SALVATION BEFORE THE CROSS
. . . SALVATION IS of the JEWS. But the hour cometh and NOW IS, when the TRUE worshippers shall worship the Father in Spirit and in TRUTH . . . -- John 4:22, 23
And thou, child (John the Baptist), shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the Lord to prepare his ways; TO GIVE KNOWLEDGE OF SALVATIONUNTO HIS PEOPLE (the Jews) by the REMISSION OF THEIR SINS . . . --Luke 1:76,77
And that he might reconcile BOTH (Jew and Gentile) in one body BY THE CROSS. . . And came and preached PEACE to you which were afar off (Gentiles), AND to them that were NIGH (Jews). --Eph. 2:16, 17
The theological expanse, which lies between covenant theologians and hyper-dispensationalists, undoubtedly, remains a great gulf. Between dispensationalists and hyper-dispensationalists, there also exists an enormous gap, consisting of Stam-ites, Bereans, Darbyites, Scofield-ites, Chaffer-ites, Dallas-ites, and a large variety of other-ites. We have learned a great deal from many of them but have also had to unlearn some things. Someone has said that it would have been better if Baptists had never heard of the word "dispensation." Still, we are not going to make the mistake, of others, by branding some "heretics," because they do not dot their dispensational "I’s" exactly as we do.
The period that occurs, after the cross until now, especially the time during the Book of Acts, is our primary concern in this writing, although we could expand our arguments to the O.T., although it is more difficult (due to its progressive nature of revelation, historical records, rules, regulations, and unrecordables) to pin down the method of salvation (except in the Psalms and Proverbs, where the real spiritual content, spiritual values, and understanding of salvation are expressed). So, other than that, the N.T. commentary is the best place to gain insight to the O.T. saints' salvation. Still, the latest craze of believing that a plan of salvation does not exist until it is recorded or until it is mentioned is farfetched. Such a theory hangs its advocates by their own rope in the places that they seek to establish their dozens of O.T. plans of salvation before the law and even during the law. They must constantly amend their theoretical plans of salvation throughout the O.T. and the Gospels each time that the later scriptures are added, if their multiple plans of salvation theories are employed.
The Non-recordables
And it shall come to pass, that WHOSOEVER shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be SAVED. --Acts 2:21 (quoting Joel 2:32)
In Acts 2, it has been pointed out and emphasized, by both moderate and hyper-dispensationalists alike, that Peter was not talking to Gentiles but to Jews. Nothing is recorded, in Acts 2 about Christ dying for their sins or about grace. We have been reminded that the promise of Acts 2:39 to the children and to all those, who were afar off, were being promised to Israelites (uniting with a then Gentile-less church, which had existed from Matthew 10 until Acts 2:47). Still, if that is true, to go a step further, something that is equally true, is that these Israelites were somehow actually "SAVED" and added to the church (Acts 2:47). But how, if grace and Christ dying for sins were never recorded, mentioned, nor understood?
Yes, the crucifixion and the resurrection are mentioned but not the so-called Gospel of the death, burial, and resurrection as the basis of one’s salvation. The LAW must therefore be still in force without any Gospel, heretofore, according to over-disp thinking. Well, believingIS recorded in Acts 2:44. The apostles had been instructed to witness unto a crucified and resurrected Christ (Luke 24:46-48; Acts 2:32). Peter acknowledged this mission, claiming to be a witness of the resurrection and these things (Acts 2:32). Peter further establishes that Jesus is both Lord and Christ (Acts 2:36). Then there is the matter of them getting baptized and continuing in the apostle’s “DOCTRINE.” Where do you think they got that “DOCTRINE” and of what did it consist (Acts 2:41, 42)?
Both the dispensationalists, over-dispensationalists, under-dispensationalists, and hyper-dispensationalists are all forced to agree that "Jews" had to be saved in Acts 2 in the same way that they were saved in the Gospels or else hold to two or three different Jewish plans of salvation within less than a few years. The rub, of course, is, "How were Jews saved in the Gospels and in the Book of Acts?" We contend that the Jews received the remission of sins and eternal life by repentance and faith or belief in Jesus the Christ, the Son of God, in the Gospels and the Book of Acts. Did not John the Baptist preach to the Jews—the lamb that taketh away the sin of the world? And "He that believeth on the Son HATH everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life . . ." (John 3:36)? Did not Christ tell a woman, "Thy faith hath SAVED thee," after forgiving her sins (Luke 7:48-50) apart from the LAW? (We will have none of this business of the Book of John being written at some late date and therefore cannot apply; Jesus and John the Baptist preached these things to real, living Jews before it was ever recorded in print!)The Book of Acts Jews also did not have the cross nor the resurrection preached to them as the BASIS of their salvation. The history of these events were told them but not in gospel fashion. The death/resurrection, as the basis for salvation, was not declared as late as Acts 16 to the Philipian jailer. Paul (Rom. 10:10-13) did not have any more of a problem quoting Joel to Gentiles than Peter did to Jews (Acts 2:21) in this matter of calling on the Lord.
