How Were People in the Old Testament Saved?

JimD · Bear Cub Joined: 05 Nov 2007 Posts: 630

John 16:7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.

JimD said: This is the scripture that gets everyone confused, how do you interpret it?

57 said:This was an administration of the spirit to euip for the evaneglism campaign

Congratulations 57, you are one of the few who "get it"!

Here are a few others:

John Calvin Quote:
For the Holy Spirit was not yet given. We know that
the Spirit is eternal; but the Evangelist declares that, so
long as Christ dwelt in the world in the form of a
servant, that grace of the Spirit, which was poured out on
men after the resurrection of Christ, had not been openly
manifested. And, indeed, he speaks comparatively, in the
same manner as when the New Testament is compared to the
Old. God promises his Spirit to his elect and believers,
as if he had never given him to the Fathers. At that
very time, the disciples had undoubtedly received the
Spirit; for whence comes faith but from
the Spirit? The Evangelist, therefore, does not
affirm that the grace of the Spirit was not offered and
given to believers before the death of Christ, but
that it was not yet so bright and illustrious as it would
afterwards become.
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Albert Barnes Quote:
For the Holy Spirit was not yet given. Was not given in such full and large measures as should be after Jesus had ascended to heaven. Certain measures of the influences of the Spirit had been always given in the conversion and sanctification of the ancient saints and prophets; but that abundant and full effusion which the apostles were permitted afterward to behold had not yet been given.
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John Gill Quote:
"for the Holy Spirit was not yet come"; he was; he was in being as a divine person, equal with the Father and Son, so he was from everlasting; and he had been bestowed in his grace upon the Old Testament saints, and rested in his gifts upon the prophets of that dispensation.
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Robertson Quote:
For the Spirit was not yet given (oupw gar hn pneuma). No verb for "given" in the Greek. The reference is not to the existence of the Spirit, but to the special activity of the Spirit. This same use of eimi like pareimi (to be present) appears in #Ac 19:2 of the Spirit’s activity. John, writing at the close of the century, inserts this comment and interpretation of the language of Jesus as an allusion to the coming of the Holy Spirit at pentecost (the Promise of the Father).
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Given the fact that the Spirit of God has always been omnipresent would make debating whether He is in or upon people laughable, except for another fact, which is, we have such a hard time understanding Him.
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Anyone can point out a scripture here and there and prove anything they want to believe, but good theology is understanding the message of the gospel as a whole. Sincerely, JimD