Our newest poster to this thread (Mr. Studier) has frequently appealed to the existence of OT saints as some kind of "iron-clad proof" (?) that the doctrine of Total Depravity cannot be true, since OT saints "obviously" came to saving faith apart from God's effectual grace. Effectual or Irresistible Grace, if that exists at all, is only confined to the New Covenant (NC) age, and is never spoken of in the context of OT saints and how they came by their faith and repentance. So, the implication to this kind OT soteriology is that since saving/effectual grace wasn't necessary for the OT saints to come to faith and repentance, then this proves that the nature and hearts of those saints could not have been "totally depraved". Easy peasy, open-and-shut case! Or is it? I think not and for two reasons.
The first reason is that this is basically an argument from silence. Just because the OT does not lay out in NC-like detail all the various details and nuances of grace, doesn't necessarily mean that all God's elect haven't always been saved one way throughout both Testament periods. Nor does it prove, for that matter, that God did not always sovereignly choose, according to his own purpose and good pleasure, whom he would save and whom he would pass over -- and in either case always for His Glory!
Secondly, since Studier appeals to the OT as, apparently, his best evidence or proof for the falsehood of Total Depravity and Unconditional Election, I have decided to meet this gentleman on his chosen turf of preference. I, too, will use the OT to make my case for the Doctrines of Grace instead of refuting them. (Of course, months ago I did this very thing to prove the "U" in TULIP with the post-fall account in Genesis -- with a comprehensive, although probably not exhaustive, 15-point argument which no one here has bothered to refute.) But be that as it may, I will now choose a major soteriological motif that runs throughout the bible to make my case for the Doctrines of Grace. This recurring, central thematic soteriological element is commonly known as The Exodus, which is uber-rich in typological lessons that all point to the Greater Exodus by the Greater Moses that is based on Better Promises.
More to follow...