Was Noah's salvation from the flood conditional on him building the ark?

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Permalink Reply by David Velasquez on November 14, 2013 at 8:33pm

His salvation from Physical death was conditional to his building the ark, but not his eternal salvation. God who knows the end from the beginning and who gives us the will and the doing knew perfectly well Noah's heart.

God is the One who saves us, hence, Noah was saved by God to serve God and his eternal state was not in question. However, we do well to remember that God is God and could have done as good and perfect will desired, so God could have saved Noah any way He wanted. :)

 

Great question.

Permalink Reply by Amanda on November 15, 2013 at 9:00am

Amen, David. God would have saved Noah according to His will.

 

Jeremiah, I found this article, What should we learn from the life of Noah?, that might help your understanding a little better, especially the following paragraph:

 

Theologically speaking, we can also draw some lessons from Noah’s life. First  and foremost, Noah’s life shows us the eternal truth that we are saved by grace  through faith (Ephesians  2:8). Noah wasn’t an exemplary individual because he was somehow able to  bypass the fallen sin nature we all possess. God’s grace was upon him, aside  from which Noah would have perished with all of the other wicked sinners in the  flood. Noah is also a prime example that God saves His elect. We see that God  was patient concerning the coming judgment while Noah built the ark (1 Peter 3:20; 2 Peter 2:5). The Lord knows  how to rescue the godly from trials. This truth is explicitly stated in 2 Peter 3:8-9, as we learn  that the Lord will postpone final judgment until all of the elect reach  repentance.



Read more:  http://www.gotquestions.org/life-Noah.html#ixzz2kjLJ3TUm

 

May God shed light upon your path, Jeremiah.

Permalink Reply by Mary O on November 15, 2013 at 7:02am

I can't say for certain, because Noah built the ark. But consider Esther...

For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father's house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?  (Esther 4:14)

Or consider Genesis 45:3-5

³ And Joseph said unto his brethren, I am Joseph; doth my father yet live? And his brethren could not answer him; for they were troubled at his presence.

⁴ And Joseph said unto his brethren, Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt.

⁵ Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life.

 

I think it's evidence of how God can turn things around. Maybe it sounds a little corny, but God can make lemonade.

Love,

Mary

Permalink Reply by Carla on November 15, 2013 at 7:28am

Salvation is always by Grace through faith.  Noah believed God and built the ark because of His faith.  Some people may attempt to point to a 'works' salvation by Noah's example, but cannot be the case according to the scriptures (Ephesians 2:8,9)

I think the question is phrased in a tricky way...  It's assuming that Noah could have something different than he did..  which I suppose he could have, but the fact remains that he did build the ark, and therefore was obedient and showed great faith. (Galatians 3:11)

 

Additionally, there must be shedding of blood for remission of sins (Hebrews 9:22)

 

Noah would have known of the promise for a coming Messiah,(Isaiah 53, Genesis 3:15).  Job had this great faith and so did Abraham...  as did David, and many others.

 

 in the meantime, he would have participated in the Old Covenant way of animal sacrifice.

 

In the New Testament we are also saved by grace through faith, but the blood sacrifice has been given once and for all by our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

 

Thought provoking question...There is more to say but for the sake of time I must stop here.

 

Blessings, Carla