How are people saved under the New Covenant?
Christians today no longer offer animal sacrifices. Jesus offered Himself as the perfect sacrifice for the sins of the world. He did this once and for all time. With the shedding of His blood and His death upon the cross came forgiveness—true forgiveness. No further sacrifice for sin will ever be needed. The price has been paid.(1)
Jesus lived a perfect life and fulfilled all the requirements of the Law. The Apostle Paul explains in Colossians 2:14 (HCSB) that Jesus “erased the certificate of debt, with its obligations, that was against us and opposed to us, and has taken it out of the way by nailing it to the cross.” When Jesus poured out His blood (He did this with His death on the cross), He established a New Covenant.(2)
We avail ourselves of this great gift of salvation by doing what God told Jesus’s disciples to do long ago on the Mount of Transfiguration. After He proclaimed to them, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased,” He then instructed the disciples: “Listen to him!” (Matthew 17:5b, NIV). We listen to Jesus today by studying the inspired Word of God, the Bible. As we come to understand all that Jesus has done for us, our listening leads us to love Him. Our love for Him then leads us to obey what He has commanded. As Jesus told His disciples in John 14:23 (NIV), “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.”
The Ethiopian Eunuch
The New Testament contains numerous examples of people accepting Jesus as their Savior. The Ethiopian eunuch was someone who searched the Scriptures, seeking understanding.(3) This man was an important official in charge of the treasury of Candace, the Queen of the Ethiopians. He had been to Jerusalem to worship and was on his way home. As he was sitting in his chariot reading from the prophet Isaiah, an angel of the Lord sent Philip to him. The eunuch asked Philip to explain to him the scripture he was reading. Philip began with that very passage and went on to tell him the rest of the story, the good news of Jesus.
As they came to a place that had water, the eunuch said, “See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?”(Acts 8:36b, NKJV). He ordered his chariot to stop. Then both he and Philip went down into the water, and Philip baptized him. After they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, possibly to go teach someone else, while the eunuch continued on his way rejoicing.
The Apostle Paul
The Apostle Paul provides another example of someone who accepted Jesus as his Savior, only he started from a very different place than the eunuch. Originally called by his Hebrew name of Saul, he was so convinced that the followers of the Way were wrong and in violation of the Law that he set about to persecute them.(4) He sought their death and watched as Stephen, a follower of Jesus, was being stoned to death, guarding the clothes of those who were killing him.(5)
Saul would ultimately prove useful in our Lord’s service, but first, he had to be converted to Christianity. The Lord got his attention by speaking to him while he journeyed to Damascus and temporarily blinding him with a bright light. Then He sent a disciple named Ananias to go minister to Saul and to lay his hands upon him in order to restore his sight.(6) Acts 9:18 (NKJV) tells us that when this occurred, “something like scales” fell from his eyes “and he received his sight at once; and he arose and was baptized.”
From that point forward, Saul became as zealous for the name of Jesus as he had been against Christianity before his conversion. He later began using his Roman name of Paul as he traveled to the Gentiles and preached the good news of Jesus.(7) Like Moses, Paul was an educated person. This served him well as he reasoned with people, spoke to his audiences, and trained other evangelists. The letters he wrote comprise a great portion of our New Testament.(8)
The Apostle Peter
Finally, the Apostle Peter provides us with an excellent summary concerning how to be saved. Shortly after Jesus had ascended back into heaven, Peter spoke to a large group who had gathered on the day of Pentecost. He explained to them that Jesus was the fulfillment of the prophecies concerning the Messiah, and then he told them, “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ” (Acts 2:36, NKJV).
When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and asked what they should do. Peter told them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38, NKJV). The Scriptures tell us from that point on, these new believers steadfastly followed the apostles’ teachings. They prayed and fellowshipped with one another. In short, they did not revert to their old ways but went on to live a life devoted to serving Christ.(9)
Footnotes:
(1) Hebrews 10:1–18 explains how Jesus’s sacrifice was made once and for all time.
(2) During His Last Supper, Jesus explained that the cup He shared with His disciples represented His blood. With His death and the shedding of His blood would come the New Covenant. See Luke 22:20 and 1 Corinthians 11:25.
(3) See Acts 8:26–39 for the account of the conversion of the Ethiopian eunuch.
(4) Followers of the Way was an early designation for the followers of Jesus, who were later called Christians. Jesus taught that the way to the Father was through Him. In this beautiful passage in John 14:1–7, as He was preparing His disciples for His death, He told them, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6, NKJV).
Acts 8:1–4 tells of the great persecution of the early church and Saul’s role in it. Verse 3 (NKJV) tells us: “As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering every house, and dragging off men and women, committing them to prison.” As a result, believers fled to other areas, and as they scattered about, they preached the Word everywhere they went.
(5) For the account of Stephen, see Acts 6:8–7:60. Acts 7:58 states that those who stoned Stephen laid their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul. Later, after his conversion, Paul stated in Acts 22:20 (NKJV), “And when the blood of Your martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by consenting to his death, and guarding the clothes of those who were killing him.”
(6) Ananias was hesitant to go minister to Saul because he knew of the harm he had done to Jesus’s followers. The Lord reassured Ananias and told him, “Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before the Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel” (Acts 9:15, NKJV).
(7) This article discusses Saul later going by the name of Paul: “When and Why Was Saul’s Name Changed to Paul?”
For a summary of his life, see the article “The Life of Paul.” At this same site, https://www.biblestudy.org/, you can search for other interesting articles about Paul.
(8) The Apostle Paul authored at least thirteen books of our New Testament: Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, and Philemon. The book of Hebrews does not name its author, but many attribute it to Paul as well. This article gives a brief summary of each of these books: “14 Letters in Bible Attributed to St. Paul or His Followers.”
By word count, the writings of Paul account for over 5 percent of our total Bible and over 23 percent of the New Testament. Of the New Testament writers, only Luke wrote more. This article discusses the authors of the Bible and gives a brief biography of each: “The 35 Authors Who Wrote the Bible.”
This article considers the Bible as a whole: “Infographic: Who wrote most (and least) in the Bible?”
(9) See Acts 2:40–47 for the account of how the early church grew.