The Relationship Of Obedience To Salvation.

The Relationship of
Obedience to Salvation

By Louis Rushmore

If Salvation is based upon our own "obedance" than Christ's death was not worth anything. I know in and of myself i cannot earn my way nor will i ever try because the harder i try the harder i fall. When we relize the freedom we have in Christ through the shedding of his blood, Eph 1:7, than living for God become a desire instead of a duty. ~ John

One's pilgrimage to heaven from this green earth will be better served by reliance upon God's Word and properly handling it  (2 Timothy 2:15, ASV; 3:16-17) than upon reliance on self ("I know in and of myself") and baseless suppositions (i.e., without biblical support). The salvation made available to the whole world by the shed blood of Jesus Christ (1 John 2:2; Ephesians 1:7) is not received by the whole world, because reaching the blood of Jesus Christ and the resulting salvation is conditional. If the blood of Jesus Christ and salvation are not conditional, then universalism, everyone will be saved, is true (e.g., including Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Jews, atheists, etc.). However, it is abundantly clear from Scripture that not everyone will be saved; "And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal" (Matthew 25:46).

Most religionists who profess Christianity will allow that one must believe that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ or Son of God. "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report?" (Romans 10:13, 16). Incidentally, belief or faith is cited in the prior passage as part of obeying the Gospel. Therefore, either belief (which is called obedience to the Gospel; see also Romans 1:5; 16:26) is obligatory upon mankind to receive salvation, the chief blessing afforded by the shed blood of Jesus Christ, or universalism is true and everyone will be saved (in direct contradiction to plain passages of Scripture that some will be lost).

Granting that some human response is required to be the recipient of salvation owing to the blood of Jesus Christ, why is it so hard to imagine that there are additional conditions requiring human response to reach the blood of Jesus Christ and be saved? That some response by mankind to the shed blood of Jesus Christ for the souls of the world can hardly be denied by any rational person. "Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling" (Philippians 2:12). Incidentally, human obedience appears here as well.

Human obedience does not equal sinless perfection. Irrespective of how well one obeys God by conforming to the Gospel (Romans 12:1-2), his obedience is incapable of removing sin. However, in response to man's best effort to comply with the Gospel (obedience), God extends his grace (Ephesians 2:8) and mercy (Titus 3:5) to make up the difference between where man is and where man needs to be spiritually to have fellowship with God, now and eternally.

Hence, Scripture plainly reveals that Jesus Christ saves the class of people who, imperfect as their obedience is, obeys him. "And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him" (Hebrews 5:9). Consequently, Jesus will have an entirely different disposition toward the disobedient at his Second Coming. "And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power" (2 Thessalonians 1:7-9). Who, then, dares discount the place of obedience in salvation?

Respecting salvation, the Book of Acts (a book of conversions) and the rest of the New Testament include several elements to which are attributed saving power, which I have bolded in the following quotations of Scripture. "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved..." (Mark 16:16). "...Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins..." (Acts 2:38). "For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession [of Jesus as Lord, Acts 8:37] is made unto salvation" (Romans 10:10). "And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord" (Acts 22:16).

When pressed, most religionists professing Christianity will acknowledge the necessity of belief or faith, repentance and professing Christ, which are acts of obedience. Most religionists professing Christianity, though, balk at acknowledging that baptism is also associated with salvation according to Scripture. This is regrettable as Scripture teaches that, in conjunction with belief, repentance and professing Christ, baptism is the point at which one comes into contact with the saving blood of Jesus Christ. Jesus shed his blood in his death when a Roman soldier pierced our Lord's side with a spear (John 19:34). Subsequently, two passages of Scripture tell how one can come into contact with that blood by symbolically joining our Lord in his death. "Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?" (Romans 6:3). "Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead" (Colossians 2:12).

Are we saved as obedient or disobedient souls? No right thinking person could embrace the proposition that one is saved in his or her disobedience, especially when Scripture clearly states that the disobedient "shall be punished with everlasting destruction" (2 Thessalonians 1:9). Respecting initial salvation, one's obedience culminates in baptism for the remission of sins. Failure or refusal to be baptized, in view of the passages cited above and more not consulted here, is disobedience, for which souls greeted by Jesus at his Second Coming will see him coming "in flaming fire" (2 Thessalonians 1:8).