Salvation is a subject the LORD brings up. In fact, it is the central theme of the Bible. It is so important that a ruler came to Jesus by night to find out how he could go to heaven. So important to be saved, that God promised a Saviour before the World began, Titus 1:2, 2 Timothy 1:9.
Salvation is not a doctrine of man but a doctrine of God. Salvation is the story of God's redemptive work for the world in Jesus Christ. John 3:16. And we are to preach that word of truth, Titus 1:2, In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began; 1:3 But hath in due times manifested his word through preaching, which is committed unto me according to the commandment of God our Saviour;
Rahab bound the scarlet thread in the window because the desire to be saved is written in the DNA of all mankind. Jos 2:21 "And she said, According unto your words, so be it. And she sent them away, and they departed: and she bound the scarlet line in the window. " The scarlet thread represented her sin. She was saying, "I have sinned, I need to be saved" I am depending on you to save me. Therefore the world stands before the LORD with the need to be saved.
It is God who preached the gospel to Abraham, Gal_3:8 "And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed."
Paul is a chosen vessel to bear the name of Christ to all the world, Act_9:15 "But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel:" To bear the name of Christ, Act 4:12 "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved."
He gave them the milk of the Word for it is the only way to be saved and if saved the only way to grow, 1Pe_2:2 "As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:" They key here is desire. If you go back to 1Pe 1:23-25 "Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you."
Then as you read past the chapter division through 2:1 it is easy to understand why he dealt with them as babes in Christ. If they were not saved, it is the Word of God that brings you to faith in Christ. If they are saved then it is thru the Word of God that you partake of Christ - that you taste again and again what He is like. Paul said, "That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;" Phil. 3:10
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