But you’ve been set free from sin, and you’ve become slaves of God. You’re gaining a great benefit from that: You’re living in the right way, and the end result will be eternal life.
All of these people were still living by faith when they died. They didn’t receive the things God had promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a long way off. They admitted that they were outsiders and strangers on earth.
These were the spirits of those who had disobeyed long before, when God was being patient while Noah built the ark. Only a few people, eight in all, were saved from the flood in the ark.