OBEDIENCE (שָׁמַע, H9048, to hear, to listen reverently, πείθω, G4275, to obey, to put one’s trust in, ὑπακοή, G5633, hearkening submissively, ὑπακούω, G5634, to listen to, to obey, to follow).

The Bible is conspicuous in its many graphic depictions of the responses of men to the words and will of God. Responses that are avowedly favorable to such a degree that one is persuaded to act are called “hearing,” “believing,” or more simply “obeying.” Other responses that are apathetic or disregard God’s Word are characterized as “rebellion,” “unbelief,” or “disobedience.”

Studies of obedience situations have tended to emphasize either the external and more formal aspects of the response or the inner nature of the respondent and the spiritual aspects of his attitude. Compare the approaches in HERE, vol. IX, 438-440 and Mst, vol. VII, 271, with those of von Allmen in A Companion to the Bible, 314f. and R. Bultmann in Jesus and the Word, 53-66. Justice should be done to both of these elements.

1. The external nature of obedience. An external and somewhat formal approach will tend to focus attention on observable circumstances or inferable causes and consequences of the act.

The most evident aspect of obedience is the presence of a person (or group) with authority who commands or requests another to comply with his expressed will. This authority can be recognized because usually it is expressed through the media of accepted customs and traditions, of venerated ordinances and laws, whose value to human life are unquestionable. To obey is to adjust to demands judged to be worthy. Obedience, thus, can be seen as being motivated by such things as convention, habit, fear of punishment, and hope of reward. When Moses says, “If you obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all his commandments which I command you this day, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey...” (Deut 28:1, 2, see also 30:9f.), it seems evident that the response of obedience frequently occurs in a matrix of external causes and inducements similar to those listed above.

A word of caution is necessary, for it is easy to make the inference that the Biblical writers advocated obedience to God only for practical reasons. Such an inference would be too naturalistic in its understanding of the OT and NT, and ignores the deeper spiritual aspect of obedience found even in the OT, e.g., in 1 Samuel 15:22, “To obey is better than sacrifice.” Undoubtedly most of the obedient responses of men in Scripture included an element of obeying because of what was commanded: religion in the Bible is never looked upon as impractical. The Biblical idea of obedience is distorted if it is not recognized that men also obeyed because of who commanded. God’s will was thought to be definitive for the establishment of all practical wisdom and law. Hence, Biblical writers could present practical reasons for obedience and speak of desirable consequences, while all the time they knew that true obedience to God’s Word took place without thought of reward.

The manner in which the obligation to obedience is developed and applied is a formal element of obedience. The psalmist, e.g., is urging obedience when he stresses the dependence of man, as a created being, upon God as the uncreated Being (Ps 95:6, 7). The law of God likewise is seen as placing men under an obligation to obedience because it was graciously given (Exod 19:5; Ps 119:1-4). In the NT, man is under the same compulsion to obedience, but only because of the knowledge of God revealed in Christ. Similarly a promise of blessing is expressed, but it is more specific concerning the hope of appropriating the glory and excellencies of Christ (2 Pet 1:3-7). God’s common goodness to all men is a formal basis for obedience (Ps 145; Acts 14:17), and God’s special work of redemption is pressed as the ground for loving obedience (1 Cor 6:20, etc.).

Additional formal elements are cited in the dispositions which are requisites for obedience, e.g., sincerity (1 Tim 1:5), love (John 14:21; 2 Cor 5:14; 1 John 2:5), diligence (Rom 12:11), frankness (Matt 5:16; Phil 2:15), constancy (Gal 6:9), and patience (Rom 2:7). Tranquility in interpersonal relations also requires the formal compliance of obedience as seen in the relations of parent to child (Eph 6:4; Col 3:20), of husband to wife (Col 3:18), of master to servant (employer to employee) (1 Pet 2:18), and of citizen to government (Luke 20:25; Acts 5:29).

2. The internal aspects of obedience. When Jesus rebukes those who outwardly comply with the law but inwardly do not (Matt 6:2, 5, 16; 23:23-25), He is exemplifying Samuel’s perceptive insight about the internal aspect of obedience when he said “to obey is better than sacrifice” (1 Sam 15:22). True obedience is more than subjection to an authority in a formal manner, for a person can be subservient without a corresponding inner disposition of obedience. Biblically, to obey is to hear in such a way that inner assent is inseparable from outer activity. Bultmann describes this as the whole man standing behind and being in what he does. He says the individual “is not doing something obediently, but is essentially obedient” (Jesus and the Word, p. 61).

In the NT, hearing, or obedience of this internal sort, is associated closely with believing; it is to be joined to Christ (Rom 15:17, 18; 16:19; 1 Pet 1:2). A common Biblical formula pointedly says, “faith comes from what is heard” (Rom 10:17; cf. 1 Thess 2:13). The thought is that the word of the Gospel calls forth faith from those who hear it, which is then labeled as an “obedience to the faith” (Rom 1:5; 16:19, 26). Speaking in parables and in direct discourse, Jesus portrays the believers as those who hear the Word of God and do it (Matt 7:24; Mark 4:20; 7:32-37; Luke 8:21). Obedience is the hallmark of the personal decision, trust, and commitment which are involved in faith. In summary, Richardson says, “Obedience becomes virtually a technical expression for the acceptance of the Christian faith” (An Introduction to the Theology of the NT, 30; see also Acts 6:7; Rom 1:5; 1 Pet 1:2).

3. The obedience of Christ. Obedience in both its external and internal senses underlies the Biblical explanation of how man has been reconciled to God. Paul describes Christ’s work of redemption as an obedience unto death (Phil 2:8) and as an obedience that will make many righteous (Rom 5:19). Christ’s work as the true High Priest is conjointly His life of obedience in the days of His flesh (Heb 5:7, 8) and the offering of His body in sacrifice as an obedient response to the will of God (Heb 10:7-10). Theologians speak of these as the active and passive obedience of Christ.

Not only Christ’s work, but also His person can be understood in terms of His obedience. For John, Jesus is the Son of God because of His perfect unity with the Father. Such unity is established upon the basis of the perfect obedience of Jesus, whose meat and drink it is to obey the will of God (John 4:34) and to do the things that are pleasing to Him (8:29). The Christian receives the benefits of Christ’s obedient life and death through faith in Him, that is so vital that it will “take every thought captive to obey Christ” (2 Cor 10:5).

Bibliography J. H. Worman, “Obedience,” Mst, VII (1877), 271-273; A. Dorner, “Obedience,” HERE, IX (1917), 438-440; R. Bultmann, Jesus and the Word (1934), 53-75; W. A. Whitehouse, “Obedience” RTWB (1950), 160, 161; J. J. von Allmen, A Companion to the Bible (1958), 314, 315; A. Richardson, An Introduction to the Theology of the NT (1958), 29-31, 149-152; F. B. Huey, Jr., “Obedience—A Neglected Doctrine,” ChT, XII, #8 (1968), 374, 375.