Answer
Let’s talk about the Content of Faith. A basic simplification that one often hears is, “in the Old Testament people looked forward to Messiah’s death, and now, in New Testament times we look back at His death.”
That sounds good but it is not really biblically accurate because that is reading New Testament knowledge back into the Old Testament, and assuming the Old Testament believer had knowledge that he could not possibly have had. It is important not to assume biblical knowledge before the Bible presents that knowledge as being possible.
So, let’s talk about the content of faith at different points of time.
In Genesis chapter 3 we have the account of the fall of man to sin. So, it would be natural in the same chapter that God will make a promise, and we have the first Messianic promise of the coming Messiah, to deal with the problem of sin.
So, in Genesis 3:15 we read: “and I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed: he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” (ASV 1901)
Now this first Messianic prophecy of Genesis 3:15 was not given to Adam or to Eve, but directly to Satan. And now Satan knows that the descendant of the woman that he tempted, will someday come to defeat him. And so, he will target the seed of the woman, trying to avoid the seed of Messiah from arriving.
The Patriarchal Period – What is the Content of Faith?
Genesis 15:6 – “And he believed in Jehovah, and he reckoned it to him for righteousness.” (ASV 1901) And what is it that Abram had to believe?
That is found right in the first five verses. Abram had to believe in the promises of God as was revealed to him in what is called the Abrahamic Covenant. And that was the content of Abraham’s faith, in that he believed, the promises of God would ultimately be fulfilled.
Now when we come to the time of the role of the Mosaic Law, the Torah, the content of faith is spelled out in Isaiah 43:10-12. We read, “Ye are my witnesses, says Jehovah, and my servant whom I have chosen; that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. 11 I, even I, am Jehovah; and besides me there is no saviour. 12 I have declared, and I have saved, and I have showed; and there was no strange god among you: therefore, ye are my witnesses, says Jehovah, and I am God.” (ASV 1901) And the witnesses here are the people of Israel.
And here he spells out what the Content of Faith is. Two things:
1. That the God of Israel is the only God
Rules out polytheism – Rules out idolatry
2. He is the only Savior
Rules out trusting any one’s work or trusting one’s own works to earn salvation. But also notice that the Saviour has to be God. This is what the text clearly teaches. “I, even I, am Jehovah; and besides me there is no Saviour”
Now for a Gentile to believe in these two things he would then receive eternal life.
The Gentile would then ask, “Well, now how do I live?” And the answer is, “You live in accordance with the Adamic and Noahic Covenant.”
If a Jew believed these two things, then he would also receive eternal life. And, when he, the Jew, asks, “How do I now live?”
For him the answer is: You live in accordance with the Mosaic Law, with all its 613 commandments. And when there is failure, there is a blood sacrifice available to restore the fellowship.
So, this was the content of faith until the time of Messiah’s death and resurrection.
