Hi, thanks for your reply. I will like you to read the entire post below, I will want you to prove me wrong with scriptures, because I am still learning too. remember it is about household salvation.
There are many verses in the Bible that tell us that when God saves an individual, He does not only have the individual in mind. He has the whole family or the entire household in mind. There are many scriptures and examples of God saving the entire household because of one member of the family both in the Old Testament and the New Testament.
We will look at some of these examples in the Bible.
The believing parent and his household.
The Bible says that the children of believing parents' are saved also through their parents. 1 Corinthians 7:14 "For the Christian wife brings holiness to her marriage, and the Christian husband brings holiness to his marriage. Otherwise, your children would not be holy, but now they are holy. The Bible says that because one of the parents is a believer, both the children and the husband are holy, that means they are saved because one cannot be holy without being saved.
The jailer and his household.
The Bible says the same thing in Acts 16:30-31, "Then he brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” They replied, "Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, along with everyone in your household." Look at the reply very, "Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, along with everyone in your household." You see here, the man asked what he (not the whole household) will do to be saved. Paul and Silas answered him, believe in Jesus Christ, then not only him will be saved but his whole family.
Zacchaeus and his household.
Luke 19:9 says, "Jesus said to him, Today salvation has come to this house." Here the Lord Jesus confirmed the same principle. It was Zacchaeus who repented when he invited the Lord to his house. "But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord, half of my possessions I give to the poor, and if I have cheated anyone, I will repay it fourfold.” Luke 19:8 Here, it was only Zaccheaus that repented, not his entire family. If Jesus has said to him, "today salvation has come to you", that would still be enough good news to Zacchaeus. But Jesus extended the salvation to his entire household. So if Jesus himself declared that your family or household is saved, how could you doubt that.
Noah and his household.
What about Noah, the Bible never said that Noah's wife, his sons, daughters in law were righteous. But the Bible says that "Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time; Noah walked with God." Genesis 6:9." But God did not save only Noah, but He saved the entire family. "On that very day Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth, together with his wife and the wives of his three sons, entered the ark." Genesis 7:13.
Lot and his household.
God did the same in the Lot's case , when He was about to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, because of the righteousness of Lot, "Yes, Lot was a righteous man who was tormented in his soul by the wickedness he saw and heard day after day" 2 Peter 2:8, God saved his entire family. "And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters, which are here; lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city."Genesis 19 15.
Abraham and his household.
The covenant God made with Abraham with circumcision was was for him and his children. Genesis 17:12-13 says, "Every man child in your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger, which is not of thy seed. He that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy money, must needs be circumcised: and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant."
Therefore, the promise of circumcision was not given to Abraham alone but to his whole household. Circumcision takes the household as a unit. God's promise came to Abraham's house, not to him alone.
Rahab and her household.
what about Rahab? She and all her household were saved because she received the spies. Joshua 6:17 says, "And the city shall be devoted to Jehovah for destruction, it and all that is in it. Only Rahab the harlot shall live, she and all who are with her in her house, because she hid the messengers we sent."
Joshua and his household.
"But if you refuse to serve the LORD, then choose today whom you will serve. Would you prefer the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates? Or will it be the gods of the Amorites in whose land you now live? But as for me and my family, we will serve the LORD." Joshua 24:15. Here Joshua should have declared that he will serve the Lord, he does not know about his family. No! he boldly declared that "he and his household will serve the Lord.
I believe that it is time that christians embrace this truth, and boldly declare like Joshua that "I and my family will serve the Lord". Instead of worrying about your loved ones not being saved, you should boldly declare to them and over their lives by faith that "because I am saved, salvation has come to this house." You should boldly declare that " I and my family are saved. Before long, you will see God bring them to the understanding of this truth to embrace Him and live accordingly. God saved households because of one righteous person among them from the time of Noah, to the time of Jesus Christ and during time of the the apostles. So why do we think that he has stopped saving households in this our generation? "This is the third time I am coming to visit you (and as the Scriptures say, "The facts of every case must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses"). 2 Corinthians 13:1.
I Believe that these scriptural examples are enough to convince any person that their children, husband or wife are saved because of them. They might not be acting or living like christians but the Bible says that they are saved. So instead of praying and crying to God to save them, you should be thanking God that He has saved them and pray that God should change their character to live as Christ. Before long, you will see them being transformed by God through the word of salvation you have been declaring over them.
