Something I've been studying....

[OneAccord]

I wrote this while studying and am interested in your thoughts. Thanks.

There was a time, a long, long time ago, that the Bible provided no forgiveness for sin. Well, that’s not quite accurate, because there was no Bible at that time period.. So, to be accurate, I should say that there was a point in time when God provided no forgiveness.

That period was from Adam to Moses. From the Creation to the giving of the Law. The word “forgiven” is not even in the Bible until Lev.4:20. We do find the word “forgive” in Gen. 50, but the word is used in relation to Joseph and his brothers. (See “Who did Joseph’s brothers sell him to…to Egypt?”) So, not once, between the creation and the giving of the Law of Moses, do we find God forgiving sin.In fact, Paul wrote these words: Rom 5:13 For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. There was no provision for forgiveness of sin until the Law was given through Moses. The only way for sin to be dealt with during that time was through death. All but 8 souls died in the Flood because “…the wickedness of man was great in the earth.” Sodom and Gormorrah were destroyed because of sin. Death was the only means to deal with sin until God provided for the atonement of sin in the Law.

For sin to be forgiven or atoned, a blood sacrifice was required. And the Law of Blood Sacrifice was not instituted until Moses led the children of Israel out of Egypt. And even that was temporal, meaning that the Blood Sacrifice was to be annual sacrifice. The blood of animals only “covered“ sin… it was only the Blood of Jesus that could wash away sin.. Think of it… from Adam until the Law, not a single person ever repented for their sins. There was no forgiveness for the sins of men. We’ve heard it said that the people of Noahs days were given 7 days to enter the Ark, but, there isn’t any indication of this in the Bible. So, what happened to the “Pre- Law” people who lived and died without the opportunity to repent of their sins? 1Pe 3:18 ¶ For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: 1Pe 3:19 By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; 1Pe 3:20 Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.

Who were these “spirits in prison” but those who had died before the Law who had no opportunity to repent of their sins?

So, how did God deal with sin before the Law?

He eradicated it. The Bible says that in Noahs day, the “wickedness of men was great” and that God regretted making man. So, He said “I will destroy man who I have created…” In Lots day, he destroyed the inhabitant of two cities to eradicate the “abominations of the earth”. Until the Law was given, God’s only recourse was to destroy the wicked, because there was no provision for the forgiveness of sin.