How were people forgiven (or saved) in the Old Testament? Did forgiveness (or salvation) take place in the Old Testament through sacrifices or human effort? The short answer is forgiveness (and salvation) was received in the Old Testament the same way it’s received in the New Testament: by grace through faith.
Table of Contents
The Gospel can’t be a New Testament invention, because God preached the Gospel to Abraham:
God…preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, “In you all the nations shall be blessed.”
Galatians 3:8
The words, “In you all the nations shall be blessed” do not sound like a gospel presentation to us because there is no mention of Jesus’ name, death, burial, or resurrection. But God’s promise allowed Abraham to be saved by grace when he looked forward in faith to the Seed that would bless all nations. Genesis 15:6 says Abraham “believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.”
Similarly, God preached the Gospel to Israel:
The gospel was preached to [Israel in the wilderness.
Hebrews 4:2
God made numerous prophecies that a Messiah would come into the world. If people believed those prophecies, they were saved by grace through faith. They looked forward in faith to the Messiah coming as we look back in faith that He came. Old and New Testament believers are both saved by looking to Christ in faith, but from opposite sides of the cross. People in the Old Testament were saved by believing Jesus would come like we’re saved by believing Jesus came.
Old Testament Saints Looked Forward to “The Seed of the Woman”
And I will put enmity
Genesis 3:15
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her Seed;
He shall bruise your head,
And you shall bruise His heel.”
This prophecy is part of the curse, and it allowed Adam, Eve, and their descendants to look forward to she “Seed of the Woman,” capitalized, because it’s referring to Jesus. When sin came into the world, so too did the opportunity for people to be saved by grace through faith. Just as we pass along to our children what we know about Christ, this prophecy would’ve been passed along to Adam and Eve’s descendants, allowing them to be saved by grace through faith.
The basis for salvation in every age is the death of Christ; the requirement for salvation in every age is faith; the object of faith in every age is God; the content of faith changes in the various ages.
Charles C. Ryrie, Dispensationalism Today, 1965
Unfortunately, people think of the Gospel as a New Testament invention, but Paul uses the Old Testament to present the Gospel. He explains justification by faith apart from the law and works in Romans 3:21-28. Then he discusses two prominent Old Testament men to have credibility with his Jewish readers. In the process he shows people were forgiven (or saved) in the Old Testament, just as believers are in the New Testament.
Paul’s First Example of Old Testament Salvation: Abraham—The Father of the Jewish People
Although Abraham was well-respected, he committed well-known sins:
- God commanded Abraham to leave his family behind. He failed by bringing his nephew Lot (Genesis 12:1-4).
- Abraham failed when he left Canaan, went to Egypt, and tried to protect himself by telling Sarah to say she was his sister (Genesis 12:10-20).
- Sarah told Abraham to have a child with Hagar, and he obeyed her (Genesis 16:1-2).
- Abraham lied about Sarah being his sister (Genesis 20:2).
What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather, discovered in this matter? If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about—but not before God.
Romans 4:1-2
We can boast if we’re justified by works, “but not before God,” because it wouldn’t impress him.
What does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”
Romans 4:3
Paul quotes Genesis 15:6, which summarizes the Gospel. Abraham was justified by faith. He was saved by believing God.
Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation.
Romans 4:4
When your boss gives you a paycheck you’d be offended if he said, “This is a gift.” You worked for it; therefore, you earned it. A system of works makes God “obligated” to us.
However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness.
Romans 4:5
The man who attempts to be justified – or saved – by works is not trusting God. He’s trusting himself. The man who trusts God finds his faith credited – or given to him – as righteousness. His faith was shown to be genuine when he was willing to sacrifice his son, Isaac.
The Seed of Abraham
In Genesis 12:3 God told Abraham: “In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed.” Abraham’s seed is Isaac, but God’s words look past him to Jesus, the true and greater “Son of Abraham” (Matthew 1:1). Peter identified Jesus as the Seed when he quoted Genesis 12:3 while preaching:
You are sons of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying to Abraham, “And in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” To you first, God, having raised up His Servant Jesus, sent Him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from your iniquities.