Neither of them had a problem with calling on the Lord in conjunction with belief in the resurrection without any recorded reference to the vicarious or substitutionary death of Christ. Paul pronounced a Roman "saved," who believed in his heart that God resurrected the Lord Jesus Christ. The "BASIS" of that Roman's salvation, of course, remains the same as that of a Jew—the substitutionary shedding of Christ's blood, His burial, and His subsequent resurrection. The Roman believer, later, like the Jews (Acts 2) may yet learn more of the great truths of the virgin birth, substitution, redemption, and justification. However many of these truths that may not have been fully revealed to them nor understood by them nor preached to them nor known by true believers in the past, they were still saved and would never deny such truths, when they were finally revealed to them.
Jewish Salvation by Means other than Christ?
But as many as RECEIVED him, to them gave the power to become the SONS OFGOD, EVEN to them that BELIEVED ON HIS NAME . . . --John 1:12
Neither is there SALVATION in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be SAVED. -- Acts 4:12
To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name WHOSOEVERBELIEVETH in him shall receive REMISSION OF SINS. -- Acts 10:43
Jews, in Acts 2, were told to repent. This is the message of the Gospels. Jews were also told to be baptized "for" or "because of"(not in order to get) the "remission of sins" (received upon repentance and belief on the Lord Jesus Christ - Acts 2:44; 4:4, 32; 5:14; 10:43). Such repentance and remission of sins are according to the remission of sins preached in the Gospels, even the remission of sins that the apostles were supposed to preach to ALL nations (Luke 24:47). Salvation was received by repenting and believing that Jesus was both Lord and Christ (Acts 2:36). They knew about the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, but did they know that they were the theological "BASIS" of their salvation? It can’t be proven that they did! Did they know or believe about the great doctrines of justification, redemption, sanctification, the inclusion of the Gentiles, and the Gospel’s deeper significance–probably not.
Where does progressive revelation demand that Jews or anyone else must know or believe such things until they are revealed to them? Then, you might say, "Jews were saved differently in Acts 2 than in Acts 28?" No, Jews, who were saved in the Gospels, in Acts 2, 28, and now are all saved by repenting and believing in and on the Lord Jesus Christ. The only difference is how much knowledge or revelation that each of them possessed or possess.
Blood for the Remission of Sins
This cup IS the NEW TESTAMENT in my blood, which ISSHED for you. -- Luke 22:20
For this IS my blood of the NEW TESTAMENT, whichISSHED for many for the remission of sins. -- Mat 26:28
There surely was not one Jewish plan of salvation, in the gospels, another in Acts 2, another in Ephesians 2, and another in Romans and all this within a few years. Technically, the Jews had been already told about the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world as early as John 1:29, whether they understood the significance or not. Still, Jews had been told about the shedding of the Messiah's blood for the REMISSION OF SINS, whether they understood it or even remembered it. They still benefitted from it by receiving Christ (John 1:12), who is both Lord and Christ and the Son of God.It is in the Gospels, where we find the first mention of a "NEW" testament or covenant. This New Testament is connected with and associated with and predicated on the shedding of Jesus Christ's blood. This new everlasting covenant was prophesied to take away both the Jew's and the Gentile’s sins (Rom. 11:27; Heb. 8:8; Heb. 13:20). This testament and its practice (the Lord's table) were intended for the Jew first and then extended to the Gentile (1 Cor. 11:24-26). This blood was efficacious at the Lord’s Supper even before it was ever shed.
The Gentile Eunuch
And Philip . . . heard him read the prophet Esaias, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest? And he said, How can I, except some man should guide me? And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him. The place of the scripture which he read was this, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth: In his humiliation his judgment was taken away: and who shall declare his generation? for his life is taken from the earth . . . Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus . . . And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. -- Acts 8:30-35,37
An argument could be made for Isaiah 53, being used here to reveal the extent of redemption to a Gentile, yet, the significant portion, “the iniquity of us all,” being laid on the Lamb, is not recorded. If we operate by the same rules that others make for Acts 2, we must say that neither grace nor Christ dying for our sins are recorded here. To point out that the Lamb is recorded or that His life is taken proves nothing, for John the Baptist preached to the Jews, in the Gospels, the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. Gentiles saved on either side (Acts 8, 10, 16) of Paul (Acts 9), cannot be proved to be saved any differently than the Jews of Acts 2 or 4, despite your brand of dispensationalism. The fact remains that Philip preached Jesus to this man, and the result was his confession that Jesus was the Son of God, (something known to the Jews, in the Gospels). Still, the Eunuch was saved and baptized.
