I’ve been rereading one of my favorite one-year devotional books, and I’d like to start today’s post by quoting part of one devotional entry.
God is holy, and we must conform to His holiness. This means restrictions on our behavior. But when the restraints become the essence of our faith, as they did for the Pharisees, we are far from the heart of God. … Faith is about following His character. That’s the whole point of obedience.
Chris Tiegreen, 365 Pocket Devotions, Day 49
It’s very easy for humans to go to extremes. On the one hand, you’ll meet Christians who build their lives around what they can and cannot do as if keeping the law perfectly can save them. On the other hand, you’ll meet Christians who say they don’t have to be obedient to God’s law because grace covers all that. The truth is somewhere in between. Obedience isn’t what saves us, but it is the right and proper response to receiving salvation. Having the right understanding of our relationship with God helps us have a right understanding of our relationship with His law.
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Start With Love
There are certain things that God expects from people who follow Him. It is much like any healthy relationship. I expect people that I am friends with to generally treat me well and follow a basic standard of good conduct, and they expect the same from me. If one of us violated these unspoken “rules” of friendship, the friendship would dissolve or at the very least become more distant. Healthy relationships require things like regular communication, trustworthiness, reciprocity, a way to resolve conflicts, and mutual respect for the other’s needs, morals, and boundaries.
Our relationship with God works the same way, and He doesn’t leave us guessing about how the relationship works. He invites us into a covenant relationship with Him and lets us know exactly what He expects from us as well as what we can expect from Him. It’s actually pretty simple, and can be boiled down into just two commandments:
Jesus said to him, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. The second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”
Matthew 22:37-40, NET
There are lots of other commands in scripture, of course (both Old and New Testament), but they are all just elaborations on these two expectations. At the most basic level, God’s restrictions on our behavior are all connected to making sure that we love Him and love the people around us in the right way. Remembering that helps us have the right perspective on obedience.
Owe no one anything, except to love one another, for the one who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, “Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not covet,” (and if there is any other commandment) are summed up in this, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
Romans 13:8-10, NET
I like how Paul frames all the “do not” commandments as telling us how to love the way God does. A lot of times people describe God’s laws as restrictive or oppressive or outdated, but at the heart of it all is healthy relationships with God and with other people. He wants what is best for us, and He wants a personal relationship with us. His instructions reflect that truth.
Check Your Heart
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God knows what our motives are. He looks inside our hearts and searches our minds to understand us even better than we understand ourselves (1 Sam. 16:7; Jer. 17:5-10). He knows if we’re flippantly disregarding His laws because we don’t care about what He says, and He also knows if we’re obeying from wrong motives.
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter into the kingdom of heaven—only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. On that day, many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many powerful deeds in your name?’ Then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you. Go away from me, you lawbreakers!’”
Matthew 7:21-23, NET
This has got to be one of the most sobering passages in the entire Bible. Jesus warns us that calling Him Lord is not enough to get into the kingdom of heaven. Even doing wonderful things in His name isn’t enough. Only those who do the Father’s will and are known by Jesus Christ will be in His kingdom.
“I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me—just as the Father knows me and I know the Father …
“My sheep listen to my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish; no one will snatch them from my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one can snatch them from my Father’s hand.”
John 10:14-15, 27-29
Once again, it comes back to relationships. We must listen to Jesus and follow Him, “conforming to His holiness” and “following His character,” as Tiegreen puts it. So, how do you view the restrictions God places on our behavior?
As something you must do perfectly or else you’ll lose your salvation?
As something not worth bothering with?
As guides for how to live in close relationship with God and enjoy all the blessings that accompany adopting His character?
I don’t really like to think of God’s laws as “restrictions.” They do restrict my behavior, but I see them more as guides, guardrails, and insights into God’s character. We keep the law because we’re walking in the spirit; law-keeping is a side-effect of becoming like God. Christians today ought to obey God because we want to be like Him and follow Him faithfully, and His law tells us how to do that.
I’ve been thinking about this question since hearing a sermon on it last weekend. It’s a question I’d settled in my own mind some time ago, but I realized there’s an argument for why God’s expectations are reasonable that I hadn’t considered before.
People often accuse God of being unreasonable, particularly in the context of His commandments. It can be hard to accept that God has the right to ask us to give up things we might want or that He’s being reasonable in those requests. For example, we need look no farther than the gospel accounts.
The young man said to him, “I have wholeheartedly obeyed all these laws. What do I still lack?”Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be perfect, go sell your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” But when the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he was very rich.
Matthew 19:20-22, NET
We don’t know exactly what was going on in this wealthy man’s mind or what he chose to do in response to Jesus’s statement, but we know that he was sad and that he walked away. He may, perhaps, have felt that Jesus’s instruction was unreasonable. If we were to ask Jesus, “What do I still lack?” there’s a very good chance He would give us a different response than to sell all our possessions, but I suspect it would be an equally challenging task.
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The Sovereignty of God
For me, God’s sovereignty is the first of two things that settled the questions of whether or not God’s demands are reasonable. He created humanity, including me, and the entire universe. His laws are simply part of the way the universe is structured. He has the right to tell us how to live because He is in charge and it is good of Him to tell us how to live because He knows what we need to do in order to get the best outcome.
You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who has ever resisted his will?”But who indeed are you—a mere human being—to talk back to God? Does what is molded say to the molder, “Why have you made me like this?”Has the potter no right to make from the same lump of clay one vessel for special use and another for ordinary use?
