Christian Obedience Chapter 1

Introduction

The Christian life can best be anticipated by that age-old question posed by Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus, Lord, what will you have me to do? From the moment we are raised in newness of life, until the day of our crossing the river of death, we wrestle with the nature of true Christian obedience. New covenant theology is concerned with Christian obedience, holiness, and godliness. We believe in law, in commands, in obedience, and in the process of Christian sanctification. A charge of doctrinal antinomianism is often, though wrongfully, leveled against new covenant theology. The unwarranted caricature of new covenant theology is the basis of the mandate for this book that will, hopefully, silence such unjustified criticism by showing that obedience and holiness are as essential to new covenant theology as they are to any other orthodox system of theology.

New covenant theology teaches that Christian obedience is essential to being, not to becoming, a Christian. What is new covenant Christian obedience? [It is called new covenant Christian obedience to distinguish it from the manner of obedience taught by other systems of theology.] The theology of new covenant Christian obedience begins with the premise that relationship defines obedience. To succeed in determining what true Christian obedience is, one must rightly identify whom Christians are to obey and what we are to obey. One who truly loves Christ could never fathom a life of prevailing disobedience. New covenant theology would agree with covenant theology that the Apostle Paul's life was necessarily a life of Christian obedience. He was called for a purpose, and that purpose was obedience to the will and commands of Christ. Where we disagree, however, is in defining the nature of Paul's obedience. Paul was a Christian, and Christ was his Lord; this relationship—unlike his relationship to God as a Pharisee—defined the nature of his obedience to God. What we are to obey is closely related to whom we are to obey. It is proposed that obedience is intricately related to one's relationship with the person commanding obedience. We obey our parents because they care for us. We obey our boss because he has charge over us. We obey God because he is God. We obey Christ because he is our Lord, Savior, Redeemer, and bridegroom. Relationship defines the nature of all obedience.

Israel's obedience, under the old covenant, was contingent upon her relationship to God, and, in like circumstance, Christian obedience is contingent upon a relationship to God. It is distinct from Israel after the flesh, and her covenant, in that she served God in trembling and fear. We, of the new covenant, serve God also, but our service is rendered to him in Christ. Our union with Christ is essential to our obedience, and understanding this in Christ relationship is essential to understanding what constitutes true obedience. The object of this book is to define and delineate a doctrine of new covenant Christian obedience. It will be demonstrated that new covenant theology is not antinomian, neither practically nor doctrinally, and that, as a system of theology, it advocates and champions Christian obedience. The nature of new covenant Christian obedience will be explored by denoting the following:

Whomwe are to obey.
Whatwe are to obey.
Whywe are to obey.
Howwe are to obey.
TheTemperament of our obedience.

The Whom of Our Obedience

We begin with the whom of Christian obedience. As noted, in order to be obedient Christians, we need to know what we are to obey, and in order to know what we are to obey, it is essential that we understand whom we are to obey.

When Israel was redeemed from Egypt and God made his covenant with them at Mount Sinai, Israel was commanded to serve God. Their service to God was mandated by their relationship with him. God was to be their God, and they were to be his people. We might state it this way:

The ground for obedience was Israel's redemption from bondage in Egypt.
The arbitrationof their obedience was through Moses. He was only a man, but he was the mediator of their covenant.
The parameter of their obedience was restrictive, forced upon them by a threatening menace in which God made a covenant with Israel that consisted of unyielding demands and clear threats for disobedience.

New covenant obedience is similar to Israel's obedience and yet distinctly different. It is obedience built upon the ground of redemption, but it is a greater redemption in Christ. It is adjudicated obedience, not owing to compunction and threat, but growing out of the necessity of gratitude of eternal salvation; it is reasonable service that grace necessitates. The nature of new covenant obedience is that of peace and boldness where righteousness is found in Christ and which results in obedience that is a light yoke rather than a heavy burden. Old covenant obedience was through Moses; new covenant obedience is in Christ.

The Doctrine

Biblical evidence of new covenant obedience, as distinct from old covenant obedience, is found in Hebrews:

Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name. And do not neglect doing good and sharing; for with such sacrifices God is pleased. (Heb. 13:15, 16)

This verse answers the whom we are to obey of Christian obedience, unlike that of the old covenant mediated by Moses. The doctrine of new covenant obedience established by this verse is threefold:

Christians are to render obedience to God, as indicated by the words, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God.
Obedience is defined as joyful, thankful, and dutiful, as seen in the phrase, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name.
Obedience is always to be offered in Christ, as contained in the words, through Him the….

To expound upon whom we obey, we say,

The Christian is to render obedience to God.

This states the grounds of our obedience. God is God, and, due to his holy and just nature, he is to be served appropriately. Israel knew God as redeemer, and creator, but we know God in a way Israel did not know him—as a Father, in an individual and personal sense. The Psalmist sang, "I will call on the LORD, who is worthy to be praised; so shall I be saved from my enemies (Ps. 18:3)." We understand the worthiness of God, which is the grounds for due obedience, in light of his revealed person:

To AdamGod was a creator due obedience. No one will deny God was greatly glorified in his might and goodness in creation. His kindness and benevolence were seen in creating a man and giving him dominion over the earth. His justice and holiness were seen in Eden's perfection and the unyielding demand for perfect obedience in the garden. God was greatly glorified in creation, yet he was magnified gloriously in his election and redemption of Israel.
To IsraelGod was a redeemer worthy of their holiness. He was not only the God of Adam, but he was also the God who chose and redeemed Israel; he chose them and made them a mighty nation. He testified of his glory in Israel, saying:

And when I passed by you and saw you squirming in your blood, I said to you in your blood, Live! Yes, I said to you in your blood, Live! I have caused you to multiply like the bud of the field, and you are grown, and you are great; and you come in the finest ornaments. Your breasts are formed, and hair is grown, yet you were naked and bare. And I passed by you and looked on you, and, behold, your time was the time of love. And I spread my skirt over you and covered your nakedness. And I swore to you and entered into a covenant with you, says the Lord Jehovah. And you became Mine. (Ezek. 16:6ff)

God was greatly glorified in the nation of Israel. He showed his might, his goodness, his majesty, and his holiness to them in a way peculiar to them alone, above all other nations of the earth. It was therefore testified to Israel in their covenant, "I am the LORD your God, who has brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage," and obedience was predicated upon their redemption. Their covenant, however, was not lasting, since it was a man—unable to bring men to walk in obedience through the law's regulation—who mediated it. God was worthy to be obeyed by Israel, but they were unable to render acceptable obedience to him due to the flesh and the unyielding demands of their covenant. Thus, the old covenant anticipated God being magnanimously more glorified in the new covenant.

To the Christian, God is in the fullest sense worthy of due obedience. The Creator and redeemer of Israel is but a shadow of the glorious God known in the salvation of the church in Christ:

He has not only made us, as Adam, but he has made us anew in Him.
He has not only redeemed us from earthly bondage, but he has redeemed us from eternal bondage in Him.
He has not only been as a Father to us in the flesh but also in the Spirit.
He has redeemed us with a greater redemption; he has saved us with a mightier salvation; he has established us with greater benefit and surety, and he has magnified his glory in the elect in Christ.

God is no less worthy of obedience in the new covenant, but he is far more worthy of obedience in the covenant he has made with the church in Christ. He is eternally glorified in the fullest expression of his worthiness in Christ:

He is worthy as an eternally just and holy God.
He is worthy as an eternally gracious and merciful God.
He is worthy as the Almighty, whose great majesty has been shown in the salvation of all the elect.

To say the doctrine of free grace, and its expression in the gospel, in any way fosters disobedience or looks indifferently upon Christian obedience is to deny the very gospel of grace itself, for it is grace alone that produces true obedience. The new covenant is a covenant greatly concerned with obedience offered to God, yet no Christian is to offer to God obedience apart from Christ.

The Christian is to render obedience in Christ.

