ERASING A FUNDAMENTAL ERROR

There is great error in saying that Old Testament saints were justified by the law. No man could ever be justified by that law, but even before the cross, men were justified by faith, and the promise of the sacrifice to come, just like Abraham: Rom 4v9: '...We have been saying that Abraham's faith was credited to him as righteousness.' The passage goes on to say that whether men were or weren't circumcised, they were all only justified by faith: 'It was not through the law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. For if those who live by law are heirs, faith has no value and the promise is worthless, because law brings wrath. And where there is no law there is no transgression. Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham's offspring- not only those who are of the law but also to this who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all. As it is written: "I have made you a father of many nations. He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed- the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were.'

So you say, 'so what? what's your point?' The point is that this fundamental truth strikes at the very heart of the error that many Christians believe about God in our world today. It is a common belief in the Church today that says the God of the Old Testament was a God of law and wrath, whilst the God of the new testament is a God of goodness and grace. While more elements of either grace or wrath may have been seen from one testament to the next, this in no ways is grounds to say that our God completely changed and completely changed His ways (remember that God gave the law in order to show us our abundant need for Christ!). The same God that poured out wrath in the Old Testament, was the same God that poured out wrath upon Jesus Christ on the cross, when He became our substitute, and was the same God that spoke through Paul saying that the 'wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of man'. The same God that showed great mercy and grace time and time again to the Israelites of old, showed great mercy and grace time and time again to the New Testament saints, this is especially seen in most of the letters Paul wrote to them and in the letters to the Churches in Revelation. 

The same God that revealed Himself as 'merciful and compassionate' in the Old Testament when the law was given, revealed Himself as merciful and compassionate in the New when Jesus pardoned the adulterous woman (and He pardoned her BEFORE THE CROSS TOO!). Justification has always been by faith, the only difference was that in the old testament it was through the PROMISE OF THE JUSTIFICATION OF FAITH, whereas in the New it was by the FULFILMENT OF THE PROMISE OF JUSTIFICATION. 

Once this truth is settled, evangelism becomes its most effective because both grace and consequence/wrath is revealed, our relationship with God becomes healthy because we realise the way our God relates to us and the way He speaks, exhorts, blesses and judges the world. Once this truth is settled, all other scriptures can be taken in their right context and understood in their right place.