Salvation in the Old Testament

Was There Salvation Before the Cross?

A natural question arises when studying salvation: what about the people who lived before Jesus? Were Abraham, Moses, David, and the prophets saved? And if so, how?

The answer Scripture gives is both simple and profound: they were saved the same way we are — by grace, through faith — but looking forward to what we now look back on.

Abraham: The Model of Faith

The clearest example is Abraham. Paul uses him as the central exhibit in his argument for justification by faith in Romans 4:

For what does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness." — Romans 4:3 (quoting Genesis 15:6)

Abraham was justified — declared righteous before God — not by circumcision (which came later) and not by the Mosaic law (which came centuries later) but by faith in God's promise. His faith was the same in essence as New Testament faith: trust in the God who keeps His word, who gives life to the dead, and who calls into existence the things that do not exist (Romans 4:17).

The Object of Old Testament Faith

Old Testament believers did not have the full revelation of the gospel that we have. They trusted in God's promises — the promise of a coming Redeemer implied in Genesis 3:15, the promise of blessing to all nations through Abraham's offspring, the sacrificial system that pointed to atonement, and the prophetic pictures of Isaiah 53.

They were saved by the same Jesus we are saved by — but they trusted in the Christ who was to come, while we trust in the Christ who has come. The object is the same person; the temporal vantage point is different.

These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar. — Hebrews 11:13

The Sacrificial System: Shadow, Not Substance

The animal sacrifices of the Old Testament did not themselves take away sin. The author of Hebrews is explicit: "For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins." (Hebrews 10:4).

So why did God command them? They were types and shadows — pictures that pointed forward to the once-for-all sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Every lamb laid on the altar was a promissory note pointing to the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29).

One Plan of Salvation

There has only ever been one way of salvation: grace through faith in God's provision. The Bible is one unified story of redemption, not two separate stories — one for Israel and one for the church. The covenants develop, the revelation increases, the shadows give way to substance in Christ. But the foundation is the same from Genesis to Revelation: God saves sinners by grace, through faith, in Christ.