Grace and Obedience

Grace and Obedience

“Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, chosen to proclaim the gospel of God which He promised before through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures, concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead, through whom we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations to the glory of His name.”

A theologian once described the gospel as having this peculiar characteristic: “The gospel is nothing but a message without conditions concerning God’s gift in and through Jesus Christ. As long as we hear God’s Word purely as a message about gifts—without any mixture or additions that pertain to works—then we have the pure, true gospel.”

According to most people’s understanding, grace—the gospel—and obedience do not belong together. Most religious people connect obedience with the law of Moses; the gospel is what Jesus has done for us; it is imputed to us by faith and we are perfect in Jesus. It is a gift, and our obedience has nothing to do with the gift. This is the spirit of Antichrist that wants to destroy God’s work through Jesus for us.

We read that Paul was chosen to proclaim the gospel of God concerning God’s Son. We read further that he was to bring about the obedience of the Gentiles to the faith through the preaching of the gospel; otherwise the gospel was of no use to them. They were freed from sin only after they had become obedient to the form of doctrine to which they had been delivered. Rom. 6:17-18, 22. How do they fare who are not obedient to the gospel? We read that in 2 Thessalonians 1:8: “In flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.” We see that it doesn’t just say the gospel of Jesus, but “our Lord Jesus Christ.” To address Jesus as Lord without thinking of being obedient to Him is the same as mocking Him. It is also written about Jesus, “And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him.” Heb. 5:9. Here we read clearly that Jesus saves only those who obey Him.

To most people the gospel speaks only of the atonement—the forgiveness of sins—through Jesus’ death on Calvary. However, Peter explains that He did that so that we, having died to our sins, might live for righteousness. 1 Pet. 2:24.

The atonement is a gift; but God starts a work with us once we have accepted it so that we can be equipped for every good work. Eph. 2:8-10. Everyone begins with the atonement—being reconciled to God—when they accept Jesus as a sacrifice for sin, as the One who has redeemed us from the curse of the law. Gal. 3:13-14. But the hope of the gospel is much more than reconciliation; we partake of this “much more” when we accept Jesus as Lord. Rom. 4:23, 5:1-2, 10; Col. 2:6. The hope of the gospel is that we are to be presented holy, blameless, and irreproachable before His face. Religious people will say, “Yes, we are that in Him.” They do not consider that it is meant to be true in us, that our Lord Jesus Christ is to do such a work in us. Yet Paul did precisely that. He preached Christ by exhorting every man and teaching every man to be perfect in Christ. Col. 1:21-23, 28. Everything we need to lead a life in the fear of God, to partake of divine nature, has been given to us in Christ Jesus—if we flee the corruption that is in the world through lust. 2 Pet. 1. Then follow many exhortations which we are to follow.

The Israelites had to obey the law if it was to profit them. Then they would also partake of a great earthly glory. Deut. 28. The law came by Moses, but they could only work in their own strength under the law. However, through the gospel we partake of grace and truth which came with Jesus. John 1:16-17. What is grace? It is the resurrection power, the Spirit of promise. Acts 1:8. And what is truth? Truth is the commandments He gave to His apostles before He ascended, and which He commanded His apostles to teach to all nations, to observe them. Acts 1:2; Matt. 28:18-20.

Here we see that grace is not in opposition to the truth, which we have to obey if we are to benefit from it. Sin is not to rule over us if we are under grace, but we are set free from sin and become servants of God. Rom. 6:14. Also read Hebrews 2:2-4, and 10:26-30.