Salvation Before Christ

[clarktaylor]

Since (Rm 6:23) “the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord,” was there no salvation before the Cross? Adam, Eve and the Patriarchs all sinned and fell short of God’s Law so shouldn’t they be in Hell? If not, what saved them? Faith?

What about those who lived after the giving of the Law; the Prophets, Moses, David, Samuel etc. What saved them? Faith?

My point is, if all the great men and women of the OT were somehow saved, either by faith or another way, why did Jesus Christ have to die on the cross? If there was already a way to be saved?

Thanks.

 

[Verbum]

Hi Clark,

For God, there is no “before” or “after”; everything is in the present. Just like Mary, the Mother of Jesus, was freed from original sin in view of the merits of Jesus, so the people of the Old Testament who lived a good life, as their conscience dictated, benefitted from the merits of Jesus Christ to come and were saved.

Verbum

 

[Tom]

Since (Rm 6:23) “the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord,” was there no salvation before the Cross?

To you and I, as mere humans, there was a time “before the Cross”, but God is outside of our earthly time. To God, there is no “before” or after. Those who came, and went, prior to the incarnation still go to heaven thru Jesus the Christ even though He hadn’t taken on His human form in our perspective, He still existed as the Son.
(LOL I just read the post prior to mine… hee)

 

[clarktaylor]

But, if for God there is no “before the cross”, why did He require animal sacrifices? If the perfect sacrifice had already been made?

 

[davidv]

But, if for God there is no “before the cross”, why did He require animal sacrifices? If the perfect sacrifice had already been made?

Because mankind needed them. The animals that were sacrificed were often the very animals that were worshiped as gods by the people in the cultures where the Israelites found themselves.