Hi Guojing, you are correct, Jesus was born/lived/did His teaching/works among those who were
under the law. That said, what do we do with all of the verses and passages
(that we find in the Gospels, and particularly in John) that teach salvation by faith/believing apart from works .. e.g.
John 3:16, 18, 5:24, 20:31?
Also, do you believe that the Jews in the OT were saved by their works, or by believing + their works?
If so, we know that their principle means of atonement was the sacrificing of animals in the Temple
(what the Law commanded them to do), but we also know that this was nothing more than a temporary measure and foreshadowing of the true and only efficacious Sacrifice that was yet to come/that would actually be salvific.
We know that,
without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness ..
Hebrews 9:22, but we also know that,
the blood of bulls and goats saved no one ..
Hebrews 10:4. So, God decided to withhold His judgment against the OT saints' sins until His Son's sacrifice was able to atone for them/satisfy His wrath against them (so while none of the OT saints were condemned when they died, none of them were actually saved either .. until
1. the Lord's righteous life and
2. His death on the Cross made their salvation possible .. e.g.
Romans 5:8-10; cf 2 Corinthians 5:21.
This is how I understand it anyway. Please tell me how you understand things (if your understanding is different than mine is).
Thanks
~Deut
p.s. - doesn't
Matthew 5:19 seem like it is talking to the elect (saints to be, if you will), not to saints and the reprobate (since it talks about the Kingdom of Heaven and positions that the saints will eventually find themselves in there)?
Romans 3
25 ... in His forbearance God passed over the sins previously committed.
.
Salvation has always been by grace thru faith. This was true under law and remains true under grace. Grace is always from God but faith comes from us.
What changes is how we displayed faith. While the principles of God never change, His dealings with men, do change from time to time.
This includes even the terms of acceptance with God. At first blood sacrifices were required (Gen. 4:3-5, Heb. 11:4); then, later, circumcision was added (Gen. 17:14); then obedience to the whole Mosaic law was demanded (Ex. 19:5, 6, Rom. 10:5); then "the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins" (Mark 1:4, Acts 2:38)
and today it is
"TO HIM THAT WORKETH NOT, BUT BELIEVETH ON HIM THAT
JUSTIFIETH THE UNGODLY; HIS FAITH IS COUNTED FOR
RIGHTEOUSNESS” (Rom. 4:5).
During the age of the law, you exhibit faith by "obeying the law", all the Jews have to obey the law. It is true that all the saints of past ages were saved through the merits of Christ's shed blood, but not through their faith in that shed blood.
Those of past ages were expected to believe only what God had thus far revealed, or what He had revealed to them. In other words, they were saved simply because they trusted God and believed what He said. The full plan of salvation has since been unfolded, but the Scriptures make it crystal clear that these believers were saved without even understanding that Christ would die for them.
When God says, "Sacrifice an animal every time you sin," what will faith do? Just one thing: sacrifice an animal whenever you sin. We know, thanks to Hebrews, that such sacrifices are a mere shadow of the coming Jesus as the final Lamb, yet not one of their hearers would have interpreted this action to mean what it meant in Paul's Gospel: "Trust in the death of Christ for salvation."
But once the age of grace began, this is now what is required to show faith.
"BUT NOW the righteousness of God without the law is manifested" (Rom. 3:21);
"To him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness" (Rom. 4:5)
"Being Justified freely by His grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus" (Rom. 3:24);
"In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace" (Eph. 1:7);
"Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us" (Tit. 3:5);
"Not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast" (Eph. 2:8,9)
When God now says this, what will faith do? Faith will say, "This is the most wonderful offer ever made by God to man. I cannot refuse it. I will trust Christ as my Savior and accept salvation as the free gift of God's grace."
Trust me when I tell you, everyone else from the Old Testament, King David, Noah, even the 4 Gospels guys such as Peter, James and John, will be very envious about you.
Their conditions for showing faith were not as simple as what we have to do, under the age of Grace.
Noah had to build an ark. (Hebrews 11:7)
Abel had to bring the correct sacrifice (Gen 4:4-5, Heb. 11:4)
Abraham had to believe, at his advanced years, that God would make him a father of many (Genesis 15:5-6)
Rahab had to hide the spies, at the risk of being caught and punished (Hebrews 11:31)
The point is that, by the time it reach us Gentiles, thanks to Jesus ushering the age of Grace, all we need to do, in order to display faith, is simply believing and speaking.
This is the most wonderful offer ever made by God to man. I cannot refuse it. I will trust Christ as my Savior and accept salvation as the free gift of God's grace."
We simply believe the message, that Jesus Christ has started and completed the work required for our salvation and we cease from our work and believe it. If we do that, we will receive the same righteousness as Abraham received (Gal 3:6-9). I especially like the NLT version.
6 In the same way, “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.”
7 The real children of Abraham, then, are those who put their faith in God. 8 What’s more, the Scriptures looked forward to this time when God would make the Gentiles right in his sight because of their faith. God proclaimed this good news to Abraham long ago when he said, “All nations will be blessed through you.”[c] 9 So all who put their faith in Christ share the same blessing Abraham received because of his faith.