Romans 9:19-21, NET (bold italics mark a quotation from Isa 29:16; 45:9)
From the perspective that God has rights over what He created (including me), it was not terribly hard for me to make peace with things like not trying out for local theatrical productions because of performances and rehearsals on Friday evenings and Saturday. God has the right to designate certain days as holy and He wants me to keep His Sabbath, so I give up things that conflict with that. I grew up with the mindset that it’s just what you do and I never personally hit a point where I resented that. People in my church congregation would lose jobs, for example, because they wouldn’t work on Saturdays and that’s not something we compromise on. It always worked out in the end.
Jobs or hobbies that conflict with following Him are not the only thing God asks us to give up, though. He also asks us to give up revenge, inappropriate anger, selfishness, pettiness, bitterness, fear, and grudges. He asks us to give up any desires or actions that run counter to His laws. It is often much harder to bring your emotions and thoughts in line than your actions, though it is all closely connected, but God has the right to ask this of us.
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We Owe Him So Much
The second thing that settled the question of “Is God unreasonable?” for me is thinking of all the things He has done for us. This really hit me years ago when I started the Bible studies which eventually led to my first ebook God’s Love Story (available free when you subscribe to my newsletter). In the universe that God created and under His laws, “the compensation due sin is death” (Rom. 6:23, LEB). The outlook would be very bleak for us imperfect humans if it stopped there, “but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 6:23, LEB). Jesus died in place of all who will accept His substitutionary sacrifice. Now, we are “the church of God that he obtained with the blood of his own Son” (Acts 20:28, NET). As such, we have certain obligations.
Or don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,for you were bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20, WEB
People in the modern world, particularly Western culture, tend to think of “grace” as a free gift with no expectation that those who receive grace would do anything afterwards. It wasn’t that way in Biblical culture. Grace, the Greek word charis, was linked to relationships and carried relational expectations. It’s connected to covenants, the type of relationship that God makes with His people. Grace is freely given, but with the expectation that those who accept this gift have reciprocal obligations. We don’t try to pay God back for what He’s done (it would be impossible), but we are supposed to respond a certain way because we’ve received such incredible gifts from Him (salvation, forgiveness, hope of eternal life). Because I have a grace-based, covenant relationship with God, it is reasonable of Him to ask things of me and for me to respond by doing as He says.
God’s Level of Commitment
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This third argument for why it’s reasonable of God to ask things of us is the one I hadn’t thought of before. Let us return, for a moment, to the story of the rich young man that we read at the beginning of this blog post. After the rich man walked away, Peter asked a question.
Then Peter said to him, “Look, we have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?” Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth: In the age when all things are renewed, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And whoever has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life.”
Matthew 19:27-29, NET
When Jesus called His 12 disciples who would (with the exception of Judas Iscariot) become apostles, they gave up their former lives to follow Him. A tax collector and several fishermen became the students of a traveling rabbi because they believed He was the promised Messiah sent from God. Understandably, Peter wondered what the pay-off would be. But Peter and all of us who follow Jesus aren’t the only ones who gave something up.
You should have the same attitude toward one another that Christ Jesus had, who though he existed in the form of God did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking on the form of a slave, by looking like other men, and by sharing in human nature. He humbled himself, by becoming obedient to the point of death —even death on a cross!
Philippians 2:5-8, NET
To slightly paraphrase the sermon that inspired this topic, “Peter gave up a fishing boat, Jesus gave up a throne.” Now, you might reply to this point that it wasn’t the same for Jesus because He got to go back to His throne and become immortal God again, but that’s basically the same reward that’s awaiting Peter and all the other faithful believers as well. We’re not going to be exalted as high as Jesus, but we will be welcomed into God’s family and made co-heirs with Jesus Christ.
God is 100% committed to expanding His family and building relationships with His people that will last into eternity. Jesus emptied Himself to share in human nature and die for us. When He asks us to be fully committed to Him, even if that means giving up some things we might like to keep, He’s not asking more of us than He was willing to do.
As the sovereign creator, the one who paid a high price to redeem us, and a leader who doesn’t ask of us anything He hasn’t done Himself, it is reasonable for God to have expectations from us. Not only that, but these expectations are good for us. His purpose is to give us eternal life. When God asks us to devote our entire lives to Him, it’s a reasonable request and we can do so willingly when we shift our perspective to reflect the reality of who God is and what He is doing.
Being a good listener is an important skill, and not one that everyone masters. There’s a difference between hearing something and really listening to it. I might hear that my husband is talking, for example, but if I’m distracted in the kitchen or thinking about something else I’m not really listening to him and might not even register what he says. The same is true when we’re interacting with God. We might hear or read His words, but unless we’re paying attention we aren’t actually listening.
As I was reading through Luke’s gospel in the Tree of Life translation, I noticed a phrase I hadn’t really thought about before: “So pay attention how you listen” (Luke 8:18, TLV). The other translations that I most frequently use say, “Be careful therefore how you hear” (WEB) and “So listen carefully” (NET). The New English Translation’s footnote says the Greek literally means “Take heed therefore how you hear” and it could also be translated, “Therefore pay close attention.”
God speaks to us. Most commonly through His written word, but also through other people inspired by His holy spirit and directly into our hearts and minds. We need to make sure we’re actively listening to His voice and acting on what we hear, not just hearing without doing.
