How Were People Saved Before Jesus?

Q: How could people who lived prior to Jesus get saved? Can people after Jesus came who never heard the gospel be saved?

A: Prior to Jesus's coming, people were saved by their understanding and anticipation of God's perfect provision through a coming Messiah. Throughout the Hebrew scriptures, the Old Testament, God promised salvation, a covenant, and a Messiah to come. He would work a perfect salvation through that. It was trust in what God would do through the person and work of that coming Messiah. This goes all the way back to Genesis chapter 3. They were saved looking forward to the person and work of Jesus Christ, even if they didn't know him by that name. They knew him as the Messiah to come. We are saved by looking back to the work of Jesus Christ, the Messiah. So, that's how people were saved.

Now, what about people who have never heard? Let me give you this general principle: God won't judge people by what they haven't heard. But everybody has heard something of God, his nature, and his works. Everybody has heard something of God in creation and in conscience. This is revealed to us in several places in the Bible, but most notably in Romans chapter 1. God has revealed himself to humanity in creation and in conscience. God will hold humanity accountable and judge them by what he has revealed to them in creation and in conscience. So, that's how humanity will be judged. It is a legitimate question whether or not anybody can respond in a saving way to what God has revealed to them in creation and conscience apart from hearing the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'll leave that question for another time. But God will judge those who haven't heard by what they have heard.