Why Jesus Did Not Introduce Salvation and Eternal Life

  Note: Words and phrases within curly braces { } within quotations are furnished by the author to explain such quotations. Words and phrases within square brackets [ ] within quotations are part of the quoted text. 
          Centuries before Jesus was born, God guaranteed salvation to any Jew who obeyed the Law: “Israel has been saved by the LORD With an everlasting salvation;” (Isaiah 45:17 NASB) To preserve their salvation Jews had to remain obedient to God: obey the Law. This verse was written centuries before Jesus.
            The writer of Daniel wrote, “And many of them who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake, some to everlasting life ...” (Daniel 12:2 KJV) This verse was written during the Hellenistic era, about 170 years before the times of Jesus. The Jews believed that those who obeyed the Law “will awake .. to everlasting life.” Long before Jesus, the Jews believed in eternal life. Josephus wrote, “They {the Pharisees} also, believe, that souls have an immortal vigor in them, and that under the earth there will be rewards and punishments, according as they have lived virtuously or viciously in this life; and the latter are to be detained in an everlasting prison, but the former will have power to revive and live again.” [1]
    The Wisdom of Solomon is an intertestamental book written at about 38 CE by a Diaspora Jew and for Diaspora Jews. It explains, “The souls of the just {the righteous, who obey the Law} are in the hands of God ... In the eyes of the fools it seemed as though they died ... but they {the righteous Jews} are in peace ... it is immortality that awaits them ... they are richly rewarded.” (Wisdom of Solomon 3:1-5) According to this writer, God offered to the Jews eternal life through righteousness: “For righteousness is immortal.” (Wisdom of Solomon 1:15 KJV) Righteousness brings immortality. What is righteousness? According to Deuteronomy, righteousness is obedience to the Law: “And it will be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments before the LORD our God, as he has commanded us.” (Deuteronomy 6:25 KJV)
            The Jews did not need the sacrifice of Jesus to earn eternal life. (Christians interpret the crucifixion of Jesus as a sacrifice). They already had eternal life. Jesus told the Jews, “Search the scriptures; for in them you think you have eternal life.” (John 5:39 KJV) Jesus taught what the Jews before him taught. And since he ministered only to Jews, he did not introduce eternal life to anyone else. Jesus was a Jew; not a Christian. He taught that to earn eternal life, one must obey the Law: “... there came one running, and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Master, what will I do that I may inherit eternal life? And Jesus said to him ... You know the commandments, Do not commit adultery ...” (Mark 10:17-19 KJV)

[1] Josephus, The Antiquities of the Jews, bk. 18, cha. 1, par. 3, (15).

If you find this page beneficial, "spread the word": link it to another web-site or send it to a friend. Click on "File," then  click "Send,   Page by E-mail ..."