This states the arbitration of our obedience in which grace is freely offered and not conditioned upon our unwavering service to God in Christ. Christian obedience is in Christ. No Christian serves God apart from Christ, and it is because of Christ that we are able to serve a holy God. Christ is the superior mediator of a superior covenant; thus, any aspect of the old covenant is less than sufficient as a mediation of our obedience. The law of the old covenant cannot stand in comparison to the law of the new covenant because of Christ. Christ our lawgiver stands head and shoulders above Moses. Christ our prophet speaks with more surety than any prophet of the previous age because he is the word incarnate. Christ our High Priest speaks of better things than Abel because his righteousness and atoning work are lasting. There are, then, two essential parts to Christian in Christ obedience:

All Christian labor is to be seen as in Christ. Whatever we do, we do it in him. When we labor, we do so according to his righteousness. When we sin, we seek forgiveness in him. When we succeed, we attribute all glory to him who has made us and has given us grace to obey.
No labor is to be offered outside of Christ. If we seek to offer up obedience to God outside of Christ, that obedience is not acceptable. Whether it is observance of a day, a statute, or any religious deed—when it is apart from a heart and affection for the grace of Christ—it is rendered obsolete. The soul that approaches God outside of Christ is as much an offense to God as Cain. Without faith in Christ—his righteousness, and his acceptance before the Father—a man who comes to God offering the sacrifices of his labor, praise, or lips, is no better than that foul harlot the Proverb speaks of, who comes with painted lips and deceptive kisses, seeking to seduce and slay. Any obedience offered to God outside of Christ is the service of a harlot, and God is not pleased. Thus, a man may be thoroughly religious, zealous, law-abiding, disciplined, outwardly holy, and a man of prayer and good deeds, but without love of God in Christ, he is an offense to God. The consequences of this upon theology are significant, as any theology which teaches obedience apart from Christ is legalism and a foul odor to God, who delights in the sweet aroma of obedience in his Son, in whom He is well pleased.

The Christian is to render obedience by the Spirit.

This is the parameter of our obedience. Christian obedience is in the Spirit, for it is the Spirit who imparts a new vital principle of the soul, by which we conduct ourselves in obedience. He quickens us and gives unto us a new sense, a supernatural sense, which manifests itself in the evidence of life. We obey because we love God, or better yet, because he has, in Christ, loved us and testified of this love by his word and Spirit. We obey because we desire to obey. We obey because we hate sin, because we love holiness, and because we yearn after God, all of which is but a product of the new sense of the soul. Christians offer spiritual obedience, living obedience, and willing obedience to God. Any act performed apart from the arbitration of Christ and administration of the Holy Spirit is unacceptable to God. Thus, Christ testified that the Father seeks those who worship him in Spirit and in truth. Christian obedience is consequential of the Spirit's life-imparting work in regeneration.

New Covenant Theology is not Antinomian

By way of silencing any objections we might conclude with this proof that new covenant theology is not antinomian theology:

New covenant theology does not abandon the practice of admonition,as we profess that God is the one due our obedience. It is fitting that we offer our obedience to God because of what he has done for us in Christ, and anyone who thinks otherwise has not rightly known Christ or God's free grace. What God has done for us is twofold: he has liberated us, and he has established us. As Christians, we need to be admonished to serve God because of whom we are in relationship to our salvation in Christ. The foundation for Christian admonition is Christ. We are to be admonished based upon his work, his person, his worthiness, and our union with him. Thus, Jesus testified, "He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him" (Jn. 14:21). The reason we obey God is as important as the way we obey him.
New covenant theology does not abandon the practice of exhortationeven though our attention is focused on our liberty in Christ. Christians are exhorted to be obedient to the commands of scripture, particularly and predominantly to those of the New Testament corpus, since it is our covenant document. We are not exhorted to righteousness, but we pursue righteousness because we are righteous in Christ. It is reasonable that we should offer our obedience to God because of whom we are in Christ. Who we are has two parts: we are made like him, and we are made for him. Christians are exhorted to obedience because it is characteristic of our new nature to be obedient, and righteousness is best suited for us. We will be happier, more peaceful, and exceedingly more joyful when we are walking as God would have us walk. Christian exhortation, then, is based not upon what we shall be, but, more so, upon what we are declared to be in Christ.
New covenant theology reproves its adherents in humility, as God is the one seen engendering our obedience. Never do we take upon ourselves that which God alone produces in us. Ours is no legal covenant, but a true covenant of grace. No one doubts that Ruth ever needed much coaxing to love Boaz or to serve him as his spouse, since she rightly understood her poverty, her widowhood, and her husband's great work of redemption. If for a moment she doubted his love, all she had to do was remember that night on the threshing floor when he, in his sheer mercy, covered her with his skirt. If for a moment she questioned his care for her, all she had to do was recall the day he took her from gleaning in the field and sat her at his table. Much like Mephibosheth, the Christian who knows true grace needs no invitation to the King's table other than his union with Christ, nor does his soul need much coaxing to know his proper place. He lives his life marveling that a foul and crippled beggar has such a prized place at the master's table. The old covenant made Israel a nation of boastful and disobedient idolaters. The new covenant has made true Israel a nation of proud beggars, not proud in themselves, but in Christ.

4.New covenant theology fosters greater comfort, since it emphasizes Christ as the one ensuring our obedience. We approach in him and are not driven away. We have the Spirit who testifies to us that we are the children of God. Perseverance is not predicated upon our ability, determination, or some future hope of justification, but upon Christ. Augustus Toplady wrote these words in the song "A Debtor to Mercy Alone": "A debtor to mercy alone, of covenant mercy I sing; nor fear, with thy righteousness on, my person and offerings to bring." When Moses—that man of that old legal covenant—comes to beat us down with those tablets of stone, whether it be in the form of threat or religion, we are reminded of the man, Christian, in John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress, who once recollected of his encounter with that old man Moses:

Then it came burning hot into my mind, that, whatever he said, and however he flattered, when he got me home to his house he would sell me for a slave. So I bid him forbear to talk, for I would not come near the door of his house. Then he reviled me, and told me that he would send such a one after me that should make my way bitter to my soul. So I turned to go away from him; but just as I turned myself to go thence, I felt him take hold of my flesh, and give me such a deadly twitch back, that I thought he had pulled part of me after himself: this made me cry, "O wretched man." (Rom. 7:24)¹ Of that man, Christian testified: "That man that overtook you was Moses. He spareth none; neither knoweth he how to shew mercy to those that transgress the law.²" Any religion that turns us to Moses rather than to Christ is not true religion. It is only when we can join with Toplady in singing that song mentioned above, "the terrors of law and of God with me can have nothing to do; my Savior's obedience and blood hide all my transgressions from view," that we can say we understand true Christianity.

An Antinomian Defined

A new definition might then be given to the word antinomian (lawlessness): A new covenant antinomian is "anyone who denies, demeans, or diminishes the glory of God in Christ, in this new covenant, by commanding a lesser obedience to a lesser law or to a lesser God than the one found in Christ, redeeming and saving a people for himself." Antinomianism is "obedience apart from the Spirit, apart from Christ, rendered to God under any premise outside of the new covenant, which is the sphere of true Christian obedience." We Christians are not to sit with Israel in the camp near Sinai; neither are we to sit at the feet of Moses. We are seated with Christ in the heavenlies, holy and blameless before him in love; in Christian joy, we sit at his pierced feet and bathe them with our tears. Weeping and clinging to the Holy Son of God, we sing,

my name from the palms of his hands, eternity will not erase, impressed on his heart it remains, in marks of indelible grace; yes I to the end shall endure, as sure as the earnest is given; more happy but not more secure, the glorified spirits in heaven. (Toplady, "A Debtor to Mercy Alone")

Sound of Grace Books

¹ John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's Progress (CD-ROM: Logos Bible Software).

² Ibid.