Acts 3:25–26
Paul also referred to Jesus as the Seed when he quoted Genesis 12:3:
And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, “In you all the nations shall be blessed.” Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as of many, but as of one, “And to your Seed,” Who is Christ.
Galatians 3:8 and 16
Although God promised Abraham countless descendants, He spoke of one specific Seed “Who is Christ.” All the descendants of Abraham—Moses, David, Solomon, Isaiah, or any others—pale in comparison to Jesus because only through Him would “all the nations of the earth be blessed.” Abraham spent years looking forward in faith to the birth of his son, Isaac, but Jesus is the only Son he could look forward to in faith for salvation.
To learn more about Old Testament forgiveness and salvation, listen to this sermon I preached on the topic…
Paul’s Second Example of Old Testament Salvation: David—The King of the Jewish People
According to God’s Law, David committed two sins that should’ve resulted in death: adultery and murder (2 Samuel 11). A few things made David’s terrible sins even worse:
- David’s accountability—He knew God’s Law well.
- David was blessed—God brought him of that shepherd’s field where he was a nobody born to a no-name family. Then God turned him into the rich and powerful king of Israel.
- David’s sins were premeditated—He planned out all the details, even writing a letter to Joab that he had Uriah himself carry. It was one of the darkest moments in the Old Testament.
If David had to be justified, or declared righteous by works, he’d stand condemned before God. Since justification is by faith, he felt very blessed…
David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:
Romans 4:6
David agreed with Abraham about justification by faith, and he wrote about his thankfulness:
“Blessed are they
Psalm 32:1-2 which Paul quoted in Romans 4:7-8
whose transgressions are forgiven,
whose sins are covered.
Blessed is the man
whose sin the Lord will never count against him.”
When you’ve sinned like David did, you’re very thankful when God doesn’t “count” those sins against you, but instead “counts” or “credits” righteousness to you.
Is this blessedness only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? We have been saying that Abraham’s faith was credited to him as righteousness. Under what circumstances was it credited? Was it after he was circumcised, or before? It was not after, but before!
Romans 4:9-10
Abraham was declared righteous by God in Genesis 15:6 when he “believed God” at 86 years old. He wasn’t circumcised until Genesis 17:24, when he 99. Since he was declared righteous 13 years before he was circumcised, he had to be justified by faith and not works.
David’s Sins Should not Have Received Forgiveness
If anyone deserved death it was David, but this is also why David’s situation provides one of the greatest examples of God’s grace and mercy in all of Scripture. Nathan the Prophet confronted David, and he responded:
“I have sinned against the Lord.”
2 Samuel 12:13a
This is how we should respond when we sin. In these few words David provides a number of lessons:
- Take ownership: “I have…”
- Call it what it is: “sin.”
- Acknowledge the sin was “against the Lord”
- Avoid excuses and blame shifting.
Then Nathan said:
“The Lord also has taken away your sin.”
2 Sam 12:13b
These are some of the most amazing words in the Old Testament. Despite the enormity and wickedness of David’s sin, it was “taken away”:
“It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.”
Hebrews 10:4 and 11
Sacrifices couldn’t forgive sins, say nothing of take them away. How could Nathan say this to David? His sins were taken away the same way ours are taken away:
- When John the Baptist saw Jesus he said, “The Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world” (John 1:29).
- 1 John 3:5 says “[Jesus] was manifested to take away our sins.”
If any Old Testament sacrifices could take away sins, Jesus’s sacrifice would’ve been unnecessary. David looked forward in faith to Jesus the way we look backward in faith to our Savior.
The New Covenant Foreshadowed in the Old Covenant
The grace and mercy David received provide a beautiful glimpse of the New Covenant under the Old Covenant. What did David do to receive this forgiveness?
For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it;
Psalm 51:16-17
You do not delight in burnt offering.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit,
A broken and a contrite heart—
These, O God, You will not despise.
David didn’t offer any sacrifices. He had a spiritual insight that was tremendous. He knew parts of the New Testament before they were written, and he knew no Old Testament sacrifices could make up for his sins.
But he did know there was a “sacrifice” he could “give”; he knew there was an “offering” God “desired”: “a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart.”
David Confess his sin and it “took away” evil sins he committed. This is without personal merit, human effort, or penance. This is New Covenant forgiveness by grace; justification by faith.
