I wold contend that he was a righteous man, walked with God, and obediently did all that the Lord commanded him, because of the grace of God; not in order to obtain it.
Can you then show me one example of a rebellious disobedient person who found grace in the eyes of God while remain rebellious and disobedient to God's will?
justbyfaith said:
Yet, Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD before he built the ark. He obeyed because of that grace.
Hebrews 11:7 "By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear,
prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith."
THe saving of Noah's house was by grace. There he prepared the ark unto the saving of his house, that is, he was obedient
unto, in order to obtain God's grace. He did not build the ark
because his house was already saved from a flood that had not occurred.
His obedience therefore was required to obtain grace (obtain the saving of his house)
justbyfaith said:
Now I see your point that is underlined. Nevertheless, I would argue that there are those who do attempt to earn their salvation in order to earn or merit God's grace. Of course this is not always the reason for obedience. For the born again believer, we obey because He has shed abroad His love in our heart, and we obey out of gratitude over what He did for us. I believe that Romans 5:5, 1 John 4:19, and Luke 7:36-50 bear this out.
Obedience to God's will earns nothing but is a necessary condition GOD has placed upon HIS free gift of salvation.
Until some people learn the difference between (1) working to earn some thing and (2) meeting the condition(s) upon a free gift they cannot understand salvation as taught in the Bible.
justbyfaith said:
Then we are on the same page. It is not the obedience that saves but an obedient faith.
obedience and obedient faith is the same thing.
justbyfaith said:
Actually, it takes repentance; and there is a difference. We are not saved through any obedient act of our own. We are not regenerated by works of righteousness which we have done. However, we are saved when we change our attitude from one of disobedience to an attitude of obedience. This is the repent in Acts 2:38; which must come before being baptized in order to receive the promised Holy Ghost. Repentance and faith save (justify) a man; while baptism in Jesus' Name will regenerate him (i.e. he will be filled with the Holy Ghost) if he didn't already obtain it by asking (see Luke 11:9-13).
Romans 6:16 "obedience
UNTO righteousness" obedience leads one to being righteousness. It does
NOT say 'obedience because one is already righteous'.
It is not possible that disobedience leads one to being righteous for wrong doing will never lead one to right doing (righteous).
I have never argued we are saved by our
OWN works of righteous (Titus 3:5) but we are saved by doing
GOD'S righteousness.
In Acts of the Apostles 2:38 BOTH repentance AND baptism come BEFORE 'remission of sins'. The purpose of baptism is remission of sins. No verse teaches repentance by itself remits the sins of the sinner.