Faith-obedience

[foundinHim]

(Rom.1:5) By Whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for His name:
(obedience to the faith=faith-obedience)

Let's discuss "faith's obedience"... In Eph.6:6-8..."as the servants of Christ", what is doing the will of God from the heart? The Holy Spirit uses Abraham extensively to illustrate the doctrine of salvation, so let's see how Abraham is used to illustrate "faith's obedience." Abraham was called to a life of dependence on God; a renunciation
of family ties, social position, and all wordly endearments. Instead of a life of ease and security in his own country, and among his own people, he was called to a life of pilgrimage among the lawless inhabitants of Canaan, on the forbearance of whom his life and possessions were dependent. Living in the world, he was not of the world.
In Hebrews 11, we see three things are stated in connection with Abraham's faith--
1) his call: "by faith when he was called, he went out" (v.8)
2) his sojourning: "by faith he sojourned in a strange country" (v.9)
3) his trial: "by faith...when he was tried he offered up his only begotten son" (v.17)
In Nehemiah 9:7, we see that God chose Abraham simply because He willed to do so:
"Thou art the LORD the God, Who didst choose Abram, and brought him forth out of Ur of the Chaldees, and gavest him the name of Abraham;"
In Joshua 24:3, God says, "I took your father Abraham. I led,...and I gave." All was of grace.
Do we exhibit this "obedience of faith" in regard to God having "made” known unto us His purpose, in the “mystery”? as He did to Abraham when he was called. The "hope of His calling" in Eph.1:18, is, for us, what the hope of God's call was to Abraham. Abraham obeyed. Do we thus obey? or, do we act as though God had not made anything known to us that is worthy of our obedience? If we display Abraham's obedience in connection with what God has made known for our faith, we should, like him, "go forth" from all human traditions and doctrines of men. We should "sojourn" in the world as being indeed "a strange land." We should regard our "seat of government" as already existing in heaven; that heaven from whence we should be looking for the Saviour, and for our "calling on high." (Phil.3:14 & 20)
Obedience of faith, is the one thing needful in connection with the fact of the “mystery” having been made known to us. The making known of the “mystery” is, to us, exactly what Ur of the Chaldees was to Abraham; and what Kadesh-Barnea was to Israel. The difference was that, "Abraham believed God." Israel DID NOT BELIEVE, (Heb.3:19)...they provoked God. How do we stand in this matter? Do we believe what God has “made known for the obedience of faith"? or, do we provoke Him, and grieve Him, with our un-belief?

Let us go up and possess this "good land" which is set forth before us in the Epistles to the Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians, and there discover not only the riches of His grace, but the riches of His glory. It is a land, not of "grapes, pomegranates, and figs” (Num.13:23), but of all that which they symbolize.

Oh! that we may "at once," by faith, go up, and enjoy this "good land," waiting till we shall be called "on high," exchange our faith for sight, and our spiritual vision for actual possession. (Heb.11:17) "By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son," It is this which puts "faith" as being synonymous with "obedience." This is why we have the expression "the obedience of faith." This is the genitive of apposition, and means, not only the obedience which springs from faith, and, which has faith for its origin and its source; but because faith is put for, and reckoned as, obedience itself. Obedience, reckoned as faith: i.e., "faith-obedience" would be a good rendering.

The two are inseparable. If we believe what God says, we shall necessarily act in accordance with our faith. If we do not so act, it is proof positive that we do not believe; and that there is no faith worthy of the name. It is this fact which reconciles what the Holy Spirit says by Paul, and what He says by James. It is the same
inspiring Spirit Who "moved" both. There can be no discrepancy except in our own failure to “rightly” divide “the word of truth” and receive all as coming from the same Divine Author.

If we really believe God, we shall readily DO what He commands, as we shall rely on what He promised. And thus faith is translated into obedience, and obedience is faith translated into action. Any other kind of obedience is NOT "of faith," and is therefore "sin."

 

[foundinHim]

There is plenty of obedience and "works" which come from the flesh, and not from faith; but these are called "dead works." Paul and James spoke and wrote by the same Spirit, and teach the same truth. And we shall see this at once, if we understand this identity of faith and obedience, or faith and works which is contained in the expression "the obedience (that is to say) faith."

But for this identity, this Scripture could never have been written. "By faith Abraham HAS offered up Isaac", and "because thou HAST DONE this thing"(Gen.22:16). It was not "by fact" but "by faith," and this explains everything. It was the trial of Abraham's faith; and it was the gracious act of God. It was He Who said, "take now thy son, thine only son, Isaac."

