Grace: The Birth of Obedience

Obedience will not save you...but it is actually BORN out of grace (our way of salvation). If there is no birth of OBEDIENCE...there was no impregnation of GRACE! Grace which isn't internalized cannot bring a NEW BIRTH!

The following Scriptures are just a few (truly just the BEGINNING) of an OVERWHELMING number of Biblical (New Testament…although grace is seen and alluded to in the Old Testament, also) passages that deal with OBEDIENCE to God and His Word. The Church cannot separate GRACE (we are saved by grace, not by works) from OBEDIENCE TO GOD (which is NOT the same as legalism/man-made religious law). A sinner becomes a Christian by grace. A Christian rejoices in his obedience to God...delighting himself in serving his Lord and Master...Jesus. A life which is lived WITHOUT obedience to Christ is NOT a Christian life. Likewise, any teaching...ANY...which seeks to define grace in a way which denies any subsequent obedience to God's Word is FALSE TEACHING.

In the New Testament, Paul's letters to the churches (Corinth, Galatia, Ephesus, etc.) are filled with admonitions regarding sin...specifically and consistently teaching that those in the church are to obey God and keep His commandments. Two consistent New Testament themes are: 1. Grace: we are saved by grace through faith…not by works, and 2. Obedience: we are to serve Jesus, making Him our Lord and Master, obeying His Word, following His teachings, not making a mockery of the grace by which we are saved.

Always keep in mind that we are to be a “living sacrifice” in our service to God. These words in the original Greek are ZAO THUSIA (with an ‘over the first a, an - over the o, and a ‘ over the i). Romans 12:1 says “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.” A sacrifice denotes the need for sin to be removed…to live a life without sin if at all possible. Jesus died for our sins, giving us salvation. Our salvation should be evident in our life, thus Paul’s wording denotes that our life must be an example of the “spotless lamb”: just as the sacrifice for sin had to be without fault, so must we seek to live in that same manner…without sin. Yet, if (when) we do sin, we have an “advocate” in Jesus Christ. Grace does not EXCUSE our sin…instead, grace simply allows us to continue living, giving us the opportunity to repent of our sin and to once again follow the correct path of God’s leading.

Keep in mind: when we sin, we have to realize that we were NOT following Christ: Christ NEVER leads us into sin! Thus, we ceased to follow His direction, causing us to stray from His path. No teaching or doctrine can ever deny that truth! Grace gives us the time and the opportunity to “get back on track”. I have often stated it this way: Grace is JUDGEMENT DELAYED. As we live under grace, we are allowed the opportunity to “make things right” with God…allowing us to once again live in OBEDIENCE to God. Old Testament law pronounced DEATH on sin, and if someone was caught in a moral sin (such as adultery), they were to be taken out and stoned. Grace brought LIFE…even in the midst of sin. Yet, grace works through confession and repentance…working in us OBEDIENCE to the precepts and laws of God. Read below…and realize: what we SERVE we OBEY…and what we OBEY we SERVE. When we “walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit”…this means we walk in OBEDIENCE to God and His Spirit.

GRACE becomes the mother of OBEDIENCE…for obedience is born out of the grace which is freely given in Christ Jesus! If obedience was a PREREQUISITE to grace…then that would mean salvation was due to WORKS. But, instead, obedience is a RESULT of grace…and, thus, grace remains our one and only way to God! Understanding these truths are essential to every believer, allowing an understanding of the inherent coexistence of GRACE and OBEDIENCE.


Romans 6:15-23 (KJV)
15 What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid. 16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey ; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? 17 But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. 18 Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness. 19 I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness. 20 For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness. 21 What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death. 22 But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. 23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Romans 7:12 (KJV)
12 Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.

Romans 7:22 (KJV)
22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:

Romans 8:1-14 (KJV)
1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
4 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
5 For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.
6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
10 And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
11 But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.
12 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.
13 For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.
14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

Romans 13:11-14 (KJV)
11 And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.
12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.
13 Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying.
14 But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.

1 Corinthians 4:1-2 (KJV)
1 Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God.
2 Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.

1 Corinthians 5 THE ENTIRE CHAPTER
This chapter deals with those in the church who are living in disobedience to God's laws.

1 Corinthians 6:12-20 (KJV)
12 All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.
13 Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body.
14 And God hath both raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us by his own power.
15 Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid.
16 What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh.
17 But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.
18 Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.
19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.

Any attempt to put every Scripture which deals with GRACE and OBEDIENCE would be impossible here. Thus, those above are but a few of the NUMEROUS examples. Paul would repeatedly speak of abstaining from sin and being obedient to Christ as he wrote to the churches. The New Testament continuously and consistently teaches BOTH grace and obedience in union together…leading not only to a personal and distinct doctrine of SALVATON by grace through faith, but also defining the Christian “walk” as one of obedience to the Word of God.

I end here with the words of John:


1 John 5:1-5 (KJV)
1 Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him.
2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.
3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.
4 For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.
5 Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?