Christians are not under the New Covenant

[theefaith]

Mk 16:16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.

acts 8

12 But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.

13 Then Simon himself believed also: and when he was baptized, he continued with Philip, and wondered, beholding the miracles and signs which were done.

14 Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John:

15 Who, when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost:

16 (For as yet he was fallen upon none of them: only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.)

17 Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost.

18 And when Simon saw that through laying on of the apostles' hands the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money,

19 Saying, Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost.

20 But Peter said unto him, Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money.

21 Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter: for thy heart is not right in the sight of God.

22 Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee.

23 For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity.

24 Then answered Simon, and said, Pray ye to the Lord for me, that none of these things which ye have spoken come upon me.

25 And they, when they had testified and preached the word of the Lord, returned to Jerusalem, and preached the gospel in many villages of the Samaritans.

26 And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert.

27 And he arose and went: and, behold, a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of great authority under Candace queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem for to worship,

28 Was returning, and sitting in his chariot read Esaias the prophet.

29 Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot.

30 And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Esaias, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest?

31 And he said, How can I, except some man should guide me? And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him.

32 The place of the scripture which he read was this, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth:

33 In his humiliation his judgment was taken away: and who shall declare his generation? for his life is taken from the earth.

34 And the eunuch answered Philip, and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this? of himself, or of some other man?

35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus.

36 And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?

37 And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

38 And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him.

faith and baptism
Btw if the apostles only preached “faith alone” how did the eunuch know about baptism?

 

[theefaith]

Galatians 2:19-21
[19]For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God.
[20]I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
[21]I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.

only cos of baptism

Rom 3:24
Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:

Rom 6:3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?

Romans 6:4
Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

Acts 2:47
Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.

1 Corinthians 1:2
Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both their's and our's:

Acts 2:47
Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.

1 Corinthians 12:13
For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.

Galatians 3:27
For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

 

[Philip James]

I had lengthy discussions with a Catholic who made it plain and clear that Catholics perform their rituals in order to be made righteous before God, over and over again.

What a gross misrepresentation of the Catholic faith...

Good luck finding anything in the Catechism to support such outlandish assertions..

Perhaps you should talk with more informed Catholics..

 

[Philip James]

But not because works of charity make you righteous as Catholics believe they do.

Children, let no one deceive you. The person who acts in righteousness is righteous, just as he is righteous.

 

[ThePuffyBlob]

there's no need for discussion

Spoiler: with just this explains it all

Matthew 22:34 But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together.
Matthew 22:35 Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying,
Matthew 22:36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
Matthew 22:37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
Matthew 22:38 This is the first and great commandment.
Matthew 22:39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
Matthew 22:40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

Spoiler: but how can we love God?

John 14:15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.

Spoiler: to total it

all of the commandments you will do for the sake of fulfilling the 1st greatest commandment including the 10 commandments

is it not?

 

[Ferris Bueller]

What a gross misrepresentation of the Catholic faith...

Good luck finding anything in the Catechism to support such outlandish assertions..

Perhaps you should talk with more informed Catholics..

You are the ones who boast of having only one unified body of doctrine and fellowship. That's why I was satisfied I was getting an accurate telling of Catholic doctrine from this person. He made it clear that Catholics have to be justified over and over again. And they do that through repeatedly performing the sacraments.

 

[Ferris Bueller]

Children, let no one deceive you. The person who acts in righteousness is righteous, just as he is righteous.

That's a great verse of scripture. I use it often here.
The point of contention is Catholics think James 2:24 is saying a person has righteousness imputed to them through faith and works.

 

[BARNEY BRIGHT]

Christians sometimes ask “Do the 10 commandments apply to us, or were they just for the Israelites?” The answer is no they do not apply to us, and yes they do!

A summary of the Sinaitic Law is “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind; and thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Matthew 22:37-40). Jesus kept, and fulfilled, the Law Covenant by his death. By willingly sacrificing himself so that he should become man’s redeemer (which only he could do as he was the only perfect man since Adam), he was fulfilling the Law which declares that all under it must love God more than they love themselves, and that therefore they would so delight to do God’s will that they would gladly sacrifice their own will, and even their own life. It is declared that Jesus gave up his life joyfully – “I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart” (Psalms 40:8).

Jesus said, “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil” (Matthew 5:17). The old Sinaitic Law Covenant was fulfilled by Jesus, and is therefore no more in effect. The Apostle Paul said, “In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away” (Hebrew 8:13). Paul also said “Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster” (Galations 4:24-25).

