A real theological difficulty can emerge when we read Scripture across the covenants in regard to faith and obedience. On the one hand, Scripture teaches that true obedience flows from faith, and that faith itself requires the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:7–9). On the other hand, Pentecost is presented as a decisive redemptive-historical moment, when the Spirit was poured out in a new and covenant-wide way (Acts 2:1–4). This raises an unavoidable question: How did Old Testament believers obey God before Pentecost, if the Spirit did not yet indwell God’s people as He does today?
This question matters because it touches justification, sanctification, and the nature of the Old Covenant itself. The answer requires careful distinctions, not a denial of continuity.
The Obligation Never Changed
From the beginning, God has required total obedience. Loving God with all one’s heart and loving one’s neighbor were not introduced by Jesus, but summarized by Him from the Law (Deuteronomy 6:5, Leviticus 19:18, Matthew 22:37–40). Humanity has always been obligated to obey perfectly because God is Creator and Lord.
Because of sin, however, no one has fulfilled that obligation. “None is righteous, no, not one” (Romans 3:10). This was true before Christ and remains true apart from Christ.
Israel Was a Covenant People, but Not All Were Saved
A lot of confusion arises here. Israel was truly God’s covenant people, yet Scripture repeatedly teaches that many within Israel were unregenerate.
Paul states plainly, “Not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel” (Romans 9:6). Moses warned that Israel often had uncircumcised hearts (Deuteronomy 29:4). The prophets regularly condemned Israel for possessing outward covenant privileges without inward renewal (Isaiah 1:10–17, Jeremiah 4:4).
Covenant membership and salvation were never identical under the Old Covenant. Many belonged externally to God’s people while lacking the Spirit and therefore did not obey from faith.
Old Testament Obedience Was by Faith Through the Spirit
Abraham shows what true obedience looked like. He believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness (Genesis 15:6, Romans 4:3). His obedience flowed from faith, not moral self-effort. He left his homeland, trusted God’s promises, and offered Isaac in obedience.
Yet his obedience was imperfect. He lied about Sarah, feared man, and wavered. This looks like Christian obedience today: real and sincere, yet still incomplete.
Such real faith was impossible apart from the Spirit’s regenerating work. Scripture teaches that fallen humans do not seek God (Romans 3:11), and that faith itself is God’s gift (Ephesians 2:8). Therefore, Old Testament believers were genuinely regenerated by the Spirit. They had new hearts by grace through faith.
What they did not yet have was the Spirit’s indwelling as the universal mark of covenant membership.
“The Spirit Was Not Yet Given” (John 7:39)
Jesus Himself clarifies this distinction. In John 7:39, John explains that “the Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.” This cannot mean the Spirit was entirely absent before Pentecost, since Scripture clearly shows the Spirit active in creation, regeneration, prophecy, and faith throughout the Old Testament.
Rather, John is pointing to a new phase in redemptive history. The Spirit had not yet been given in His new-covenant fullness, tied to Christ’s completed work. The outpouring of the Spirit awaited the glorification of Christ because the Spirit would now bear witness to a finished atonement, permanently applying what Christ had accomplished once for all.
This helps explain why Pentecost is not merely a repetition of earlier Spirit activity, but a decisive escalation where God came to dwell within believers rather than working externally upon them.
What Changed After Christ and Pentecost?
What changed was not the need for regeneration, but the administration, scope, and permanence of the Spirit’s presence.
Before Christ, the Spirit regenerated individuals and enabled obedience, but His presence was not the defining feature of belonging to the covenant community. That community remained mixed. The Spirit also came upon individuals for specific callings such as kingship or prophecy (Judges 14:6, 1 Samuel 16:13). In some cases, such as Samson, Scripture even speaks of the Lord departing from him (Judges 16:20), highlighting the non-permanent nature of that empowerment.
The prophets promised a future day when God would give His Spirit to all His people and cause them to walk in His statutes (Ezekiel 36:26–27, Joel 2:28–29). That promise awaited the completion of redemption.
After Christ’s death, resurrection, and ascension, the Spirit was poured out to dwell within all believers without exception (Acts 2:1–4, Romans 8:9). The Spirit now permanently indwells every believer as the defining sign of the New Covenant people of God, bearing witness to a finished atonement and a secured salvation (Romans 8:1, 16).
Conclusion: Is Obedience “Better” Today?
Old Testament believers obeyed by faith through the regenerating work of the Spirit, even before Pentecost. What they lacked was not the saving grace of the Spirit, but the covenant-wide, universal, and permanent indwelling of the Spirit that now marks all members of the New Covenant.
Two further differences help explain why obedience today is experienced differently.
First, the standard of obedience never changed, but it is now revealed with greater clarity. Christ exposed the true depth of God’s law, showing that anger violates the sixth commandment and lust the seventh, so that obedience is understood even more clearly to be not merely in outward actions but in the movements of the heart (Matthew 5:21–28).
Second, believers today look back on a finished work rather than forward to promises still unfolding. The death and resurrection of Christ provide fuller assurance of faith, grounding obedience not in anticipation but in accomplished redemption (Hebrews 10:19–22).
Taken together, the indwelling of the Spirit, the clearer revelation of God’s law and the greater assurance that flows from Christ’s completed work do not lower God’s demands, but serve to strengthen Christian obedience. Old Testament saints obeyed by faith in promises yet to come. We obey by faith in redemption finished, with the Spirit given forever to all God’s people.
So while obedience is still flawed today, we definitely have more privileges, meaning, obedience probably should be better than it used to be in the Old Testament. Only God will be the judge of whether it is or not. One thing is certain: “to whom much was given, of him much will be required.” (Like 12:48)
Adorn the Gospel 