Abraham's obedience here was as ready as when he was called to get out of his own country. It is obedience that is the test of faith; and it is obedience that is in question here, in the case of Abraham. In Gen.22:3, we read, "And Abraham rose up early in the morning."
When God "separated" Saul of Tarsus and called him to preach His gospel, we read: "Immediately, I conferred not with flesh and blood," (Gal.1:15-16). Faith never confers with flesh and blood. If it did so, it would cease to be "faith," and become "sight" at once.
It was the same faith that said (Gen.22:5), "I and the lad will go yonder and worship." Faith is always occupied with God, Whose "word" or "report" it hears. Abraham was not occupied with his faith, or with his obedience, or with himself, in any way whatever, but only with God. "I and the lad will go yonder AND WORSHIP." God, and God's words, filled Abraham's heart, and occupied all his mind and thoughts.
In Gen.22:9-10, the figure of speech used in the Bible, POLYSYNDETON (many "ands") is used to mark off, point out and emphasize the deep significance of every detail. The seven "ands" show the deliberate steps, each of which demands our close and earnest consideration:
"AND they came to the place
AND Abraham built an altar
AND laid the wood in order
AND bound Isaac his son
AND laid him on the altar
AND Abraham stretched forth his hand
AND took the knife."
Up to this point, Isaac is the type of Christ: and again, in verse 18, as the seed in whom "all nations of the earth shall be blessed." But in verse 13, the "ram" becomes the type of Christ, and "we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise," for whom Christ is offered up in our stead. The ram was "caught by his horns," the emblems of his strength, to show that the antitype, Christ, did not succumb to death from weakness, but gave up His life in His strength. 'I lay down My life (He said) that I might take it again. No man taketh it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of My Father.' (John 10:17-18)

Another seven-fold POLYSYNDETON is given in Gen.22:13-14, describing Abraham's subsequent action. It is used to set forth and
emphasize every act and deed, and to intimate the deep significance of each:
"AND Abraham lifted up his eyes
AND looked
AND behold, behind him a ram
AND Abraham went
AND took the ram
AND offered him up
AND Abraham called the name of the place Jehovah-jireh” [GOD WILL PROVIDE]

Oh, what a volume is contained in those two small words "BY FAITH". The whole history is the grand record of the activities of
faith. It is faith in action: Living faith in the Living God. Every one of these "ands" introduces an action; and yet every action is "by faith."
There are different kinds of obedience. Some may obey from fear; some from a sense of duty; others from compulsion; others, again, from love or from a desire to please or from some other second or mixed motive. When, therefore, the expression "faith-obedience" is used, it shows that the obedience spoken of springs from and is produced by faith---a Living faith in the Living God. Apart from this faith all works "have the nature of sin."

 

[foundinHim]

We use, and speak of, both these words "faith" and "works" in various senses, each of which, therefore, requires a definition.
Obedience is made up of "works," and the Word of God speaks of 3 kinds: "wicked works" "good works" "dead works"
"Wicked works" (Col.1:21) need no further definition; we all know too well what they are, and wherein they consist. "Good works" are defined in Eph.2:10, as being the outcome of the creation of the new nature; and as consisting of the works "which God hath before ordained (prepared) that we should walk in them." No works other than "prepared" works are "good works." All others which appear to be and are so-called "good works," are works performed by the old nature, by the flesh, and are not the product or outcome of the Spirit of God. They may appear to be "good works"; and may be commonly spoke of as such; but God calls them "dead works," and the Lord Jesus says they "profit nothing." They are "dead" because they are produced by those who are themselves "dead in trespasses and sins"; they are "dead" because they are not produced by the life-giving Spirit of God.

Man may think and speak very highly of them, man may laud them to the skies; he may applaud them and hold them up for imitation but God pronounces them to be "dead." There is a solemn and decisive difference between death and life; and it is a fundamental axiom of Divine revelation that "the body without the spirit is dead." This is
the first thing recorded in the creation of man. "The LORD God formed man out of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul." This is why the body without the spirit (or breath of life) is dead.

The beauty of 2Cor.3 all turns on this fact, The Old Covenant, or Old Testament, is called "the letter," as distinct from pneuma which is "spirit"; and, just as the body without spirit is dead, so the Old
Covenant without Christ is dead; "The Lord" (Christ) being the Pneuma which gives life to the Old Testament Scriptures.

