A STUDY BY
GARY RAY BRANSCOME
If we could obey God, we would not need Christ, we
would not need forgiveness, and we would not need to be saved. However, when
the Bible tells us that “all have sinned” and “there are none
righteous,” it is telling us that none of us have obeyed, and we are all
disobedient in the sight of God — that is, apart from the forgiveness
that ours through faith in Christ. [Romans 3:10-23 and 10:4]
This brings up the fact that there are two different
kinds of obedience. The obedience of works, and the
obedience of faith. Everyone seems to understand the obedience of works, yet
works are the great delusion that keeps the world in darkness (Romans 10:3).
All of the false religions urge their members to seek righteousness through
works. In contrast, our righteousness is the righteousness of faith, and the
only obedience acceptable to God is the obedience that is imputed to us when we
look to Christ for forgiveness (Romans 10:4, Galatians 3:6).
To better understand what happens when we come to
faith in Christ, try to picture yourself standing before God, filthy from head
to toe with sin. Then, as you look to Jesus for mercy, picture the blood of
Jesus Christ flowing all around you and through you, so completely washing away
the filth of sin that you begin to glow with all of the righteousness of heaven
(1John 1:7, Romans 10:4). That is the “obedience of faith,” and
that is the only kind of obedience that makes us righteous in the sight of God.
The Apostle Paul used the phrase “obedience of
faith” in both the first and last chapters of his epistle to the Romans,
because it is justification by faith that makes us obedient in the sight of God
(Romans 1:5,
The Jews thought that they were obeying God. After
all, they kept a lot of rules. However, as far as God was concerned, they were
doing the opposite of what He wanted. Instead of confessing their sins and
seeking forgiveness, they denied their sins and tried to cover them up. What
they failed to understand, was that all of the animal sacrifices required by
the law were instituted as a way of telling them that they needed to confess
their sin and seek God’s mercy (Hosea 6:6, Matthew 9:13). If they had
just sought God’s mercy as He intended, He would have assured them of His
mercy by assuring them that His Messiah would make everything right. Instead
they turned the act of sacrifice into a work, and tried to earn His favor
through their own obedience.
Because our carnal mind thinks of obedience in terms of
works, Satan continually uses that weakness to undermine faith, and blind
people to the truth of the gospel (2Corinthians 3:15 and 4:3-4). The delusion
of works righteousness [obedience by works] was such a serious problem in the
early church that the book of Galatians was written to deal with it.
Nevertheless, because human nature has not changed, it is still a problem. All
of the cults indoctrinate their members with the belief that faith is not
enough, and that works are needed in addition to faith (trust and obey).
Worse yet, because that insidious philosophy has crept into many churches,
young people who ought to grow up being taught the folly of trusting in works,
often wind up believing that their standing with God depends, not on what
Christ did, but on their own ability to “obey”. Even those who
believe that they are saved by grace often either live under a burden of guilt,
or cut themselves off from God’s grace by believing that their own works
(obedience) make them acceptable to God (Galatians 5:4).
If that is not bad enough, that soul-destroying error is
drummed into the hearts of people by a catchy tune, along with the false
promise that “not a sigh or a tear” will remain if we “trust
and obey”. The truth is, that Christians may be called on to endure many
hardships. However, we have Christ’s own promise that he will never leave
us, or forsake us, not because we are able to “do his good will”
but because we trust in Him (Hebrews 13:5). [The problem with the song
“Trust and obey” is that it makes God’s favor depend on works
in addition to faith, and God has placed a curse on everyone who teaches that
doctrine (Galatians 1:6-9).]
If you wonder why many Christians act cold, austere, and unloving the answer
lies in the satanic delusion of “trust and obey”. Although the
Bible makes it clear that it is futile for us to try to make ourselves
righteous, when believers look to Christ, not only for salvation but also for
righteousness, the Holy Spirit lusts “against the flesh… so that
you cannot do the things that you would” (Galatians 5:17). However, when
someone who looks to Christ for salvation is trying to make himself
righteous, the Holy Spirit cannot help him without deceiving him (thus
destroying his soul). Therefore, the harder a person tries to make himself obedient the less help he receives from the Holy
Spirit. That is why those who seem most religious in the sight of the world are
often contentious, legalistic, involved in church splits, or even immoral
(Galatians 5:19-21).
As a young man, I fell into the trap of trying to make myself righteous
(obedient) through keeping the law. However, the harder I tried, the harder the
struggle seemed to become. The problem was not with the works, but with what I
believed. In order to motivate myself, I was deluding myself into thinking that
my efforts were making me righteous (obedient), or making God like me. However,
that very delusion cut me off from the help of the Holy Spirit. I was trusting
in Christ for salvation, but as long as I was trusting in my own efforts to
make me righteous (obedient) I was not trusting in Christ to make me righteous
(obedient). I thank God that I did not fall into sexual sin, however, as I look
back I can only wonder at how blind I was. I was looking only at the act, but
God saw that my heart was full of lust and impure thoughts. Even though I hated
such thoughts and tried to keep them out of my mind, they would intrude into my
thinking and it was a constant struggle to get rid of them. Therefore, while I
was deluding myself into thinking that I was “obedient”, God saw a
heart that was “Deceitful above all things and desperately wicked”
(Jeremiah 17:9).