Chapter 3 The Why of our Obedience

A Christian is one who is in union with Christ, and it is this union with Christ that establishes the parameters of Christian obedience. As has been shown, the whom we obey is God in Christ, and the What we obey are Christ's commandments. Now we consider what might be termed the most important practical distinction of new covenant obedience, the why of our obedience. The relationship determines the necessity for obedience, but the nature of that relationship establishes the motives for obedience. A ruthless king secures obedience from his subjects by threat of death, while a gracious king receives loyalty and honor from his subjects because they reverence and love him. The gracious king would not abandon justice, but would establish it in righteousness. How we understand Christ—who he is, and what he has done, is fundamental to our obedience. It is vital that we understand Why Christians obey Christ's commandments. Thus, we turn again to his teaching:

The Doctrine

If ye love me, keep my commandments (John 14:15).

Here Jesus teaches the uniqueness of Christian obedience. Love is the why of our obedience; it is the bond of our relationship in Christ, and it is the reason a lost sinner is in Christ. It was God's motive in election; it was Christ's purpose in the incarnation, and it is his reason for sending the Holy Spirit into our hearts. Therefore, it should come as no surprise to hear Christ establish love as the parameter of Christian obedience. From his words, observe the following:

The natureof the stated condition in the verse, if ye love me, keep my commandments (John 14:15), is absolute. Jesus is teaching that love and obedience are inseparable. If a man loves him, he must keep his commandments, because love can do nothing else. Where there is love, there is obedience, and where there is no love, there is no obedience. When the Shulamite said,

Love is strong as death; Jealousy is cruel as Sheol; the flashes thereof are flashes of fire, a very flame of Jehovah. Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it: If a man would give all the substance of his house for love, He would utterly be contemned" (Song Of Solomon 8:6,7).

A marvelous illustration of this is seen in 2 Samuel 23, where David was heard to say, "Oh that one would give me drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate" (2 Sam. 23:15) Three of his servants were standing near him, men of his army, whose hearts were bound fast to their king. Hearing the great longing desire of their king, and knowing the formidable army of the Philistines that stood in their way, those "three mighty men brake through the host of the Philistines, and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem, that was by the gate, and took it, and brought it to David" (v. 16). Yet that gift of love was so cherished by their king that we read, "nevertheless he would not drink thereof, but poured it out unto the LORD" (v. 16). Knowing the great longing of David, what else could these men have done? Their desire was the king's desire, and their will was the king's will. Therefore, for the king to say, "Oh that one would give me drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate" (v. 15), was for him to command those men to their duty. Love provided no other option for those men, even though death was before them. The words of the king were as a fiery flame. His great desire became their great desire. As much as his heart burned within him, their heart burned within them.

A man may serve a master and may have a semblance of compliance, but in his heart, there is no true obedience. Joab was the captain of David's army, and, in all his ways, appeared to be a dutiful subject of the king, but notice what happened when David's son, Absalom, raised up arms against his father. David commanded Joab, Abishai, and Ittai, "saying, Deal gently for my sake with the young man, even with Absalom. And all the people heard when the king gave all the captains charge concerning Absalom" (2. Sam. 18:5). In the midst of the ensuing battle it was told to Joab, "behold, I saw Absalom hanged in an oak" (v. 10). Next we read,

And Joab said unto the man that told him, "And, behold, thou sawest him, and why didst thou not smite him there to the ground? and I would have given thee ten shekels of silver, and a girdle." And the man said unto Joab, "Though I should receive a thousand shekels of silver in mine hand, yet would I not put forth mine hand against the king's son: for in our hearing the king charged thee and Abishai and Ittai, saying, 'Beware that none touch the young man Absalom.'" (v. 11,12)

Love for the king and his command stayed the hand of the servant. However, Joab was of a different heart:

Then said Joab, "I may not tarry thus with thee." And he took three darts in his hand, and thrust them through the heart of Absalom, while he was yet alive in the midst of the oak. And ten young men that bare Joab's armour compassed about and smote Absalom, and slew him (v. 14,15). When David wept for Absalom that traitor, Joab, said, "thou hast shamed this day the faces of all thy servants." (2 Sam. 19:5)

The true heart of Joab was made manifest in the end, when David's strength failed him and Solomon would be king. Joab was then found in league with Adonijah, the man that had "exalted himself, saying, I will be king" (1 Kings 1:5).

When Solomon sat upon the throne and Adonijah's rebellion was done asunder, we read, "then tidings came to Joab: for Joab had turned after Adonijah, though he turned not after Absalom. And Joab fled unto the tabernacle of the LORD, and caught hold on the horns of the altar" (1 Kings 2:28). There Solomon commanded his death, and we read, "so Benaiah the son of Jehoiada went up, and fell upon him, and slew him: and he was buried in his own house in the wilderness" (v. 34). Joab was a man in league with David; a champion of great victories and deeds for David, but his heart was opposed to the will and desire of the king. All his obedience was worthless because his own heart opposed it. True obedience is bound up in love.

The grand demonstration of this fact was in Christ himself. Christ could do nothing but serve the will and desire of his Father because he loved the Father, and the Father loved him. Never was his heart divided; never was he in rebellion to the Father's will; never was love anything but perfect and manifest in perfect obedience. As Jesus said,

Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. For the Father loveth the Son and sheweth him all things that himself doeth: and he will shew him greater works than these, that ye may marvel. (John 5:29,20)

Love and obedience were the dictates of Christ's earthly life. Whenever we read, as we do in Luke, "wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business" (Luke 2:49), we understand that the must of Christ's duty on earth was to do the will of his Father. Jesus himself testified of this matter, saying,

as the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love. If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love, even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love. (John 15:9,10)

Love and obedience, in Christ, were absolute. Jesus obeyed the Father because he loved him. The why of Christ's obedience was love for the Father and the Father's love for the Son.

Likewise, a Christian obeys because love can do nothing but bring forth obedience. It is necessitated by our new nature, a nature that is in love with God and with Christ. That love is the flame of jealousy, lit and fueled by the Holy Spirit, and seen as flaming tongues of fire at Pentecost. There, that flame was granted and given to all those bound with Christ, so that their hearts might burn with willing obedience in love for him. Thus, Jesus said,

he who has My commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves Me; and he who loves Me shall be loved by My Father, and I will love him, and will disclose Myself to him. (John 14:21)

The evidence of love for Christ is obedience. Obedience is found where there is love. Jesus said,

if anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him, and make Our abode with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father's who sent Me (John 14:23,24.).

It is an absolute statement of fact that love and obedience are inseparable in Christ. Thus, our covenant is built on love not threat. It is established in the blood of the one that was slain on behalf of his people. A true Christian must be obedient because he cannot do otherwise. This does not mean that his obedience is perfect; rather, his obedience is incessant. It is persistent and inclined toward Christ and holiness because his nature, though frail, is yet imbibed with a true principle of life that manifests itself in loving obedience.

Furthermore, observe that the nature of the stated stipulation in the verse, if ye love me, keep my commandments (John. 14:15), is anticipatory. Jesus is teaching that love results in obedience. If a man loves him, he will want to keep his commandments. In our illustration above, the three Hebrew warriors of David were not compelled against their wills to risk their lives. They willingly went into the face of danger because it was what they wanted. They could do nothing else because the jealous flame of love is incessant. Like the Shulamite, a true Christian is lovesick: "Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples: for I amsick of love" (Song of Sol. 2:5).