Forgiveness that Provided Life Instead of Death
David’s sins demanded death, but he found: life. Nathan also said:
“You shall not die.”
2 Samuel 12:13c
These words mean David was going to die. The Old Covenant (the Law) demanded what it always demands: death. But David was able to find life. He recognized the greatness of what took place, which led him to write Psalm 32. Paul quoted this in Romans 4, showing forgiveness and salvation took place the same way in the Old and New Testaments.
Discussion Questions to Answer in the Comments Section
- Do you agree or disagree with the post?
- How did you previously think people were forgiven and saved in the Old Testament? Do you think that now?
- What other supporting verses from the Old Testament come to mind? What verses from the New Testament?
The text in this post is from A Father Offers His Son: The True and Greater Sacrifice Revealed Through Abraham and Isaac, and the audio is from the accompanying audiobook. I am praying God uses the book and audiobook to exalt Christ and strengthen people’s relationships with Him!
16 Responses
Hi! This is a great post. I get confused when people refer to Jesus and say, “He saved us from sins” or “Through Him was forgiveness of sins.” If David claimed to be forgiven for his sins, what about Christ’s death changed that forgiveness? In other words, if people in the Old Testament were forgiven and they were aware that they were forgiven, how did Christ’s death enable them to be forgiven (since they already were)?
Also, people say that Jesus fundamentally changed sin and death, but again I ask, what exactly did He change? People in the Old Testament were forgiven for their sins and did not receive death (which I take to mean they were not eternally separated from God), so how did Jesus’ death reconcile us to God?
I can see how His life reconciled us to Him, because of all the teachings in the Sermon on the Mount, but I don’t see what His death did for us.
Hello Ryan,
You asked a few questions and I have pasted them below so I can respond to each of them…
Good question! People were saved by grace through faith in the Old Testament and New Testament alike. People in the Old Testament looked forward in faith to the Messiah coming like we look backward in faith believing that He has come.
Regarding Christ’s death, Romans 6:23 says the wages of sin is death. If there is sin there must be an accompanying death. For Christ to take the full punishment for our sins, He had to die in our place. This is known as penal or substitutionary atonement, which I wrote about in this post if you’re interested. His death became our death.
I’m not exactly sure what you mean by saying Jesus changed sin and death. I’m not sure I would word it that way.
I would say the Jesus provides us with victory over sin and death. You are correct that even though people in the Old Testament died physically, those who died in faith did not die spiritually (eternally).
Jesus reconciled Old Testament saints to God just like He reconciles New Testament saints to God through His sacrifice. But without that sacrifice we would have to be the ones dying for our sins and taking the punishment for them. There must be a death for sin and it comes down to us experiencing that death or Christ dying in our place.
I get confused whenever i study the OT, as a Christian believer. When David confesses his sins and says, “i have sinned against the Lord”–why didn’t he mention Uriah himself? Why didn’t he say, “i saw a woman, she and i conspired to commit adultery, she and i conspired to hide the pregnancy, then she and i conspired to murder her husband.” Isn’t that what actually happened? He didn’t feel shame at all, until confronted by Nathan about it. And this is the man celebrated as “a man after God’s own heart”? I’ve had days where I’ve been ashamed at the things I’ve done or said–and still am, decades after–but on my WORST day, I’ve never done anything like the David-Bathsheba-Uriah-Joab conspiracy. Do you? And it seems like it was just another week at David’s palace.
I also don’t get how Christ is “the seed of Abraham”. John 3:16: Jesus is a sole begotten Son of God Himself. The Mount of Transfiguration: “This is MY SON–Listen to HIM.” Jesus said, “Before Abraham was, I AM”. So in what way is Jesus descended from anyone? I’ve sat through entire sermon series–not just individual ones–tracing the ancestry of Jesus. They took months. It took weeks to explain the differences between Luke’s and Matthew’s. But doesn’t it go like this: God, Jesus? And is the gospel–the good news–that Jesus, the very Creator of the universe, our Brother, when we believe? That we can talk to God, the Father, directly, as joint-heirs, as His sons and daughters?
Kevin,
Good question. I understand.