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Context for Hearing
Whenever we’re looking at a passage from the Bible, it’s helpful to look at the context. An isolated phrase like this might seem to mean something on it’s own, but mean something else when read in the context of the rest of the sentence or passage. Or it might mean just what it seems to mean, but take on deeper significance when we read what’s going on around it. The latter is what’s happening in the case of this passage from Luke. In this section of the gospel account, Luke records Jesus’s parable of the sower. After hearing that parable, the disciples asked Jesus what it meant. Notice how often He mentioned hearing in His explanation:
He said, “You have been given the opportunity to know the secrets of the kingdom of God, but for others they are in parables, so that although they see they may not see, and although they hear they may not understand.
“Now the parable means this: The seed is the word of God. Those along the path are the ones who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. Those on the rock are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in a time of testing fall away.As for the seed that fell among thorns, these are the ones who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the worries and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature.But as for the seed that landed on good soil, these are the ones who, after hearing the word, cling to it with an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with steadfast endurance.”
Luke 8:10-15, NET (bold italics mark a quotation from Is. 6:9)
Hearing the word of God is a starting point. But just hearing it doesn’t guarantee a good outcome. Sometimes the word is snatched away before it makes anything more than a surface-level impact. Sometimes people respond joyfully when they hear, but they don’t actually let it take deep root in their lives. Others hear, but the word isn’t as important to them as other things. And then there are the ones who hear, really listen, cling to the word at the heart-level, and then do something with what they heard.
“No one lights a lamp and then covers it with a jar or puts it under a bed, but puts it on a lampstand so that those who come in can see the light.For nothing is hidden that will not be revealed, and nothing concealed that will not be made known and brought to light. So listen carefully, for whoever has will be given more, but whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has will be taken from him.”
Luke 8:16-18, NET
If we do something with what we hear–if we listen and act on it–then that will become apparent in our lives. The more we use what we hear, the more God will give us to listen to.
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The Greatest Commandment
When someone asked Jesus what the most important commandment was, He famously answered it’s to love God and to love your neighbor. The instruction to “love the lord your God” is a quote from the Deuteronomy 6 passage known as the Shema, and in Mark’s account Jesus quotes more of the passage than He did in Matthew.
Now one of the experts in the law came and heard them debating. When he saw that Jesus answered them well, he asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?”Jesus answered, “The most important is: ‘Listen, Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.Lovethe Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’The second is: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
The instruction to “listen” or “hear” (depending on the translation) is an important part of the commandment. According to The Bible project, “The opening line, ‘Hear, O Israel,’ does not simply mean to let sound waves enter your ears. Here, the word shema means to allow the words to sink in, provide understanding, and generate a response—it’s about action. In Hebrew, hearing and doing are the same thing” (Tim Mackie, “What’s the Meaning of the Jewish Shema Prayer in the Bible?”). Though the New Testament was written in Greek, Jesus and the other Jewish people who wrote the Bible were steeped in Hebrew thought. When they talked about hearing or listening, they would have thought about acting on what was heard. James talks about this in his epistle.
But be doers of the word, and not only hearers, deluding your own selves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man looking at his natural face in a mirror; for he sees himself, and goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of freedom and continues, not being a hearer who forgets, but a doer of the work, this man will be blessed in what he does.
James 1:22-25, WEB
We need to “do” the law of God, not just hear it. The Bible–including the commandments and instructions–isn’t there just to be an interesting academic study. God shared His words to reveal His mind and character, and to show us how we ought to live in order to get the best outcome from our lives. Obeying His commandments is a way to connect with, understand, and become like Him if we really listen to Him and act on what we hear.
Hearing Builds Our Faith
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Last week, we discussed a short phrase from Paul’s letter to Rome: “the obedience of faith.” Today’s post builds on that discussion in many ways, because faith is linked with what we hear from God.
For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. How are they to call on one they have not believed in? And how are they to believe in one they have not heard of? And how are they to hear without someone preaching to them?And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How timelyis the arrivalof those who proclaim the good news.”But not all have obeyed the good news, for Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our report?”Consequently faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the preached word of Christ.
Faith is vital to our lives as Christians. According to Paul in this passage, faith comes from hearing the word of Jesus the Messiah. That would be all the words that came from Him (Old and New Testament) as well as the words about Him. Put that together with what James wrote and what Paul said here about obeying the good news, and we know that hearing the words isn’t going to provide faith on it’s own–it’s listening to and putting the words into action, just as is implied by the Hebrew word shema. Then, once we have a starting faith, we keep adding on to it as we grow in the knowledge of Jesus Christ.
May grace and peace be lavished on you as you grow in the rich knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord! …
For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith excellence, to excellence, knowledge;to knowledge, self-control; to self-control, perseverance; to perseverance, godliness; to godliness, brotherly affection; to brotherly affection, unselfish love.For if these things are really yours and are continually increasing, they will keep you from becoming ineffective and unproductive in your pursuit of knowing our Lord Jesus Christ more intimately.
2 Peter 1:2, 5-8, NET
As we continue to learn and grow as Christians, it’s vital that we put into practice what we hear. Head-knowledge isn’t going to cut it–we need to know Jesus and the Father, not just know about them. Living, vibrant faith is relational, and relationships involve listening closely and taking action to keep that relationship healthy.
