heaven by keeping the law even if you could. Paul later still called himself the worst sinner who ever lived (see 1 Timothy 1:15). And the Word confirms that through Jesus is the only way we have to salvation and eternal life.

There is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved [than Jesus Christ] (Acts 4:12).

In Each Dispensation God Has Approached Man Differently

God, who at various times [periods] and in various ways spoke in time past [Old Testament] to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days [New Testament] spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds [aion, “dispensations”] (Hebrews 1:1-2).

This subject touches many doctrines and I will bring it up from time to time during the teaching of them. In each time period or dispensation, God has always approached man in different ways. But the way man has approached God has always been the same.

During the five time periods, or dispensations, of the Old Testament, from the Garden of Eden to the resurrection of Jesus from the grave, God has approached man through personal visitations, an audible voice, angels, a burning bush, dreams, a fire by night, a cloud by day, a donkey, a hand writing on a wall, and numerous other ways.