The same Holy Spirit inspired James to use the same contrast between "faith" and "works." He says "as the body without works is dead, so is faith dead without works." There is a dead faith, just the same as there are "dead works." It is the same Pneuma which gives life to both, and causes them to be, respectively, "living faith" and "good works." "Living faith" is thus the pneuma, or, the life-giving spirit of the works, causing them to be "good works": for, "whatsoever is not of faith is sin." Then, in their turn, these "good works" became the spirit-given evidence of the faith which produces them, and thus show that it is a "living faith."
So that it is absolutely impossible to separate the two. On the one hand, "dead works" are not evidence of a living faith; and, on the other hand, lifeless faith is no producer of "good works." It is all very well to quote the words of James 2:26, and say "faith without works is dead," but we at once ask, What "faith"? and What "works"? not "wicked works" or "dead works" surely. No, but "good works," for these are the evidence of the living faith. Living faith is "faith of the operation of God." "Good works" are the product of the new creation, prepared and ordained by God, the Creator of the new nature.

It can be said with equal truth, that Abraham who believed God, was "justified by faith," because as a believer, his "good works" proved it to be faith. And at the same time it could be said that Abraham, who obeyed God, was "justified by works" because his works being "good works," proved that they were produced by a "living faith." Otherwise they would have been "dead works," and not being of faith, would be sin.

When we thus carefully define our terms, Scripture speaks with no "uncertain sound." And we see the full force of the statement in Heb.11, which distinguishes the faith of Abraham from that of the others: "by faith Abraham”, when he was called, obeyed. God speaks to us in His Word, as He spoke to these "elders" individually. They each had a special communication direct from God Himself, and sinners and saints to-day have the same special communication written down in the Scriptures of Truth.

 

[foundinHim]

The question is the same to-day as it was then: Do we believe God" i.e., do we believe what He says? "Faith-obedience" is the obedience which proceeds from, and is produced by, a living faith in the Living God. In other words, it is the acting as if what we heard were true. We hear, for example, what God says about our condition by nature; that we are not only ruined sinners, on account of what we have done, but ruined creatures, on account of what we are. Do we believe it? If so, we shall act accordingly, and the belief will make us so sad and miserable, that we shall thankfully believe what He says when He declares that He has provided a Substitute for the sinner so believing and so convicted; and that He has accepted that Perfect One in the sinner's stead.
If we believe this we shall be at peace with God; and have no more concern or trouble about our standing or justification in His sight; we shall have nothing to do but to get to know more and more of Him, and to be giving Him thanks for what He has done in making us meet for His glorious presence. We shall not be forever putting ourselves back into our old place from which we have been delivered. We shall not be always asking for forgiveness of the sins for which He was delivered, because we shall be always rejoicing in Him "in WHOM WE HAVE redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins," and while we are giving Him thanks for "HAVING FORGIVEN YOU ALL TRESPASSES," we shall forget our old occupation of forever confessing our sins and praying for forgiveness.

We shall be looking and pressing forward to the "CALLING ON HIGH." We shall be free to witness for Him, and to engage in His service, being no longer occupied with ourselves, our walk, or our life. We shall be no longer taken up with judging our brethren, knowing that the same Lord has "made them meet" also, and that we shall soon be called on high together. We shall cherish our fellowship with them here (if they will let us) knowing that we shall soon be "together" with them there.
We shall hold not only the precious doctrinal truth connected with Christ the Head of the one Body, but the practical truths connected with the members of that Body. We shall seek to learn ever more and more of God's purposes connected with "the great mystery concerning Christ and His Church," and to enter into all that concerns its glorious Head. We shall have such an insight into His wondrous wisdom Who has ordered all these things that we shall thankfully prefer it to our own. We shall recognize that His "will," manifested in the working out of His eternal purpose, is so perfect, that we shall prefer it to our own, and desire it to work out all else that concerns us. We shall have nothing to "surrender." We shall be done with that miserable gospel of self-occupation; and, all connected with its phraseology will have been left far behind, as being on a lower and different plane of Christian experience altogether. Christ will be our ONE object, and we shall count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, our Lord. If this be not the result of our believing God, it is proof positive that we have not a "living faith," and that all our works for holiness are only "dead works," because we have not this blessed evidence as the result of our ‘faith-obedience.’