Obedience of faith

“ Obedience has its place in the church as well as other virtues. I will not be untrue to my conscience or my convictions, but without good cause I will not embroil myself in these hot controversies and perilous matters. ”

“ It is the bottom heat in the greenhouse which makes all the plants grow and flourish. Faith is obedience, and faith produces obedience. Does my faith produce obedience? If it does not, it is not faith. ”

“ Hence, "the obedience of faith" (Rom. 1:5) is made the condition of righteousness; and this obedience implies the existence of a "law of faith", as attested by that of Moses, which is "the law of works" (Rom. 3:27,21) . The law of faith says to him who believes the gospel of the kingdom, "Be renewed, and be ye every one of you baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for remission of sins" (Acts 2:38) .
Here is a command which meets a man as a dividing line between the State of Sin and the State of Righteousness. ”

“ And seeing it is the property of faith to worke by love, and to be fruitfull in all good workes, of necessity if faith be commanded, obedience is required, though not as the cause of life, yet as the way to life, and the fruit of faith. If we must beleeve in God, we must also walke with God, and worke righteousnesse. To whom God gives to believe in him, to them he gives to obey, and doe all his Commandements ”

“ Obedience turns God's 'ifs' into 'verilys.' There, then, we have an outline picture of the work of faith pleading with the rebellious, heartening them and itself by thoughts of the fair inheritance, grasping the assurance of God's omnipotent help, and in the strength thereof wisely despising the strongest foes, and settling itself immovable in the posture of obedience. ”

“ Unto obedience of faith among all the Nations. This "obedience of faith" is in fact faith in its aspect as submission. What is faith? It is personal trust, personal self-entrustment to a person. It "gives up the case" to the Lord, as the one only possible Giver of pardon and of purity. It is "submission to the righteousness of God" (ch. x. 3) . Blessed the man who so {19} obeys, stretching out arms empty and submissive to receive, in the void between them, Jesus Christ.
"Among all the Nations," "all the Gentiles." ”

“ Persons in a blind or persuasive faith, since they do not see truths, are not willing that the doctrines of their church should be approached and examined rationally with the understanding; but they say that these are to be received from a principle of obedience, which is called the obedience of faith ”

“ Repentance, faith and obedience will not, of themselves, be effectual to our salvation. We may sincerely repent of our sins, heartily believe the gospel; we may walk in the paths of holy obedience, but until we enter into covenant with God by baptism and ratify our vows of allegiance and duty at the holy sacrament of the supper; commemorate the mysterious sacrifice of Christ, we cannot assert any claim to salvation.’
“Every man of common sense will reject such a statement as false, no matter who made it. It is the teaching of priests to clothe their performance with power and mystery. ”

“ John of the Cross tells us, “it betrays pride and lack of faith not to put entire confidence in what our confessor says.”
6. Spiritual obedience is most needful for a Christian. Ignore, therefore, the groundless suspicion that you sin by obeying, and walk confidently in this path exempt from danger. “You sometimes fear,” says St. Bonaventure, “that in obeying you act against the dictates of your conscience, whereas, on the contrary, far from incurring guilt, you really increase your merit before God.” ”

“ How faith and obedience do concur to salvation. 12. Faith and obedience have divers parts in accomplishing the salvation of a Christian; for this contributes the power or capacity, that the act; and either is said to justify in its kind. For Christ forgives not the sins of all men, but of the penitent or the obedient, that is to say, the just. I say not the guiltless, but the just; for justice is a will of obeying the laws, and may be consistent with a sinner; and with Christ, the will to obey is obedience. For not every man, but the just shall live by faith. ”

“ Obedience to the laws of our Creator, physical, social, and moral, being the chief element of the faith, repentance, and love by which alone we escape the dangers of the future world, the question will be urged as to the degree of obedience which will secure safety. Here we find in Christ's teachings that perfect obedience is not indispensable to salvation. The demand is that "the heart" (that is, the chief aim and interest) be devoted to such obedience. We are to "seek first" the kingdom [85] of God and his righteousness. ”

“ Religion is a matter of faith, not argument; the ways of the Lord surpass the human understanding: the Bible and the church are the authority, what they teach and ordain is to be accepted and obeyed. To doubt, or question, or disbelieve is the beginning of sin, and the consequences may be terrible.
When the individual was trained to the habit of [Pg 38] obedience—when the attitude of the spirit within was one of respect and reverence for established authority and established traditions—that was one thing. ”

“ That confidence of divine help was based upon consciousness of obedience.
It is most blessed for us to have Him as our example of faith and of brave opposition to all the antagonistic forces around us. But we need more than an example. He will but rebuke our wavering purposes of obedience, if He is no more than our pattern. Thank God, He is more, even our Fountain of Power, from Whom we can draw life akin to, because derived from, His own. ”

“ And is not the demonstration, which we possess, that alone which is true, as being supplied out of the divine Scriptures, the sacred writings, and out of the "God-taught wisdom," according to the apostle? Learning, then, is also obedience to the commandments, which is faith in God. And faith is a power of God, being the strength of the truth. ”

“ This section teaches the absolute necessity of the Spirit in all acceptable, gospel obedience. Yet we are not herein taught that obedience doth infallibly attend the presence and influence of the Holy Spirit, but its influence may be quenched, so that disobedience is rendered possible.
4. They who in their obedience attain to the greatest height which is possible in this life, are so far from being able to supererogate, and to do more than God requires, as that they fall short of much which in duty they are bound to do. ”

