Obedience of Faith Romans 1 5 and 16

Obedience of Faith Romans 1: 5 and 16: 25 Who Is Your Master?

Obedience in the Book of Romans Paul begins and ends the book of Romans with the subject of obedience (Rom. 1: 5; 16: 26) There are different kinds of obedience discussed in Romans, but God is looking for an “obedience of faith” (Rom. 1: 5; 16: 26) Who do you obey? Who is your master? What kind of obedience is possible for man?

Some Obey Unrighteousness Mankind in sin chooses to disobey truth and obey unrighteousness (Rom. 2: 8) They ignore truth and follow after what is wrong and unjust (Rom. 1: 29; 1 Jn. 5: 17) They are hindered from obedience to truth (Gal. 5: 7) They will receive the wrath of God (Rom. 1: 18) and the vengeance of God (2 Thess. 1: 8) Obeying unrighteousness leads to trouble and a downward spiral out of control

Some Obey Their Conscience The Gentiles, before Christ, followed their conscience and were “a law unto themselves” (Rom. 2: 14 -15) The Jews and Gentiles following their conscience caused them to “esteem” things differently (Rom. 14: 5) However, obeying one’s conscience may lead one to do wrong (Acts 23: 1; 26: 9; Tit. 1: 15; Heb. 10: 22) One’s conscience is a good guide so far as it is guided by God’s word Obeying one’s conscience alone leads to trouble

Some Obey Their Lusts Many obey their desires, cravings, and lusts when they arise within (Rom. 6: 12, 16; 7: 5) Sexual immorality, anger, jealousy, greed, etc. We must obey God, not lusts (1 Pet. 1: 14) Obeying lusts leads to trouble

Some Obey Other Men Many of the Jews obeyed their doctrines and traditions and disobeyed God’s plan (Rom. 9: 31, 32; 10: 2 -3, 16, 21) Many of the Jews cared more for their nation (Jn. 11: 48) than for obedience to Jesus Christ (Heb. 5: 9) We must obey God rather than men (Acts 5: 28) Obeying man leads to trouble (Acts 5: 36 -37)

God Wants “Obedience of Faith” “Obedience of faith” is obedience that is prompted by faith in God’s word (Rom. 10: 17) – the truth – faith in the faith (Rom. 1: 5; 15: 18; 16: 19, 25) We must be obedient to the faith (Acts 6: 7) We must obey the form of doctrine (Rom. 6: 17), the gospel (Rom. 10: 16) We must obey the truth (1 Pet. 1: 2, 22) We must let Christ be our master and control every aspect of our life (2 Cor. 10: 5 -6)

Obedience of Faith Obedience to unrighteousness, conscience, lusts, or other men all lead to trouble Obedience of faith leads to freedom from sin and righteousness (Rom. 6: 18) The book of Romans to saints at Rome begins and ends with obedience to God, not Rome Who is your master?