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Romans is one of my favorite books in the Bible. I think it’s because there’s so much depth to it. I like the challenge of reading the book and interpreting it correctly, as well as the profound and encouraging truth contained in this letter. One of the things that makes Romans unique is that Paul was writing to a church he hadn’t visited. It’s an introduction rather than a letter that addresses specific issues he knew about in a congregation. As such, Romans includes statements where Paul explains his theology and his responsibilities as an apostle. The statement that caught my eye and prompted today’s study is found at the beginning of the letter.
From Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God.This gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures, concerning his Son who was a descendant of David with reference to the flesh,who was appointed the Son-of-God-in-power according to the Holy Spirit by the resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord. Through him we have received grace and our apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles on behalf of his name. You also are among them, called to belong to Jesus Christ.To all those loved by God in Rome, called to be saints: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!
Romans 1:1-7, NET
The specific phrase I want to look at today is “the obedience of faith.” Often, we modern people think of faith as a belief system that we intellectually agree with rather than something that requires obedient action. We make a mistake if we think like that. Faith is an active thing and it’s inextricably linked with obeying God.
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To Bring About Obedience
Through him we have received grace and our apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles on behalf of his name.
Romans 1:5, NET
As with much of Romans, the phrase “obedience of faith” has generated scholarly debate about the correct interpretation. Some say that it means obeying “the Christian faith” and others that it means “the obedience faith produces [or requires].” It could also be “an attributive genitive (‘believing obedience’)” or a case where “‘faith’ further defines ‘obedience.’” Finally, the phrase could be “deliberately ambiguous” (NET footnote on Rom. 1:5). As you’ll see, I tend to favor the “obedience faith produces/requires” interpretation.
One thing I find very interesting is that Paul says they received grace and their apostleship “to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles.” People often say that Romans is Paul’s explanation for why Gentiles (e.g. non-Jewish people) who believe in Jesus as the Messiah don’t have to obey the law. But from the very start of this letter, Paul points out that being a faithful Gentile involves obedience. We can debate exactly what they’re obeying and how to read this phrase, but the link between faith and obedience is unmistakable. And this isn’t the only time Paul mentions it. He circles back to a very similar phrase near the end of the letter.
But I have written more boldly to you on some points so as to remind you, because of the grace given to me by God to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles. I serve the gospel of God like a priest, so that the Gentiles may become an acceptable offering, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.
So I boast in Christ Jesus about the things that pertain to God. For I will not dare to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in order to bring about the obedience of the Gentiles, by word and deed, in the power of signs and wonders, in the power of the Spirit of God. So from Jerusalem even as far as Illyricum I have fully preached the gospel of Christ.
Romans 15:15-19, NET
Once again, Paul says that he received grace from God to be a minister to the Gentiles. His goal is that they become sanctified–holy and set-apart for God. He also says the goal of the wonderous things that Christ accomplished through him was “to bring about the obedience of the Gentiles.” Faith isn’t mentioned here, leaving what they’re to obey open to interpretation if we haven’t read the rest of the letter. If we have read the whole letter, though, then we have a pretty good idea as to what Paul means when he says obedience.
Back at the beginning of the letter, Paul says that God “will rewardeach one according to his works:eternal life to those who by perseverance in good works seek glory and honor and immortality, but wrath and anger to those who live in selfish ambition and do not obey the truth but follow unrighteousness” (Rom. 2:6-7, bold italics mark a quotation from Ps. 62:12 and Prov. 24:12). If we want eternal life, then we need to obey the truth, follow righteousness, and do good works. This “obedience of faith” is so important that Paul ends the letter with the phrase as well as beginning it.
Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that had been kept secret for long ages, but now is disclosed, and through the prophetic scriptures has been made known to all the nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith—to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, be glory forever! Amen.
Romans 16:25-27, NET
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Righteousness and Faith
Reading Romans as a whole gives us a fuller picture of Paul’s view of faith, obedience, and the law of God than we could ever get from taking just a few verses in isolation. He does say we’re “not under the law,” but in saying that he doesn’t mean we shouldn’t obey God. Paul sets up the question of obedience for Christians as a choice between two masters. We don’t get the option to not obey someone. Either we’re obeying and serving God or we’re obeying and serving His adversary.
So you too consider yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its desires, and do not present your members to sin as instruments to be used for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who are alive from the dead and your members to God as instruments to be used for righteousness. For sin will have no mastery over you, because you are not under law but under grace.
What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Absolutely not! Do you not know that if you present yourselves as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or obedience resulting in righteousness?But thanks be to God that though you were slaves to sin, you obeyed from the heart that pattern of teaching you were entrusted to, and having been freed from sin, you became enslaved to righteousness.
Romans 6:11-18, NET
We’re not under the penalty of the law or under a covenant that’s only based on an external law. We’re under grace and under a covenant where God puts His law inside our hearts. God has taken things to another level with the New Covenant, and our “obedience resulting in righteousness” has to come “from the heart.”
For Moses writes about the righteousness that is by the law: “The one who does these things will live by them.”But the righteousness that is by faith says … “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we preach), because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.For with the heart one believes and thus has righteousness and with the mouth one confesses and thus has salvation.For the scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.”For there is no distinction between the Jew and the Greek, for the same Lord is Lord of all, who richly blesses all who call on him. For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
How are they to call on one they have not believed in? And how are they to believe in one they have not heard of? And how are they to hear without someone preaching to them?And how are they to preach unless they are sent? …Consequently faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the preached word of Christ.
