Obedience of Faith

Romans 1:1-5

Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, 2 which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures, 3 concerning His Son, who was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh, 4 who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord, 5 through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for His name's sake.

   Last week we focused on verse 5, and in particular the three phrases: "grace and apostleship," "obedience of faith," and "for his name's sake." We studied the nature of grace as a free and undeserved enabling for ministry, the effect of grace in the obedience of faith, and the ultimate goal of grace in the glorifying of Christ's name among all the peoples.

   Tonight I want to step back and continue our look at the term "obedience of faith.” Because there are additional things which we must say about this interesting and important statement by Paul, and because he certainly emphasized deliberately, in order to emphasize something further which is an essential characteristic of the gospel, which is it tells us of the righteousness of God which is by faith. Which of course is a major theme of this epistle.

   The Good News of Jesus Christ is that we are reconciled to God, we are justified in the sight of God, not on the basis of any works that we have done, but by faith. That is the message that will come specifically in verses 16 & 17. Paul says, For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, "The righteous shall live by faith."

   This Biblical message is peculiar to us; in fact some can never get past it, manly because they do not understand it, that we can no longer think in terms of our own works. Paul will argue this fact at great length in the early chapters of Romans. The secret which is no secret is that it is by faith, THE obedience of faith, against the thought of salvation in terms of our own works or our own righteousness.

  It is so important that he emphasizes it again in the third chapter, V. 21,22 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— 22the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: There is the matter which is emphasized all through this epistle, especially in the early chapters. Paul in this introduction introduces it as a theme. He does not say that he is sent to call people simply to accept the gospel, he deliberately puts it as ‘the obedience of faith’, now. So it is vital that we understand his full emphasis of the word obedience, that the two must at all times be taken together, the ‘obedience of faith.’

I want to emphasis here that by using the word obedience here Paul makes crystal clear to every future reader of this epistle, which should be every Christian, every single believer in Jesus Christ, that to believe in the gospel is not merely an intellectual matter. It includes the intellect, but to obey the Gospel, the obedience of faith, is something more than merely giving intellectual acceptance or our intellectual assent to the teaching of the Gospel. This is mammoth this is crucial, to the Church then but I believe even bigger in our modern age of deluded preaching by the deluders of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, why because what Paul saying is that a volitous decision to accept Jesus Christ, or Faith in Jesus Christ, without the accompaniment of obedience of faith, is not an acceptance of the gospel.

 When a man believes the Gospel, it is the obedience of faith. In other words, it includes an element of committal; it includes an element of submission. This is another point that Paul makes many times in all of his epistles. In Romans 6:17 But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, What is Paul describing in this context, salvation, telling us about a man who comes to believe in Jesus, he said in v.16 Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? 

  Look at Chap 10:10 he says for with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. See the entire man is in on it. The heart as I often tell you is not used in the sentimental sense we use it today, it is used in the sense of the center of our being. In this sense our soul. Paul is saying and says over and over again so that this is not some obscure thought of his . It is not some ambiguous thought in the Bible, and it can’t be said of the Biblical expositor that preaches it, that when a man believes, he believes with the whole of his self, his soul, and he confesses it with his mouth. That is why, I say to anyone who will listen that this ‘obedience’ brings out then the whole idea of committal and submission. 

  What am I saying, I’m saying that to believe the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ involves the obedience of Faith. The whole man is involved. We are not saved if all we do is merely say that we believe in Jesus Christ. The whole of a man must be involved. All that we are our soul.

   But you don’t have to believe me, you don’t have to believe Paul, but I offer an illustration from the Master. Matthew 21:28-32 "What do you think? A man had two sons. And he went to the first and said, 'Son, go and work in the vineyard today.'  And he answered, 'I will not,' but afterward he changed his mind and went. And he went to the other son and said the same. And he answered, 'I go, sir,' but did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?" Jesus says it is the first. But I want you to notice so it is certain. The first said I will not, but he was obedient, the second said I will, I accept but was disobedient. Our obedience means going, not only repenting and actual sorrow, but going and working in the vineyard. He repented and went. When one says yes Jesus I accept and then is in no way obedient he fools no one except himself.

  Now this is exactly what believing in Jesus Christ means, or at least it should. It means more than a statement that we believe. I does not only mean that we have a conscious thought, or give assent with our intellect but that there is  a surrender of ourselves, a committal of ourselves, the involvement of our soul with our minds. According to the Apostle Paul, no one really can be regarded as having believed the gospel who has not repented and turned from  a life of sin to a life of obedience to God, in Jesus Christ.

   And I agree, because how could believing the Gospel mean anything less.

  If I say I believe the gospel, I must be then saying that I believe I am a sinner, that I am under the wrath of God, that I am hell bound, and that I can not save myself from it. But, That God has provided the way in Jesus, and in Him crucified, and I therefore believe. But if I believe that, I am not going to continue where I was. I must be sorry for my sin which has necessitated the coming of the Son of God into the world, and His terrible death upon the cross.

  I must have sorrow for my sin, for why do I go to Him if I am not conscious of my sin? And then having done all that, I turn away from my sin, I do not want to belong to the world and it’s sin any longer, I want to belong to Him and to please Him who has done so much for me. I give myself to Him. So as we must see, we cannot believe in the Lord Jesus Christ at all unless we believe in Him as our Lord as well as our Savior.

   Unfortunately that is not what so many of us tell people. Our method of evangelism is to get them to believe, say yes, then the repenting will come later. I say if that is so what gospel you have believed. What does it mean to believe in Jesus if you have no sorrow for your sin? What kind of realization is that? Certainly not one of being in a desperate plight.

  But this term used by Paul, the obedience of faith includes all of this. Paul never says believe in the gospel, he says the obedience of faith. Faith is always an obedience. And hear me; I am in no way speaking of any kind of works that are going to follow all this. IM saying that the very process of our becoming a Christian is this obedience of faith. It is that I believe this, and as I believe it, I turn away from sin and I turn to God with grateful, heartfelt thanksgiving, because of what Jesus has done for me.

  This is what Paul was calling the readers to do in his day, for us to do this day, anything less is not the obedience of faith and is not the Gospel.

Pray