What About Obedience?

If you are a Christian, you will want to obey God's laws.

Jesus said: If you love me, you will obey what I command. (John 14:15 )

Wait a minute! Do you mean to say that to be a Christian you have to do something more than believe in Jesus: You have to believe in Jesus "and" obey God's laws? And if that is what you are saying, which of the jewish laws are you talking about? Do you have to obey the jewish food laws? What about the laws about animal sacrifice? Does this mean all the laws in the Bible? How are you supposed to know which laws we have to obey?

When they asked Jesus about which commandment was the greatest, the interchange went like this:

³⁴Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. ³⁵One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question:
³⁶"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" ³⁷Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'^[2] ³⁸This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'^[3] ⁴⁰All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." (Matthew 22:34-40)

When the rich young ruler asked Jesus which commandments he needed to obey, the interchange went like this:

¹⁶Now a man came up to Jesus and asked, "Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?"
¹⁷"Why do you ask me about what is good?" Jesus replied. "There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, obey the commandments."
¹⁸"Which ones?" the man inquired.
¹⁹Jesus replied, " 'Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother,'^[4] and 'love your neighbor as yourself.'^[5] "
²⁰"All these I have kept," the young man said. "What do I still lack?"
²¹Jesus answered, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."
²²When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.
²³Then Jesus said to his disciples, "I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. ²⁴Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."
²⁵When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, "Who then can be saved?"
²⁶Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." (Matthew 19: 16-26)

In each case, for Jesus, self sacrificing love takes precedence over the law. The commandments which we must obey are the commandments to love. Unfortunately, figuring out how to love is as difficult as getting a camel through the eye of a needle. It requires that we see the world from the other persons perspective, that we understand where they are coming from and why they do the things they do. This requires understanding of their culture, their traditions, their beliefs, and the pressures and factors in their lives (the contingencies) which determine their behavior. This requires an appreciation for and acceptance of cultural diversity. This requires that we get outside of our cultures and our traditions, and learn to love and accept people in their context. We cannot love and condemn in the same breath.

All this talk of love makes those entrenched in traditional organized Christianity (particularly fundamenatlists) very nervous. If it is all about love then we may have to change what we do. If it is all about love we may have to give up our traditions. If it is all about love our culture is threatened, our way of life comes under question. We may have to accept rather than condemn the unwed mother. We may have to accept rather than condemn the homosexual. We may have to accept rather than condemn the divorcee. All this love and acceptance is a threat to traditional family values. Love keeps puncturing our cherished beliefs and values. It feels like the things we hold most dear are leaking out of our lives. We seek a way to stop the hemorage of love.

For those who are threatened by love, Christianity must be more than just love. For them, Christianity must be about right and wrong, sin and righteousness. Love is just not enough to produce a complete Christianity. They think to themselves, if love and obedience go hand in hand, then perhaps we can stop the hemoraging of our values by insisting that people hold the same values we do, and insisting that they obey the same laws we do. Didn't Jesus say, "If you love me, you will obey what I command?" But, this line of reasining is heresy.

The obedience demanded by God, in and through Jesus is, was, and will be obedience to the law of love. Love does demand cultural change. Love does demand love without condemnation. Love does demand acceptance and understanding of those who are different. Love does demand that we give up the comfortable, false security of the traditions, beliefs, and values that we have been taught since our youth and that we dedicate ourselves to discovering how to interpret Christ to a changing world.

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Steve Falkenberg

Steve.Falkenberg@eku.edu