The Chapel - Rediscovering God Changes Everything.

Salvation has always been an issue of a right relationship with God. The exact details of this relationship have changed, but the intent never has (and never will).

Before the fall Adam and Eve lived with God in unbroken fellowship. Their rebellion severed this relationship, and God took the initiative to rebuild it. The first recorded death in the Bible is when God took animal skins to cover Adam and Eve’s shame (Genesis 3:21). Sin demands a payment (“you will surely die,” Genesis 2:17), but God accepted a sacrifice. The passage doesn't directly say this, but from that point on, sacrifice was ingrained as a means of approaching God. The very next story after Adam and Eve concerns Cain’s murder of Abel. Cain was jealous that God accepted Abel’s sacrifice and rejected his own (Genesis 4:3-5; Hebrews 11:4), but why were they sacrificing in the first place? For that matter, why did Noah and Job offer sacrifices (Genesis 8:20; Job 1:5)? The answer is simple: that is how people drew near to God. How were people saved? They were faithful in sacrifice and living for God and called on his name (Genesis 4:26). This was acceptable all the way until Abraham, though few followed through, as the flood story illustrates.

On the heels of the debacle at the Tower of Babel, God narrowed his focus and made first a promise (Genesis 12:1-3), and then a covenant with Abraham (Genesis 15). This covenant was repeated with Isaac, Jacob, and his 12 sons — collectively known as Israel. How were people saved? They joined the covenant family of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (by birth or conversion) and followed the example of Abraham’s faith (Genesis 15:6).

This held sway all the way to the time of Moses (about 400 years), when Moses led Israel out of slavery and gave them God's law. The heirs of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob entered a covenant of Law. Those who were outside of it weren't God's people. How were people saved? They were faithful to God through obedience to his Law.

The early Church had a difficult time convincing Jews that the Law was no longer the means of approaching God. After all, it had been in force for well over a thousand years. The radical newness of faith in God's Son, the risen Lord who died for our sins, was too much of a change for many of them to take. But once again, from the human viewpoint, God refined how people should approach him. From his viewpoint, he merely revealed the eternal plan so all can be saved (Ephesians 1:9-10; Colossians 1:25-27; Revelation 13:8).