how to read the NT [salvation]

God made covenant promises to only one people, Israel [Dt 7.6-7]. In Jesus, the Jewish stream of salvation has flooded its banks and watered the Gentile land. The NT makes the move from corporate salvation that is ethnically based to the corporate salvation of the Church which includes people from every tribe, tongue, and nation [Rev 5.9]. The consequences of this are many….

In Hebrews, the readers wanted to go back to their old Jewish ways because it was easier, more tangible, and they would be persecuted less. For some Jews in Acts, their response to Gentiles being saved was anger and jealousy. There were also groups of Jews who attempted to force OT Jewish laws on Gentiles who God was redeeming, saying that they could not be saved without “becoming a Jew” first. The list goes on.

The key thing to remember here is that under the old covenant, only Jews were direct recipients of God’s covenant promises. Now, under the new covenant, “whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” [Ac 2.21, Ro 10.13].