INTRODUCTION TO SALVATION-HISTORY

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The Old Testament is quite different from the New Testament. The Old Testament was written in Hebrew, while the New Testament was written in Greek. The Old Testament primarily relates the history of the nation of ISRAEL. The New Testament focuses on the GENTILE church. Theologically, the Old Testament emphasizes the LAW of MOSES, while the New Testament concentrates on the SALVATION to be found in Jesus Christ. Why do Christians combine these two different Scriptures into one Bible?

One of the main reasons is that New Testament writers viewed the Old Testament as their Holy Scriptures. Like the writers of the Old, the writers of the New Testament were JEWS. The Old Testament was their only Bible. The New Testament was not yet finished; they were writing it themselves. While doing so, they frequently used Old Testament writings to support their teachings. They believed that the Old Testament was inspired by God and had His authority, and they quoted from most of the books of the Old Testament.

Another reason is that both the Old and New Testaments contain similar teaching. Since the same God inspired both Testaments, they reveal the same God to us. In both, God makes similar demands on His people—to worship only Him, to trust Him, and to live in holiness. In both, God’s people fail to live up to His standards, and God provides ATONEMENT through blood sacrifice. And in both, the Messiah becomes an important figure. The Old Testament ends by focusing on a coming Messiah, and the New Testament opens by revealing Jesus as that Messiah, indeed as God Himself come to save us.

This salvation in Christ brings us to another important reason why Christians accept both the Old and New Testaments as one Holy Scripture. They recognize the same overall plan of history in both Testaments. Both show the same beliefs about God’s work in history for our salvation.

The Basic Points of Salvation-History

Both the Old and New Testaments record the history of God’s saving work in the world. The term Salvation-History refers to God’s working toward our salvation throughout human history. It refers to God’s efforts to produce a holy people for Himself—from the creation of the world in the distant past all the way to the final new heaven and new earth in the distant future. The main outlines of Salvation-History are fairly well agreed upon by all Christians. Many religions differ on one or more of the following points, but Christian thinking about Salvation-History can be summarized in five statements.

1. World history is real. It had a real beginning, and is moving toward a real goal or ending.

Some non-Christian scriptures teach that history is just a cycle of events happening over and over again without any real progress or final purpose. But the Bible, starting with the Old Testament, teaches that history is a series of successive events in a world that has purpose and meaning. History is not just an imaginary history in the mind of God, but is a real history of events in a world that He created to be fully different from His own self (see General Article: Creation, Evolution, or Both?). God did not originally create the world out of His own being or from pre-existing materials, but by His word. Creation was a real event in the past, and God is now ruling over the created world in the present. He is not just King over men and women. He is ruling over all the plants and animals on earth as well—indeed, over all the stars and planets in the entire universe.

2. Human beings were created perfect, but fell into sin. Sin is rebellion against God.

According to the Old Testament, when humans were created they were perfect and RIGHTEOUS. They had a perfect relationship with God, with other humans, and with the natural world. Some non-Christian religions teach that man was created imperfect, with faults from the very beginning. And many who do not believe in God think that human beings have become morally better and better, through slow upward progress from non-moral or amoral beginnings. The Old Testament teaches that in the beginning, humans were created in the image of God (see General Article: In the Image of God). SIN is not just ignorance or social disharmony, but is primarily a rebellion against God. Human sin also distorts inter-relationships among humans and injures the natural environment around them (see General Article: The Fall into Sin).

3. God is active in history;indeed, He is the supreme actor within history. He is especially working toward our complete salvation.

Some non-Christian philosophers accept that God created the world, but they believe that after creation God left the world on its own and is now only watching what happens in our world without interfering in any way. The Bible, however, starting in the Old Testament, teaches that God is not passively watching our history unfold before Him, but has been actively working within our history ever since the beginning. He not only chose the proper goal for His people, He actively moves people toward that goal. He intervenes in history, revealing Himself and doing miracles (see General Article: Miracles and the Laws of Nature), as well as rewarding or punishing the nations of the world (see General Article: God’s Plans for the Unreached). God has been working toward our salvation throughout history. Christians do not always agree among themselves about the details of how God works with humankind during different periods of world history (see General Article: Covenants and Dispensations). However, all agree that God remains very active within world history.

