Trust and Obey 

Note: This is part five in a blog mini-series on the relationship between our salvation and our daily growth in Christ (sanctification). Read part one How We Grow in Grace, part two How to Disagree in an Agreeable Way, part three How People Change, and part four Applying Our Complete Salvation.

So Far…

What have we said so far?

• The Bible calls us to apply our salvation to our daily life, to our progressive sanctification. Sanctification is our daily, ongoing growth in grace—becoming more and more like Christ so that our inner life increasingly reflects the inner life of Christ.

• Many writers today are describing this connection as Gospel indicatives (who we are in Christ through our salvation) and Gospel imperatives (how we live out our newness in Christ).

And Now

Now I want to add a vital third major point:

• Gospel imperatives are not the Law; they are not legalism. Gospel imperatives are new covenant principles for living that flow from the reality of what God has done for us in Christ.

For examples of where some at times seem to confuse Gospel imperatives with the Law and legalism, read R. W. Glenn Red Meat for the Soul. One such example includes:

“The question is: Where does our power to obey God’s commands come from? Does it come from the gospel—from what God has done for us? Or does it come from the law—from what we must do?”

Glenn then notes:

“Here ‘the law’ refers to ‘God’s commands,’ and ‘what we must do,’ which is distinct from ‘the gospel,’ which refers to ‘what God has done for us.’”

I would add:

• Comparing a new covenant command to “the Law” is unhelpful to the conversation because it is theologically imprecise and incorrect.

• Comparing obedience to a new covenant command to “legalism” and automatically to self-effort is unhelpful to the conversation because it is theologically imprecise and incorrect.

What We Must Do Is Not Law; Obedience Is Not Legalism

The same Apostle Paul who despised legalism in Galatians, also insisted upon obedience. “You, my brothers were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature [sarx, flesh]; rather, serve one another in love” (Galatians 5:13). “Serve one another in love” is a command. It is an imperative.

The same Apostle Paul who despised works-based salvation in Ephesians, also insisted upon the truth that as new creations we are created to do good works. “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10).

The same Apostle Paul who despised self-effort, who despised the idea that our power to obey God’s command comes from the flesh, and who insisted that our power to obey comes from the Spirit, also insisted that we obey.

“What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness…. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness” (Romans 6:15-18, 19b).

Clear and Precise

Let me be clear. I don’t think most people who use the Gospel Indicative/Gospel Imperative distinction (I use it) think or mean to imply that obedience = legalism. Nor do I think they believe in a “let go and let God” theology. Nor do I think they deny the importance of obeying new covenant imperatives. I think their emphasis is that we obey Gospel imperatives from a heart of gratitude for grace empowered by the work of the Spirit in our regenerated hearts (Gospel indicatives).

I’m simply saying we must be careful not to appear to be saying that obedience to Gospel imperatives shifts us from “grace” to “law,” from “new covenant living” to “old covenant living,” from “Spirit-dependence” to “self-sufficiency/works.” That would imply the ridiculous idea that somehow the Apostle Paul shifts from grace, Spirit-dependence, and new covenant living in Ephesians 1-3, to law, legalism, self-effort, works, and old covenant living in Ephesians 4-6! It would imply that the Apostle Paul shifts from grace to works right in the middle of Romans 6!

It’s not as if Paul himself shifts from Gospel/grace/Spirit-dependence to Law/works/self-effort when he moves from Ephesians 1-3 to Ephesians 4-6! Instead, Paul says:

• Motivated by gratitude for grace, on the basis of all that God has done for us in Christ (Ephesians 4:1), live a life worthy, obey, make every effort (Ephesians 4:2-3) in the Spirit’s power (Ephesians 5:18; 6:10).

• On the basis of our “old man” already having been put off (regeneration) (Ephesians 4:17-24; Romans 6:1-11; Colossians 3:1-10), daily put off the old ways, daily put to death what is already dead in Christ, daily rid yourselves of whatever belongs to your flesh (Ephesians 4:25-32; Romans 6:12-14; Colossians 3:10-17).

In Summary

We could summarize the truth about Gospel indicatives and Gospel imperatives this way:

• God’s commands, Gospel imperatives, new covenant principles for living are not the Law.

• We can twist and distort God’s commands and Gospel imperatives so that we obey motivated by gaining God’s approval rather than motivated by gratitude for God’s gracious approval in Christ (Romans 8:1-2; 12:1-2). That distortion results in legalism/works.

• We can twist and distort God’s new covenant principles for living so that we attempt to obey in the power of the flesh rather than in the power of the Spirit (Romans 8:3-17). That distortion results in self-effort/works.

• Gospel imperatives, just like Gospel indicatives, are grace-oriented and Spirit-dependent.

• Gospel imperatives, unlike Gospel indicatives, require grace-motivated, Spirit-dependent “effort” (as Paul says, “make every effort”—Ephesians 4:2-3). Salvation (Gospel indicative) is 100% solely the work of God. Sanctification (Gospel imperative) involves our grace-motivated and Spirit-dependent response to God in which we actively obey by cooperating with the work of the Spirit in our new heart.

Join the Conversation

What do you agree with in this post? What do you disagree with? Why is it important to see both the indicatives of the new covenant and the imperatives of the new covenant as Gospel indicatives and Gospel imperatives?