The New Covenant, or Testament, has not yet gone into effect, so far as the world is concerned. The Law associated with the New Covenant will be the same unchanging Law of God, which declares divine opposition to sin, and divine favour and blessing for the righteous. This Law will be in effect during the Millennial age, when allowances will be made for mankind’s imperfections as they are gradually restored to human perfection. Thus it is written “This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: … and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more” (Hebrews 8:10-12; Jeremiah 31:33-34). (This will be part of the “restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began” - Acts 3:21). The New Covenant is a covenant of forgiveness, blessing and restitution.

So the Law Covenant has been fulfilled and cancelled by Jesus and the New Covenant will be in operation during the Millennial age, but what of the interim? Is there any covenant in operation, and is there any law connected with it?

During the interim Gospel age God is selecting the members of the New Creation (the body of Christ), and a covenant is now in force, and it has a law. The Apostle Paul tells us that the Law “was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made” (Galatians 3:19). Therefore the Law Covenant given at Sinai was an addition to a previous covenant, and looking back we see that the Abrahamic Covenant was the original one, and that it had stood for 430 years before the Law Covenant was added - “the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect” (Galatians 3:17).

Therefore we see that when our Lord Jesus fulfilled the Law Covenant it left the original Abrahamic Covenant, just as it was before the Law was added, and this is the covenant under which the New Creation is being developed. The Abrahamic promise or Covenant was that “in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed” (Genesis 28:14). The Apostle explained that this seed refers to Christ - “Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ” (Galatians 3:16), and added, “And if ye be Christ's, [if you become members in particular of the body of Christ] then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise” (Galatians 3:29).

Thus Christians are not under the Sinai or Law Covenant, so what law are we under? The Apostle said “For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace” (Romans 6:14). However, this does not mean that we can willingly disobey the Sinaitic Law. When we became Christians we repented of our sinful ways, meaning we regretted them and changed direction, turning away from them (Strong’s concordance describes ‘repent’ as meaning “to change one's mind for better, heartily to amend with abhorrence of one's past sins”). Therefore, having turned away from our sinful ways, we should be trying to not sin, and as disobeying the Law covenant would be a sin we should be trying to obey the Law Covenant, even if we are no longer condemned under it if we fail to keep it completely.

When we consecrated our lives to God, we declared our love for God and his righteousness, and we became bound by the Law of Love. Our hope according to God’s promises is to become adopted sons of God (“he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will”, Ephesians 1:5, NIV), which means that we need to develop God likeness, and God is love. “He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love” (1 John 4:8).

Jesus said, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” (Matthew 22:37-40). He also said “If ye love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15), and “the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me” (John 14:24). So if we love God and Jesus we should try to obey God’s commandments and laws. “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous” (1 John 5:3).

Therefore, having been redeemed from condemnation due to sin, we should now be continually striving to live according to God’s righteous laws (even though we may not be able to succeed completely while still living in our imperfect human bodies). As the Apostle Paul said, “What then? Are we to sin, because we are not under the law but under grace? Of course not!” “We died to sin: how can we live in it any longer?” “We know that our old humanity has been crucified with Christ, for the destruction of the sinful self, so that we may no longer be slaves to sin, because death cancels the claims of sin. But if we thus died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him, knowing as we do that Christ, once raised from the dead, is never to die again: he is no longer under the dominion of death. When he died, he died to sin, once for all, and now that he lives, he lives to God. In the same way you must regard yourselves as dead to sin and alive to God, in union with Christ Jesus. Therefore sin must no longer reign in your mortal body, exacting obedience to the body’s desires. You must no longer put any part of it at sin’s disposal, as an implement for doing wrong. Put yourselves instead at the disposal of God; think of yourselves as raised from death to life, and yield your bodies to God as implements for doing right.” “When you were slaves of sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. And what gain did that bring you? Things that now make you ashamed, for their end is death. But now, freed from the commands of sin and bound to the service of God, you have gains that lead to holiness, and the end is eternal life. For sin pays a wage, and the wage is death, but God gives freely, and his gift is eternal life in union with Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:15,2,6-13,20-23 - REB).

