{"id":3877,"date":"2021-10-28T17:30:00","date_gmt":"2021-10-28T23:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/drbobewell.com\/?p=3877"},"modified":"2021-10-28T09:33:33","modified_gmt":"2021-10-28T15:33:33","slug":"obedience-in-the-flesh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/drbobewell.com\/?p=3877","title":{"rendered":"Obedience in the flesh?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A friend responded to my blog on James 2<\/a> in which I wrote:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is often confusion on this simple concept. After all, \u201cWe\u2019re saved by grace, right?\u201d A friend of mine\u2019s extended family members are hard over on this. Anything somebody suggests something they might want to DO as believers is rejected out of hand as \u201cworks righteousness.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

He told me about a fellow who is like the people I wrote about:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the guys I am discipling is like this. I can\u2019t EVER say anything to him that sounds like obedience without him making an immediate disclaimer like, \u201cI know that if I do \u2018_______\u2019 in my \u2018flesh\u2019 I will always fail.\u00a0 So I need God\u2019s grace to walk in the Spirit.\u201d \u2026 And I want to say, \u201cOK, I get that \u2026 I believe what the Bible says about walking in grace by the Holy Spirit just like you do \u2026 but can we just <\/em>DO<\/em> <\/strong>what God tells us to do without the theology lesson each time we read something that sounds like obedience?\u201d Deuteronomy 30:14 (RSV) says, \u201cBut the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can<\/em> do it<\/strong>.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

My friend went on to cite Philippians 2.12 – 13:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. (Philippians 2.12, 13, ESV)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

He writes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As you know, Philippians 2.12 – 13 covers both sides of the equation.  We have \u201cour work\u201d \u2013 obey, work out our salvation, and God has \u201cHis work\u201d \u2013 He works in us so that we \u201cwill\u201d and \u201cwork\u201d to please Him. However, God does His work in us without us first asking Him to do it.  So, when I choose to obey, the work of grace is already done. Because of this, from the believer\u2019s perspective, obedience is a \u201cone-step<\/em>\u201d process, not a \u201ctwo-step\u201d, like my\/your friends imply: i.e. (1) I \u201cwalk\u201d in the Spirit, and then (2) I \u201cobey.\u201d  However, from our friends\u2019 perspective, there is a \u201cthing\u201d called \u201cobedience in the flesh.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s amazing how many excuses (sometimes disguised in theological language) we can come up with to NOT do what God asks us to do. “I can’t do that – it would be works-righteousness.<\/em> OR “I can’t do that without it being obedience in the flesh<\/em>.” In the meantime, who is going to take those freshly-baked cinnamon rolls over to our neighbor’s house?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But why do you call Me “Lord, Lord,” and do not do the things which I say? (Luke 6.46, NKJV)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A friend responded to my blog on James 2 in which I wrote: There is often confusion on this simple concept. After all, \u201cWe\u2019re saved by grace, right?\u201d A friend of mine\u2019s extended family members are hard over on this. Anything somebody suggests something they might want to DO as believers is rejected out of … Continue reading Obedience in the flesh?<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3877","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8X9bo-10x","jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/drbobewell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3877","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/drbobewell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/drbobewell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drbobewell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drbobewell.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3877"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/drbobewell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3877\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3902,"href":"https:\/\/drbobewell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3877\/revisions\/3902"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/drbobewell.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3877"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drbobewell.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3877"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drbobewell.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3877"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}