Our focus this morning will be Verse 5, where Paul says that Jesus the Godman, is the one “through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among the nations”. While our main focus will be upon the phrase “to bring about the obedience of faith”, I think it is important to mention a few things about the rest of the verse before we proceed.

1Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, 2which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, 3concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh 4and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, 5through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among the nations, 6including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ, 7To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

First of all, we have to notice that Paul’s aim “to bring about the obedience of faith” stems from his understanding that God in Christ Jesus, gave him – and us – gracious spiritual gifts for a reason, and the reason we have been these gracious spiritual gifts is for the advancement of the gospel message, so that everyone would come to faith in Christ Jesus (this is something that is outlined more in chapter 12). These gifts are not reserved for super spiritual people. These gifts are given to every believer for the same reason – advancing the gospel to the ends of the earth.

Second of all, this aim of Paul’s and ours, “to bring about the obedience of faith” through the use of our spiritual gifts, is as he says in the latter half of the verse, “for the sake of his name [Jesus’ name] among the nations”. In other words, we aim to use our spiritual gifts to advance the message of the gospel, so that others would come to obedience in the faith, so that the name of Jesus would be glorified to the ends of the earth in every tribe, tongue, and nation.

With that said, we have to figure out what Paul means when he says, “obedience of faith”. Martyn Lloyd Jones helps to frame what Paul means when he says that this phrase, “obedience of faith” is very similar to the phrase, “righteousness by faith”, and he also says that it means more than a mere verbal proclamation of faith, but instead, our verbal proclamation must produce an entire life of faith that is evidenced by the obedience of Christ being reflected in the life of the believer.2 

Just as Abraham’s righteousness was given to him by faith (Gen. 15:6; Rom 4; Gal. 3:6), so to, our righteousness, our obedience is given to us by faith in Christ, who lived the perfectly obedient life on our behalf. So, when Paul says that his aim is to bring everyone into the obedience of faith, he is referring to the kind of life that reflects the obedience of Jesus.

Another way to say this would be to say that Paul wants everyone to put on the identity of Christ’s obedience so that by faith, Christ’s obedience is reflected, or reproduced in our own lives, to the glory of God alone.

#1: OBEDIENCE OF FAITH IN ROMANS

Now, in the book of Romans, our fist circle of context, Paul unpacks this theme of obedience of the faith through a variety of different angles. The first thing that may interest us in Romans is that Paul uses this phrase “obedience of faith” in both chapters 1:5 and 16:26 to act as bookends or book covers to emphasize the point that this is his life’s aim, his literary goal, his missional intention, his purpose for the book of Romans. He wants everyone to come to the obedience of faith, just as he had done on the Damascus Road, because he knows just how dangerous an obediently faith-filled believer is to the kingdom of hell, to the glory of God.

In Romans 1:16 – 17, Paul makes it clear that salvation through faith – and therefore its obedience which flows out of its obedient Savior – is something that is available to everyone who believes, regardless of their social, economic, or ethnic background, and that everyone who does claim faith in Christ for salvation is now considered righteous, and “the Righteous” as he says, “shall live by faith”. We do not live in obedience by relying on our works – otherwise our works would be the object of our faith. Instead, we live in obedience by relying on Jesus, who is the object of our faith, in all of his obedience.

Romans 2:8 – 11 makes it very clear that there will be consequences for those who refuse to walk in obedience to God through faith and that there will also be rewards for those who do submit to God and walk in obedience through faith. One path leads to “tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil” while the other path leads to “glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good”. So, we see here, that there are consequences and rewards for disobedience and obedience or faithlessness and faithfulness. Faith is rewarded, faithlessness earns consequences.

Romans 3:27 – 31 teaches us that we have no reason to boast because “the law of faith”deletes our boasting in our obedience as we boast instead in the justification that is ours by faith in Christ’s obedience – through whom the law is perfectly upheld. The bottom line here is that we boast not in our obedience but instead we boast in Christ’s work of justifying us by faith through his obedience. All of the Christian life is lived out of the deep well of Christ’s obedience given to us.

