A Herald of Righteousness

2 Peter 2:5
“And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;”

In 2 Peter 2:5, the apostle remarks, almost parenthetically, that “[God] did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly.” Noah was a herald of righteousness—someone proclaiming the Good News!

Building the Ark was very public. We can conjecture that Noah could have contracted labor and materials, and so there would have been conversations. Peter’s labeling of Noah as a herald of righteousness was made under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, so he must be referring to actual utterances or conversations, even though these are not reported in Genesis.

What could this message of righteousness have been? We know, from the account of Noah’s drunkenness in Genesis 9, that he was not a perfect man. But Hebrews 11 reminds us that Noah “became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith” (Hebrews 11:7). His righteousness came by faith. But what was the source of that faith? Scripture does indeed record this; in Genesis 6:8 we read “Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord” (Genesis 6:8 NKJV). To summarize, Noah was saved by grace, through faith. And that is how people are saved today.

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast (Ephesians 2:8-9).

That is the Good News, of which all we believers should be heralds.

Prayer: Thank You, Father, for saving us through the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Help us to proclaim this Good News of salvation boldly to the world, in our everyday lives, as Noah did. Make us heralds of righteousness. Amen.

Author: Paul F. Taylor

Ref: Taylor, P.F. (2013), Don’t Miss the Boat, (Green River, AR: Master Books), Appendix. Image: Adobe Stock Photos, licensed to author.

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