True love for Christ must search him out:

My beloved put in his hand by the hole of the door, and my bowels were moved for him. I rose up to open to my beloved; and my hands dropped with myrrh, and my fingers with sweet smelling myrrh, upon the handles of the lock. I opened to my beloved; but my beloved had withdrawn himself, and was gone: my soul failed when he spake: I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer. The watchmen that went about the city found me, they smote me, they wounded me; the keepers of the walls took away my veil from me. I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my beloved, that ye tell him, that I am sick of love. (Song of Sol. 5:4 – 8)

True love for Christ must know him, own him, have him, and handle him, saying,

what is thy beloved more than another beloved, O thou fairest among women? what is thy beloved more than another beloved, that thou dost so charge us? My beloved is white and ruddy, the chiefest among ten thousand. (Song of Sol. 5:9,10)

True love for Christ admits his greater love, saying,

Look not upon me, because I am black, because the sun hath looked upon me: my mother's children were angry with me; they made me the keeper of the vineyards; but mine own vineyard have I not kept. (Song of Sol. 1:6)

Love is bound up incessantly in the heart of Christian. Thus, where there is love there is obedience, because obedience is the inevitable product of love. This is the language of John's first epistle. When he writes, "and hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments" (1 John 2:3), he is not declaring that obedience to our Lord's commands is the path to knowing him. John is saying that obedience is the evidence of knowledge; it is the manifestation of love. "But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him" (1 John 2:5). Love and obedience are inseparable. Love anticipates obedience. Christians are obedient; not always, and not in all things, but they are obedient. Their obedience is not the reason God loves them, nor is it the cause for their union with Christ. Christians are obedient because they are loved and love produces love in them, which in turn brings forth obedience. Israel could not obey in the flesh, because they could not do otherwise. When they heard the Lord's commandments at Sinai there was the semblance of obedience in their words, "All that the LORD hath spoken we will do" (Ex. 19:8). Their hearts were yet cold, however. True disobedient desire would chase away their pretentious shouts of union.

The why of Christian obedience has its first cause in the sovereign, effectual grace of God in salvation. John testified, "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins" (1 John 4:10). Love is communicated through Christ to those chosen vessels of God's mercy, as it is written, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16). Where there is salvation, where there is faith, where there is new life, where the Spirit has been poured forth, there is found loving obedience. Where a sinner is brought into this covenant of love, the kingdom of God, and union with Christ, love is the bond that brings forth true obedience. That loving obedience is expressed relationally in various ways: as a bride for her husband, a servant for his master, a son for a Father, or a friend for his friend. The simple reason Christians are obedient to God is that we love him because he first loved us, and love can do nothing but bring forth manifest obedience. The Christian burns with the desire of the Shulamite, saying to Christ,

I am my beloved's, and his desire is toward me. Come, my beloved, let us go forth into the field; let us lodge in the villages. Let us get up early to the vineyards; let us see if the vines flourish, whether the tender grapes appear, and the pomegranates bud forth: there will I give thee my love. (Song of Sol. 7:10 – 12)

Ramifications of this Doctrine

This doctrine has definitive ramifications for practical living. If love is the why of our obedience then we must examine all actions and motives based upon this principle. Love must be the cause of our every duty and the test of our every deed. Since love is the chief reason for obedience, all other motives for obedience must be subservient to loving obedience. This includes:

'Loves sorrow for sin

When God testified that he would bring back his divorced people in mercy, he did not say he would drive her back to him in fear and trembling. Instead, he testified of that harlot, "Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her" (Hos. 2:14). Love would be the bonds of reformation. It would be kindness and mercy, graciousness and forgiveness, which would pave the way of restoration. Men can be sorry for their sin, repent from sin, reform their lives, and have the manifest appearance of holiness and obedience, yet be nothing more than hypocrites.

Adonijah was such a hypocrite. While Joab was slain as he grasped the horns of the altar, Adonijah was spared. It is recorded in 1 Kings,

And Adonijah feared because of Solomon, and arose, and went, and caught hold on the horns of the altar. And it was told Solomon, saying, "Behold, Adonijah feareth king Solomon: for, lo, he hath caught hold on the horns of the altar, saying, 'Let king Solomon swear unto me to day that he will not slay his servant with the sword'". And Solomon said, "If he will shew himself a worthy man, there shall not an hair of him fall to the earth: but if wickedness shall be found in him, he shall die." So king Solomon sent, and they brought him down from the altar. And he came and bowed himself to king Solomon: and Solomon said unto him, "Go to thine house." (1 Kings 1:50-53)

Adonijah appeared genuinely repentant. Every reasonable witness would have concluded that he would never again raise his hand against the king. It was not long, however, before the loveless, unrepentant, and unconstrained heart of the hypocrite was made manifest. In chapter two of 1 Kings we read that Adonijah came to Bathsheba and said,

"I ask one petition of thee, deny me not." And she said unto him, "Say on." And he said, "Speak, I pray thee, unto Solomon the king, (for he will not say thee nay,) that he give me Abishag the Shunammite to wife." (I Kings 2:16,17)

His traitorous motive was found out, as Solomon said,

"Why dost thou ask Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? ask for him the kingdom also; for he is mine elder brother; even for him, and for Abiathar the priest, and for Joab the son of Zeruiah." Then king Solomon sware by the LORD, saying, "God do so to me, and more also, if Adonijah has not spoken this word against his own life. Now therefore, as the LORD liveth, which hath established me, and set me on the throne of David my father, and who hath made me an house, as he promised, Adonijah shall be put to death this day." (I Kings.2:22 – 24)

Although outwardly appearing to be in subjection to the king, in his heart, Adonijah would dethrone Solomon. Such is the heart of every man whose sorrowful repentance is not bound up in love. If love is not the compelling motive to obedience, any reformation will reform the outward man alone. Such a man may possess an appearance of repentance and obedience, but is an enemy in disguise.

When Christianity is built upon repentance out of fear and not love, when it compels men to obedience and reform, then it is not long before seemingly religious men are manifest as hypocrites. While they may appear to have been reformed, love has not transformed their motives or desires. Love is the only motive that can produce true and lasting obedience. All else is feigned obedience and will be revealed. Sorrow for sin, simply out of fear of death, punishment, or hell, is not the right sorrow. True Christian sorrow is reformation of heart, where a new principle of love and obedience manifests itself in desire. True Christian sorrow for sin is remorseful due to one's revulsion of sin, love for Christ and his holiness, and a longing to be like him. True repentance is repentance brought about through love.

Restraint from sin

The same can be said for one's restraint from sinning. We are kept from sin because of his love. If the motive were simply fear, then restraint would be nothing more than "caged madness." The heart, pent up from its true desires, is like the man who lives all his life serving the church, sitting in the pew listening to sermons, giving in abundance to the church, but whose heart loathes every bit of it. When he hears a sermon, his heart longs to be elsewhere. When he gives in abundance, he covets what that money could have purchased for himself. When he serves, he does so for the applause of men and to ease his troubled conscience. His labors are not the true depiction of his soul. If the restraints of threat were removed he would plunge himself immediately into every vice and lascivious practice. The church is filled with loveless holiness. It is populated with seemingly obedient souls, whose hearts are at enmity with Christ. True Christians restrain from sin because they love Christ and hate sin. They long to be like him, and they revile the great harm sin brings upon them. Sin rightly grieves them, even when they practice it. Like the Psalmist, sin puts them in this estate because of love: "I am troubled; I am bowed down greatly; I go mourning all the day long"(Ps. 38:6).

The desire to please him

We do not serve God, in Christ, to earn his favor. That is legal obedience. It is the difference between the legal covenant of Sinai and the gracious covenant of Christ. The former was mediated in terror and threat, the latter in grace and forgiveness. One said fail to do and be punished, the other says it has been done, so go and do. Israel had no true desire to serve God, and their hearts gave proof of the fact. t. They longed for Egypt; they despised God's provision; they provoked him to anger; and they rebelled against his every precept. Their heart's desire did not manifest a love for God because they were not an obedient people. Zechariah wrote,

But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they should not hear. Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the LORD of hosts hath sent in his spirit by the former prophets: therefore came a great wrath from the LORD of hosts. (Zech. 7:11 – 12)

Israel of old were mainly a gainsaying and disobedient people because they knew not loving obedience. They had no lasting desire to please him, but the Christian has such a desire. He longs to serve God in Christ.