The answer is found in Psalm 51, which is David’s great Psalm of repentance he wrote after being rebuked by Nathan the prophet. In verse 4 he wrote, “Against You, You only, have I sinned, And done this evil in Your sight—That You may be found just when You speak.”
Like you observed, it is surprising that David did not mention Bathsheba, Uriah, or even Ahithophel. It seems like he clearly sinned against these people. But the truth is that all sin is ultimately against God, as this verse says, even if it looks like or feels like we are sinning against other people.
I also understand what you are saying about David being the Man after God’s Own Heart. My first two years as a teaching pastor I preached through First and Second Samuel. I wondered the same thing. Yes, David engaged in terrible, horrific sins: murder and adultery. Yet most of his life was characterized by obedience, and probably even more importantly he was deeply repentant after his sin, which is more important to God than the self-righteousness of self-righteous people like the religious leaders.
One thing to keep in mind is that the Bible basically gives us the highlights. It doesn’t record everything. Yes it looks like just another week in David’s palace, but keep in mind that he was king for 40 years. That account is picked out for us, but the decades of obedience and worship are not all recorded for us.
Your second question is a little easier to answer. Jesus is physically descended from Abraham, just as he is physically descended from David. Please look at this post, and consider watching or listening to be accompanying sermon. This is his physical lineage, which is why he can be called the Son of David and son of Abraham, yet spiritually speaking God the Father is His Father.
Wow! I am beaming, over here, at all your answers😜 I found this post because as I read I Jn. 1:9, this morning, the word “just” stood out to me. I thought, “Why is it just or right, like legally right, for Him to forgive us when we confess our sins?” This is how The Spirit of God teaches me. With questions. I immediately thought “Here we go!”, because I knew He was about to take me on another adventure through His Word. That adventure began with this post. Thank you so very much for sharing! God bless you and your beautiful family❤️
Pamela,
Thank you for letting me know. I am glad that my post ministered to you. It is a wonderful thing when we are reading something in God’s Word and it relates to something later in our day. God bless you too!
Your post makes sense in terms of Hebrews but how were the Gentiles forgiven in the Old Testament if they were not God’s chosen people? I know people like Rehab were Gentile and came to know God. But, what if you were a gentile and were not part of the Hebrews to know? Were you sent to Hell?
That’s a good question and one that many people have.
It’s important to understand that the Old Testament is largely the record of the nation of Israel, because that’s the nation that God used to bring Messiah into the world. So in a sense you could say it’s the history of the Messiah’s ancestors. Israel is a small nation. You could fit five Israels in the state of California. There were plenty of other nations, including many bigger and more powerful ones, throughout Israel’s history, but the Old Testament doesn’t focus on them. You do get glimpses into God’s dealings with them at times. In particular, if you read some of the prophets, such as Jeremiah, who prophesied to the nation of Judah, but toward the end of the book there are many prophecies to the surrounding nations.
Some prophets such as Jonah, Nahum, and Obadiah, were strictly prophets to Gentile nations. They preached to Assyria and Edom. Other prophets such as Amos record messages sent to multiple nations. This shows God was dealing with these nations, but the Old Testament doesn’t focus on those dealings.
All that to say, when people in these nations responded in faith they were saved. When they repented and looked to God and believed he would send the Messiah, they were justified by faith just like the Jews. The main difference between the Jews and Gentiles was that the Jews were given the law. But everyone throughout all human history has been saved the same.
So if people could receive forgiveness and salvation before the cross but traditional Christianity teaches that Christ died to enable people to be forgiven and saved what was the point? References to a few key prophets leaves out what happened to ordinary people before Christ.
Maybe God always was a forgiving God and Christ died for other reasons.
Maybe Paul and the early Church got it all wrong because Christs death so devastated the early Christians they had to find some higher reason to try and make sense of it all.
Maybe Christs death teaches us something else!!
Hello David,
You ask a few different questions and made a few different points, so I thought it best to copy your comment and respond to much of it individually…
The substitutionary death of Christ on the cross is what allows people to be forgiven in the Old and New Testaments alike. Another way to say it is people were saved by the death of Christ before and after the cross. Those in the Old Testament looked forward in faith to the Messiah as we look back in faith. They had faith that he would come we have faith that he did come.