Notice that when Paul explains “the righteousness that is by the law” and “the righteousness that is by faith,” he quotes from the Torah both times (first from Leviticus and then from Deuteronomy). God has always wanted a heart-connection with His people. He’s been setting things up so we could get to an intimate relationship with Him from the very beginning, but it wasn’t widely possible until Jesus’s sacrifice enabled forgiveness and reconciliation to God (note that some people, like King David, did have close relationships with God and received forgiveness in the Old Testament, but they were still waiting on the Messiah to fully accomplish the promised salvation [2 Sam. 12:13; Acts 4:11-12; 13:22; Heb. 11:39-40]).
Relational Obedience
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God wants us to live righteous lives because we have a relationship with Him built on hearing His word and responding in faith, not because we think we can save ourselves by doing the things the law says. We can’t earn salvation by any of our own efforts, but when we receive the gift of salvation we’re supposed to respond in a certain way. In the first century, “grace” was a reciprocal concept–if you received such a great gift, then you owed the giver your loyalty even though you can’t pay back the debt. Similarly, “faith” was an active thing that involved living your whole life with trust, obedience, loyalty, and commitment to the covenant relationship you have with God.
We can see evidence of this perspective sprinkled throughout the New Testament. When “a large group of priests” started believing in Jesus as the Messiah, it’s said they “became obedient to the faith” (Acts 6:7, NET). When the author of Hebrews talks about Abraham’s example of faith, it says he demonstrated that faith by obeying God (Heb. 11:8). And in Revelation, “the saints” are defined as people “who obey God’s commandments and hold to their faith in Jesus” (Rev. 14:12, NET). Obedience and faith are inextricably linked.
You know that from your empty way of life inherited from your ancestors you were ransomed—not by perishable things like silver or gold, but by precious blood like that of an unblemished and spotless lamb, namely Christ. He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was manifested in these last times for your sake. Through him you now trust in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.
You have purified your souls by obeying the truth in order to show sincere mutual love. So love one another earnestly from a pure heart.You have been born anew, not from perishable but from imperishable seed, through the living and enduring word of God.
1 Peter 1:18-23, NET
Salvation, forgiveness, redemption, purification–all of that can only be accomplished through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. But we aren’t just passive recipients of those gifts. When Paul said, “with the heart one believes and thus has righteousness and with the mouth one confesses and thus has salvation” (Rom. 10:10, NET), the word “believes” is translated from pisteou–the verb (action) form of pistis, which is the Greek word translated “faith.” When you read “belief” or “believe” in the New Testament, it’s the action-word version of “faith.” We don’t even have that concept in English–faith is a noun (person, place, or thing) rather than something you do–but “faithing” is a key part of scripture. The work that God is doing in us to accomplish salvation is participatory, and that participation involves obedience (John 14:15; Phil. 1:27; 2:12-13; Gal. 6:7-9; 2 Pet. 1:5-10). Paul knew that, and he made sure his readers did as well. The obedience of faith is a vital aspect to walking with God.
I want to start out today’s post with a verse that comes from King David’s advice to his son Solomon. One of the first things he said before passing on the kingship was, “You be strong therefore, and show yourself a man; and keep the instruction of Yahweh your God, to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes, his commandments, his ordinances, and his testimonies, according to that which is written in the law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do, and wherever you turn yourself” (1 Kings 2:2-3, WEB). Did you notice how many words David uses to refer to God’s instructions? He talks about statutes, commands, ordinances, testimonies, and law.
This isn’t the only place where multiple Hebrew words are used to describe God’s instructions, but I picked it because it includes most of them all in one verse. Another example comes from Nehemiah, where it talks about God giving ancient Israel “right ordinances and true laws, good statutes and commandments” (Neh. 9:13, WEB). For some time now, I’ve wondered why all those different words are used and what distinctions there are between them. I figured now is as good a time as any to actually study it.
Starting with A Dictionary
I decided to start by going to my favorite Hebrew dictionary, the Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament. I looked up the words used in those verses from 1 Kings and Nehemiah, as well as the Hebrew words for “word” and “charge” since they’re often used alongside them in other verses. The TWOT organizes words by root words and derivatives, so we’ll start with the roots and branch out from there to the derivatives used in the specific verses.
“word.” Root dabar, “to speak” (TWOT 399). The word dabar shows up in the Hebrew Bible more than 2500 times, and in the KJV translators used about 30 different English words for the noun (H1697) and 85 for the verb (H1696). Clearly, it’s not a simple word to translate. However, all “have some sense of thought processes, of communication, or of subjects or means of communication” (TWOT 399).For our purposes today, dabar can refer to words God speaks; it is, for example, used of the Ten Commandments as “words of the covenant” (Ex. 34:28. WEB).
“statutes.” Root haqaq, “primary meaning of cutting or engraving in stone,” though it also means “enacting a decree” or law (TWOT 728). The masculine noun form choqor hoq (H2706) appears in Nehemiah, and means “statue, custom, law, decree” and is frequently paired with the word for “keep,” stressing the importance of obeying God’s statutes (TWOT 728a). The feminine noun form chuqqahor huqqa (H2708) is used in 1 Kings, and is similar to the choq form, but is also used to talk about “perpetual statutes” such as the ordinances for holy days (TWOT 728b).