The law of jubilee best illustrates this difference. In the seventh year of a slave's service, God commanded,

If he came in by himself, he shall go out by himself: if he was married, then his wife shall go out with him. If his master has given him a wife, and she have born him sons or daughters; the wife and her children shall be her master's, and he shall go out by himself. And if the servant shall plainly say, "I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free," Then his master shall bring him unto the judges; he shall also bring him to the door, or unto the door post; and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall serve him for ever. (Exod. 21:3 – 6)

In his heart, the unloving servant resented his master's rule and longed to throw off the yoke of his master. He served with disdain, always in reluctance, and ever anticipating his emancipation. He appeared an obedient slave, but that seventh year was the onset of his freedom from undesired servitude. Such is the legal man whose religion is a begrudging religion. He has no love for his master and no joy; he has only the thought of freedom from him.

Contrariwise is the servant who would not leave his master. He is the slave who sees no difference between the first year, the seventh year, or the tenth year of service. All he can think about is the goodness of his master and his desire to please his lord. Thus, the seventh year, to that servant, is filled with jubilation, not for freedom from his master, but for freedom to serve his master. This is the new covenant in Christ. We have been awled, not through the ear, but through the heart. We have been smitten by his goodness, and endeared by his wooing words of love. We need no fence of the law to keep us obedient. We need no threat of death to force us to do his will. Christians have his love, which is the boundary of our obedience and the shackle of our will, and we will trade it for nothing else. We cannot escape his love, nor do we desire to do so. We are lovesick. True Christian obedience means having a true desire to serve God, in Christ.

When sin comes to us and says, you are free; come frolic in the fields of pleasure with me, we are heard to say, I must be about my Father's business. Sin says, you are a free man come away with me awhile. The Christian says, I am wed to another. The true Christian does not need Moses and his rod in the way, he needs the cross in the way; when he starts down the road with sin, it is not long before he remembers his jubilee. He remembers the good kindness of his master who had removed the shackles of sin, setting him free. He is reminded that

Sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid. Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness. (Rom. 6:14 - 18)

He stops in the way and says to sin, Sin, I have no part in thee.

When Satan comes and takes us high over this world and says, I will give you the kingdoms and wealth of this world, we are heard to say, get thee behind me Satan. I have nothing in you, and I serve the living God. When the law begins to thunder and Ishmael begins to mock us, when our sins become a thorn in our side, and when our conscience will not leave us to rest, then we are heard to say, he has loved me with an everlasting love, and

neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Rom. 8:38,39)

Emancipation from sin (and the threats of the law and its covenant) is not liberation to lawlessness. True Christian freedom is free obedience; it is willful duty and desire. It is a servant longing to please his master, viewing not his service as begrudging duty, but as pleasant duty he is privileged to own.

Can any man call this antinomianism? Who would dare say to God that love is not enough? Who would tell our Lord that his words are too lenient? In the gospel of John, chapter 8, there is a lengthy story of a woman caught in adultery. It is absent in many recent discoveries of ancient manuscripts. Some have concluded that many early transcribers of the text felt Jesus was too lenient on the woman and thought some might seek to use the text as a defense for adultery. Such is the case of many that read of love without the threat and demands of love. They sell short the power of love and the superiority of the new covenant. Oddly enough, they think the law is a means to the restraint of sin, even though the word of God says the opposite: "sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful" (Rom. 7:13). They are put off by a gospel that would teach love as the why of true Christian obedience. They need Moses and the tablets of stone. Such diminish the power of the gospel, and of Christ, to restrain men in obedience through love. The greatest restraint, and the surest boundary, which brings forth obedience, is love. The new covenant is a covenant about love and obedience; it is about new hearts, new desires, new wills, and true holiness. What the old covenant could not do, Christ, in his covenant, has done. He has made us, who were not a people, to be a holy people, unto himself. The why of our obedience is love, and it is the heart of new covenant obedience. We have learned far more at the cross than we ever learned at Sinai.

Chapter 4 The How of our Obedience

Faith is the how of our obedience.

Love is the motive for Christian obedience, and our Lord's commands are the object of our obedience. We have already established these facts, but one vital element of knowledge necessary for Christian conduct is lacking. Not knowing how we are to conduct ourselves as Christians can be perplexing. New Christians are often found carrying a list of rules or looking for the list of do's and don'ts to Christian living, but the how of Christian obedience, is not to be confused with the what. We are not to define our obedience by any simple list of what is right or what is wrong. How we are to obey Christ is neither as simple as having ten words written in stone which we are to read and obey, nor as simple as saying, "Read and obey the New Testament." Christian obedience is much more complex because it involves the heart. True obedience is naturally unobservable, which makes Christian obedience difficult to recognize and discern. What appears to be an act of obedience may be, or may not be, an obedient act. John Owen provides this definition of Christian obedience:

Wherefore we plead for no other love unto the person of Christ but what the Scripture warrants as unto its nature; what the Gospel requireth of us as our duty; what the natural faculties of our minds are suited unto and given us for; what they are enabled unto by grace; and without which in some degree of sincerity, no man can yield obedience unto him.¹

Owen identifies true obedience with that exercise of true love for Christ's person as a supernatural ability given by grace, where that love must be present if obedience is to be true. If two men are sitting in church with their eyes closed during a prayer, no one can know which man, if either, is truly praying. Even if a man is heard praying, and even if his words sound resolute, he may be praying pretentiously. John Owen explains this paradox:

For although they express their devotion with great appearance of ardent affections, under all outward signs of them—in adorations, kissing, prostrations, with sighs and tears; yet all this while it is not Christ which they thus cleave unto, but a cloud of their own imaginations, wherewith their carnal minds are pleased and affected.^.²

Outwardly, obedience can be feigned. Action does not reveal compliance; it is how that action is performed that characterizes true obedience. The how-to of Christian obedience relates to the heart, and the heart determines whether a man is obedient in his religious duties,

All religious duties and deeds of Christian obedience are done in one of two ways: out of a natural sense of legal duty, or out of a supernatural sense of true belief. The former is called the obedience of works, or legal obedience, which is performed without Christ in its sights. The latter is that obedience of faith, or gracious obedience, rightly called Christian obedience, which is done with Christ and his righteousness in full view. It is the obedience of a regenerate heart, in which the Holy Spirit has instilled a new sense of the soul and has given faith and life in Christ. True obedience to the Lord's commandments is by faith. It is trusting in Christ as one's righteousness, which distinguishes an act as truly obedient. Thus, the Christian life is all about obedience by faith; it is living by faith. Paul, the Christian, describes himself with these words:

I have been crucified with Christ, and I live; yet no longer I, but Christ lives in me. And that life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith toward the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself on my behalf. (Gal 2:20)

Observe from his words the principle of life in him. It is Christ in him by which he is said to live. Then observe how he rightly acknowledges that while he is dead, but alive in Christ, he continues to dwell in this mortal body. Thus, he admits of his frail and tender way as well as his persistence in sin. As long as a man lives in the flesh, sin is present with him. Then, observe how Paul lives in Christ by faith. Notice the object of his faith is the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Note, also, that he rests in the Son of God, in whom is his righteousness. Paul identifies himself with Christ so that he might live by faith in the righteousness of Christ. Thus, when Paul lives, he lives in Christ by faith, and his deeds are done with a view of the justifying work of the Lord. Noticeably then, Paul differentiates two lives; First, by way of inference from the words, I have been. There is that life apart from Christ. Second, there is his explication of living in Christ. A Christian is in Christ, and true Christian obedience is by faith in Christ.

I shall now endeavor to discharge the understanding of the reader in the way of both legal and gracious obedience.

Obedience apart from faith is always legal obedience.

