New Testament authors understood salvation to mean that the people of God (the church) would be saved from sin and allowed to enjoy God’s rule. They would be “saved” from their enemies. In other words, there would probably be a war, and the nation of Israel would win the military victory. The Old Testament people of God understood “salvation” to mean that they would be rescued from their enemies. #3 Salvation: military victory or removal of sin Instead, the reward for their faithfulness is God Himself-a relationship with Him. ![]() In the New Testament, God makes no such promise to the church. When the nation of Israel turned away from God, God took away the land from His people, but He promised to one day restore it to them. God promised His people the land of Canaan, and He promised they would own and occupy it as long as they remained faithful and obedient to Him. More specifically it was the land currently occupied by the nation of Israel plus some. The reward for the righteous in the Old Testament was the land. ![]() In the Old Testament, the focus was on a nation in the New Testament the focus was on the individual and on communities of faith. This was a huge paradigm shift for the early followers of Jesus. The original New Testament word for “church” is ekklesia which literally means “called out.” God’s people are called out of every nation. In the New Testament, God’s people come from any and all nations. While anyone could worship God, the right ancestry gave one an enormous advantage. God’s people were members of a nation, a people group, all descended from a common ancestor-Jacob, son of Isaac, grandson of Abraham. In most of the Old Testament, God’s people were understood to be the Israelis (or Israelites, the Jews). #1 God’s people: a nation or a faith community ![]() If you don’t understand this shift in thinking, you’ll find many passages of the Bible to be confusing, and you’ll take away from the Bible meaning that was never intended. Between the end of the Old Testament and the middle of the New Testament, a huge shift in thinking takes place.
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