“law.” Root yara, “throw, cast, shoot” or “teach” (TWOT 910). The word for “law” is the derivative torah (H8451).Torah can be translated “law,” “instruction,” or “teaching” (TWOT 910d). Broadly, it means teaching in the sense of wise instruction (often directly from God). It also refers more specifically to God’s instructions, “statutes, ordinances, precepts, commandments, and testimonies” as well as His moral law which predates the giving of the law code as part of the covenant (TWOT 910d). In time, torah came to refer to the first five books of the Bible as well as God’s law.
“testimonies.” Root ud,to return, repent, or do over again, with various derivatives related to witnessing and testimony (TWOT 1576). The derivative eduth (H5715) is the one we’re looking at today. It specifically means “a warning testimony” (TWOT 1576f). Can be used as a synonym for law (as in Psalm 19 and 119) since “The law of God is his testimony because it is his own affirmation relative to his very person and purpose” and it is also “a warning sign to man” (TWOT 1576f). `
“commands.” Root sawa, “command” as a verb (TWOT 1887). The noun form for “commandments” is miswa or mitsvah(H4687). This word can refer to terms in a contract or instructions from a teacher, but most often it’s used for “the particular conditions of the covenant” God makes with humanity (TWOT 1887b). This is, for example, a word used of the Ten Commandments (Ex. 24:12).
“charge.” Root shamar, “keep, guard, observe, give heed” (TWOT 2414). The derivative mishmeret(H4931) doesn’t appear in any of the verses we’ve looked at so far, but it will in a few we’ll read next. It refers to something we keep as an obligation or something we do as a service (TWOT 2414g).
“ordinances” or “judgements.” Root shapat, to judge or “exercise the process of government” (TWOT 2443). We’ve looked at this word and its derivativemishpat (H4941) before. It’s a nuanced word, with “at least thirteen related, but distinct aspects” centered on the concept of justice (TWOT 2443c). For example, mishpat can mean “a case or litigation,” the judge’s ruling on that case, “an ordinance of law,” and/or justice as “rightness rooted in God’s character.”
As we can see in these brief word studies, there are some differences between the words although they mean similar things. A judgement, for example, is not exactly the same thing as a commandment. Most of the words used to talk about God’s instructions (statutes, testimonies, commands, etc.) fall under the umbrella of “law” or torah. You can tease out nuances between the words, like 119 Ministries does in their article, “Commandments, Statutes, Ordinances, and Judgments…What’s the Difference?” However, when they come from God, all these things are very similar in terms of how we’re expected to respond to them.
Of these words as a group, the TWOT writers say, “hoq occurs in sequence with other words for law: debarim (words), tora (law), mishpat (judgement), edut (testimony), and miswa (commandment). These words are used almost indiscriminately” and though some have tried to separate them into groups, such as using hoq and mishpat for two different categories of laws, “efforts to distinguish clearly between their connotations have not been entirely successful” (TWOT 728a). As GotQuestions.org says, the main point is “obedience to all that the Lord commands,” regardless of the word being used.
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How These Words are Used
The words we looked at in the previous section occur hundreds, or in some cases thousands, of time in the Hebrew Bible. Clearly, we won’t be able to look at all those examples. We can, though, start looking at some of the verses that use more than one of these words together and see how they’re used and what we can learn about the response God expects from His people.
Yahweh appeared to him, and said, … “In your offspring all the nations of the earth will be blessed,because Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my requirements (mishmereth), my commandments (mitsvah), my statutes (chuqqah), and my laws (torah).”
Genesis 26:2, 4-5, WEB
One of the things that often confuses people is the link between God’s law and the Old Covenant. Christians agree that we’re not under the Old Covenant–it has been replaced by a New Covenant based on better promises and ratified in Jesus Christ–but many Christians disagree on the role the law plays today. Some think that when the Old Covenant went away, the law went with it. But that’s not what Jesus or Paul taught and, as we see here in this verse about Abraham, God’s requirements, commandments, statutes, and laws pre-date the Old Covenant at Mount Sinai. You can see evidence of this elsewhere as well, such as God commanding Noah to “take seven pairs of every clean animal” on the ark but only one pair of unclean animals (Gen. 7:2, WEB). Clean and unclean meat laws are an example of God’s laws pre-dating the Sinai covenant by hundreds of years.
Now, Israel, listen to the statutes (choq) and to the ordinances (mishpat) which I teach you, to do them; that you may live, and go in and possess the land which Yahweh, the God of your fathers, gives you. You shall not add to the word (dabar) which I command you, neither shall you take away from it, that you may keep the commandments (mitsvah) of Yahweh your God which I command you. …Behold, I have taught you statutes (choq) and ordinances (mishpat), even as Yahweh my God commanded me, that you should do so in the middle of the land where you go in to possess it. Keep (shamar) therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who shall hear all these statutes (choq) and say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.” For what great nation is there that has a god so near to them as Yahweh our God is whenever we call on him? What great nation is there that has statutes (choq) and ordinances (mishpat) so righteous as all this law (torah) which I set before you today?
Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 5-8, WEB
The laws that God gave His people taught them how to follow Him and set themselves apart as His special people. We can still learn from them today because we’re also God’s people, though our context is not the same as that of ancient Israel. Some laws don’t apply to us directly (e.g. most of us don’t have to worry about what to do if your bull gores someone to death [Ex. 21:28-36]) but we can still learn wisdom from the principles behind the laws (e.g. God’s view on restitution and responsibility). Some laws still apply directly today, such as the Ten Commandments, which teach us more about how to fulfill the law in love (Rom. 13:8-10; Gal. 5:14).
