Degrees of Obedience – The Law of God: Questions and Answers

Degrees of Obedience
The Law of God: Questions and Answers

Where the Law is concerned, false obedience is better than none at all.

Question: Who must obey the Law of God?

“And now, Israel, what does the LORD require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and all your soul, and to keep the commandments and statutes of the LORD, which I am commanding you today for your good?” Deuteronomy 10:12, 13

The favor of God is to be experienced within His will, for He inhabits His will, and He is all blessing and goodness and light and love. Those who obey the Law of God do not earn the favor of the Lord; they enter it. And we may enter the favor of the Lord by degrees.

The favor of God, which comes with obedience to God’s Law, exists along a spectrum roughly marked out by our passage above, through a text like Matthew 23:23, and ending in, let’s say, Psalm 81:15. That is, obedience leading to blessing and favor is strongest where that obedience is from the heart, stronger to strong depending on the thoroughness of our obedience, and weakest—real but fleeting and not saving—when given grudgingly.

The ideal of full obedience represents the poll toward which all should strive. In order to know—to enter—the greatest portion of the “good” of the Lord, we must obey out of fear and love, from the heart, with all good intention and sincerely (Deut. 10:12, 13). Such obedience requires “day and night” immersion in the law of God, until that Law becomes a delight (Ps. 1; Ps. 119:97).

Partial obedience, as the Jewish leaders of Jesus’ day showed, brought the favor of the Lord, but not as much as full obedience or obedience that includes more of the Law of God (Matt. 23:23; cf. Rom. 3:1, 2; 9:4, 5).

When God’s people are dwelling within the favor of God through their obedience, the wisdom and justice and love of such a way of life will capture the notice even of the enemies of God, who will bring their lives into line with what they see in the commandments of God—“feigned obedience” (Ps. 81:15 NASB)—because they understand this to be in their best interests.

This should encourage believers to work for obedience of the Law of God in their own lives, in the lives of those around them, and in all aspects of their society and culture. The favor of God—the “good” He intends for His people—may be known, even by those who deny and despise Him, but it falls to the people of God, through their own obedience, to show the way into such blessedness.

Got a question about the Law of God? Write to T. M. at tmmoore@ailbe.org, and your answer might appear in this series of In the Gates columns.

Visit our website, www.ailbe.org, and sign up to receive our thrice-weekly devotional, Crosfigell, featuring writers from the period of the Celtic Revival and T. M.’s reflections on Scripture and the Celtic Christian tradition. Does the Law of God still apply today? Order a copy of T. M.’s book, The Ground for Christian Ethics, and study the question for yourself.

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In the Gates is a devotional series on the Law of God by Rev. T. M. Moore, editor of the Worldview Church. He serves as dean of the Centurions Program of the Wilberforce Forum and principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He is the author or editor of twenty books, and has contributed chapters to four others. His essays, reviews, articles, papers, and poetry have appeared in dozens of national and international journals, and on a wide range of websites. His most recent books are The Ailbe Psalter and The Ground for Christian Ethics (Waxed Tablet).

Scripture quotations in this article are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, (c) copyright 2001, 2007 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.