Rehabilitating Obedience

Obedience is a word with a complicated history in Christian life. Too often it has been demanded by some of others, husbands of wives, those in power of their subjects, or by clergy of lay people, all in the name of faithfulness and divinely bestowed authority. The assertion is made that scripture grants authority a certain type of one over another, and that the second must obey the first.

Setting aside the nature of that authority for now, we ought to worry, if we care at all about the gospel, about how this framing of obedience impacts the volunteerism of faith and love. For either faith or love to be meaningful, each must be an unforced and willing response. If anything is to be virtuous, it must be freely done and not undertaken out of compulsion or even duty.

The problem with misconstrued obedience is that it often seems to be required such that a person is robbed of the opportunity to respond in the freedom inherent in love. We hear that we must obey “or else”, which is certainly what many of us have been told overtly.

“If you love Me, you will keep My commandments John 14:15

Begrudging acquiescence to a demand may be compliance and outward submission, but it has no relation to an act done out of love. Surely, Jesus is talking about obedience, but it is the obedience of faith that Paul commends (Romans 1:5) and not some monstrous version which comes out of intimidation.

The only way we can obey out of faith, as an expression of love, is to be freely willing to follow the instruction given. Only this is obedience in a spiritual register. Anything else is an empty and thoroughly worldly obedience.

Unfortunately, much has been carried out by devout people but with reluctance. Often those who are explicitly forbidden to “lord it over others” (Mark 10:42-43) have done exactly that by demanding obedience that is not of faith or love. Consequently, many have become suspicious of talk about obedience, for very good reasons.

Paul is thankful that those in Rome “obeyed from the heart that form of teaching which they had received” (Romans 6:17). He would not be pleased with actions done for any reason but “faith expressing itself in love” (Galatians 5:6), twice over a matter of the heart. Perhaps the reason he was perceived to be “weak” in person (2 Corinthians 10:10) was that he would not demand, coerce, or say “or else”.

“Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the robbers’ hands?”

And he said, “The one who showed mercy toward him.” Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do the same.” Luke 10:36-37

Here, the obedience Jesus desires is the practice of mercy. The parable teaches us the meaning of being a neighbor, and Jesus tells us to “go and do the same”.

To be merciful is to obey Jesus, but true mercy will never be shown by those who have no heart for it and only want to comply in order to be obedient. The wooden and stilted posture they would surely have toward those in need would never rise to actually be Christ-imitating mercy, which must be from love.