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Psalm 119
If you want to know how a godly person interacted with the Lord’s words, statutes, ordinances, testimonies, charge, judgements, and law, then read Psalm 119. This is the longest psalm in the Bible and the whole thing is a meditation on God’s law and the psalmist’s relationship with those instructions.
Blessed are those whose ways are blameless, who walk according to Yahweh’s law. Blessed are those who keep his statutes, who seek him with their whole heart. Yes, they do nothing wrong. They walk in his ways. You have commanded your precepts, that we should fully obey them. Oh that my ways were steadfast to obey your statutes! Then I wouldn’t be disappointed, when I consider all of your commandments. I will give thanks to you with uprightness of heart, when I learn your righteous judgments.
Psalm 119:1-7, WEB
Psalm 119 begins with this beautiful passage that puts me in mind of Romans 7-8. The Psalmist loves God’s law so much, but also recognizes that his ways are not steadfast enough to obey all God’s statutes. Similarly, Paul says “the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous, and good” (Rom. 7:12, NET) but because he couldn’t obey it fully he needed Jesus’s sacrifice to set him free from the law. Now, he could serve God “in the new life of the Spirit and not under the old written code” (Rom 7:6, NET) while fulfilling “the righteous requirement of the law” by walking “according to the Spirit” instead of according to the flesh (Rom. 8:4, NET).
Like Paul and this psalmist, we can find delight in God’s law and learn from His instructions while also realizing we can’t perfectly obey God or justify ourselves. We need Jesus mediating forgiveness and making us right with God so we can serve Him in the spirit (which, in many ways, means taking the law to a higher, better level).
Do good to your servant. I will live and I will obey your word. Open my eyes, that I may see wondrous things out of your law. … My soul is consumed with longing for your ordinances at all times. … Indeed your statutes are my delight, and my counselors. … Let me understand the teaching of your precepts! Then I will meditate on your wondrous works. … I have chosen the way of truth. I have set your ordinances before me. I cling to your statutes, Yahweh. Don’t let me be disappointed. I run in the path of your commandments, for you have set my heart free.
Psalm 119:17-18, 20, 24, 27, 30-32 WEB
Have you ever thought about God’s instructions like this? I think a lot of times, we feel confused or frustrated when we read God’s laws, trying to figure them out. But the psalmist models a different approach. He asks God to teach him to understand the law, finds delight in the wonderous things of God’s law, and obeys because the Lord has set his heart free. There’s great comfort in knowing that God places guards around our lives to keep us safe and help us know how to follow Him with all our hearts, minds, and souls.
Yahweh, your word is settled in heaven forever. Your faithfulness is to all generations. You have established the earth, and it remains. Your laws remain to this day, for all things serve you. … How I love your law! It is my meditation all day.
Psalm 119:89-91, 97, WEB
I love the consistency and reliability of God. I don’t have to worry about Him changing His mind about His relationship with me or with His people as a whole. I don’t have to worry that He’ll say one thing a couple thousand years ago and then contradict Himself tomorrow. His plan of salvation, the way Jesus delivers us, and how we show our love by obeying Him doesn’t alter on a whim. We can count on Him not to break his New Covenant with us or to change the terms of relationship.
God’s law, word, statutes, ordinances, judgements, charges, and commands are good and they are good for us. We might not be able to figure out exactly what the differences are between those words or sort God’s instructions into neat categories, but that’s not the point of them. They’re a revelation of God’s character, guides for relating to Him and living in a way that honors Him, and a source of wisdom as we learn how to be more like Him.
The idea that a human being should be treated with a certain amount of respect based on a position they hold has fallen out of fashion in Western society. We routinely complain about U.S. Presidents and some people even display banners and signs cursing their names. We say no one has the right to tell us what to do. We treat “authority” like it’s a bad thing to have, assuming it will only be misused. There are still pockets of authority we might respect–patients may respect a doctor, and students a university professor, for example–but even those are being chipped away as corruption comes to light, our faith in institutions erodes, and our sense of individualism increases.
In sharp contrast to this attitude are passages from New Testament epistles talking about how Christians ought to submit to human authority. I’ve written about this before, near the start of the pandemic when I and many people across the world were struggling with questions like whether to submit to rules forbidding church groups to gather. In that post, we talked about a sermon I heard covering the question of how a Christian can know when to obey human authorities and when to follow the apostle’s example of disobedience when they said, “We must obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29, WEB)
I’m approaching this question from a different angle today. We know from scripture that we’re supposed to obey human authorities because God tells us to. Submission to authority is a way for us to honor God. We also know that that obedience to human beings only goes so far because our primary loyalty lies with God. We do not obey laws that command us to do things God forbids or that command us not to do things God requires. However, appropriate submission and respect aren’t the only things the Bible says we should do for people in authority. We’re also supposed to pray for them.
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Two Reasons Why We Pray
A command to pray for authority figures shouldn’t surprise us. There aren’t many limits on who we ought to pray for. Jesus even told us, “love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you” (Matt. 5:44, NET). If Jesus told us to love and pray for our enemies I doubt He’s going to say it’s okay to avoid praying for people in authority who might not even be enemies to the faith.
Sometimes, you might hear arguments that instructions to submit to and pray for rulers were added by translators. For example, I’ve heard people say the KJV includes verses about honoring the king because the men translating it wanted to curry favor with King James. Those men might have been happy to find they could include a verse like that, but they’re not where the idea came from. It came from Jesus, Paul, Peter, and other writers inspired by God. Paul explains why it’s so important to include authority figures in our prayers when writing to Timothy.
