Yes, absolutely and categorically. I confess that I am mystified that you would ask. :
Acts 4:10-12 : 10 ... then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. 11 He is " 'the stone you builders rejected, which has become the capstone.12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved."
---------------
Where does it say in the OT that one must be baptized to be made righteous before God? Or is that part of the OT you selectively reject?
"Baptism" has different meanings, but in the sense I think you mean, I don't know of anywhere in the Bible that says that baptism CAUSES righteousness. I thought that's what you all believed.
My point was to show that their kingdom of God could be taken away from them even though they believed. To me that suggests that they were saved but were about to lose it.
As I think Jo Kus has correctly pointed out, we see the concept of "salvation" very differently. But regardless, one clue I look to in guessing whether the Pharisees were saved is how Jesus spoke to them. It was almost always negative, wasn't it? He even openly called them hypocrites. To me, this matches pretty well with how He spoke to other people we are led to believe were lost.
Where did the righteous OT Hebrews come from? Did they accept Christ? If Adam and Eve could be saved, I think there is hope for more than you believe.
Righteousness came from God-given faith. Yes, they accepted Christ as a future Messiah. I do not condemn people from OT times because they didn't have the same understanding of Christ that we have, but still, to believe in the one true God is to believe in the person of Jesus the Christ.
FK: Yes, absolutely and categorically. I confess that I am mystified that you would ask
I had my reasons, but you left out God the Spirit Whom I included. Do you not believe the Holy Spirit to be co-equal with the Father and the Son?
I don't know of anywhere in the Bible that says that baptism CAUSES righteousness. I thought that's what you all believed
Baptism doesn't cause righteousness -- it's not magic. It's a sacrament. You are "brought" into the Church under grace.
Yes, they accepted Christ as a future Messiah
You will have to show me some scriptual evidence for that, FK. Judaism does not teach that man needs to be saved, so why would the OT righteous have believed it?
You have still not answered my question a few posts ago why would the OT righteous have been in hell if they were ritghteous.
FK answered: Yes, absolutely and categorically. I confess that I am mystified that you would ask.
Acts 4 does not require that a man specifically MUST KNOW Jesus Christ, but that there is no other name on the earth that will save. Other religions do not save, although they might prepare someone for the Gospel. When a person loves, they abide in Christ, even if they do not "know" intellectually about Jesus. By choosing to do God's will, to love, even if unaware of the NT Scriptures, this person is acting in the faith given by the Spirit, who blows where He wills. Recall, the Spirit moves even among the Gentiles to write a Law onto their hearts, says Paul in Romans 2.
I believe this was addressed before. God desires ALL men to be saved. But God is not bound by the sacrament of Baptism. He can send His Spirit to those who are open to this Law written in their hearts. Thus, the Native American Indians of the 500's AD have Jesus Christ as their Savior, IF they abided in Him through love.
As I think Jo Kus has correctly pointed out, we see the concept of "salvation" very differently.
What you call "salvation", we call "initial justification". Thus, when you say we are saved by faith alone, we say we are justified by faith from God alone although we do not deny that man must also be open to this gift of faith given by God. (Man can reject God's good gifts) We do not believe that one will go to heaven based on faith alone, as the Bible clearly says there are other things necessary AND that people CAN fall after this initial justification. This confusion of terms causes us to sometimes speak past each other.
Regards