Owen writes, "faith is not only our duty, but our life. He that hath it not, is dead in the sight of God."³ As grace is the impetus behind true obedience, so, all religion is mere legal obedience apart from grace. Legal obedience is outside of faith and endeavors to obtain a right standing on its own. It is called legal because its design is towards satisfaction. Legal compliance to law is that duty which is done out of compulsion. It may have God as its object and personal welfare as its goal, but if it is performed outside of faith then it neither appeases God nor rescues the soul. The nation of Israel serves as the principal example, in scripture, of an obedient people apart from faith. Their obedience was stipulated legally. Paul accentuates the antithesis between legal obedience and faith, writing, "But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith" (Gal. 3:11). One seeks for righteousness by works unto the law and another for a foreign righteousness found in Christ alone and by faith alone.

Thus, one young man could say to Jesus, "Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?" (Matt. 19:16). He thinks legally, as his design is attaining eternal life. He does not come to Christ, saying, Good Savior, in you is life and I have nothing good in me, grant, O Lord, life. Whenever a man comes to Jesus with a prayer, with a song, or with a promise, and yet comes as this man does, he does not honor the Son, for he assumes goodness in himself and sees no need for Christ. Thus, Jesus pointedly replied to the man, "Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments" (v. 17). Understand, Jesus was not telling the man that the commandments of old were the true way to life; rather, he was turning the man to the exacting and unremitting standard of perfection, which even the young man could not perform. Jesus was turning the man to Moses, but notice that the man replies, "All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?" (v. 20). Through Moses, he still had not life; through the law, only insufficiency was found. The legal man, therefore, looks for more laws to fulfill, that life might be had. Christ replies, "If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me. But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions" (v. 21 – 22). Notice that Jesus does not disagree with the man but simply heaps precept upon precept, law upon law, which the man cannot perform. Such is the law, condemning and unfilled, and such is man apart from faith, always searching but never finding, even though life is right before him, just as close as Christ stood before this man. Life, in Christ, was before him, but he could not see Jesus; all he could see was, do, do, do. Only faith sees Jesus; only faith looks to him; only faith casts away all legal hope, and only faith clings to Christ. Thus, a rich young man can go from Jesus frustrated, but a poor bleeding woman, like the one with the issue of blood for many years, can come to him and grasp hold of him in faith.

Obedience by faith is Christian obedience.

Owen writes, "For love proceeding from sight is the life of the church above; as love proceeding from faith is the life of the church below."⁴ Christian obedience has Christ as its object. Owen further states, "Love unto the person of Christ, proceeding from faith, is their life, their joy, and glory."⁵ There is a view to his atonement and not to one's personal labor and merit. The shield of faith always has Christ in its reflection. Whether there is little faith or great faith, it is the how of our obedience. Paul describes the Christian life as living by faith, which is the same as saying that we live in obedience to Christ by faith, as it is written, "The just shall live by faith." Owen sums it thusly, "All strength for the mortification of sin, for the conquest of temptations–all our increase and growth in grace–depend on the constant actings of this faith in him."⁶ Christian obedience is obedience by grace through faith alone in Jesus Christ

Obedience by grace is distinctly Christian obedience.

John Owen, who was a covenant theologian, drew this conclusion, "The clear revelation of the person of Christ, so as to render him the direct object of our love, with the causes and reasons of it, is one of the most eminent privileges of the New Testament."⁷ Owen's words are on the verge of breaking forth into a clear antithetical view of Christian obedience. There is no denying that the revelation of Jesus Christ in his incarnation and subsequent works has resulted in a substantial change in true obedience. In order to deny this, one would have to disagree with Luke, who claimed that they were first called Christians in Antioch. Calling old covenant obedience Christian is like calling David, the little shepherd boy, a king. He was no king until he was inaugurated. Christian obedience was not inaugurated in Christ until Pentecost. All else was anticipatory, a shadow of true obedience, rising up out of regenerate souls imparted with a spark of faith, sufficient to sustain life, but inefficient to lend forth to the faith exercised by a Christian today. Thus, as Jesus said, the least in the kingdom of God is greater than the greatest in the old covenant. Christian obedience is distinctly different in that Christ has come, the Spirit has been poured out, and faith now abounds in the souls of weak men.

Obedience in the old covenant was also obedience by faith, but it is remarkably different under the new covenant. The veil has been rent, and a view to Christ by the soul is of greater effulgence and strength today.

Obedience has always known a view of one's own deficiencies, but today, that view focuses on the cross of Christ. Under the old covenant, sin was seen as pervasive, inescapable, and persistent; today we understand it as intimately pervasive through our whole being, inescapable by the natural man, and a bondage of mind, body, and soul. The greatest view of man's deficiencies is at the cross because there we see the great magnitude of our depravity and its heinous design, as the Son of God, perfect and undefiled, endures a wrath that no other could endure. At Mount Sinai there was a view of deficiencies, but not as we know it today. The proof is seen in a nation almost wholly devoted to proving its goodness by the law. They neither knew sin's true infliction, nor had a right view of their hearts. It is only with Christ that sin's bondage has been fully seen. He has shown us the height of a greater law, which pierces to the heart and judges it. He has shown us true obedience in himself, which no man can match. He has shown us our nature in a way that the law never could, for the thunder of Sinai cannot be heard over the thunder of Golgotha. When Christ died, the true terror of wrath and sin's penalty were fully revealed in the Son of God. No true Christian embarks, in his heart, to serve the Lord without a view of Christ, the cross, one's own inability and depraved hopelessness, and without a right understanding of grace. Christian obedience begins with a view of the cross.

Obedience has always known a view of God's mercy. In our covenant, mercy is known as it was never known at Sinai. Their mercy was bound up in promises and shadows, but law and punishment overshadowed mercy's glimmer. Israel was given a covenant of their own disobedience and demise, while we are granted a covenant fit for our obedience and success in Christ. This does not rest upon what we can or will do, but upon what Christ has done. When a Christian obeys Christ, he or she does so with an inclination toward God in Christ as a merciful Savior. God's glory is no longer seen in a cloud over a tent or in a burning flame in the night. It now burns in the heart, stirring our affections and raising intercessions to God, through the utterance of the Spirit, that we might obtain mercy. A Christian cries out for mercy, but he does so by looking to Jesus, not to the law. The law made him shudder and tremble, but the cross of Christ does more so. At Sinai, the sinner stopped his ears and begged the Lord to leave him; at the cross, the elect of God tremble at the sight of immeasurable mercy. The sinner at the cross falls and grasps the feet of a slain Savior, and will not let go. Like Mary, the soul that has seen Christ in all his mercy must be pried loose from him. Christian obedience involves a sinner's grasp of Christ and his mercy. Like the woman with the bloody issue, faith steals through the crowd to Jesus, grasps hold of him and will not let go.

Obedience has always known a view of Christ's righteousness. In Egypt, Israel heard the cries of the dying firstborn; they saw the lamb's blood on their doorposts. At Sinai, Israel was shown a tent they could not enter. They were told there was a seat of mercy inside, where blood was sprinkled for their atonement, but they could not see it; they could not draw near; they were prohibited access. They were given only a testimony of hope, which was shattered year after year, when, once again, blood was spilt, stirred, and sprinkled for their sin and out of their sight. Every year they were reminded of their sin and were told of their offense; every year they observed the fires of heaven roasting flesh, watched the bloodletting, and marveled. Each year, also, they solemnly went away, unsure of their safety. In Christ, it is far different. We are shown an altar that has long since been torn down. We are shown a tomb where a body no longer lies. We are brought, by God's grace and Spirit, to have a true sense of holiness, of wrath, of mercy, and of grace, which no natural man can know.