4. Special revelation has been given to us, both through the Scriptures and through the incarnation of God in Jesus Christ.

Some philosophers teach that human beings can never really know God; we cannot even discover God’s will and commands for us. But the Bible itself shows us a God who acted to reveal His will and plans to all of us through His PROPHETS and apostles. In the Old Testament, He revealed his moral law through Moses (see General Article: The Purpose of the Mosaic Law). He also revealed what He was like in Himself by becoming human in Jesus Christ. Jesus was God Himself, acting from within history. So in both the Old and New Testaments, but primarily in Jesus Christ, we have been given a fixed norm or authority for our knowledge of God. The Scriptures do not reveal all there is to know about God, but God has revealed enough for us to know Him and His plans for our salvation. In addition, He has revealed much about the future, along with warnings and many promises (see General Articles: Prophecy and Predictive Words; Types and Predictive Events).

5. God will finally bring creation to perfection in obedience to Himself.

Through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, recorded in the New Testament, God fulfilled His plan to draw people to Himself, cleanse them from their sin, and rescue them from evil. At the end of history, the natural world will be restored in a new heaven and a new earth. Human beings who trust in God’s Son will be blessed and enter into ETERNAL LIFE with Him. Believers will be resurrected from the dead and given new bodies that will not die. Those who reject God’s Son will be condemned to remain separate from God forever (see General Articles: God’s Plans for the Unreached; What Happens After Death?).

The Advantages of Studying Different Opinions

Many of the General Articles discuss questions that arise from these five main points of Salvation-History. The general outline is acceptable to believers from all churches. But true Christians can, and do, disagree about many of the details of God’s work and plans. Disagreements do not arise over our central belief in Jesus Christ and him crucified (1 Corinthians 2:2). All Christians agree with those doctrines which are crucial for our salvation.¹ But the Bible does not answer all the questions we can ask. This is especially true for the Old Testament. Because of this, most churches or denominations have not developed a single, firm answer for many of the questions that arise from studying the Old Testament. One of the advantages of this commentary is that readers can learn about viewpoints other than their own. This commentary is a Bible study aid, not a catechism or statement of faith for a particular church or denomination. It is not honest or fair to serious Bible students to keep them in ignorance of ideas that many true Christians believe are correct. Therefore, markedly different opinions will be presented in these articles.

While reading these articles, the Bible student should focus on the text of the Bible above all. In most of the articles, the main Bible verses related to the subject are presented first, followed by a brief description of the main viewpoints held by different Christians along with the biblical support for each viewpoint. Readers should go to their pastor or teacher for further instruction regarding their own church›s teachings.

A major principle of these articles is that people can be true spiritual Christians and yet have differing beliefs on secondary questions. Mature Christians have learned to allow for different opinions on such matters. Some of the General Articles discuss questions that were never clearly revealed in the Old Testament and remain unclear even after the New Testament was completed. For questions like these we must allow our fellow believers to hold a different point of view from our own. Indeed, we should hold our own views loosely enough to allow the HOLY SPIRIT to teach us more and more over the remaining years of our lives.

Summary

Both the Old and New Testaments are included in the Christian Bible. Both were inspired by the same God, and contain the same view of God’s work in Salvation-History. Both contain the same teaching about our need for salvation from sin and evil. The Old Testament contains prophecies about a Savior or MESSIAH who would reconcile God and humanity. The New Testament reveals that the Savior was God Himself, incarnate in Jesus Christ. Therefore Jesus is the central topic of the whole Bible. Jesus brings both Testaments together.

The writers of the New Testament recognized that the Bible’s unity is found in Jesus Christ. They quoted or referred to many Old Testament passages to support their proclamation of the Good News of Jesus Christ. Sometimes their use of the Old Testament may be hard for us to understand, but they were convinced that the same God who had spoken through the prophets had now spoken through Jesus Christ (Hebrews 1:1–2). And they believed that the same God was inspiring their own writings. Whatever questions remain, we can be sure that the God who inspired both the Old and the New Testament continues to use the entire Bible for our benefit today. God’s Holy Scriptures . . . are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work (2 Timothy 3:15–17).

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1 See the list of nine cardinal (central) doctrines in the Introduction to the General Articles, in The Applied New Testament Commentary.