It was by faith that Noah built a large boat to save his family from the flood. He obeyed God, who warned him about things that had never happened before. By his faith Noah condemned the rest of the world, and he received the righteousness that comes by faith. (New Living Translation).

By faith, Noah built a ship in the middle of dry land. He was warned about something he couldn’t see, and acted on what he was told. The result? His family was saved. His act of faith drew a sharp line between the evil of the unbelieving world and the rightness of the believing world. As a result, Noah became intimate with God. (The Message).

Faith works (see James 2:14-26).

Faith does certain things in response to what God has said or shown.

It regularly acts in daring and surprising ways.

‘Noah is a splendid example of the attentive believer, eager to hear what God is saying and ready to do what he commands…God said it, so Noah did it.’ (Raymond Brown: ‘Christ above all’, p.201)

Faith responds to God in certain ways that may well cause an unbelieving world to laugh or to loathe. People of faith are operating by a totally different principle to the rest of the world, and so they stand out from the crowd. They are like a light exposing things hidden in darkness. This does not necessarily make them popular. The New English Bible says: through his faith he put the whole world in the wrong.’

‘In every generation Christian obedience has powerful evangelistic value. Men and women are influenced not only by what we say to them, but by the way we respond to what God says to us.’ (Raymond 6 Brown: ‘Christ above all’, p.202).

Genesis 6:22 tells us that Noah did everything as God had commanded him.

But it was not his obedience that put him in the right with God. It was faith; and that faith was exhibited in radical and costly obedience.