Anakalypsis / Unveiling the Word

Theme · ethical

Obedience and Disobedience

Obedience and disobedience form the central axis of covenant life. Adam's disobedience brings death; Abraham's obedience in offering Isaac becomes the model of faith. Deuteronomy sets before Israel two ways — blessing for obedience, curse for rebellion — and the rest of the Old Testament narrates the consequences of choosing the latter. The prophets plead for return and obedience from the heart. Jesus is obedient to the Father even unto death, undoing Adam's disobedience. Paul frames salvation as the movement from one man's disobedience (Adam) to one man's obedience (Christ) — and calls believers to a life of responsive, grateful obedience.

Passages expressing this theme

  • 1Sam 15:22 — And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.
  • Acts 5:29 — Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.
  • Deut 5:33 — Ye shall walk in all the ways which the LORD your God hath commanded you, that ye may live, and that it may be well with you, and that ye may prolong your days in the land which ye shall possess.
  • Deut 11:26 — Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse;
  • Deut 11:27 — A blessing, if ye obey the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you this day:
  • Deut 11:28 — And a curse, if ye will not obey the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods, which ye have not known.
  • Deut 28:1 — And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set
  • Deut 30:19 — I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:
  • Exod 19:5 — Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine:
  • Gen 2:17 — But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
  • Gen 3:6 — And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto
  • Gen 12:1 — Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee:
  • Gen 22:18 — And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.
  • Heb 5:8 — Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;
  • Heb 11:8 — By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.
  • Jas 1:22 — But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
  • Jer 7:23 — But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you.
  • Josh 1:8 — This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make
  • Matt 7:21 — Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
  • Matt 7:24 — Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:
  • Ps 119:1 — Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the LORD.
  • Ps 119:105 — Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.
  • Rom 5:19 — For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.
  • Rom 6:16 — 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?