A Journey Through the Bible, Part Three

Old Testament

Genesis 6

Genesis 6:22—“Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he.” Genesis 6:8 records the first time the word “grace” is used in the Bible: “But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.” But salvation by grace has never been an issue for man; it is clearly taught in the New Testament (see Ephesians 2:5 as only one example). The question of salvation by obedience, however, has led to no small controversy. “How can salvation be by grace if we must obey, too? Aren’t we earning our salvation if we obey?” No, because even after we have done all that God commands, we still haven’t earned salvation. The commandment God gave Noah—to build an ark of specific materials and dimensions—wasn’t an especially difficult one, but is there anyone who would argue that Noah would have been saved from the flood had he not built the ark? “Oh, well, I’m saved by grace so I don’t need to do anything.” I trust no one would suggest such. The problem is, we must get our definitions of great Bible doctrines in line with what the Bible teachers, not what we think the Bible teaches or ought to teach. In Hebrews 5:8-9, we read “Though he [Jesus] were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him.” Salvation by grace—and faith—yes; but by obedience also. No, we will never obey God perfectly; that is why we need His grace. But deliberately ignoring God’s commands because we think His grace will cover it anyway is a very serious path to take. Noah would never have argued such (he would have drowned if he had), and "Noah was a righteous man" (Genesis 6:9). I shall follow up on this theme in subsequent articles for it is extremely important and largely misunderstood by many. I trust that our New Testament verse below will help.

New Testament

Matthew 3

Matthew 3:15—“But Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.’ Then he allowed Him.” John the Baptist thought Jesus ought to be baptizing him rather than visa versa, and verse 15 is Christ’s answer to him. The phrase “to fulfill all righteousness” is a little obscure until we read Psalm 119:172: “For all thy commandments are righteousness,” which makes perfect sense when we think about it. When we do what God commands then we will indeed be righteous. Jesus did everything God commanded him to do—fulfilling all righteousness. Baptism is a command of God which we must obey in order that we, too, can be righteous. Peter told the masses on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2:38, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Saul of Tarsus (or Paul of Tarsus, as we subsequently know him) was commanded to “Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord” (Acts 22:16). Jesus, of course, had no sins to wash away, but He still obeyed all of God’s commands as an example to us. We, who are sinners, need baptism as a part of God’s grace (see the Noah illustration above, and incidentally, read I Peter 3:20-21 where the situation of Noah is compared to New Testament baptism “which now saves us”), and we are baptized into Christ's death thereby contacting the His blood, which is the real effective agent in cleansing us from sin. Romans 6:3-4 reads “Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” Let us "fulfill all righteousness" as well by being as humbly obedient to Jehovah as we can, and then, when we have done so, let us get onto our knees and ask for His mercy to cover our sins and failings.