by Joe Slater<\/p>\n
Comparing the “good moral man” of the world to the flawed child of God can be frustrating!<\/p>\n
Take Cornelius and Peter for one example. Even before obeying the gospel, Cornelius was a deeply religious man – one who reverenced God, prayed regularly, helped the poor, and taught his family to do the same. Then there is Peter, whose prejudice made him hesitant even to associate with Gentiles like Cornelius, much less evangelize them. It took three miracles to convince him that God loves Gentiles as well. If you or I had been in charge, we might have sent Cornelius to preach to Peter, but God did it the other way around. Why? Because Peter was “in Christ” and Cornelius wasn’t. Imperfect though he was, Peter had access to the blood of Christ; Cornelius didn’t (until he obeyed the gospel). God dealt with Peter’s imperfections, but He did so not as with one alienated from Him, but as a son in covenant with Him.<\/p>\n
Abraham and Abimelech (Genesis 20) provide another interesting case. Abraham deceitfully implied that Sarah was not his wife, so Abimelech took her to be his own. God told Abimelech in no uncertain terms to give her back to Abraham or die! But the real challenge is where God told Abimelech to have Abraham pray for him (Genesis 20:7)! You or I might say, “Abimelech was more honest than Abraham! Abimelech’s error was mostly Abraham’s fault, so Abimelech ought to be the one praying for Abraham.” Why did God do it the other way? Once again, Abraham was in covenant with God, whereas Abimelech was not. That doesn’t mean God approved of Abraham’s deceitfulness, or that Abraham was not accountable for it. Nevertheless, Abraham’s relationship with God enabled him to pray for Abimelech.<\/p>\n
Consider good moral people in our own community. It is tempting to say, “They must be pleasing to God: they must be saved; they must be Christians, though they have never obeyed the gospel and their religious beliefs and practices are denominational rather than Biblical.” Especially when comparing such people to less-than-exemplary church members, the temptation is strong to conclude that God must accept “good moral people” over brethren who have obeyed the gospel but whose lives come up short. Let’s remember the key point: being in covenant with God is absolutely essential! That covenant is not established simply by “good moral behavior,” commendable though such behavior might be. It is established by faith and loving obedience to Him who died to save sinners. All who would be pleasing to God must be in that covenant–even “good moral people.”<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Joe Slater Comparing the “good moral man” of the world to the flawed child of God can be frustrating! Take Cornelius and Peter for one example. Even before obeying the gospel, Cornelius was a deeply religious man – one who reverenced God, prayed regularly, helped the poor, and taught his family to do the…<\/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":[27],"tags":[38],"class_list":["post-91709","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-morality"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1579,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/had-cornelius-heard-johns-teaching-and-perhaps-was-baptized-by-john\/","url_meta":{"origin":91709,"position":0},"title":"Had Cornelius heard John’s teaching and, perhaps, was baptized by John?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 16, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Would you please help me to understand why, in Acts 10:37, KJV, Peter says, \"That word, I say, ye know.\" It sounds as if Peter is aware that Cornelius, and maybe some of the others, had already heard the word, and been baptized with John's baptism. Although they were\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":959,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/a-refusal-to-accept-that-salvation-came-to-cornelius-at-baptism\/","url_meta":{"origin":91709,"position":1},"title":"A refusal to accept that salvation came to Cornelius at baptism","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 10, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Baptism is not necessary for salvation. Cornelius was saved before he was baptized. There are two reasons why we know Cornelius was saved before being baptized. 1. Cornelius received the Holy Spirit before being baptized; that he had the Holy Spirit. 1 John 4:13\u00a0states that he abided in God\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":28786,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-baptism-of-cornelius\/","url_meta":{"origin":91709,"position":2},"title":"The Baptism of Cornelius","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 20, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Text: Acts 10:34-48 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Groups who believe in the direct operation of the Holy Spirit in their lives today will cite the conversion of Cornelius and his household as proof \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Some will go so far as to state that a person is not really saved unless they experience the baptism\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sermon"","block_context":{"text":"Sermon","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/sermon\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1055,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-the-spirit-only-given-to-the-obedient\/","url_meta":{"origin":91709,"position":3},"title":"Is the Spirit only given to the obedient?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 20, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: In your study on Cornelius, you indicated that receiving the Holy Spirit did not necessarily indicate that a person believed or was saved. You cited the examples of Saul and Balaam as proof, but doesn't\u00a0Acts 5:32\u00a0contradicts this? Answer: The study being referred to is \"Cornelius Received the Holy Spirit.\"\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":45635,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/when-was-cornelius-saved\/","url_meta":{"origin":91709,"position":4},"title":"When Was Cornelius Saved?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 26, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Acts 11:5-18 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Sometimes is it useful to examine the Scriptures in detail, to get more out of an account \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Today we will be looking at the conversion of Cornelius, recorded in Acts 10 and recounted in Acts 11. It is also mentioned in Acts\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":1324,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/could-cornelius-have-been-an-israelite-of-foreign-birth\/","url_meta":{"origin":91709,"position":5},"title":"Could Cornelius have been an Israelite of foreign birth?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 7, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: This man is used by many as an example of a so-called \"Gentile\" non-Israelite being saved. The place of birth, or citizenship tells us nothing about race. But this man's race can be determined by Scripture, even if he is not described as a \"Jew\" [or \"Judean\"]. In the\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":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91709","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=91709"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91709\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91709"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}