by Terry Wane Benton<\/p>\n
At first, Naaman did not appreciate the simple instructions to dip in the Jordan seven times (II Kings 5:1-14). He wanted to be healed of leprosy, but he wanted it to be on his terms. He imagined that God would heal him some other way. He was wrong. God would not heal him until he washed in the Jordan as instructed.<\/p>\n
God does not say something and then allow man to ignore or change what He said. There was nothing meritorious about Naaman that deserved healing. Thus, if Naaman gets healed at all, it would be by grace<\/strong>. God’s grace offered terms of healing. Naaman would have to believe God and His terms enough to obey. Even when Naaman obeyed, it was not works of merit that saved him from leprosy. Obedience is not works of merit whereby God owes <\/b>us. God did not owe <\/b>Naaman healing even when Naaman obeyed the terms. It was by God’s grace, and it was through faith<\/strong> that Naaman was healed. However, until Naaman obeyed the terms (dipping in the Jordan seven times), he was not demonstrating faith. He was showing unbelief.<\/p>\n The same is true of the terms of pardon from sin. 3,000 Jews cried\u00a0out, “What shall we do?<\/em>” on Pentecost (Acts 2:37). They were told to repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of their sins (Acts 2:38). Remission of sins was not theirs until they met the terms offered by God’s grace. By grace, they were saved through faith, but faith is not of the saving quality until it obeys, until repentance and baptism in the name of the Lord.<\/p>\n When faith is tested by the command to repent and be baptized, but instead, like Naaman, begins to argue about the terms, then it becomes unbelief. Unless the 3,000 actually repent and are baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, their conviction of sin does not bring them the remission of sins.<\/p>\n Faith is submissive and obedient to the command to repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for remission of sins. It is still a free gift offered by God. It is still by grace<\/strong>\u00a0through faith. When the 3,000 gladly received his word and were baptized, their sins were washed away just as Naaman’s leprosy was washed away when he dipped seven times in the Jordan. His faith was challenged by the command to dip seven times in the Jordan. His faith was failing him until he obeyed. Likewise, the faith of the 3,000 would have failed them if they did not obey the terms of pardon.<\/p>\n Has your faith moved you to obey? Has your faith failed?<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Terry Wane Benton At first, Naaman did not appreciate the simple instructions to dip in the Jordan seven times (II Kings 5:1-14). He wanted to be healed of leprosy, but he wanted it to be on his terms. He imagined that God would heal him some other way. He was wrong. God would not…<\/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,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[49,48,1652],"class_list":["post-88044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-faith","tag-grace","tag-naaman"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":66875,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/lessons-from-a-leper\/","url_meta":{"origin":88044,"position":0},"title":"Lessons from a Leper","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 3, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Zack Lee Naaman was a very successful man. He was commander of the Syrian army, held in high esteem in the eyes of his king, a victorious\u00a0general, and a mighty man of valor. However, he had leprosy. His story can be found in II Kings 5. Naaman heard through\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":91943,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/grace-and-baptism\/","url_meta":{"origin":88044,"position":1},"title":"Grace and Baptism","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 7, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by David Gibson To say that baptism is essential to salvation does not at all contradict the truth that we are saved by grace. We can never earn our salvation. Baptism is a condition of salvation. It is likely that others have made the following points, but they need to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":47430,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-does-baptism-have-to-do-with-salvation\/","url_meta":{"origin":88044,"position":2},"title":"What Does Baptism Have to Do with Salvation?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 6, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: II Kings 5:1-14 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Leprosy is a terrible disease. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It is a bacterial infection that causes skin lesions and nerve damage \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It has only been curable since the early 1980's. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0C.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0So it is no wonder that a commander in Syria\u2019s army would go great lengths\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":33753,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-does-water-do-when-getting-baptized\/","url_meta":{"origin":88044,"position":3},"title":"What does water do when getting baptized?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 12, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I was asked a question, which is, \"What does water do when getting baptized?\" How can I answer this scripturally? Thank you. Answer: It gets you wet. \"Corresponding to that, baptism now saves you -- not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God 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":19706,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-we-know-if-namaan-continued-to-live-righteously\/","url_meta":{"origin":88044,"position":4},"title":"Do we know if Namaan continued to live righteously?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 31, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: In II Kings 5, we learn about Naaman being saved from leprosy, and also that he does finally acknowledge the one true God (vs.15). But do we ever really know his relationship with God, as far as his soul and the way he worshipped God from then on? Answer:\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":83587,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-little-things\/","url_meta":{"origin":88044,"position":5},"title":"The Little Things","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 24, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doy Moyer People often seem prone to wanting big things out of life. If we are going to accomplish anything, we want it to be big, fancy, and impressive. Culturally, we tend to think in terms of big names, sports, and movie stars, or heroic action. Famous people get\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88044","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88044"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88044\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}