First of all, then, I urge that requests, prayers, intercessions, and thanks be offered on behalf of all people, even for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. Such prayer for all is good and welcomed before God our Savior, since he wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one intermediary between God and humanity, Christ Jesus, himself human, who gave himself as a ransom for all, revealing God’s purpose at his appointed time.
1 Timothy 2:1-6, NET
I like the NET translation for this verse because it acknowledges that some readers might balk at the idea that praying for “all people” includes “kings and all who are in authority.” Paul had experience living in a world where the culture and the authority figures were hostile to his faith. He knew it wasn’t easy to pray for people who’d martyred your fellow believers or kicked them out of a guild, ruining their livelihood. But we need to pray for them anyways, and he gives two main reasons why:
It’s good for us. We pray for authorities so that we can lead “a peaceful and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.” Ideally, “rulers cause no fear for good conduct but for bad” (Rom. 13:3, NET). We pray that people in authority would be that kind of ruler, leaving us alone to worship God freely and working to keep society peaceful and safe.
It’s good for them. God welcomes prayers for everyone, even our enemies or those in positions of power, because “he wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.” That should be our desire as well. Jesus “gave himself as a ransom for all,” and knowing that should motivate us to pray everyone would see His Light.
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Praying for Peace
God has called us to live in peace (1 Cor. 7:15; Col. 3:15). He wants us to have peaceful lives that aren’t characterized by quarreling, tumult, fear, and other things that would destroy our inner or outer peace. We can have God’s peace inside us and cultivate lives of peace and joy even when the world around us is far from peaceful. However, we should still do everything in our power to live peacefully with all people (Rom. 12:16-21; Heb. 12:4). That includes praying for those who have the power to make things un-peaceful for others.
Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, says to all the captives whom I have caused to be carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon: … “Seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to Yahweh for it; for in its peace you will have peace.”
Jeremiah 29:4, 7, WEB
There’s nothing wrong with wanting peaceful lives. Paul even tells one church that it should be their “ambition to lead a quiet life, and to do your own business” (1 Thes. 4:11, WEB). Life is better for us, the Christian community, and for everyone else living here if there’s peace in our communities and countries. Peace is a good thing to pray for. We can ask God to share His peace with us and to inspire people in authority to work towards peace in their spheres of influence.
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Praying for Others’ Salvation
The second reason we should pray for people in authority is because, “Such prayer for all is good and welcomed before God our Savior, since he wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:3-4, NET). We’re supposed to be praying for all people, and those with authority are included in that category.
God offers humanity two very clear choices: choose life with Him, or choose death without Him. That’s simply how the world works. There are no other options. Walking with God leads toward eternal life, and walking away/apart from God leads to nothing. God also makes it very clear that we each have individual choices, and that it’s possible for people to change the course of their lives. If someone is heading toward death, God wants that person to turn around and choose life (Ezekiel 18:1-32; 33:1-20).
The Lord is not slow concerning his promise, as some regard slowness, but is being patient toward you, because he does not wish for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. … Since all these things are to melt away in this manner, what sort of people must you be, conducting your lives in holiness and godliness, while waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God?
2 Peter 3:9, 11-12, NET
In this letter, Peter reminds us that the end of this present world is coming. While it might sometimes seem like Jesus’s return is taking an awfully long time to get here, what’s really happening is that God is being very patient with people because He wants everyone to choose life. Keeping in mind both this aspect of God’s character and the knowledge that Jesus will return, Peter asks us this: “What sort of people must you be?” He partly answers that question by saying we’ll be “conducting our lives in holiness and godliness” as we wait on God. Being holy and godly involves mimicking God’s character, including His perspective on other people. We need to love earnestly and pray sincerely for other people.
But the end of all things is near. Therefore be of sound mind, self-controlled, and sober in prayer. And above all things be earnest in your love among yourselves, for love covers a multitude of sins.
1 Peter 4:7-8, WEB
Showing God Who We Are
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God is never happy when someone chooses death; it’s His desire that everyone will choose life. When we pray for other people, we participate in that godly desire. We show God that we also want other people to choose life with Him because we’re learning to care about them in much the same way that He does.
By praying for those in authority, we demonstrate our character to God. We show that we care more about following His instructions than we do about our own irritations with political leaders. We show that we long for people to change, grow, and work toward peace rather than wanting them punished because they didn’t do things the way we think they should.
I don’t always remember to pray for people in power. I don’t particularly want to pray for people who plunge nations into wars, vote to continue abortions, or use their authority to avoid the consequences of wrong action. But it does no one any good if I just get angry about this and sit around fuming or refuse to pray about it.
Prayer is the best response for everyone. I can pray for God’s justice to intervene and I can pray for His mercy to soften people’s hearts. I can pray He’ll protect those in danger because of a human leader’s actions. Jesus’s example of viewing people with compassion and praying for them even while not excusing their wrong actions.
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![Image of four people sitting around a table studying their bibles overlaid with text from 2 Cor. 6:16-18, NET version: "We are the temple of the living God, just as God said, “I will live in them and will walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.” Therefore “come out from their midst, and be separate,” says the Lord, “and touch no unclean thing, and I will welcome[e] you, and I will be a father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters.”](https://likeananchor.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/unreasonable-3.jpg)
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