The Necessity of Faith and the Example of Noah

I believe that because they have overstepped bounds in such a contemptuous and unworthy manner, they will not be granted a second honor of the Spirit, the first having been set aside; rather, it is fitting that they undergo punishments.

For it is not so that "their unfaithfulness will nullify the faith of God" (Rom 3:3), nor, since some have gone about treating it with contempt, shall we record the uncertain nature of divine grace as being lost.

Rather, the Judge of all things will not refuse to let those who have been shaken into such impiety undergo punishments, seeing as they have trampled upon the Son of God and insulted the Spirit of grace, in whom they were sanctified and became partakers of the divine nature.

This judgment carries a great recompense.

This is because, through endurance, we must not be satisfied with the exceptional things granted to the perfected, but must always be thirsty, possessing an insatiable state and an unceasing desire for every good thing. We must accumulate for ourselves a good reputation through our actions, maintaining such dispositions as those who love wealth possess, concerning whom it is written, "He who loves silver will not be satisfied with silver" (Eccl 5:10). If those earthly, temporary, and fleeting things do not satisfy them, how much more necessary is it for us to employ more ardent desires, so that we may gain those things from God which extend into infinite ages and possess an ungraspable joy? By faith we understand that the ages were prepared by the word of God, so that the things seen did not come from the things appearing (Heb 11:3).

Faith is, therefore, a truly great and exceptional good.

For it is a wealth that puts away sins and a cleansing from every defilement.

Furthermore, there is a reminder of that which comes from God; it is a path toward sanctification and sonship, and serves altogether as a reminder of every good thing. In this way, the fathers became well-pleasing, and they possessed a glory that is both bright and unsung.

Many have endured even his death, putting on the unfading crown of glory.

Noah, having been charged by faith concerning things not yet seen, stepped forward in piety and was constructing an ark for the salvation of his household.

Because the whole earth had destroyed its way, as it is written, and the heart of man has inclined toward evil from youth, God sent a flood upon all the earth. It was like a garden that had been plundered and watered, yet preserved a noble plant within it—the most excellent Noah—so that the human race might be transformed into a new beginning and be saved upon the earth once more.

Thus, Noah, having been charged by faith, constructed the ark for the salvation of his house, 'into which a few, that is to say, eight souls were saved through water.' For a decree of death has gone out against all those upon the earth, as they were clearly filled with sin, calling down the Creator into irretrievable wrath.

But Noah, being righteous, was being saved universally.

For he believed in God, who commanded the construction of the ark; and while the whole earth was baptized, it was carried along by the waters, taking as its pilot God, the Savior of all. And there was in...