Scriptures that show that Christs death saved a person while in unbelief!

[Paul]

Was it their own faith?

Where did that faith come from?

Is that not faith for salvation?

Is Cornelius and Lydia different as you won't accept they were worshipers of God? But their faith in God was shown. Both Lydia and Cornelius received Christ when presented the gospel message, According to Jesus those who can accept the truth shows they belong to God. The reason for unbelief in the truth was such a person does not belong to God.

"They shall all be taught by God"

Those who listen and learn from the Father go to Jesus.

Gods Spirit was involved.

 

[ElectedbyHim]

Is Cornelius and Lydia different as you won't accept they were worshipers of God? But their faith in God was shown. Both Lydia and Cornelius received Christ when presented the gospel message, According to Jesus those who can accept the truth shows they belong to God. The reason for unbelief in the truth was such a person does not belong to God.

"They shall all be taught by God"

Those who listen and learn from the Father go to Jesus.

Gods Spirit was involved.

You answered my questions with a question.

I did not deny they (Cornelius and Lydia) were worshipers; worship is not the same as salvation (justification).

They were sincere seekers whom God had already begun to work in, but they were not "saved" by their sincerity. They were saved when the Holy Spirit applied the Word of the Gospel to their hearts, bringing them from "God-fearing" to "Christ-following."

"Worshipers" vs. "The Saved"

Lydia is described as "a worshiper of God" (Acts 16:14) and Cornelius as "a devout man and one who feared God" (Acts 10:2). Reformed They were Old Testament-style believers living in a New Testament transition.

• The "Devout" Status: They were "God-fearers"—Gentiles who had abandoned paganism for the God of Israel but had not yet heard the "finished work" of Christ.
• The Problem: If they were already "saved" in the full New Testament sense, Peter’s visit and Paul’s preaching would be redundant. However, the angel tells Cornelius that Peter will declare a message "by which you will be saved" (Acts 11:14). This indicates that while they were seeking God, the application of salvation through the explicit knowledge of Christ was still to come.

Lydia and Cornelius represent two distinct spiritual trajectories that illuminate the difference between religious devotion and saving faith.

Lydia was described as “a worshiper of God” (Acts 16:13–15)—she had become an adherent of the Jewish religion[1], yet this religious alignment did not constitute salvation. She was a Gentile who openly worshiped with the Jews and was seeking truth[2]. Her conversion required a decisive intervention: the Lord opened her heart to pay attention to the things spoken by Paul (Acts 16:13–15). This divine action transformed her from a sincere worshiper into one of the saved. Paul shared the Word, God opened her heart to the truth, and she believed and was saved[2]. Her faith was demonstrated through immediate action—she and her household were baptized, and she urged Paul and his companions to stay at her house (Acts 16:13–15).

Cornelius presents a more complex case. He was a devout man who feared God with all his household, gave many alms to the people, and prayed to God continually (Acts 10:1–11:18). Yet despite his evident piety and moral uprightness, divine intervention was still necessary. An angel told him that his prayers and alms had ascended as a memorial before God (Acts 10:1–11:18), directing him to Peter. Significantly, God testified to the Gentiles by giving them the Holy Spirit, cleansing their hearts by faith (Acts 15:7–11), and salvation came through the grace of the Lord Jesus in the same way for both Jews and Gentiles (Acts 15:7–11).

The critical distinction: both were religious practitioners, but only through encountering Christ—whether through Paul’s testimony or Peter’s preaching—did they transition from worshipers to the saved. Religious devotion, however genuine, remains incomplete without faith directed toward Christ.

[1] I. Howard Marshall, Acts: An Introduction and Commentary, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1980), 5:283.
[2] Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 1:467–468.

 

[Paul]

You answered my questions with a question.

I did not deny they (Cornelius and Lydia) were worshipers; worship is not the same as salvation (justification).

I asked a question but also stated "Gods Spirit was involved" as your answer.

I did not say they were saved before Christ. The question in my mind is someone who has faith in God and worshipped God and loves God prior to hearing the gospel message and receiving Christ an ememy of God?

Which speaks to the context of enemy. Neither Cornelis nor Lydia meet this definition. "A person who is actively opposed or hostile to someone or something:"

So the context of enemy must be sinners as in breaking Gods commands which all do. Ground zero is dead in our sin. When we were dead in our sin Christ made us alive in the Spirit as in together with Christ.

In fact God was so pleased with Cornelis He sent Peter to Him to explain Christ.

