Obedience

Abstract At the center of Christianity is the idea that God has spoken and people must respond in obedience. To believe God is to obey God, as is shown throughout both Old and New Testaments. Sin entered the world through the disobedience of Adam (Gen. 3; Rom. 5), and the rest of the Bible is the story of God calling people into a right relationship with himself, which includes obedience to his commands. Abraham is blessed because he obeyed God (Gen. 22:18). In the Old Testament obedience is part of the covenant obligations of the people of God. The Lord called on the people to “obey my voice and keep my covenant,” and the people respond by saying, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do” (Exod. 19:6–8). Obedience is better than sacrifice (1 Sam. 15:22). In the New Testament, Jesus continues the call for obedience: “Blessed are those who hear the word of God and obey it” (Luke 11:28). Jesus says the wise man is the one who hears the word of God and obeys it (Matt. 7:24–27). The apostles continue this call to obedience, explicitly linking faith and obedience (e.g. Acts 6:7; Rom. 6:17; Heb. 5:9; 1 Pet. 1:22). It is also clear that obedience to God involves submission to the proper authorities (e.g. Rom. 13; Eph. 5–6).