In Romans 4:3 – 5 we once again learn that Abraham’s righteousness or his obedience was not a result of his own efforts in pulling up his boot straps, but instead, his righteousness, his obedience, was a product of his faith in God – who alone is the just and the justifier of our faith!

Romans 5:19 reminds us that “as by the man’s [Adam’s] disobedience the many were made sinners, so by one man’s [Christ’s] obedience the many will be made righteous”. The bottom line here is that our obedience apart from Christ, is meaningless and powerless. The only thing that counts is Christ’s obedience, reflected and reproduced in and through us, by faith in his perfect obedience. It is the obedience of Jesus that must mark the identity of our inner little child, so that our lifestyle can reflect that inner transformation. We do not pedal a message of works-based salvation, nor do we pedal the message of sin management – we proclaim the message of salvation and sanctification – full transformation – by faith in Christ.

This is why, in Romans 6:12 – 17, the apostle Paul teaches that we must not allow sin to be our master, to enslave us, to order us around, to be the boss of our lives, since, in Christ, we “have been brought from death to life… to God as instruments for righteousness”. God’s redemption over us in Christ Jesus, through the obedience of Christ Jesus, is meant to bring us into the obedience of faith as instruments, who play in tune with the music of our Savior as we trust him by faith to work his obedience in and through us as reflections of his own glory and righteousness.

This same kind of thinking – that our obedience is simply the result of our faith in the obedience of Christ – takes center stage once again in Romans 8:11 – 13, where Paul argues that “if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, [then] he who raised Jesus from the dead will also give life [a life of Spirit led, faith-filled obedience] to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you”. We do not owe Satan, Sin, Death, or our flesh, a single thing, because Christ’s obedience is our own – since everything Christ is and has, is ours for the taking – by faith!

That last thought, that we do not owe Satan, Sin, Death, the Flesh – and let me add that little kid in the basement of our souls – anything other than what we have in Christ Jesus, is what leads Paul to say in Romans 12:1 – 2, that we are to “present our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship” and that we should “not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind”. Simply stated, the obedience of faith is all about taking that which is ours in Christ – namely his perfect obedience – and returning it back to God the Father as an act of obedient worship.

Finally, according to Romans 16:19 – 20, as we put on the identity of Christ’s perfect obedience by faith and live our lives in full hearted worship of the God who saved us, our lives will be made “known to all” who see us, and bring joy to others as we become more “wise as to what is good and innocent as to what is evil” as “The God of peace” soon crushes “Satan under” our feet.

You want to curb stomp Satan? Worship God in full faith-filled obedience as you look to Christ’s obedience on your behalf. You want to see Sin, Death, and the Flesh lose its power over your life? Rest that little kid, in the basement of your soul, in the loving arms of the One who died to ransom him through His own perfect obedience. You want to see real transformation in your life? Get your heart and your mind set upon the perfect obedience of Christ on your behalf, and the result will be obedience of faith for the entire world to see!

#2: OBEDIENCE OF FAITH IN PAUL’S OTHER LETTERS

Now, as far as the rest of Paul’s letters are concerned, most scholars agree that everything Paul writes to every church he planted, is aimed at bringing believers into the obedience of faith. So, I will try to summarize some of what Paul says elsewhere to further build out our picture of what it means to be brought into the obedience of the faith.

In 1 Corinthians 15:58, after arguing for the centrality of the resurrection, Paul encourages his listeners to “be steadfast, immovable. Always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain”. There will be days when your ability to obey God by faith in Christ’s perfect obedience, will be tested. You will be tempted to wonder if this life of faith-filled obedience is worth it. Especially when that little kid in the basement of your soul starts arguing back with you, reminding you of your failures, and your shortcomings. Paul would say: Stick with it! The resurrection is real! Christ is King over Satan, Sin, Death, the Flesh, and that little kid, and the resurrection is proof of that!

In 2 Corinthians 10:3 – 6, Paul reminds us that this obedience of the faith will be met with spiritual opposition, as he says, “though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds” as we destroy demonic “arguments” and “opinions” and “take every thought captive to obey Christ” as we wage war against disobedience and strive to make our “obedience complete”.

