On Christian Obedience

From "In the Spirit of Transparency"
January 8, 1999

Several weeks ago, a brother in the community intimated that he felt compelled by “obedience” to comply with an elder’s direction, which he disagreed with. This is not an isolated experience, for a few other members have in the past remarked that they performed certain work for the community without great joy as these were done out of obedience.

From appearances, these experiences could be perceived as resulting from the lack of consultation or poor communication. “I do not know why we are doing it, and why I am now stuck with this.” Or, they could be perceived as resulting from the loss of freedom. “I have to do it whether I agree with it or not.” If appearances reflect reality, then these seem to be cases of disempowerment. But doesn’t obedience require voluntary self-emptying, a humble submission of one’s will to another person’s will?

Just what do we mean by Christian obedience?

Obedience comes from the Latin “ob-audire” which means to listen. Scripture uses the word obedience closely with the word faith. For example, St. Paul coined the expression “obedience of faith” (Rm 1:5; 16:26). In Heb 11:8, God’s Word says, “By faith Abraham obeyed…”

Raniero Cantalamessa- preacher to the papal household- wrote that “obedience is the type of faith required when the revealed word is not simply a truth of God to be believed, but the will of God to be fulfilled. Faith, in another sense, is also obedience when it manifests itself as a truth to be believed, because reason does not accept it for its intrinsic evidence, but because of the authority behind it. The expression ‘obedience to faith’…does not simply mean obeying what is believed, but rather to obey believing, by the very fact of believing.”

From this, it is clear that Christian obedience principally refers to obedience to God. Cantalamessa further wrote, “disobedience to God is at the root of every disobedience and obedience to God is at the root of every obedience.” Because of Adam’s disobedience, we are incapable by ourselves of obeying God.

In His love for us, God gave us His only Son, so that by the obedience of Christ “who emptied Himself, taking the form of a slave…(who) humbled Himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross” Philip. 2:7-8, we might have the ultimate example, source and foundation of obedience. When we submit ourselves to the Lordship of Christ, we receive the empowerment of the Holy Spirit that enables us to obey God in faith.

“Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered; and when he was made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him.” Hebrews 5:8-9