I do not believe I was born an enemy of God as in the definition of the word as someone who opposes or hostile of God. I was born in flesh which is commonly refered to as the sin nature. Even Jesus stated the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.

I never asked Jesus if I was prechosen. I believe I was chosen.

 

[atpollard]

Romans 1 speaks of a people with whom God is seriously opposed ...

Romans 1:18-23 [NASB]

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of people who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible [attributes, that is,] His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, being understood by what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their reasonings, and their senseless hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and they exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible mankind, of birds, four-footed animals, and crawling creatures.​

Cornelius and Lydia were not people against whom "the wrath of God is revealed" because they did not "suppress the truth", but they DID "honor him and give thanks". So, too, did the Pharisees that believed that the Law given by God on stone tablets and in the Torah was PERFECT and the only way to REALLY please God was to follow all 613 commands exactly. So, too, was Saul when he burned with a zeal for the name of GOD and dedicated his life to eliminating that blasphemous cult that claimed God was a man and the Law, Temple and Priestly sacrifice that GOD had commanded was voided.

To worship God ... to know God ... to honor God ... to give thanks to God ... it all not enough. Salvation was found in meeting God the Son and in the transformation that only HE could provide. That Cornelius and Lydia were "worshipers" separated them from those whom "God gave them up to vile impurity" [Romans 1:24] or "God gave them over to degrading passions" [Romans 1:26] or "God gave them up to a depraved mind" [Romans 1:28]. It marked them as blindly stumbling after something they could never obtain in there own power, but fortunately for them ...

Romans 9:15-16 [NLT]

For God said to Moses, "I will show mercy to anyone I choose, and I will show compassion to anyone I choose." So it is God who decides to show mercy. We can neither choose it nor work for it.​

 

[ElectedbyHim]

I asked a question but also stated "Gods Spirit was involved" as your answer.

I did not say they were saved before Christ. The question in my mind is someone who has faith in God and worshipped God and loves God prior to hearing the gospel message and receiving Christ an ememy of God?

Which speaks to the context of enemy. Neither Cornelis nor Lydia meet this definition. "A person who is actively opposed or hostile to someone or something:"

So the context of enemy must be sinners as in breaking Gods commands which all do. Ground zero is dead in our sin. When we were dead in our sin Christ made us alive in the Spirit as in together with Christ.

In fact God was so pleased with Cornelis He sent Peter to Him to explain Christ.

I do not believe I was born an enemy of God as in the definition of the word as someone who opposes or hostile of God. I was born in flesh which is commonly refered to as the sin nature. Even Jesus stated the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.

I never asked Jesus if I was prechosen. I believe I was chosen.

The question in my mind is someone who has faith in God and worshipped God and loves God prior to hearing the gospel message and receiving Christ an ememy of God?

The Bible teaches that all the unregenerate (unsaved) are at enmity with God.

In fact God was so pleased with Cornelis He sent Peter to Him to explain Christ.

Was that Cornelius's doing?

I do not believe I was born an enemy of God as in the definition of the word as someone who opposes or hostile of God. I was born in flesh which is commonly refered to as the sin nature.

So as an unsaved person you never were hostile towards the Lord?

What do we do with the following verses, how would you interpret them.

Romans 5:10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.

Romans 8:7 because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God, for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, 8 and those who are in the flesh are not able to please God.

Colossians 1:21 And although you were formerly alienated and enemies in mind and in evil deeds,

Ephesians 2:1 And you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience, 3 among whom we all also formerly conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.

Ephesians 4:18 being darkened in their mind, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart

James 4:4 You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world sets himself as an enemy of God.

Even Jesus stated the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.

The unsaved do not have the Spirit in them.

I never asked Jesus if I was prechosen. I believe I was chosen.

Correct

Ephesians 1:11 In Him, we also have been made an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will,

Ephesians 4:1-5 "Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will."

Romans 8:29 Because those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers; 30 and those whom He predestined, He also called; and those whom He called, He also justified; and those whom He justified, He also glorified.

I do not believe I was born an enemy of God as in the definition of the word as someone who opposes or hostile of God

Personally I can relate to this.

I can never remember, even as a child (raised Roman Catholic and schooling) not loving God. Never was there a time that I did not recognize Jesus. Cant. even tell you when I was regenerated, but I believe it was in 2005.

However, the Bible opened my eyes to being a filthy rotten sinner and a hater of God through my lifestyle before conversion.

My point is that the Bible taught me just the opposite of what my sin tainted mind and heart (Jeremiah 17:9) told me.