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PEOPLE NOT "SAVED" IN OLD TESTAMENT A big debate stirring in IFB circles today is the issue of dispensational salvation, how people were saved in the Old Testament versus the New Testament. Frankly, I really don't care, since we are not in the Old Testament, but I do find the whole debate somewhat annoying, since it is based on the false premise that Old Testament saints were saved at all. Paul made it very clear that "by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin" (Rom. 3:20) and "by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified" (Gal. 2:16). The law gave man the KNOWLEDGE of sin, not justification from sin. Therefore, the Old Testament saints were not justified until Christ completed his death, burial and resurrection. That's why the words "saved" and "save" do not concern present salvation FROM SIN in the Old Testament. When used, these words almost always (and possibly always) involve either salvation from trouble or specific prophecies regarding salvation that would come later in Christ. Yet, the very first use in the New Testament DOES involve sin: ". . . thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins." (Mat. 1:21)That was not an Old Testament reality, which is why the Old Testament saints didn't go to heaven when they died. They went to "paradise" in the underworld and waited for God's salvation to come in the person of Jesus Christ (whether they knew it or not). Furthermore, they weren't called sons of God, weren't born again, and didn't have the image of God. SO! Debating about "Old Testament salvation" is silly, since it didn't exist, at least not salvation from sin.