Essay #2. The Obedience of Faith
In English, the verb “to obey” is closely related to “to listen to.” Marcus Tomalin explains that “obey comes into the language from Old French (‘obeir’), which is a modification of the Latin compound ‘obedire’ (ob + audiere). So ‘to obey’ in English is also (etymologically) ‘to listen to’.” Similarly the word translated “obey” in Hebrew is the word for listen ‘Shema’. It is by listening and responding that the ancient Hebrews knew themselves as God's people. In Exodus 19:8, the alternate lesson for June 16th in Year A, “the people all answered as one: ‘Everything that the LORD has spoken we will do.’” They acted because they received the word of God.
In Romans, which was first written in Greek, the word Paul uses for “obedience” is also derived from the root word for “hearing.” This points to the Hebrew role of listening in the calling of Israel: “Hear O Israel, the Lord your God, the Lord is one” (Deuteronomy 6:4). This statement of monotheism is also vital for Paul in Romans. "Is God the God of the Jews only? Is he not the God of the Gentiles too? Yes, of the Gentiles too! Since God is one." (3:29-30). In the Greek translation of the Old Testament, created for the Jews in the Mediterranean Diaspora communities where Greek was their mother tongue, “Hear, O Israel” is translated with the Greek for “obey,” the same word Paul uses in Romans, for as it was with them, so it is for us; it is by hearing the Word of God that we receive it and respond in faith. This is the "obedience of faith" that is so central to the presentation and conclusions of Paul’s ideas in Romans (1:5, 16:26). Mark Nanos (The Mystery of Romans, Fortress Press 1996) writes: "Hearing obediently is intimately connected with keeping the covenant. Equally rich in meaning is faith, a seamless blending of both trust and commitment as it defines the obedient character of the one who trusts God. When one trusts in God, one obeys God; faith and works are inextricably woven together in the response of trusting faith."
Romans chapter 5 reads as a Christological proof of God’s love for us. Paul assures us that because we are justified through faith in Christ, we are reconciled to God in peace, and can confidently expect the glorious destiny God intended for us (5:1-5). Through the gift of the Holy Spirit, God’s love is actively demonstrated, being “poured into our hearts” (5:5). Placing our whole trust in God allows us to receive the gift of salvation through His son (5:10-11). Christ’s saving act leads to “justification and life for all” (5:18), and so “by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.” (5:19). Obedience here is a conscious submission to the will of God, both listened to and accepted. In Don Garlington’s Faith, Obedience and Perseverance: Aspects of Romans (Mohr-Siebeck, 1994), he argues for an interpretation of “obedience of faith” that implies not only acceptance of the gospel, but also total submission to its demands out of a complete trust. Faith and obedience are then integral and symbiotic in Christian experience, and by no means oppositional. We believe that dying with Christ allows us to be resurrected with him (6:4-9). Our death is a death to sin, so that we receive new life in God (6:10). The obedience of faith forms a central part of Christian experience, unlocking the potential for intimate relationship between God and us.
We have been arguing about the relationship between faith and works for centuries. Our rediscovery of faith and grace is critical, and becomes desperate the more we realize that our own strength is inadequate. We heard the basis for this last week in the Romans lesson. "For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly” (5:6). In the Gospel two weeks ago, touching Jesus’ garment healed the woman with haemorrhages (Matthew 9:20-22). We too are helpless without his touch. We are gifted with the touch of Christ by faith through his death, the remembrance of which is our Eucharist. This week's lesson from Romans gives us one of many ways in which we can learn to bear the fruit of good works for God through our participation in the power of his death and resurrection. Paul writes: "Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in the newness of life."(6:4) We have died in him in our baptism. As faith allows us to discover what this means, we will also discover that the love of God by the Holy Spirit gives us the power we need to "walk in newness of life" and “be united with him in a resurrection like his” (6:5).
[Ayla Lepine & Bob MacDonald]