The veil of our hearts has been done asunder in Christ. All who would contend for that old covenant and its law to be our guide in obedience today, hear Paul:

Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech: And not as Moses, which put a veil over his face, that the children of Israel could not steadfastly look to the end of that which is abolished: But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same veil untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which veil is done away in Christ. But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the veil is upon their heart. Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away. Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. (2 Cor. 3:12 - 7)

We will have nothing of Sinai's obedience, its darkness, or its blindness. We have a great plainness and sight in Christ. We look to him in our obedience, and that look is by faith in his righteousness alone. Owen wrote:

The person of Christ which is the first and principal object of that faith wherewith we are required to believe in him; and that so to do, is not only to assent unto the truth of the doctrine revealed in him, but also to place our trust and confidence in him for mercy, relief, and protection—for righteousness, life, and salvation—for a blessed resurrection and eternal reward.⁸

True Christian obedience is not obedience unto righteousness, which was its function under the law of old; rather, obedience in the Christian era is a supernatural consequence of a right standing in Christ. The just shall live by faith. It is the justified soul that obeys, not to obtain mercy, but because mercy has already been received.

Obedience has always known a view of the Spirit's supply. He was promised in the new covenant, and our obedience, if it is true, is always by the Spirit of God. He is what William Ames calls, "The principally effective cause."⁹ It is the Spirit of God in us, working forth obedience, indwelling us, and vivifying us with a new principle of the soul. All godly work of sanctification, in the process of mortification (dying to sin) and vivification (being made alive), is through the effective cause of the Holy Spirit. He regenerates and imparts life into the soul. He is the breath of God, by which men live that once were dead. Apart from him, there can be neither life nor obedience. The Holy Spirit is granted of the Father, sent of the Son, and housed in saints, that we might put off this body of flesh and put on the image of Christ. At Sinai, Israel saw God's presence visibly without; in our covenant, he dwells within. Under the old covenant, faith and God's Spirit were present, but now, there is a vast difference in the manifestation and grace of God that has come in Jesus Christ.

Implications

Where faith is absent, true obedience is absent.

No man can obey apart from faith; it is the means to true obedience. Thus, Christian obedience is by faith, as Hebrews says, "But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him" (Heb. 11:6). Faith is no minor matter; it is the marrow of Christianity. No man pleases God apart from faith. Thus, no man is obedient without faith. Faith brings us to God, believing that he is, and sends us forth believing that he shall bestow his goodness freely upon those whom he chooses, by grace alone. William Ames gives this explanation of faith:

Faith is the virtue by which, clinging to the faithfulness of God, we lean upon him, so that we obtain what he gives to us…five things belong together in divine faith: 1) a knowledge of what God testifies to; 2) a pious affection toward God which gives his testimony greatest force with us; 3) an assent given to the truth testified to, because of this affection toward God who is the witness of it; 4) a resting upon God for the receiving of what is given; and 5) the choosing or apprehension of what is made available to us in the testimony.¹⁰

Faith trusts that God is and shall give in abundance in accordance with his promises. Thus, faith looks not to the one on earth who works to attain to righteousness or a good standing with God, but it looks to God, in all his mercy, to give freely and abundantly unto his own. Therefore, faith, as the how of Christian obedience, is to be understood as follows.

Where faith is found, true obedience is certain to follow.

A man who believes is sure to obey. Faith is the certainty of conquest. Thus, Jesus Christ is called the "author and finisher of our faith" (Heb. 12:2). In Christ, and our covenant, assurance far exceeds the faint hopeful promises of old, because now we see Jesus. Thus, we can, in seeing him and knowing of our justification by faith alone, agree with Paul:

For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Rm. 8:38,39)

Christian obedience is obedience by faith. It is the how of our obedience. It is the means by which we hear, know, and follow Christ. It is that gift and manifestation of God's enlivening Spirit, instilling within us a new sense that knows Christ and true holiness. We do not walk out of fear, but we walk out of a new principle of obedience called faith.

Sound of Grace Books

¹ John Owen, The Works of John Owen, vol. 1 (Carlisle: Banner of Truth Trust, 1993), 143.

² Ibid., 142.

³ Ibid., 129.

⁴ Ibid., 147.

⁵ Ibid., 148.

⁶ Ibid., 132.

⁷ Ibid., 148.

⁸ Ibid., 127.

⁹ William Ames, The Marrow of Theology (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1997), 170.

¹⁰ William Ames, The Marrow of Theology, John D. Eusden ed. (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1997), 241.

Chapter 5 The Temperament of our Obedience

The term obedience has always conjured up the idea of a yielding reluctance. As adults, it has the same distasteful appeal that it had when, as children, our parents told us to clean our room; there is nothing more unpleasant than duty. Obey has little optimism associated with it. Many professing Christians have the same reaction to the idea of Christian obedience. They hear the word obedience and immediately are heard to respond, what must I give up now? Christian obedience is not about what we must give up, lose, or begrudgingly abandon; it is about what we have to gain. Obedience in Christ can be thought of as trading misery for joy, dissatisfaction for satisfaction, and servitude for freedom. Becoming a Christian is not about serfdom and bondage but about liberty to serve our Lord with a willing and joyful heart. Unlike a slave, shackled and bound, the Christian places himself before his master, to serve him in humble and willing obedience.

Christ was the chief example of willing obedience; throughout his life, he perfectly modeled it for his followers. Especially in John's gospel, do we see that obedience in Christ. Then, in John's letters, that same kind of obedience is commanded of Christians. John expresses Christian obedience as loving God and loving one's brother. He writes, "and this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also" (1 John 4:21). John proves the validity of this proposition by saying, "whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him" (1 John 5:1). The new birth is coupled with love in that he who loves the Father loves the children of the Father. Next, John identifies love for the brethren: "by this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments" (v. 2). Love is inseparable; he who loves God loves the brethren, and he who loves the brethren loves God. The way we know that one loves the brethren is that he loves God. The question arises, how is one said to love God? John replies, "For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous" (v. 3). Here we encounter the whom, the what, and the why of Christian obedience. The whom is God in Christ, the what is his commandments, and the why is love; all that is missing is the how. It is at this point that John brings in his only use of the word faith (apart from the book of Revelation), and he introduces it as the means to Christian obedience:

For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. (1 John 5.4)

Observe from this text what is the ease of Christian obedience. The word for is the word hoti in the Greek; it has its antecedent in the phrase, his commandments are not grievous, found in verse 3, which begs the question, how can that be? Here in verse four John gives the reason why the commands of our Lord Jesus Christ are not severe. It is found in the fact that all those born of God overcome the world. Christian obedience is a light affair. Christian warfare, though undeniably exacting, is no grievous affair. It is so unlike the exacting, threatening, and demanding obedience of the Law of Moses. Christ's burden is light. His law, his yoke, and his warfare against the world, is no lamentable affair.

Observe from this text how Christian obedience is said to be made pleasant. The Greek word, barei'ai (bareiai), found in 1 John 5: 3, would be the opposite of the yoke of Christ, which our Lord called light. "For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light (Matt. 11:30)." Christ and John are talking of neither the number nor the severity of the commandments in question; instead, they are talking of the ease given the one who serves Christ. We could liken it to the difference between Abigail's service to Nabal and her subsequent service to David. Which would be called a light and pleasant service? Surely her delight in serving her husband and king, David. Serving Nabal was an implacable burden. Serving Christ is pleasant. The Greek adjective, used by John,

is parallel to baros, being used for "heavy," "deep (in tone)," then "forceful," and "mature," and finally "oppressive" and "significant." The sense "oppressive" is most important in the NT, especially in relation to the law. In Matt.23:4, Jesus accuses the Pharisees of laying "heavy burdens" on the people.¹

The impression is that Christian obedience is easy compared to Israel's begrudging Sinaitic obedience, in that the law of Sinai was oppressive. The law of Christ, however, is not simply comparatively less oppressive; it is not at all oppressive. This is not due to any lessening of statute or ease of strictness; it is not due to any reduction in expectation; rather, it is due to temperament. Christian obedience is a pleasant affair.

Christian Obedience is distinctly a willful and joyful obedience, even though the law of Christ is far more exacting, extensive, and holy than Sinai's law. When Jesus spoke the Sermon on the Mount, many people should have trembled. They should have fled and hid under the rocks, because the glorious law Christ delivered far eclipsed the lesser Law of Moses. What Christ delivered was not just an outward and superficial obedience, but he dictated a law of absolute perfection, both of the heart and of the body. Today we know that no man was able to keep the Law of Moses Such knowledge should leave the listener with the impression of utter hopelessness upon hearing Christ, since the law he delivered demanded so much more. However, when one understands Christian obedience, knowing the greater call to holiness in Christ, one is not given over to despair and disobedience, but to willful and joyful service.

