Romans 1:5
Through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for His Name’s sake.
Do I have to obey Christ to be saved?The simple answer to this complex question is, no. A person does not need to do any act of obedience, any religious “thing”, in order to be saved in Christ. Christ has done all the work of obedience on our behalf when He suffered and died for our sins and rose from the dead (see Romans 5:19). It is faith alone, sola fide, that saves a person because of God’s grace – sola gratia (see Ephesians 2:8-9). When a person believes that Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice for sin on their behalf and rose from the dead he or she is saved.
However, a true genuine saving faith is one that leads to a life of obedience. There is no Christian with genuine faith on earth who’s life hasn’t been drastically changed and transformed into a life of obedience. Again, every true Christian wants to obey Jesus Christ their Lord, not in order to be saved, but because they’ve already been saved. This is the kind of faith Paul preached as noted in the above text – “to bring about the obedience of faith”. Real faith in Christ always leads to a deep desire to obey God. Any other kind of “faith” is not true faith at all.
James 2:14-17
What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
If you are a Christian you are a slave to obedience. Because of Christ’s obedience on the cross you are obedient. Because Christ suffered for you and paid the price for your salvation you desire above all else to please Him, to live a life of obedience to God through Him.
Romans 6:17
But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed.
A life of obedience does not mean a life of perfection. Sincere Christians desire obedience to Christ very much. However, they aren’t able to always obey. In fact, there is no Christian who can live a perfect day, free from sin (see 1 John 1:8). The mark of genuine faith is one of strong desire to please God even though they can’t always (see Romans 7:21-8:1). It is not legalistic perfection that God seeks, but a genuine faith that follows in the footsteps of Christ’s obedience.
