Test 6: The Nature of Salvation Promise

The Central Question

Was salvation promised universally to all humanity or exclusively to the Jewish people? If the promise was universal, then the law it addresses must likewise be universal. This test determines whether both the moral law (including the Sabbath) and the gospel have universal application or ethnic limitations.

The Original Universal Promise in Eden

The first and foundational salvation promise appears in Genesis 3:15, given immediately after sin entered: "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel."

This establishes the legal principle: if the problem (sin/law-breaking) was universal, and the solution (salvation through the promised seed) was universal, then both the law broken and the salvation offered must have universal application.

The Abrahamic Expansion: All Nations Blessed

When God called Abraham, He didn't initiate a new salvation plan but expanded the revelation of the universal promise:

Key legal observations: "ALL families" and "ALL nations" - not some. "The heathen" (Gentiles) explicitly included. This was "the gospel" - the same universal good news. Abraham wasn't chosen to receive exclusive salvation but to be the channel through which universal salvation would come.

The Stranger Provision: Proof of Universal Law

The Fourth Commandment itself proves universal application: "But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates" (Exodus 20:10).

The "stranger" (Hebrew: ger) refers to non-Israelites living among them. These could be Egyptians who left with Israel, Canaanites who joined Israel, travelers from any nation, or refugees and immigrants. If the Sabbath applied only to ethnic Jews, why require strangers to observe it? The answer: the Sabbath is part of universal moral law applying to all humanity.

The Prophetic Testimony: Universal Salvation Intent

The prophets consistently revealed God's universal salvation intent:

Isaiah 49:6: "I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth." The Messiah would bring salvation "unto the end of the earth," not just to Palestine.

Israel's Missionary Failure

Israel was chosen to be "a kingdom of priests" (Exodus 19:6) - priests mediate between God and others. Their role was to bring the nations to God through demonstrating God's law to the nations. But they failed by becoming exclusive, perverting the law through human traditions, and rejecting the Messiah.

Jesus confronted this failure: "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves" (Matthew 23:15).

Christ's Correction: Salvation Explicitly Universal

Jesus consistently demonstrated salvation's universal scope:

The Transfer to Gentiles: Fulfilling Original Intent

When Israel rejected Christ, the gospel commission transferred to include Gentiles directly:

Matthew 21:43: "Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof."

Acts 13:46: "Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles."

This wasn't Plan B but return to Plan A - the original universal promise to Eve being fulfilled despite Israel's failure.

The Legal Arguments for Universal Application

Argument 1: Justice Requires Universal Provision

If all humanity fell through Adam (Romans 5:12), justice requires salvation be available to all. God cannot justly condemn all for a universal problem without providing universal solution. 1 John 2:2: "And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world."

Argument 2: Same Problem Requires Same Solution

All humanity faces the same problem - sin as transgression of moral law. Romans 3:23: "For all have sinned." If the problem is universal, the solution must be universal. Different solutions for different ethnicities would imply different problems, but Scripture affirms sin's universality.

Argument 3: Pre-Sinai Salvation Proves Universality

Abel, Enoch, Noah, and Abraham were saved before any Jewish nation existed. Their salvation proves God's plan always transcended ethnic boundaries. They were justified by faith (Hebrews 11) and lived obediently to God's moral law.

Argument 4: The Stranger Provisions Prove Universal Law

The requirement for strangers to keep the Sabbath and other moral laws proves these weren't ethnic regulations but universal moral principles. Leviticus 24:22: "Ye shall have one manner of law, as well for the stranger, as for one of your own country: for I am the LORD your God."

The New Testament Resolution

The Jerusalem Council (Acts 15) addressed this directly. The question: Must Gentiles become Jews (through circumcision and ceremonial law) to be saved?

The answer: No. James concluded: "Wherefore my sentence is, that we trouble not them, which from among the Gentiles are turned to God" (Acts 15:19).

The Final Universal Gospel

Revelation 14:6-7: "And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters."

The "everlasting gospel" goes to "every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people" - absolute universality. The message includes worshiping the Creator, echoing the Sabbath commandment that identifies God as Creator.

Justification and Sanctification: Universal Pattern

While maintaining proper distinction between justification (saved BY faith alone) and sanctification (faith producing obedience), the pattern is universal:

All are saved BY grace through faith (justification), then live according to God's moral law (sanctification) - not to earn salvation but because salvation transforms the heart.

Implications for the Sabbath

If salvation's promise was universal from Eden, and if this salvation addresses transgression of moral law, then:

The Sabbath isn't Jewish any more than "Thou shalt not kill" is Jewish. Both are universal moral principles applying to all humanity.