Some people do not understand this and they quote 1 John 3:9 in order to accuse others of not being true Christians – “Whosoever is born [begotten] of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born [begotten] of God”. They think this means that if you commit just one sin, then you cannot be a true Christian, failing to understand that no Christian is completely righteous (Romans 3:10, Psalms 14:2-3) or perfect, and will not be until their resurrection. In the meantime we struggle to be overcomers of the temptations of the flesh, and the world, and Satan, and though we sometimes fail we must never give up trying, nor give up the desire to be righteous. Though we cannot yet be perfect in our thoughts, words and actions, we can have a desire to be perfect. “But if I do what I do not desire, it is no more I working it out, but sin dwelling in me” (Romans 7:20 - MKJV).

1 John 3:9 is talking about those who practice sin and are unrepentant. For example, a Christian married couple and one or the other, meaning the husband or wife is having an affair, cheating on their spouse and when confronted by the innocent spouse, the guilty party refuses to stop having the affair. This sort of sin is practicing sin unrepentantly.

 

[Philip James]

And they do that through repeatedly performing the sacraments.

Hello Ferris,

Perhaps what you are missing, is that it is Christ who 'performs' the Sacraments..

It is Christ who Baptizes, who consecrates, who reconciles, who ordains... By the power of the Holy Spirit, working through His body, the Church...

As for an accurate telling of Catholic doctrine, you can find that here:

Catechism of the Catholic Church

Pax et Bonum!

 

[Philip James]

That's a great verse of scripture. I use it often here.
The point of contention is Catholics think James 2:24 is saying a person has righteousness imputed to them through faith and works.

Not really sure what you're trying to say here.. Catholics are in agreement with James that faith without works is useless..

Or as Paul puts it ' i have faith to move mountains but have not love i am nothing'

Here's a link to the catechism that perhaps will help you understand what the Catholic Church teaches:

Catechism of the Catholic Church - IntraText

Pax et Bonum!

 

[Ferris Bueller]

Mk 16:16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.

The problem is the Catholics think this means obeying the command to be baptized makes you righteous.

Your fundamental problem is you are not properly distinguishing between being justified and being saved. Works can not make you righteous (that is, justify you). But works do serve as the evidence that you are justified (made righteous) by faith. At so at the Judgment you will be saved by works in that sense, and that sense only (Matthew 25:34-36). Being saved by, or through the obedience of baptism no more means that baptism makes you righteous than a woman's faithfulness in her godly work as a mother makes her righteous:

"Women, however, will be saved through childbearing, if they continue in faith, love, and holiness, with self-control." 1 Timothy 2:15
​

 

[Angelina]

Christians sometimes ask “Do the 10 commandments apply to us, or were they just for the Israelites?” The answer is no they do not apply to us, and yes they do!

A summary of the Sinaitic Law is “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind; and thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Matthew 22:37-40). Jesus kept, and fulfilled, the Law Covenant by his death. By willingly sacrificing himself so that he should become man’s redeemer (which only he could do as he was the only perfect man since Adam), he was fulfilling the Law which declares that all under it must love God more than they love themselves, and that therefore they would so delight to do God’s will that they would gladly sacrifice their own will, and even their own life. It is declared that Jesus gave up his life joyfully – “I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart” (Psalms 40:8).

Jesus said, “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil” (Matthew 5:17). The old Sinaitic Law Covenant was fulfilled by Jesus, and is therefore no more in effect. The Apostle Paul said, “In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away” (Hebrew 8:13). Paul also said “Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster” (Galations 4:24-25).

Christians are under the new covenant. In fact God made allowance for Christians to enter into this new covenant by the sacrifice of his son, Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. Without him, no-one is saved. Nor can any human enter into this covenant without acknowledging the Son of the living God. There are many in Israel who do not recognize Jesus nor do they acknowledge him as the coming messiah. Just because you are born an Israelite by birth, does not make you part of the new covenant. You have to be saved by grace through faith in Jesus and be born again by his Spirit. You cannot rely on your genealogy. All people need to approach the new covenant as new for all believers.

The New Covenant, or Testament, has not yet gone into effect, so far as the world is concerned. The Law associated with the New Covenant will be the same unchanging Law of God, which declares divine opposition to sin, and divine favour and blessing for the righteous. This Law will be in effect during the Millennial age, when allowances will be made for mankind’s imperfections as they are gradually restored to human perfection. Thus it is written “This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: … and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more” (Hebrews 8:10-12; Jeremiah 31:33-34). (This will be part of the “restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began” - Acts 3:21). The New Covenant is a covenant of forgiveness, blessing and restitution.

So the Law Covenant has been fulfilled and cancelled by Jesus and the New Covenant will be in operation during the Millennial age, but what of the interim? Is there any covenant in operation, and is there any law connected with it?