We might illustrate the temperament of Christian obedience by looking to Abigail again. Was it more difficult to serve a king or to serve a fool? One would certainly imagine that serving a mighty king, as his wife, was an awesome duty, while serving a fool came with no great demand, yet this was not the case. Surely that fool, Nabal, used Abigail, making her life miserable and her servitude grueling, but he was no more demanding than David; his demands were simply of a different sort. Serving an honorable king was far different from serving an ignoble fool, yet the difference was not so much in Abigail, but in her spouse. It was her Lord that made her service pleasant. It was David's person that made her joyful, willing, and full of glee, even though it was far more astounding to serve a glorious king than a fool. Such is the case of our duty in Christ. A Christian's obedience is made light, and not cumbersome, because Christ is a good and faithful Master, a kind and merciful Lord, and a gracious and loving Husband. The soul that has a right view of Christ can do nothing more than delight in serving him.

First, Christian service is called light and not grievous because the unrelenting demands and bondage of sin and the law are nailed to the cross. Sin was our yoke and prodding bedfellow apart from Christ. It drove us to vexation of spirit and relentless self-harm. We served it with a willing heart, ceaselessly and full of grief. All day long, the thoughts of our hearts were only evil continuously. Sin reigned in our hearts; it caused us to raise our fist toward heaven and curse our maker. Sin never gave anything it promised, whether it was pleasure, fulfillment, or satisfaction, all were fleeting as the wind. We reached for happiness but never obtained it. When sin was our master, all we did was feed the affliction of our own sorrow. Life was never pleasant serving sin. We were like a drunkard who drinks himself daily into misery. We were like the man in the tombs of the Gerasenes, who cut himself continuously in his madness. We placed our beds near the grave, thinking that death would provide an escape from our relentless unhappiness, yet the grave offered no hope, only darkness and greater despair. Thus, our burden was exceedingly heavy.

Sinai's law was not melancholy's cure, however. When the commandment came, sin abounded, and misery was made even more evident, for those under the law were driven with even greater fury and hopelessness. Like Pharaoh, who removed Israel's straw and yet kept their quota of bricks unchanged, the law demanded from its servants what they could not provide. It possessed no ability to make men righteous, but led them to pursue sin even more. Thus, they who were under the law covenant were even more miserable. They were no longer oblivious to God's wrath and demands, but they were stricken with fear, knowing God demanded righteousness that they could not attain. Thus, serving sin is the utmost of misery in life, and serving the law is a burden no man can bear. There is only one Lord and lawgiver, one master and husband, who alone can be served with ease, and that is Christ. In him, obedience is no hard thing because he has granted to us peace, and in him are all the demands of justice met.

Furthermore, Christian service is called light, and not grievous, because one chooses to serve Christ. No Christian is forced, against his will, to obey Christ. In the gospels, Christ never constrained a man's will. When men left him, he permitted their departure. Only obedience that is of faith and a willing heart is true obedience. It is like the time when Jesus asked his disciples, "will you also go away?" Peter replied, "Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life. And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God" (John 6. 68,69). The disciples were never forced beyond their wills to follow Christ, but their hearts constrained them; they could not go, for in him all goodness, happiness, and hope resided. While the journey with Christ was no easy path, yet, there was no other path so pleasant and necessary. Following Christ, even to a cross, is a sweet joy and pleasant duty.

One of the most vivid illustrations of Christian obedience is found, remarkably, in the old covenant. It is found in Deuteronomy. There, Moses said:

If thy brother, a Hebrew man, or a Hebrew woman, be sold unto thee, and serve thee six years; then in the seventh year thou shalt let him go free from thee. And when thou lettest him go free from thee, thou shalt not let him go empty: thou shalt furnish him liberally out of thy flock, and out of thy threshing-floor, and out of thy winepress; as Jehovah thy God hath blessed thee thou shalt give unto him. And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt, and Jehovah thy God redeemed thee: therefore I command thee this thing to-day. And it shall be, if he say unto thee, I will not go out from thee; because he loveth thee and thy house, because he is well with thee; then thou shalt take an awl, and thrust it through his ear unto the door, and he shall be thy servant for ever. (Deut. 15:12 – 17, ASV, 1901)

The Christian is much like the servant that will not leave. Because he loves his master and knows the goodness and mercy of his lord, where else could he ever go? Love is constraining, as the Shulamite says, "love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame. Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it: if a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be contemned" (Song of Sol.8:6 - 7). The Christian is lovesick with Christ.

The Christian is like one of those mighty men of David who could not refuse the king upon hearing him say, "Oh that one would give me drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate!" That mighty man of faith, the servant of the glorious king, said, "how shall I go? My life will be lost. Philistines surround the well." Love, however, is a vehement flame; waters cannot quench it, and armies cannot frighten it; so, "three mighty men brake through the host of the Philistines, and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem, that was by the gate, and took it, and brought it to David. Such is the Christian who understands true obedience. He will fight through an army simply to give his king a drink. He will overcome sin's traps; he will slay his own pride; he will subdue every foe of doubt, and he will bring his Lord a drink. The Christian who brings a drink, not because he is terrorized by his Lord, but because he loves him, sees the same response those three mighty men observed, as it is said of David, "nevertheless he would not drink thereof, but poured it out unto the LORD. And he said, Be it far from me, O LORD, that I should do this: is not this the blood of the men that went in jeopardy of their lives? Therefore he would not drink it" (2 Sam.23:16 – 17). Where there is true Christian obedience, the Lord is well pleased. When a man is constrained by the love of Christ, it can be rightly said, in him the Lord is well pleased.

This is the temperament of Christian obedience. It is substantially different from that demanded at Sinai. The difference exists in the manifest love of God in Christ toward the elect. When they are called effectually and united to the Lord by faith alone, there is given a sense of the love and goodness of Christ. Such a view of Jesus imparts a will of obedience and a zeal for holiness that the dead, cold tablets of stone could never produce. Moses could shout, the mountain could quake, God could thunder, and the Israelites in great terror could say, "all that the Lord says we shall do," but their hearts were fallow ground. With the new covenant has come a breaking up of the fallow ground. There is implanted seed—a seed of life. Where the old covenant brought misery, grief, condemnation, and death, the new covenant has brought the gospel, good news, and a herald of life, found in Christ alone. Freedom has come; jubilee is sounded, and deliverance from Pharaoh and his relentless demands has led forth to a pleasant temperament in serving Christ. We must not confuse Sinai's obedience with Christian obedience, lest we become bewitched. If we look to Moses, to the Decalogue, or to any covenant other than Christ, we shall hear these words:

O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you? This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh? Have ye suffered so many things in vain? if it be yet in vain. (Gal. 3:1-4)

Christian obedience becomes a vain pursuit and vexing of the mind when the object of our obedience is anything but Christ. We must look only to Jesus, lest our burdens increase, our joy dissipate, and our desire take flight. The old covenant began with the words, thou shalt not. Thus says the gospel:

Mister Law, lay off him. He has had enough. You scared him good and proper. Now it is Gospel's turn. Now let Christ with His gracious lips talk to him of better things, grace, peace, forgiveness of sins, and eternal life.²

Sound of Grace Books

¹ Kittel, Gerhard, and Friedrich, Gerhard, Editors, The Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Abridged in One Volume (Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company) 1985.

² Martin Luther, Commentary on Galatians,[ http://www.ccel.org/index/author-A.html].

Christian Obedience

Christian Obedience Chapter 1

Chapter 3 The Why of our Obedience

Chapter 4 The How of our Obedience

Chapter 5 The Temperament of our Obedience

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