This spiritual warfare is constantly waging in the battlefield of our hearts and our minds. Taking every thought captive and making it submit to the obedience of Christ is the very essence of what it means to bring about the obedience of the faith. The only question is: Are you fighting or are you  retreating?

In Galatians 5:16 – 26, Paul lays out the infamous fruit of the Spirit contrasted with the desires of the flesh. The two are constantly at war with one another “to keep you from doing the things you want to do”. And the significance of these verses is that if you and I are walking by faith in the finished work of Christ on our behalf, then the results of our lives will be the fruit of the Spirit who is constantly working to bring us into the restored image of Jesus. The bottom line here is this: check your fruit! Check your fruit and if it does not look like Jesus, then you need to chase the root and put the sin-infection to death by faith in Christ and his obedient life.

Ephesians 2:8 – 10 reminds us that it is “by grace you have been saved through faith. And this [salvation by faith] is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” because God is the one who is working on, in, and through us, to help us walk in the obedient works of Jesus that were prepared before he even saved us. Talk about grace right! Grace that saves! Grace that preserves! Grace that prepares! Grace that enables! Grace that keeps on giving and giving and giving, through faith!

Philippians 1:27 teaches us to “let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ”and then further down in Philippians 2:12 – 13, Paul says, “my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure”.

The obedience of the faith for us is all about holding fast to Christ, who is our obedience, so that our lives will reflect the gospel as we work out our salvation in humility, trusting in God to finish the work he began in us for his own glory.

Colossians 1:10 – 14 says that we are to come to the obedience of faith as we “walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy; giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. [Because] He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins”.

Can you see it? That little kid in the basement of your soul? The one who tries to control your life? The one who screams for attention? The one who acts and behaves in ways that are contrary to the obedience of the faith? That little kid, as I said last week, needs to be constantly introduced, and reintroduced to the love of Christ Jesus and his obedient faithfulness on our behalf.

That discipline of continued introduction to Jesus, and his work in delivering us from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of his marvelous light – that introduction and reintroduction, is what enables us to live in the obedience of the faith, whereby we begin to bear godly fruit that is pleasing and honoring to the One who set us free! (For further study: Col. 2:6 – 7; 1 Thess. 1:3, 8 – 9; 2 Thess. 1:8; 1 Tim. 1:5; 2 Tim. 2:24 – 26; Titus 1:1; Phil. 21).

#3: OBEDIENCE OF FAITH IN THE REST OF THE BIBLE

Now, as far as the rest of the Bible is concerned with this theme of obedience of faith, the Old Testament has a lot to say. What is important to remember about the Old Testament is that it is full of stories of how God created everything in the world for his own glory and how he instilled his own image into mankind, and because of Adam and Eve’s sin in the Garden, humanity has needed a Savior to pay the price for our sin and to restore the image that was broken in us.

Every story you read in the Old Testament has these themes of creation, fall, redemption, and glorification (salt and peppered with transformation and restoration) woven into the details. One of the core pieces of the theme of the fall of man into sin and separation from God, is the concept of obedience and disobedience.

Obedience results in the blessing of a right relationship with God while disobedience results in the curse of a broken relationship with God. In Deuteronomy 6:3 – 9, Moses says that we need to “be careful to do” what God commands us to do so “that it may go well with you” so that we can experience the blessings of God’s promises as we adhere to his commands and pass them on to future generations.

In Deuteronomy 11:1 and 26 – 28, Moses takes this same concept of obedience resulting in the blessing of right relationship with God and he says “You shall therefore love the Lord your God and keep his charge, his statutes, his rules, and his commandments always”because as he says “I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse: the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God…”.

Do you see what is happening here? God is simply outlining the blessings of the obedience of the faith and the curse of disobedience as a warning to everyone who would ignore God’s Word and continue to walk in disobedience. Lastly, before we move back to the New Testament, we must remember that all of God’s commands begin with the reminder that He alone is the one who redeems us from our enemies.