From: http://www.thenoblechristian.com/
From what I gather, you are proposing "household" salvation.". To begin I must tell you that there is no such thing in the Scriptures. There are many verses, some of which you are asking can be made to say what is not there. One of the great mistakes in Bible exegesis is making Scripture say what we want it to say instead of understanding what it is actually saying.
Salvation can only come to an individual who personally believes in Christ. Believing in Christ is not something that a father can do for a son or daughter. The fact that one member of a family or household believes does not guarantee that the rest will also believe.
A principle concerning biblical history is that no one event can be automatically assumed to apply in every situation. For example, Samson had long hair and he tore the city gates off of Gaza and carried them up a hill, but this doesn’t mean that, if we grow our hair long, we will be able to do the same thing.
In
Acts 11, the fact that God promised Cornelius that his whole household would be saved does not mean the same promise applies universally to all households across all time. In other words, the context of
Acts 11:14 was a specific promise to a specific person at a specific point in time. We must be careful about interpreting such promises as universal; they should not be separated from their historical setting.
You asked about 1 Corth. 7:14......
At 1st reading this verse, if I wanted it to say the household could be saved I could make it do that. It seems to teach that an unbelieving spouse can be saved on the basis of his or her spouse’s faith in Christ. It also seems to say that their children will be holy before the Lord because one of their parents is saved. But that conclusion would be inconsistent with the overall teaching of Scripture. In this context the word
sanctified is not referring to salvation or being made holy before God. Instead, it refers to the sanctity of the marriage relationship itself. Paul taught that Christians should not be “unequally yoked” with unbelievers in 2 Corth. 6:14.
The real story is that there was fear of some in the church of Paul's day, that since they were married to unbelievers, they were living in sin—their marriage was “unholy” and their children from that union were illegitimate. Paul allays their fears: believers who are already married to an unbeliever should remain married as long as the unbeliever consents to stay married. They should not seek a divorce; their marriage relationship is sanctified (holy or set apart in God’s eyes) based upon the faith of the believing spouse. Likewise, the children of their marriage are legitimate in the sight of God.
Then you asked about Acts 16:30-31......
Again, this promise is given to a specific individual in a specific context; however, this one contains an additional promise that is clearly universal and spans all time periods and contexts. That promise is not one of household salvation but is entirely consistent with every other verse in the Bible that speaks of salvation. It is the promise that if you believe in the Lord Jesus “you will be saved.” Also,
salvation came to the jailer’s household as the result of their hearing the Word of God and individually responding in faith: Paul and Silas
“spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house”
(Acts 16:32). The whole family heard the gospel. They were all saved, just as God had promised, but their salvation was not due to their being a part of the jailer’s household; they were saved because they believed the gospel for themselves.
Then Luke 19:9...........
The Scripture says nothing about the family of Zacchaeus. It says "This House". He lived in the house therefore he would be the subject not his family.
Then you are asking about Noah's family in Genesis 7:13..........
1 Peter 3:20 tells us that
"Only a few people, eight in all, were saved…" .
Now Lot and his family in Genesis 19 15........................
Lot's family was not saved now was it? His wife was turned into salt. That tells me that she was not a believer or she was already missing her life in Sodom but there is nothing to indicate family salvation when we know that she in fact was not saved.
Next is Genesis 17:12-13 and Abraham's family promises...............
The sign of the Abrahamic covenant (circumcision) was to be applied to all males within one's household, whether they were born into the family or are part of the household servant staff. When we are born physically, we’re born into a physical family, but when we are "born again," we are born into a spiritual family.
Joshua 6:17 speaks of Rahab.............
"Saved" there means rescued. They were not killed in the attack but that does not refer to spiritual salvation.
Joshua 24:15 speaks of what he said as he was approaching death...................
The words would indicate that his family were believers. That does not suggest that the family was saved because of Joshua but Joshua knew the members of his family were believers so he was able to say......."For me and my house, we will serve the Lord".
It seems to me my brother that you have a need to believe that a family unit is saved when the head of the family is a saved person. It seems to me that you are trying to force the Scriptures to say what is not there but what you want it to say.
The Bible does not teach "Family Salvation" my dear brother. Jesus is our Personal Saviour and every person who is saved must have a one to one relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.