As the Christological understanding of the Old Testament (OT) pertains to the theology of salvation, a special importance attaches to the OT’s theology of sacrifice, inasmuch as Jesus interpreted His own death as a sacrifice offered for man’s deliverance from sin and death.  Consequently, a concentrated study of Israel’s ritual worship, and in particular the significance of sacrifice, is of primary importance for a proper theological understanding of what was accomplished – and how it was accomplished – on the Cross.

This aspect of the story of salvation points to a more general principle that pertains to all Christian theology: It is impossible to grasp “the mind of Christ” – which is, after all, the work of theology – apart from the teaching of the Hebrew Scriptures. No OT, no Christian theology. God set it up this way.

The Apostle Paul indicated the same approach when he described his initial message to the Corinthians:

I delivered to you – as of primary importance – that which I also received: that the Messiah died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the scriptures.

The apostolic preaching did not simply declare the salvific significance of Jesus’ death and Resurrection; it specifically did so “according to the Scriptures.” That is to say, an explicit reference to the OT was contained in the content of the Gospel. It was an integral part of the proclamation itself. Paul would have regarded the omission of the OT as a defect in the apostolic message.

We must remember that all the followers were all Jews and they understood what Jesus accomplished in terms of their Jewish experience.

IF this is true of the Gospel, it must be true of a study of salvation based on the Gospel. An authentic theology of redemption will be – “as of primary importance” – exegetical, that is based on a critical analysis of the OT as well as the NT. It will investigate the death and also the Resurrection of Christ in a specific way; namely, “according to the Scriptures.”

In First Corinthians Paul simply gave prescriptive form to the study of salvation approach we find all through the literary evidence left us by the apostles and the apostolic churches. We need to look at specific texts to truly understand this.

To understand salvation, we must use the OT combined with the NT.