Naaman received his healing AFTER washing in the Jordan 7 times, just like God said.

2 Kings 5

¹¹But Naaman was furious and went away and said, "Behold, I thought, 'He will surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, and wave his hand over the place and cure the leper.'

This is what marco wants to believe, that God just waves His hand over people and all is well.

 ¹²"Are not Abanah and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?" So he turned and went away in a rage.

Sounds just like marco.  He doesn't want to just do what God says, he wants to carry on believing in his own false ways.

 ¹³Then his servants came near and spoke to him and said, "My father, had the prophet told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more then, when he says to you, 'Wash, and be clean'?"

Marco doesn't like words like "do" because it means God expects something out of us.  We MUST DO certain things to receive the benefit, just like the verse below.

 ¹⁴So he went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child and he was clean.

Look at that, Naaman finally believed God by DOING what he was told to do and lookie there, he was clean.  Marco makes it sound like he was clean and THEN he washed in the Jordan 7 times.  Marco... cart before the horse yet again.

Let's not mix words here, Naaman was CLEANSED of leprosy, there's nothing there to indicate his soul was saved from sin and death.

He was cleansed AFTER washing in the Jordan 7 times.  I thought that was pretty obvious from the scriptures.

I would like to make sure I clarify something here.  The Jordan river did not cleanse Naaman.  Dipping 7 times did not cleanse Naaman.  It was Naaman's FAITH in what the man of God told him to DO, and after he DID was he was told to DO, he received what was promised.

You could say he RECEIVED what was promised by obeying the command.  Did Naaman work for his cleansing?  No, he didn't.  He did not merit or earn his cleansing, it was a FREE GIFT from God.

I think, likewise, when we subject ourselves to the Lord in baptism, we too receive the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38), and the FREE GIFT of salvation from God is bestowed to us. 

I like to make a simple analogy with this.  If someone approaches your home with a gift for you, and they knock on your door... did you "work" to get up, answer the door, open the gift and RECEIVE the gift they gave you?  I would hope a rational person could see that it wasn't a "work."  The Lord wants for us to receive Him, and He gave specific instructions on what we need to do in order to obtain the promise.

Notice, Peter's response in Acts 2:38.  It wasn't, "believe and you'll be saved, then go ahead and obey a bunch of stuff."  It was specific what they needed to do in order to receive the Holy Spirit.  Several of them obeyed and it says they were added that day, 3,000 souls.  Added... to the book of life.

Of course the point of contention comes up that it doesn't mention water in that particular verse.  Well, I just try to think logically here and I know that the word doesn't contradict itself and it flows harmoniously with other verses.  I see where Philip preached Jesus to the Eunuch and he was baptized in water.  I also see where Peter commanded Cornelius to be baptized in water in the name of Jesus, the very same verbiage he used when speaking to the Jews in Acts 2:38.  SPIRIT FILLED men practiced and preached these things.  The Spirit led them to do so, I'm totally convinced of this.  Philip only went up to the chariot where the Eunuch was because the Spirit instructed him to go.  Does it make ANY sense for the Spirit to just leave Philip hanging when the Eunuch asks what prevents him from being baptized in water?  It doesn't make any sense to me.  That's all I can say.

Faith alone is an anti-Biblical doctrine.  Do a Bible search for that phrase and only the James 2 pa**age shows up.

Faith without works is DEAD.  A dead faith cannot save.  Therefore, faith WITH works is alive and saves.  One cannot work for salvation, but without works it is impossible to have faith.

One faith,

well sort of.

not really.

You need to start with Ephesians 2.  (v5) by grace through faith we are saved EVEN though we were dead in our sins.  (v8) by grace you are saved THROUGH faith.  (v9) NOT of works!

now go to James 2.  (v17) faith without works is dead.  (v24) you see that by works a man is justified and not by faith only.

It is by faith alone a man is saved.

works justifies this faith. 

the words "saved" and "faith" are completely different.

saved - Sozo - to save, keep safe and sound, to rescue from danger or destruction one (from injury or peril) to save a suffering one (from perishing), i.e. one suffering from disease, to make well, heal, restore to health to preserve one who is in danger of destruction, to save or rescue to save in the technical biblical sense negatively 1b to deliver from the penalties of the Messianic judgment 1b to save from the evils which obstruct the reception of the Messianic deliverance

justified - Dikaioo - to render righteous or such he ought to be to show, exhibit, evince, one to be righteous, such as he is and wishes himself to be considered to declare, pronounce, one to be just, righteous, or such as he ought to be

faith saves.  works act as a herald of that salvation.  they shout out "nate is saved!"   If I claim to have faith, but there is no evidence of works ... then you can conclude that something aint right.  Judge a tree by its fruit.  Works do not save.  They testify to salvation.

James 2:14 What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him?

James 2:17 Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.

James 2:20 But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless?

Again, faith ONLY doesn't save anything.  It is useless.  It is dead.  A dead useless faith cannot save.

Ephesians 2 is simply echoing what I've been saying.  One cannot earn or merit his/her salvation.  This is why I go back to Noah and Naaman.  Did they earn their physical salvation (in Noah's case) or cleansing (Naaman)?  No, they didn't earn it.  They had faith and obeyed God.  They received the free gift which God had bestowed on them.

Marco, you can write all the paragraphs in the world and you still won't prove that your dead useless faith can save.  Type until your fingers fall off and it will still be a false doctrine.