“ Salvation is promised to us Christians on the terms of faith, obedience, and repentence. I shall therefore endeavour to shew how, in the short interval between this moment and death, we may exert faith, perform obedience, and excercise repentence, in a manner which our heavenly Father may, in his infinite mercy, vouch safe to accept.
1. Faith is the foundation of all Christian virtue. It is that without which it is impossible to please God. I shall therefore consider, first, how Faith is to be particularly exerted by us in our present state. ”

“ A pure evangelical faith embraces all that seems necessary to salvation, namely, the most perfect self-abasement before God, together with a lively sense of human unworthiness, full implicit confidence in the free gift of atoning mercy as the only way to everlasting glory, and an earnest desire, by increasing holiness and obedience, to prove ourselves the children of God. ”

“ Now, the faith-faculty, or the grace of faith, or the power of believing God’s truth, when it is presented, is given to all mankind. But the exercise of that power which is actual and saving faith, often requires the coöperation of the human will. And, therefore, God commands us to believe, and holds us responsible for obedience to that command. “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved ”

“ The thing without which salvation cannot be preserved is necessary to salvation; without obedience toward God salvation, received by grace through faith, cannot be preserved; hence obedience toward God is necessary in order that by it salvation, received by grace, may be preserved and may not be lost by disobedience. ”

“ The first is, The obedience of Christ is imputed unto justification, conformable to that saying of the Apostle, By the obedience of one man many are made righteous. The second phrase is, Faith is imputed unto righteousnesse. The third is, Righteousnesse is imputed unto life. ”

“ The new obedience or good works which follow faith are necessary to salvation, this is not to be understood in the sense that one must earn salvation by good works, or that they constitute, or could effect or impart the righteousness by which a man may stand before the judgment-seat of God, but that good works are effects and fruits of true faith, which are to follow it [faith] and are wrought by Christ in believers. ”

“ They are not to be set free as a reward for their faith, love and obedience. They have great peace and joy in believing that promise. They are in the happy enjoyment of a salvation by faith, and that is all the reward they deserve, or have reason to expect. We here perceive that these three men are made to establish the law of their king by faith in the good news he sent them by his son, which is to them a gospel. We now see the propriety of the apostle's language—"We conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. ”

“ For faith is the incentive to action, the cause of obedience, and the foundation of all righteousness. When the work reached that stage of development that men could be taught repentance, and receive baptism for the remission of sins, who so qualified or who with more propriety could be sent to deliver the keys of the priesthood that is especially appointed to cry repentance and administer baptism than the teacher of repentance and the Baptists? ”

“ The promises are made to faith and repentance, to love and obedience. Where these are found on a person, that person may know that his name is written in heaven.
Obedience flows from faith and love. "Every good tree bringeth forth good fruit." The fruits of grace, are the evidences of grace, and the only evidences on which there is dependence. Should an angel from heaven testify to a person that his name was written there, the evidence should be inferior to that which ariseth from the Christian temper evidenced by fruits of holiness. ”

“ The grand question proposed is, "Lovest thou ME?" Christian obedience is not obedience merely to a code of moral precepts, but to Jesus Christ and "His commandments." Christian faith is not faith in "mysteries," or things unseen, or truths revealed, though such faith may be Christian, but its essence is faith in Jesus Christ the living Person; the supreme command being, "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ." The Christian's hope is "hope in Christ;" his joy, "joy in Christ;" his peace, "peace in Christ;" his labour, "labour in Christ;" ”

“ Tell your old man praying and fasting are good, but sometimes God has enough of them. He prefers obedience. The conditions of the covenant had been violated by disobedience in both instances. Praying in faith, and in the name of Christ, are but two conditions; hearing and obeying is a third condition. ”

“ The Absolute Religion, which he affirms to be universally known, he defines as "Voluntary Obedience to the Law of God,—inward and outward Obedience to that law he has written on our nature, revealed in various ways through Instinct, Reason, Conscience, and the Religious Sentiment." ”

“ Unless, then, we have repentance towards God, and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ, we have no sufficient motive to obedience, because by no other means can the affections be engaged to keep the holy law of God. ”

“ The whole tenor of Scripture inculcates the duty of obedience to “the first and great commandment”—“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.” [68b] And they can know little of the glorious and blessed privileges of the children of God by adoption and grace, who do not habitually look up to Him as “a reconciled Father in Christ Jesus our Lord;” who do not cry with humble but firm and confiding faith, “Abba, Father;” ”

“ II. By this faith, a Christian believeth to be true whatsoever is revealed in the Word, for the authority of God Himself speaking therein; and acteth differently upon that which each particular passage thereof containeth; yielding obedience to the commands, trembling at the threatenings, and embracing the promises of God for this life, and that which is to come. But the principal acts of saving faith are accepting, receiving, and resting upon Christ alone for justification, sanctification, and eternal life, by virtue of the covenant of grace. ”

“ God requires of His people works of faith and obedience corresponding to the blessings and privileges bestowed. Obedience requires a sacrifice and involves a cross; and this is why so many of the professed followers of Christ refused to receive the light from heaven, and, like the Jews of old, knew not the time of their visitation.516 Because of their pride and unbelief, the Lord passed them by, and revealed His truth to those who, like the shepherds of Bethlehem and the Eastern magi, had given heed to all the light they had received. ”

“ Before dismissing this noble subject of religious profession let us not omit to observe that the vow of obedience is its chief feature. That which is done by obedience is more agreeable to God than that which is performed by one’s own will. Your Superior is like a sacred vessel wherein God has placed for us all His desires and graces, and the true proof of religious sanctity, the sure token of perfection, is the perfection of obedience to all Superiors. ”