Maybe you are right about that. Should I jus believe in Jesus and I'll be fine is that all. Do I have to follow the other rules or no?
From a Lutheran vantage point the concept of obedience can be a bit of a paradox.
On the one hand the reality of us as sinners means that we can't be righteous by trying to follow God's commandments, the irony in fact is that the more we try to follow God using our own strength the more we fall, the more we fail, and the more obvious our shortcomings become and so the Law compounds our guilt.
On the other hand faith, we say, produces good works. Faith, which is not of ourselves but the gift of God, exerts good works through us. It is never our righteousness, but God's righteousness in us.
Martin Luther was irritated by those who argued against him who said that by teaching justification through faith alone that he was saying good works don't matter, or that he was teaching a form of antinomianism (
antinomia meaning "without law"). On the contrary, Luther writes concerning faith:
"
Faith is a living, bold trust in God’s grace, so certain of God’s favor that it would risk death a thousand times trusting in it. Such confidence and knowledge of God’s grace makes you happy, joyful and bold in your relationship to God and all creatures. The Holy Spirit makes this happen through faith. Because of it, you freely, willingly and joyfully do good to everyone, serve everyone, suffer all kinds of things, love and praise the God who has shown you such grace. Thus, it is just as impossible to separate faith and works as it is to separate heat and light from fire! Therefore, watch out for your own false ideas and guard against good-for-nothing gossips, who think they’re smart enough to define faith and works, but really are the greatest of fools. Ask God to work faith in you, or you will remain forever without faith, no matter what you wish, say or can do." - Martin Luther's Introduction to Paul's Epistle to the Romans
This hearkens back to what St. Paul writes in Ephesians ch. 2,
"
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God--not the result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are what He has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life." - Ephesians 2:8-10
Further Lutherans will speak of what's known as Coram Deo/Coram Hominibus; that is "Before God" and "Before man" and speaks of how we should understand our relation before God and man. Before God we should live and think as though only the Gospel matters--the grace of God given to us sinners on account of Christ by which we are saved apart from works and the Law; before our fellow man we should live and think as though only the Law matters, how we treat and care for our neighbor and seek to do good to all creatures. Or to put it another way, God doesn't need our good works, but our neighbor does. It's our neighbor who needs food in his stomach or a roof over her head.
We must further understand that "We love Him because He first loved us." Being a Christian is not first about what we do, but is about what God has done for us, and to trust upon Him believing Him. It is out from this faith that flows love and good works, love of God and neighbor and doing good to our neighbor.
In this life we will never be a perfectly holy, just, or pious people, we will remain sinners until our dying gasp; which is why we must look upon Christ not ourselves; it is Christ who justifies us--that is, makes us just. But because we have faith we can look to Christ, to the power of the Holy Spirit, to use us and work us to do good and urge to good works so that we might be a people that looks out for our fellow man, who considers the needs of others above our own, and be a Christian people in our communities and vocation in life. Never looking upon the works themselves as improving our status before God, but thanking and praising God as He uses us to do His will.
Look to Christ, and and let the love of Christ spurn you to do good. But never look to the works themselves, but only to the Christ who saves you.
-CryptoLutheran