During the interim Gospel age God is selecting the members of the New Creation (the body of Christ), and a covenant is now in force, and it has a law. The Apostle Paul tells us that the Law “was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made” (Galatians 3:19). Therefore the Law Covenant given at Sinai was an addition to a previous covenant, and looking back we see that the Abrahamic Covenant was the original one, and that it had stood for 430 years before the Law Covenant was added - “the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect” (Galatians 3:17).

Therefore we see that when our Lord Jesus fulfilled the Law Covenant it left the original Abrahamic Covenant, just as it was before the Law was added, and this is the covenant under which the New Creation is being developed. The Abrahamic promise or Covenant was that “in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed” (Genesis 28:14). The Apostle explained that this seed refers to Christ - “Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ” (Galatians 3:16), and added, “And if ye be Christ's, [if you become members in particular of the body of Christ] then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise” (Galatians 3:29).

Thus Christians are not under the Sinai or Law Covenant, so what law are we under? The Apostle said “For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace” (Romans 6:14). However, this does not mean that we can willingly disobey the Sinaitic Law. When we became Christians we repented of our sinful ways, meaning we regretted them and changed direction, turning away from them (Strong’s concordance describes ‘repent’ as meaning “to change one's mind for better, heartily to amend with abhorrence of one's past sins”). Therefore, having turned away from our sinful ways, we should be trying to not sin, and as disobeying the Law covenant would be a sin we should be trying to obey the Law Covenant, even if we are no longer condemned under it if we fail to keep it completely.

When we consecrated our lives to God, we declared our love for God and his righteousness, and we became bound by the Law of Love. Our hope according to God’s promises is to become adopted sons of God (“he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will”, Ephesians 1:5, NIV), which means that we need to develop God likeness, and God is love. “He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love” (1 John 4:8).

Jesus said, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” (Matthew 22:37-40). He also said “If ye love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15), and “the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me” (John 14:24). So if we love God and Jesus we should try to obey God’s commandments and laws. “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous” (1 John 5:3).

Therefore, having been redeemed from condemnation due to sin, we should now be continually striving to live according to God’s righteous laws (even though we may not be able to succeed completely while still living in our imperfect human bodies). As the Apostle Paul said, “What then? Are we to sin, because we are not under the law but under grace? Of course not!” “We died to sin: how can we live in it any longer?” “We know that our old humanity has been crucified with Christ, for the destruction of the sinful self, so that we may no longer be slaves to sin, because death cancels the claims of sin. But if we thus died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him, knowing as we do that Christ, once raised from the dead, is never to die again: he is no longer under the dominion of death. When he died, he died to sin, once for all, and now that he lives, he lives to God. In the same way you must regard yourselves as dead to sin and alive to God, in union with Christ Jesus. Therefore sin must no longer reign in your mortal body, exacting obedience to the body’s desires. You must no longer put any part of it at sin’s disposal, as an implement for doing wrong. Put yourselves instead at the disposal of God; think of yourselves as raised from death to life, and yield your bodies to God as implements for doing right.” “When you were slaves of sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. And what gain did that bring you? Things that now make you ashamed, for their end is death. But now, freed from the commands of sin and bound to the service of God, you have gains that lead to holiness, and the end is eternal life. For sin pays a wage, and the wage is death, but God gives freely, and his gift is eternal life in union with Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:15,2,6-13,20-23 - REB).

Some people do not understand this and they quote 1 John 3:9 in order to accuse others of not being true Christians – “Whosoever is born [begotten] of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born [begotten] of God”. They think this means that if you commit just one sin, then you cannot be a true Christian, failing to understand that no Christian is completely righteous (Romans 3:10, Psalms 14:2-3) or perfect, and will not be until their resurrection. In the meantime we struggle to be overcomers of the temptations of the flesh, and the world, and Satan, and though we sometimes fail we must never give up trying, nor give up the desire to be righteous. Though we cannot yet be perfect in our thoughts, words and actions, we can have a desire to be perfect. “But if I do what I do not desire, it is no more I working it out, but sin dwelling in me” (Romans 7:20 - MKJV).

 

[Ferris Bueller]

Catholics are in agreement with James that faith without works is useless.

The problem is Catholics think faith without works is useless because faith and works impute righteousness to a person.
No. Faith without works is useless because, ultimately, faith without works is no faith at all.

