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Believing and Obeying the Gospel
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This is a topic that is very important and has far-reaching
implications for any person who desires to please God and go
to heaven. Let’s look at these themes of belief and
obedience in the New Testament.
II Thessalonians 1:6-8, really shows
us the importance of these themes. Note particularly v8,
“dealing out retribution to those who do not know God
and to those who do not obey the gospel of our
Lord Jesus.”
Hebrews 11:6
states both of these themes in a chapter that
is often called the “Hall of Faith”. This chapter is the
best summary in the whole Bible of these themes of belief
and obedience. It would be great if you could read this
whole chapter. Verse 6 introduces us to this chapter by
these words, “And without faith, it is impossible to
please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is
and that He rewards those who seek Him.” Believing and
seeking are mentioned in this verse as key to coming to God
and are also the fullest expression of what faith is. Faith
is not only believing that God exists but also believing
that He rewards seekers. A seeker is one that obeys God.
This principle was demonstrated in people like Abel, Noah,
Abraham, Moses and countless others.
James 2:14-26 is a context that makes
a similar point but uses the word “works” to mean obedience.
Faith is the topic in this section, but not just any kind of
faith. The context mentions a “dead faith”(v17), a “demon’s
faith”(v19), a “useless or vain faith”(v20), and
in contrast, a “perfected faith”(v22).
A question that one asks themselves at
reading this passage is, “What kind of faith do I want?”
Your choices are seen above. The context tells us that a
“perfected faith” is one that works, or obeys. It acts, it
responds to God’s command. The example is Abraham. And
verse 24 tells us that if Abraham had not offered up Isaac
on the altar, then he would have had “faith alone”, i.e.,
faith without obedience. This kind of obedience is called
“works” in the passage. This is not a works that is like
man’s moral good deeds, but a work of obedience in response
to a command from God. This kind of works does indeed
justify whereas man’s moral good works does not justify us
before God. That is a important distinction to make.
Further, v23 says that this faith and works
fulfilled the Scripture that is found in Genesis 15:6 and is
also quoted by Paul in Romans 4:3. Paul uses Abraham to show
that he was justified by faith apart from the works of the
Law of Moses (see Romans 3:20; 4:2,9-12). While Paul makes
sure that people understand that one cannot be justified by
doing the works of the Law of Moses, he cites Abraham as an
example of justification by faith because he always believed
God and did what God said to do (see Gen.12:1-4; 15:1-6;
17:1-14; 22:1-12; Heb.11:8-11,17-19). James uses the same
Abraham to prove justification by faith too but James’ point
is to show the true nature and extent of faith, i.e., it
obeys God and while he uses the word “works” to describe
this obedience, it is vastly different from the word “works”
to which Paul refers. Consider also these verses Acts
10:34,35; Matthew 7:21-23; John 14:15 and Hebrews 5:7-10.
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Park Road church of
Christ