God’s commands always flow out of his redemptive work on our behalf. God is the one who covers and removes our shame as he did in the Garden with Adam and Eve, and time and time again, God says: “I am the One who brought you up out of slavery in Egypt”(Gen. 3; Deut. 5; 28:1 – 14; 30:15 – 20). We do not obey to earn redemption. We obey because God has graciously given us the redemption we could never earn.

In the New Testament, Jesus says in Matthew 7:21 – 27, that not everyone who does great things will enter into his kingdom because good deeds do not earn us the right to Heaven if we “workers of lawlessness” who do not walk in obedience of faith in Christ.

In Luke 6:46 – 49, Jesus tells us that merely calling him Lord without the obedience of faith in him, is like being someone who hears his instructions and turns a deaf ear to them, and like someone building his house on shifting sand, this kind of fake obedience will result in a ruined life. True believers who trust in Jesus, obey Him as they trust in his redemptive obedience on their behalf.

In John 14:15, 21, Jesus ties the obedience of faith into a loving relationship between us and God when he says, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” and furthermore, “Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him”. Do not hear this text wrong. We do not love God to get love from him. We love God because he first loved us (1 Jn. 4:19) and our faith-filled obedience makes our loving relationship with God a reciprocal love rather than a one-way love (Jn. 15:10).

Another passage to note is Hebrews 11, where the author begins by saying that “faith is the assurance of hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” and then he goes on a walk through what many have called the hallways of the museum of faith examining the lives of biblical characters who lived the obedience of faith (not perfectly but by faith); characters such as Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, and many more. These were not perfect – in fact they were far from it – but they lived by faith in God’s promises and his redemptive work as they sought to live in faith-filled obedience to him.

The book of James is another book that could just be read in its entirety here because its overall theme and teachings revolve around the obedience of faith in action. James 1:22 – 25 teaches us that we need to be not only hearers of the Word but doers also if we are to have a genuine faith. Then in James 2:14 – 26, he drives home the point that a verbalized faith, someone who claims to have faith, but does not live a life of obedience in faith, this kind of faith is not a living and active faith, it is a fake faith that is dead at its core.

Obedience matters, but what matters more is the object of faith which drives it. Your obedience cannot be the object of your faith. If it is… you will fail. Christ and Christ alone is the only object that is worthy of our faith and able to produce true obedience from the heart in our lives.

In 1 John 2:3 – 6, it says that we can know that we know God if we strive to obey him, because anyone who claims to know God but does not strive to obey him, is a liar; but those who do know God, will strive to keep his commands and will “walk in the same way in which he [Jesus] walked”. See, the obedience of faith is to simply lock our eyes on Jesus in his perfect obedience, and to live just as he did as we trust him to produce his character in our lives.

CONCLUSION…

Finally, in conclusion, in 1 John 5:3 – 5, we have what I believe is the best passage to leave off with, where John says, “this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world – our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?”did you notice how John says that God’s commands are not burdensome? How can he say this?

Why does our own obedience feel heavy and burdensome and nearly impossible sometimes? I think this happens when the object of our faith becomes our performance rather than the obedient identity we have in Christ Jesus.

John’s point here is that the obedience of faith that Paul speaks of in Romans 1:5, is the kind of faith-filled obedience that walks in victory and overcomes the enemy just as the object of our faith has done in Christ Jesus! It is always Christ and Christ alone, and the new identity he gives to us, that enables our faith-filled obedience!

As I said last week, that little kid in the basement of our souls, the one who is covered in the clothing of failure, sin, shame, guilt, ugliness, unworthiness, etc., that little kid needs to be introduce and reintroduced on the daily, to Jesus, whose obedience becomes our own, the moment we come to faith in him. Christ is the beginning and the end of our faith-filled obedience, and the more we look to him, the more his obedience will be reflected in our lives.  – Amen!

1 Unless otherwise specified, all Bible references are to the English Standard Version Bible, The New Classic Reference Edition (ESV) (Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, 2001).

2 Martyn, Lloyd-Jones, Romans Volume I: The Gospel of God, (Edinburgh, UK: Banner of Truth, 2018), 143 – 154.