 

[Angelina]

Christians are under the new covenant. God allowed this ability through the sacrifice of his son Jesus Christ our lord and savior. No-one can be saved without acknowledging and believing this by faith. Israel is not Israel because of Genealogy. Under the new covenant, Israel is those who are saved by grace through faith. To be part of this Israel, all humans need to be saved and born again. Born with his Spirit....The Holy Spirit.

 

[Ferris Bueller]

Or as Paul puts it ' i have faith to move mountains but have not love i am nothing'

No. That is not what faith without works (faith alone) is.
In the example James gives, the person who says he has faith does nothing, not does something with the wrong motive as you are suggesting.

'Faith alone' is the boast of one's faith without the works to show for that faith. That's why faith alone is no faith. The absence of works shows there is no faith present to motivate works. This is not to be confused with Paul's 'righteousness apart from works' argument which says righteousness is imputed to a person by faith apart from work. James is talking about showing your righteousness by your works. Paul is talking about getting that righteousness through faith, not works.

 

[theefaith]

1 John 3:9 is talking about those who practice sin and are unrepentant. For example, a Christian married couple and one or the other, meaning the husband or wife is having an affair, cheating on their spouse and when confronted by the innocent spouse, the guilty party refuses to stop having the affair. This sort of sin is practicing sin unrepentantly.

Ephesians 6:2
Honour thy father and mother; which is the first commandment with promise;

 

[theefaith]

The problem is the Catholics think this means obeying the command to be baptized makes you righteous.

Your fundamental problem is you are not properly distinguishing between being justified and being saved. Works can not make you righteous (that is, justify you). But works do serve as the evidence that you are justified (made righteous) by faith. At so at the Judgment you will be saved by works in that sense, and that sense only (Matthew 25:34-36). Being saved by, or through the obedience of baptism no more means that baptism makes you righteous than a woman's faithfulness in her godly work as a mother makes her righteous:

"Women, however, will be saved through childbearing, if they continue in faith, love, and holiness, with self-control." 1 Timothy 2:15
​

Baptism is not works

God breathed life into Adam, gen 2:7 and we received this life from our fathers!

Christ breathed on the apostles our spiritual fathers, we receive the new covenant life of God’s grace from them thru faith & baptism! Jn 20:21-23

St. Paul tells the faithful at Ephesus that they have been “sealed with the promised Holy Spirit.” This is in terms of an indelible character imprinted on the soul in the sacraments of baptism and confirmation. It is not as if this invisible mark is simply decorative. Rather, through it, we are enabled to participate in Christ’s mission and in his offices of priest, prophet, and king. Eph 1:13

Sealed by God eph 1:13 sealed by God (ez 36:25-27) in the ark of salvation by baptism just as Noah was sealed by God in the ark of the flood gen 7:16

1 Pet 3:20 Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.

21 The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us!
(Ark of Noah a type of the church, member of Christ and his church and salvation by baptism!)
(Outside the ark of Noah none were saved, outside the church (the ark of salvation) none are saved!)

 

[Ferris Bueller]

Baptism is not works

If circumcision is work—and it is—then so is water baptism. And neither impute righteousness to a person. That happens solely through one's faith, apart from works. This is the truth that has eluded Catholics to this very day and why Protestants had to break away from their false beliefs. You're a Catholic. That's why you can't see this truth.

 

[Ferris Bueller]

21 The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us

Surely it saves in the way Peter means that it saves (like any other obedience to God's commands does). What it does NOT do is impute righteousness to a person. If it did, it would be by works, and grace would no longer be grace.

Righteousness is imputed to a person by faith apart from works. The Catholics have a list of things that you must do in addition to believing in God to have righteousness imputed to you. Abraham did NOTHING to have righteousness imputed to him. Paul says he is the example for how we also will have righteousness imputed to us through faith apart from works.

 

[theefaith]

If circumcision is work—and it is—then so is water baptism. And neither impute righteousness to a person. That happens solely through one's faith, apart from works. This is the truth that has eluded Catholics to this very day and why Protestants had to break away from their false beliefs. You're a Catholic. That's why you can't see this truth.

If anyone says you can be justified by “faith alone” let him be anathema!
Holy apostolic council of Trent!

Born of God by baptism

1 pet 1:2 Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.

1 Peter 1:22
Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently: see Ez 36

Rev 1:5 And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, (baptism rom 6:3-4)


1 Pet 3:20 Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.

21 The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us!
(Ark of Noah a type of the church, member of Christ and his church and salvation by baptism!)
(Outside the ark of Noah none were saved, outside the church (the ark of salvation) none are saved!)