The divinely inspired letter to the believers at Rome, written by the hand of Paul, is bracketed in chapter 1 and chapter 16 by a little inconspicuous phrase, “the obedience of faith”. On the outside of those brackets, standing above them, is of course the goal of history, namely the glory of God through the exaltation of Christ. But inside, the brackets contain how the Christian, and indeed the world, lives as explained by our subject phrase which describes the believer’s justification, sanctification, and ultimately our glorification all of which happens in terms of God’s grace to sinners through the propitiation of His Son. In today’s post, our focus will be on how these brackets define and describe gospel obedience.
The Brackets: Romans 1:5 & 16:26
In Romans 1:5, the opening of our brackets, the context of the obedience of faith occurs within Paul’s salutatory greeting. He describes the nature of his calling to be an apostle in order to “bring about the obedience of faith” for the sake of Jesus Christ’s name among the ethnos or nations, which included those at Rome. The gospel in general and Jesus in particular is the emphasis in the introduction of the letter. Built upon the truths of His divinity and incarnation, descended from David (heir to the throne), the Lord had called Paul to the apostleship and had given him a goal, namely, to bring about this obedience of faith. At the close of his letter, in Romans 16:26, the end bracket occurs within the context of the mystery of Christ, or that which was revealed through prophecies, promises, types, and shadows in the Old Testament writings and has now been fully revealed in His incarnation and earthly ministry culminating in His death and resurrection. The obedience of faith phrase here is nearly identical to its first usage as this message of the Christ has been declared to the nations, according to God’s plan and command, for the purpose of bringing about the obedience of faith. The foundation is Christ, the object is the nations, and the goal is the obedience of faith.
Christ’s Commission
If this sounds familiar, it should. At the close of His earthly ministry our Lord gives what some have termed The Great Commission
18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:18-20
The beginning and ending of this commission is framed around Christ, that is, He is the foundation, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” Yet, He will also accompany and ensure His commission with the promise of His presence, “I am with you always, to the end of the age.” As to the actual words of His commission, we may observe the command to make disciples of all nations is again the goal, essentially as you go, implying that the making of disciples is to be a regular part of our lives as we go through it. Key for us here is to note that disciple, meaning learner or perhaps student, implies a faithful embrace of Christ as Savior. It takes upon the believer the yoke of Christ, learning from Him and in doing so being more conformed to His image. Disciple doesn’t mean an empty egg-head who sits around staring off in the distance contemplating the nature of Christ. This faith in Christ, described as discipleship or the process of learning, is capped by faithful obedience in baptism and includes another element of the commission, “teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” In other words, the disciple – one who has trusted in Christ as Savior by faith alone, is to be taught to obey the commandments of Christ. This is the obedience of faith. Paul then is doing nothing less than writing a treatise on how this faith came to us by Grace Alone through Christ Alone, our justification, and its relationship to obedience in the Christian life, our sanctification. This is best summarized as the distinction and relationship of law/gospel.
The Role of the Law
The law does not save us, indeed it cannot, and the law does not keep us saved, again as it is powerless to do so. But the law is not absent from the believer’s life, that is the definition of antinomianism. Equally wrong is the misunderstanding that obedience somehow earns us salvation or keeps us saved. That is the definition of legalism. In understanding this broad concept in general and it’s summation by the phrase the obedience of faith in particular, we need to understand that the law places the demand of obedience on every human. This began with the creation of the first man, in the image of God with the internalized law on his heart and the externalized commands that God gave him. We see giving of the law again as Noah and his family arrive safely off of the ark. Abraham is given a command to institute circumcision. Then, with the formation of Israel and the giving of the law to them through Moses, we begin to see more clearly the role of the law through this external form. It served as a tutor pointing towards Christ and explain man’s helplessness to obey (Galatians 3:24). Christ then comes and obeys the law, in all of its forms from Adam to Israel. The law – all of it, was obeyed by Christ and He then becomes the fulfillment of the law, not the abolisher of the law.
How then does the believer, the one who has faith in Christ, now relate to the law?
As part of the New Covenant promises God stated that when He regenerates the heart (commonly called being born again) He will put His law within that new heart (Jeremiah 31:33). No longer merely an external law and no longer an internal law unable to be rightly seen and obeyed due to sin and corruption. But a new heart with desires and a will to obey the implanted law; able to see it clearly and actually obey it. We are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, but just as faith comes as a gift (Ephesians 2:8-9) so too does the heart with the law written on it. In Ezekiel 36:27, another New Covenant passage, God says that He will, “…cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.” In Jesus’ own words, speaking in John 14:15, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” There, yet again, we see that obedience to the law, here more explicitly the commands of Christ, flows from the heart and is indeed motivated by love.
Application
In the Christian life, the law is not absent, and neither is it the object nor means of salvation. It is implanted on the heart of the believer, and it is out of faith, indeed out of love itself, that we obey, gospel obedience or the obedience of faith. In closing, we may ask what law does God intend us to obey? Noah? Abraham? Moses? An ambiguous law written on the heart? Very simply, the law(s) which the believer is to obey cannot be checked against a list but proceed from the very heart that has been regenerated.
36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
Matthew 22:36-40
