Is Ezekiel 14:12-23 a passage about these men being saved by their own righteousness? Were they perfect so they could save themselves, apart from God’s grace, since “all have sinned”? And is an inference of eternal salvation valid from this passage?<\/p>\n
I ask this because I’m convinced that you can crush this solid food (I Corinthians 3:2; Hebrews 5:12-14) for this babe.<\/p>\n\t
“Then the word of the LORD came to me saying, ‘Son of man, if a country sins against Me by committing unfaithfulness, and I stretch out My hand against it, destroy its supply of bread, send famine against it and cut off from it both man and beast, even though these three men, Noah, Daniel and Job were in its midst, by their own righteousness they could only deliver themselves,’ declares the Lord GOD. ‘If I were to cause wild beasts to pass through the land and they depopulated it, and it became desolate so that no one would pass through it because of the beasts, though these three men were in its midst, as I live,’ declares the Lord GOD, ‘they could not deliver either their sons or their daughters. They alone would be delivered, but the country would be desolate. Or if I should bring a sword on that country and say, ‘Let the sword pass through the country and cut off man and beast from it,’ even though these three men were in its midst, as I live,’ declares the Lord GOD, ‘they could not deliver either their sons or their daughters, but they alone would be delivered. Or if I should send a plague against that country and pour out My wrath in blood on it to cut off man and beast from it, even though Noah, Daniel and Job were in its midst, as I live,’ declares the Lord GOD, ‘they could not deliver either their son or their daughter. They would deliver only themselves by their righteousness’<\/em>” (Ezekiel 14:12-20).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
It is a mistake to take a word and assume that it holds the same definition in every place it is used. In this passage, people are mentioned as being delivered or saved, but saved from what?<\/p>\n
God is talking about destroying Judah. He is so determined to punish the country that He declares that it would not matter if famous righteous people from the past were there to plead with God not to destroy Judah — it was going to happen anyway. But like God’s discussion with Abraham (Genesis 18:22-32), God is not uncaring about those who are trying to do His will. He states that while the nation as a whole would be destroyed, he will spare the righteous because they doing what is right. Thus, they are being saved from destruction, not from sin.<\/p>\n
This does not eliminate God’s grace. God did not have to spare these people. It is His gift to them because God recognizes their efforts.<\/p>\n
By the way, Noah, Daniel, and Job were declared to be righteous by God not because they are perfect (or sinless) but because they strived to obey God.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: Is Ezekiel 14:12-23 a passage about these men being saved by their own righteousness? Were they perfect so they could save themselves, apart from God’s grace, since “all have sinned”? And is an inference of eternal salvation valid from this passage? I ask this because I’m convinced that you can crush this solid food…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[852,47],"class_list":["post-24239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-ezekiel","tag-salvation"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":16060,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/did-noah-go-to-heaven-or-hell\/","url_meta":{"origin":24239,"position":0},"title":"Did Noah go to heaven or hell?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 15, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Did Noah go to heaven or hell? Answer: Noah is spoken of as a man of faith and righteousness. \"But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD\" (Genesis 6:9). \"\"Even if these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they would deliver only themselves by\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7030,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-anyone-be-saved-who-wants-to-be-saved\/","url_meta":{"origin":24239,"position":1},"title":"Can anyone be saved who wants to be saved?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 7, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Would you say that\u00a0anyone\u00a0who wants to be saved, or chooses to repent, will be saved?\u00a0 Is there a Bible passage, or multiple passages you can point me to about that? Answer: \"The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us,\u00a0not willing\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":49845,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/did-saul-lose-his-salvation\/","url_meta":{"origin":24239,"position":2},"title":"Did Saul lose his salvation?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 5, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hey, I just read a great article you had about\u00a0the account of King Saul's death and how he committed suicide. But as I continued to read, you said he most likely went to hell because he murdered himself. My question is: What do you make of these inspired words\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":21055,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-about-the-american-indians-prior-to-their-contact-with-christianity-could-they-have-been-saved\/","url_meta":{"origin":24239,"position":3},"title":"What about the American Indians, prior to their contact with Christianity? Could they have been saved?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 20, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I was wondering if the American Indians in America prior to 1492 were saved despite their isolation from the rest of the world. Answer: You might as well also ask about the people prior to Christ. The Israelites had God's law, but most of the world did not have\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":24896,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/my-cousin-wants-to-be-saved-but-he-is-waiting-for-god-to-give-him-an-experience-so-he-can-stop-being-gay-what-should-he-do\/","url_meta":{"origin":24239,"position":4},"title":"My cousin wants to be saved, but he is waiting for God to give him an experience so he can stop being gay. What should he do?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 1, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have a cousin who's been struggling with something for a long time. The problem is that he's gay, which he hates. He doesn't want to be gay, he wants to live for God, but he says he can't because of his homosexual desires. He has been waiting for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":38682,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-redemption-in-christ-an-examination-of-romans-319-521\/","url_meta":{"origin":24239,"position":5},"title":"The Redemption in Christ: An Examination of Romans 3:19-5:21","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 29, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"by Sean P. Cavender Paul indicted all people, both Jew and Gentile, as guilty of sin before God (Romans 3:19). It is due to man's ungodliness that the wrath of God is revealed, and He will judge all sin as worthy of death (Romans 1:18,32). 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