Nothing is recorded about Paul being told anything by Christ or Ananias in Acts 9:4-6, Acts 9:17, Acts 22:7-10, or Acts 26:14-18, about grace or Christ Jesus dying for his sins. Still, Paul was saved and baptized and preached the SAME "FAITH which he ONCE destroyed" (Gal. 1:23), even the Jewish faith of the Gospels and Acts 2 through 8. Besides, there were Jewish churches, IN CHRIST IN JUDEA, during that same time frame (Gal. 1:22).
Cornelius
The WORD WHICH GOD SENT unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ: (he is Lord of ALL :) THAT WORD, I say, ye know, which WAS published throughout all Judea, and BEGAN from Galilee, after the baptism which John preached. . . And we are witnesses of all things which he did both in the land of the Jews, and in Jerusalem; whom they slew and hanged on a tree: Him God raised up the third day, and showed him openly . . . And he commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it is he which was ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead. To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name WHOSOEVER BELIEVETH IN HIM shall receive REMISSION OF SINS. -- Acts 10:36-43
Nothing, recorded in Acts 10, would suggest that these Gentiles were told about grace or that Christ died for their sins. They were instructed only to believe in a risen Christ, who is Lord of all, and receive the remission of sins. In fact, there is every indication that this message was sent first to the children of Israel and was published throughout all Judea and began from Galilee after the baptism that John preached. These words had the power to save Cornelius and his house (Acts 11:44). They, indeed, WERE saved and baptized.
The Philipian Jailer
Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house. And he . . . was baptized, he and all his, straightway. -- Acts 16:30-33
There is no record of the jailer being told about the blood, grace, the crucifixion, the resurrection, or that Christ died for him. Do we relegate him to another dispensation? ANOTHER plan of salvation? Is the argument from silence, which is used in Acts 2 by some, also applicable to Acts 8, 9, 10, and 16?
Arguments from silence may, indeed, be used by both sides of this issue, but how much of that is merely assumption (Note: "many other words" - Acts 2:40 and "they spake unto him the word of the Lord" - Acts 16:32)? Still, the jailer was saved and baptized without any hint that the gospel of 1 Corinthians was preached to him.
Conclusion
Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a SAVIOUR, for to give repentance to Israel, and FORGIVENESS OF SINS. -- Acts 5:31
When John had first preached before his coming the baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. And as John fulfilled his course, he said, Whom think ye that I am? I am not he. But, behold, there cometh one after me, whose shoes of his feet I am not worthy to loose. Men and brethren, children of the stock of Abraham, and whosoever among you feareth God, TO YOU THIS WORD of THIS SALVATION sent. --Acts 13:24-26
And God . . . giving them (Gentiles) the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us (Jews); And put NO DIFFERENCE between us (Jews) and them (Gentiles), purifying their hearts by faith . . . But we believe that through the GRACE of the Lord Jesus Christ we (Jews) shall be SAVED, EVEN AS THEY (Gentiles). --Acts 15:8-11
Testifying BOTH to the JEWS, and also to the GREEKS, REPENTANCE toward God, and FAITH toward our Lord Jesus Christ. -- Acts 20:21
. . . which had BELIEVED THROUGH GRACE . . . --Acts 18:27
The word "salvation" occurs, in the book of Acts, as early as Acts 4:12. "Forgiveness of sins" and "Saviour" occur as early as Acts 5:12. Jews were being saved by believing as early as Acts 2:44,47. Grace shows up in Acts 4:33 but does not have the force some would like until Acts 15:11. Some argue that the grace of Acts 15:11 would include the jailer, without his hearing the "gospel" of the death, burial and resurrection. Why not also the previous examples?
Agreed, "grace not recorded" does not mean that grace did not exist before Acts 15. Still, would not the same kind of reasoning apply to Acts 2, 4, 8, 9, and 10? Still, the term "gospel of the grace of God" does not appear until Acts 20:24, much too late for all of our examples. One might argue that this does not mean that the gospel of the grace of God does not exist before Acts 20:24. We would agree and then counter that, also, it does not mean that the gospel of the grace of God (still unconnected with the still unrecorded vicarious atonement) did not exist in or before Acts 2. Arguments, from silence, are as good for the goose as they are for the gander! Moreover, Acts 18:27 tells us that folk "believed through grace." Did the Jews of Acts 2, 4, 8, 9, 10 and the Gospels BELIEVE THROUGH "GRACE" or believe through "WORKS?" Why? Or Why not?Paul claims in Acts 13:23-26 that the Saviour and the word of salvation, which John the Baptist preached, are now sent to both Jew and Gentile. Also, Peter tells us that there is no difference between the Jew and the Gentile in Acts 15:8-11 and that "we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we (Jews) shall be SAVED, EVEN AS THEY (Gentiles)."