I’m assuming you mean what was the point of Christ’s death on the cross? If so, the point is to provide the forgiveness of our sins. If he didn’t die and we would have to receive the punishment for our sins. Instead, those who repent and put their faith in his sacrifice are forgiven of those sins because they were paid at the cross.
I’m sorry, but I don’t know what you mean here. If you would like to elaborate I would be happy to respond.
God always was and always is a forgiving God. There’s no question about that. If he wasn’t forgiving everyone who has ever lived would go to hell.
Like what? The Bible is overwhelmingly clear that he died so we can be forgiven and reconciled to God.
The problem is that centuries before Jesus died there were many prophecies that his death would do exactly what the New Testament writers wrote it did. Read Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53. They discussed him dying for our sins. Isaiah 53 in particular is filled with the language of substitutionary atonement. The New Testament writers degree with the Old Testament writers, because God is the Author of Scripture from beginning to end.
Do you want to share what you think this is? I don’t think we even need to wonder since the Bible tells us.
Hebrew children in the Old Testament were born into God’s covenant, both male and female. Circumcision was the sign of this covenant for boys, but the sign was not what saved them. Faith saved them. Rejecting the sign, circumcision, for boys, either by the parents or later as an adult himself, was a sign of a lack of true faith, and therefore the child was “cut off” from God’s promises as clearly stated in Genesis chapter 17:
“Every male among you shall be circumcised. 11 You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. 12 He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised. Every male throughout your generations, whether born in your house or bought with your money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring, 13 both he who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money, shall surely be circumcised. So shall my covenant be in your flesh an everlasting covenant. 14 Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.”
What was the purpose of this covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? God tells us in the beginning of this chapter of Genesis:
“And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you.”
This covenant wasn’t just to establish a Jewish national identity or a promise of the inheritance of the land of Caanan, as some evangelicals want you to believe. In this covenant, God promises to be their God. Does God say here that he will be their God only if they make a “decision for God” when they are old enough to have the intelligence and maturity to decide for themselves? No! They are born into the covenant!
If Jewish children grew up trusting in God and lived by faith, they then received eternal life when they died. If when they grew up, they rejected God, turned their back on God, and lived a life of willful sin, when they died, they suffered eternal damnation. Salvation was theirs to LOSE. There is no record anywhere in the Bible that Jewish children were required to make a one time “decision for God” upon reaching an “Age of Accountability” in order to be saved.
Therefore Jewish infants who died, even before circumcision, were saved.
The same is true today. Christian children are born into the covenant. They are saved by faith. It is not the act of baptism that saves, it is faith. The refusal to be baptized is a sign of a lack of true faith and may result in the child being “cut off” from God’s promise of eternal life, to suffer eternal damnation, as happened with the unfaithful Hebrew in the OT.
Christ said, “He that believes and is baptized will be saved, but he that does not believe will be damned.”
It is not the lack of baptism that damns, it is the lack of faith that damns.
Gary
Luther, Baptists, and Evangelicals
An orthodox Lutheran blog
Hello Gary,
Thank you for reading and commenting. You hold to a covenantal view, and you can tell my view is dispensational. I don’t believe children are born into a covenant. Instead, they’re descendants of Adam with sinful natures. At least we can agree on th Gospel though.
Glory to God He is still willing to forgive even after we know the truth that sin deserves the death penalty. However, this post fails to mention the terrible temporal judgement that fell upon David and his house. His life and testimony was never the same as before. Sinning after receiving salvation is a terrible thing, and we can expect severe chastisement from the Lord if we be sons. God have mercy on us.
Hi Mario,
You’re right that forgiveness does not equal an absence of consequences. We can be forgiven and there can still be terrible consequences. Sometimes people say, “It’s easier to ask for forgiveness than permission.” In other words, since we won’t be permitted to do something, we can do it and ask for forgiveness later. This quote fails to take into consideration the consequences of sin, because it implies that you when you’re forgiven you won’t suffer as a result of your actions.
How david escaped punishment?
Hi Augustine,
I’m not sure if I completely understand your comment. If you mean why wasn’t David punished for his sins, I’d say the answer is the main point of the post. David wasn’t punished for his sins – he received mercy – even though punishment was deserved. This is the case for us in the New Testament as well. We deserve to be punished, but Jesus took that punishment on Himself.