Day 20 – Romans 4:9-12 – September 29, 2018

Is this blessedness only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised?  We have been saying that Abraham’s faith was credited to him as righteousness.  Under what circumstances was it credited?  Was it after he was circumcised? No, it was before!  And he received circumcision as a sign and seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised.  So then, he is the father of all who believe but have not been circumcised, in order that righteousness be credited to them.  And he is also the father of the circumcised who not only are circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was considered righteousness.  (Romans 4:9-12)

God loves you!  If you have faith in Jesus and in His resurrection, God has given you the gift of eternal life with Him in heaven whether or not you have been baptized or if you are a male, circumcised.  God declared that Abraham was righteous and his friend before Abraham was circumcised, and this passage says that circumcision is a sign and seal of righteousness.

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1 Peter 8:18-21 also tells us that baptism for Christians is also a sign and a seal of righteousness.  This passage actually tells us seven things: 1) Christ died for our sins, a good man on behalf of sinners, to lead us to God. 2) Jesus physically died, but he was made alive spiritually. 3) After Christ died his Spirit preached to the imprisoned spirits of those who had not obeyed God during the time of Noah and died in the flood. 4) Eight people were saved by the water in Noah’s Ark (Noah’s family).  6) Baptism is the symbol that represents the water that saved the good people from Noah’s time and it is our promise to God that we repent of the sin that Jesus took from us by the means of His resurrection. 7) Also tucked in there is that Jesus’s spirit went to preach to the imprisoned spirits of those who had died in the flood waters when Noah’s family was saved.  It doesn’t say where the spirits were.  It says they were imprisoned, and we know they were still unrighteous, so it was a place apart from God (likely hell?).  The other question is why did Jesus preach to the unrighteous, imprisoned spirits. He most likely went to rebuke them or to save them. These passages don’t say exactly.  What this passage does say is that Christ died for our sins, a good man on behalf of sinners, to lead us to God.  Christ wants to lead us to God.  That is what makes me think that Jesus went to save these dead, unrighteous spirits, not to rebuke them.  What do you think?

I have to add that if the spirits of those whom God sees as unrighteous when they were alive still have a chance to believe in Jesus and His resurrection when they meet His spirit, their lives on earth were wasted.  They didn’t do God’s will for them or tell others about Jesus.  It is important to pray the prayer on Day 1, or one similar to it, so that your life won’t be wasted.

Please take the opportunity to read 1 Peter 8:18-21 for yourself:  For Christ died for sins once and for all, a good man on behalf of sinners, in order to lead you to God.  He was put to death physically, but made alive spiritually, and in his spiritual existence he went and preached to the imprisoned spirits.  These were the spirits of those who had not obeyed God when he waited patiently during the days that Noah was building his boat.  The few people in the boat – eight in all – were saved by the water, which was a symbol pointing to baptism, which now saves you.  It is not the washing off of bodily dirt, but the promise made to God from a good conscience.  It saves you through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Day 20 – Romans 4:9-12 – September 29, 2018

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