I am not denying that there is a Biblical sanctification that takes place in
the life of a believer. That sanctification is the outward expression of the
inward transformation that takes place when the Holy Spirit takes up residence
in the heart of someone who has been justified by faith. “In its wider
sense, sanctification embraces all acts of divine grace by which the Holy
Spirit turns a person from sin to holiness and from the service of Satan to the
holy happy service of God” [Christian Dogmatics,
by John Theodore Muller, TH. D., page 384.] However,
it is not our efforts that produce that sanctification. On the contrary, as the
Apostle Paul made abundantly clear, in our flesh there is nothing good, and,
therefore, nothing to produce such a change (Romans 7:18). In fact, the harder
we struggle to make ourselves righteous/obedient, the stronger the flesh
becomes (Romans
Having the Holy
Spirit’s help is not a matter of “let go and let God” as some
have imagined, far from it. It is a matter of truly believing that the
forgiveness we have through Christ’s blood not only gets us off the hook,
but makes us pure, perfect, and sinless [i.e. obedient] in the sight of God
(Hebrews 10:14). And, a person cannot truly believe that, as long as he thinks
that his own efforts (works) make him partly righteous, or in any way improve
on the righteousness he has in Christ. When the Bible tells us that “all
our righteousnesses are as filthy rags,” it
means just that (Isaiah 64:6). None of our “filthy rag” efforts at
obedience can please God, or improve one bit on the righteousness (obedience)
that is ours through faith in Christ (Romans 3:19-20, Galatians 3:6).
When the Bible tells us that “Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness to every one who believes,” it is telling us that
Christ is the end of the law for OBEDIENCE to everyone who believes (Romans
10:4). If the blood of Christ makes us righteous in the sight of God, then it
also makes us obedient. Those who are trusting in works to make them obedient,
are just as deluded as those who trust in works to make them righteous
(Galatians 5:4). God is not even interested in our righteousness. As far as He
is concerned, all of our righteousness is as “filthy rags” (Isaiah
64:6). What He wants is a repentant heart (Psalms 34:18 and 51:17). And, those
who truly have a repentant heart never sin willfully (Hebrews
Because we have a repentant heart, we want to do
what is right! Our faith in Christ is rooted in the fact that we do not want
sin in our life. On the contrary, we want to be delivered from sin. The problem
comes with trusting in works, rather than faith in Christ, to make us obedient.
Those who are trying to make themselves
righteous cannot conceive of doing right without believing that their works
will bring God’s favor. However, that is where the problem lies. As long
as they think that their works bring God’s favor, they are trusting in those
works to bring God’s favor instead of trusting in Christ.
It is only as we trust in Christ for righteousness,
walking in the confidence that God accepts us for Christ’s sake (not
because of our own obedience), that the Holy Spirit is fully active in helping
us overcome the flesh (Galatians 5:17). Moreover, the importance of His help
can be seen in the difference between the legalism of those who seek obedience
in the flesh, and the love, joy, peace, and kindness radiated by those have the
fruits of the Spirit in their life (Galatians 5:22, Ephesians 4:32).
In short, what we think does matter! If we think that our
works make us righteous, then we are trusting in those works to make us
righteous. Likewise, if we convince ourselves that our works make us obedient
or bring us God’s favor, then we are trusting in those works to make us
obedient and bring us God’s favor. There is no difference between
believing that your works make you righteous, and believing that your works make
you obedient. There is no such thing as a disobedient righteous person, or an
obedient unrighteous person.
The world cannot seem to understand that just
because willful and unrepented sin brings God’s
condemnation does not mean that avoiding sin will bring His favor. As far as He
is concerned, there is none righteous, no not one (Romans 3:10-23). This error
keeps cropping up because works righteousness is deeply rooted in the
self-deception of our sinful heart (Jeremiah 17:9). If the sinful heart is not
allowed to believe that works make us righteous, then it will simply change the
terminology and claim that works make us holy, or obedient. Therefore, let me
address that change in terminology by listing synonyms for certain Biblical
words.
Romans
3:28 Therefore we conclude that a man is
justified [declared righteous or obedient] by faith without the deeds of the
law.
1 John 1:8 If we say that we have no sin [i.e. are obedient or
holy] we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
Galatians 3:6 Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to
him for righteousness [obedience].
Galatians 3:3 Are you so foolish? having
begun in the Spirit, are you now made perfect [holy or obedient] by the flesh?
It was the false doctrine of obedience by works and its
corresponding denial of sin that led the Jews to reject Christ, led imperial
Rome to persecute Christians, and later led the church
of Rome to torture and kill Bible believing Christians. One important difference
between the theology of Luther and Calvin, is Calvin’s emphasis on
obedience (austerity and self-denial), an emphasis that led Calvin to rule
Geneva with an iron fist, and later produced the legalism that gave Puritans a
bad name. In short, the fruit of seeking obedience by works has not changed,
from the time of Cain to this very day (Matthew 7:20, Hebrews 11:4, Matthew
23:35).